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Tattershall Lakes Holiday Deals, Reviews and Advice 2021

Tattershall Lakes Country Park in Lincolnshire is one of the best-equipped caravan holiday parks in the UK.

As well as several of its own facilities, it also shares a site with a watersports company so you can easily combine the two during a holiday and try out the aquapark, waterskiing and wakeboarding.

It's run by Away Resorts, which has about 10 holiday parks around the UK. There are cheaper caravans if you're on a budget or luxurious lodges with hot tubs and lakeside views if you can afford it.

But how does it compare to rivals? And how can you save money on a Tattershall Lakes holiday?

Here's our guide to everything you need to know before booking Tattershall Lakes accommodation.

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Some of the accommodation at Tattershall Lakes has terrific views

Facilities and activities at Tattershall Lakes

The trump card at Tattershall Lakes is its range of onsite watersports. Lots of similar caravan holiday parks can offer things like archery and pottery painting but very few offer wakeboarding and an aqua park.

Some of the activities are run by Away Resorts (which runs the holiday park) whilst others are run by Tattershall Water Park. They're a separate company but you can still book onto the activities.

One highlight is the aquapark which is a bit like an episode of Total Wipeout. Younger and less confident children are best to sign up for a family session so they don't have to compete with a stag do. It'll cost you about £20 per person and lasts about an hour.

Other watersports include kayaking, paddleboarding, pedalos and water skiing.

Of course, you pay extra for most things but I would say that the prices for activities are a bit cheaper than Center Parcs.

For example, here's a side by side comparison of the cost of some activities (please note, these prices aren't guaranteed and are only correct at the time of writing).

This watery obstacle course at Tattershall Lakes costs about £20 for a session

Activity	Price at Center Parcs Sherwood Forest	Price at Away Resorts Tattershall Lakes
Target archery	From £19 for 55 minutes	From £12.50 for 30 minutes
Laser Combat/Laser Tag	From £24.50 for 75 minutes	From £8.50 for 30 minutes
High ropes course/High ropes challenge	From £22	From £16
Pirate adventure ship/mini captains adventure	£23 for 40 minutes	£15 for 15 minutes

As this small selection shows, Tattershall Lakes activities can be cheaper than Center Parcs but some of them last for less time.

You can see the price of other activities on the Away Resorts website here.

Besides the watersports, Tattershall Lakes also has several other things to do:

cycling. The whole site is 365 acres, which is about the same as a typical Center Parcs resort. However, a lot of the site is made up of lakes so the actual amount of space for onsite cycling is much less than that so I'd say you will need to explore outside the site to get your money's worth. You can hire bikes from Tattershall Lakes (more info here). However, I would bring your own bikes if possible as it is a fairly expensive activity. At the time of typing, hiring two adults bikes and two children's bikes for a day will cost you £66.

swimming. There are two swimming pools and a splash park - you don't pay extra to use any of them. The indoor swimming pool is relatively basic and isn't huge considering the size of the resort. However, it's nice for a quick dip on a grey day. It doesn't have the slides and flumes that you get at some pools.

The outdoor pool is described as a 'lakeside lido' and it opened with a whizz and a bang in 2021. You may be wondering what the difference is between a lido and a normal outside swimming pool (I certainly was). Traditionally, lidos are large outdoor pools found next to beaches but in this case it is next to a lake. It's larger and posher than most outdoor swimming pools and has lots of seats round the outside so it's more of a social place rather than somewhere you have a quick swim and then get changed. Of course, it also sounds a lot posher to say "I'm just popping to the lido for a swim".

There are two manmade 'beaches' at Tattershall Lakes but they are really just for paddling and sandcastles. You can also do open water swimming in the lakes but that has to be done via the watersports company which is based at the site. It's not available all the time, so I wouldn't bank on it.

The indoor swimming pool at Tattershall Lakes is a fairly normal pool...

...but the Lakeside Lido is a nice addition with plenty of space

fishing. There are two lakes for fishing at Tattershall Lakes but you do have to have a fishing rod licence and you also have to pay a fee for fishing. Here's the government guide to fishing licences if you're not an angler but you are still, er, angling for a bit of fishing.

Fishing lake with angler at Tattershall Lakes in Lincolnshire

You need a rod licence to use the two fishing lakes at Tattershall Lakes

there are playgrounds, minigolf, a sports court and an arcade which will swallow small change. These tend to be at most family-friendly holiday parks but they're a good way to fill a morning or two.

high ropes are something you pay extra for at Tattershall Lakes but they will go down well with more adventurous children and teenagers (and dads). It's a memorable thing to do so it's probably worth coughing up. The minimum age for the high ropes is eight.

High ropes climbing course at Tattershall Lakes

You have to pay extra for the high ropes course, but it's impressive

pedalo hire is available and is good for a family friendly way of getting on the water without squeezing into a wetsuit. My experience of a pedalo elsewhere was that it was utterly exhausting and moved at a snail's pace but perhaps you'll have more luck...

Pedalo at Tattershall Lakes holiday park

If your children are too young for wakeboarding then a pedalo might be more suitable

four restaurants/bars. If you find that cooking for a group of eight in a small kitchen is too much to cope with then eating out may be the solution. You can expect to pay about £12-£15 for a main course and about £5 for a pint of beer/glass of wine. I would say that is fairly expensive for pub-style food in Lincolnshire. However, it's no more expensive than Center Parcs and it seems more likely that I'm just getting old. They also do takeaways. The photo shows Bar 49 which overlooks the lakes.

