It has been another year of “staycationing” in Ireland. Last Summer it took us to the North of Ireland, County Donegal. We got so lucky with the weather then. This year we booked our stay just in time for the mini heat wave that lasted over a week. This time it took us to the South of Ireland, County Cork. It was the first stop of our holiday this Summer.
For some reason we have only ever been to Cork once. Matthew was only a toddler at the time, so I only remember vaguely visiting Fota Wildlife and staying in the Fota Resort.
Due to COVID, this holiday took a lot of planning ahead, such as day trips, booking dinner, breakfast etc. Spontaneous is history but I love planning these things so this was not a problem to me at all.
As our accommodation I chose Clonakilty Park Hotel which is located in West Cork. We wanted to explore more of West Cork than Cork City itself and I do think I made the perfect choice to have this hotel as our base. The hotel is located in Clonakilty town itself, just in the outskirts of the town which makes it easy to walk into town. There is even a park and playground across the road, a small little walk away from the hotel if you fancy something different to the hotel playground (which is awesome by the way)
The Room
We had a very spacious family sized room on the ground floor where the kids could easily walk around. We spent some time in the room to wind down every day. The room is equipped with two single and one double bed. The bathroom was also plenty big enough for us all. We also had a mini fridge. As a welcome gift, we kindly received a bottle of wine, some sweets for the kids, a massive plate of fruit as well as a voucher for a round of adventure golf. (I did not ask for this, neither did I collaborate with them on this, it was simply a nice gesture)
Our 3 night stay summer break package included breakfast every morning. Breakfast has to be booked in advanced. To keep it simple, we booked a slot for 9am every morning. This gave us enough time to have a little sleep in and not rush. Though Chloe found it hard to get out of bed because we all stayed up late every night.
Breakfast
The breakfast is served in the Twist Bar & Bistro each morning with a buffet available to the residents of the hotel only. You get to pick the fruit and juices yourself but the hot buffet such as Irish breakfast, or pancakes is behind the counter. Of course you can have as many servings as you want. Coffee and tea is also self service which is located beside the hot food counter. When you are seated, you can ask for toast as well as croissants, which will be brought to your table.
Dinner
When we arrived, we took advantage of the new food truck located beside the activity centre. They make fresh pizzas here. You can also order wine and beers from the bottle truck. A 12 inch Margherita pizza is €11. There is plenty of outdoor seating, as well as a marquee in case it starts raining.
The other two nights we booked into the restaurant Twist Bar & Bistro. The adults order off the card and the kids get a buffet where they can get seconds or thirds, whatever they want. Buffet options include pizza, chicken goujons, chips, pasta and chicken curry. So there was definitely plenty to choose from. I wouldn’t have minded getting a plate myself. The kids dessert options were ice cream, chocolate brownie or jelly and ice cream. Anyone want to take a guess what option my two went for the two evenings?
Entertainment
On our first evening we played a round of the coastal themed crazy golf. The gear can be picked up from the Park cinema which is located across from the activity centre. A family ticket for a round of mini golf is €22 as far as I can recall. On each course you will spot a red and a blue dot. Round one is the red dot and you basically go around again and play the holes again by using the blue dot this time. They do advise you to book in advanced, however evenings are generally quiet.
As per the photo above, you can see the zip line runs over the mini golf course. If you have older children, this activity has to be booked in advanced. As we didn’t do this, I do not know the cost of it.
The Park cinema is showing the latest movies with 3 screens available. It is a great idea when the weather is bad. Again we didn’t take advantage of it because it was lovely weather during our stay and so we did a lot of outdoor activities instead.
Next up we checked out the outdoor playground which can be accessed beside the leisure centre reception area. It has a massive pirate ship with a few slides and swings. The kids enjoyed their time after dinner each evening to play off the food they ate basically. The playground is open until 10pm during the Summer months.
Hubby as a gamer and Matthew getting into it as well, we all enjoyed the teens game zone. Here we enjoyed playing a round of air hockey (€1) and also complementary arcade games such as turtles, another fighting game and Pac Man. In the middle of room you will find a pool table (€1).
Right beside the teen game zone is a coffee shop in case you want to grab a coffee. On the arrival of our stay we were handed six tickets to enter the Play Zone. It is an indoor play area which again has to be booked in advanced. We handed these back on departure because we didn’t find the time to book a slot. If you do have the time, the Play Zone is open until 8pm every day.
On our second day I booked an evening slot, just before dinner, in the swimming pool. Each slot allows you 45 minutes. It is best to get dressed in the room so you can get as much time as possible in the pool. Children can use the swimming pool until 7pm.
On our last evening we joined in on the Bingo taking place upstairs in the Carbury Suite. There is also a bar where you can purchase drinks. The guy plays three rounds of Bingo with the last round being for the children. Prizes were available up for grabs. Afterwards we played a family quiz. The table who got the most questions right, also received a prize. At the end, children were invited to dance to the music, at their table only. Whoever dance the best, won a prize. We left at that point.
Some of the evenings we sat down in the lobby while the kids were cooling down on their devices with a drink before bed time and the grown ups enjoyed a nice drink as well.
It was fair to say that the kids enjoyed their stay because they did not want to leave on check out day. We still have plenty left to explore in West Cork and whenever that next adventure might be, we will be definitely back staying here again. I particularly like that there is plenty of entertainment on site and not just a hotel to sleep and dine in.