This bar has good views over the lakes

various entertainments including outdoor cinema, a big top, kids' entertainers and live music. These are obviously subject to weather, availability, Covid restrictions, children's moods, early bedtimes and so on. I would see these as a bonus rather than as something that will be central to your holiday. (Read more about the kind of things to expect with Tattershall Lakes entertainment here)

Family watching outdoor cinema at Tattershall Lakes

Children will be keen to stay up for the outdoor cinema (parents may be less keen)

there's a gym at Tattershall Lakes. If you're the sort of parent who can fit in a trip to the gym whilst also entertaining your children on holiday then I take my hat off to you. The closest I get to upper body exercise on holiday is lifting suitcases in and out of the roofbox.

Tattershall Lakes does have its downsides when it comes to things to do. For example, it isn't very near to the beach. It'll take you 40 minutes to drive to Skegness or 45 minutes to Mablethorpe. It does have its own manmade 'beach' onsite but it's not quite on the same scale. Personally, we like Anderby Creek which is about 45 minutes drive from Tattershall Lakes and is halfway between Skegness and Mablethorpe.

The area around Tattershall Lakes is rural and pretty quiet, but there are a few day trips. There's a quirky 'Kinema In The Woods' which is an old fashioned cinema and the National Trust's Tattershall Castle is just round the corner.

Lincoln's a nice city but it's 35 minutes drive away or more on a slow day.

Customer reviews and awards for Tattershall Lakes Country Park

Reviews for Tattershall Lakes are good, but I wouldn't say they are exceptional compared to the highest rated Haven parks. At the time of writing, it scores 3.5/5 on TripAdvisor or 4.3/5 on Google reviews. It's interesting that there's a big difference between those two review scores, both of which are based on about 3000 reviews. Part of the reason may be that TripAdvisor only gives scores in halves, so Tattershall Lakes may be on the brink of scoring 4/5.

I spent a good chunk of time sifting through the reviews to see what people were saying:

just under half of people give Tattershall Lakes a five star rating.
a large number of people comment on how friendly the staff are. Several reviews give individual praise to members of staff who were particularly helpful.
Away Resorts take the time to reply to a lot negative reviews, which is definitely a good thing
a common recent issue is with guest passes, which is what you need to be able to visit restaurants and book activities. If you book direct with Away Resorts then your guest pass is included in the cost of your stay. However, if you book a privately owned caravan then you pay extra for a pass (see the guest pass guidance and prices here). Some people paid for passes and then found activities were fully booked or that bars were too busy so gave low scores as a result. At the time of writing, nearly all activities require you to book in advance.
there are regular flights over the site from the local RAF base. Most people like this about the site rather than finding it disruptive but they can be noisy
some people commented that eating out was too expensive, although lots of other people say that they thought the food was very good
some anglers said that the fishing lakes were too weedy
some people weren't happy with their accommodation due to cleanliness or general wear-and-tear. However, I would say that the number of people praising the cleanliness of their accommodation outweighs the negative comments.

To give a flavour of the reviews, we've pasted two screenshots from TripAdvisor - one showing a five star review and one showing a three star review.

Five star review of Tattershall Lakes holiday park

Three star review of Tattershall Lakes country park

Holiday prices at Tattershall Lakes Country Park

In our guide to alternatives to Center Parcs, we found that Tattershall Lakes was the cheapest option amongst the nine holiday parks and resorts that we featured. You can also save some money with the discount code at the top of this page.

However, a lot depends on a) the type of accommodation you choose and b) when you visit.

As a rough guide, we searched for the cost of a family holiday for four people for a week at Tattershall Lakes in the cheapest accommodation available. The results were:

£299 for a caravan in early March 2022 (outside of school holidays)
£848 for Esme accommodation over Easter 2022
£837 for a caravan in early August 2022
£440 for a comfort lodge in mid September 2022 (outside of school holidays)

As you can see, school holidays are notably more expensive - but you probably knew that already.

How to save money on a Tattershall Lakes holiday

We've come up with a few tips and tricks to make a holiday at Tattershall Lakes much better value. Some require a lot of flexibility and effort whilst others are very straightforward

1. Use the discount code at the top of this page. It'll give you up to 10% off.

2. Check the offers page on the Away Resorts website - there are sometimes seasonal deals which are a good saving.

Search latest offers
at Tattershall Lakes

3. Arriving on any day other than Saturday is a good money saving move. Big holiday parks like Tattershall Lakes try to overcome bottlenecks of people arriving at once by offering discounts for a Monday to Monday or Friday to Friday holiday. For example, we were quoted £2698 for a Saturday to Saturday holiday in August 2022 for eight people staying in a superior lakeside lodge. A Friday to Friday holiday in the same accommodation was a whopping £432 cheaper. Note that you're still getting a seven day holiday and you're saving enough money to take everyone out for dinner for two or three nights.

4. Bring your own bikes if you plan to cycle (if you are able to). As we mentioned earlier, it costs a family of four more than £60 to hire bikes for a day.

5. If you're travelling with others then you will usually find it is cheaper to share a larger caravan or lodge than to hire two small lodges or caravans. For example, for a week in August 2022 we were quoted £837 for a caravan which sleeps four people or £1128 for the 'Burst of Blue' accommodation which sleeps seven. That means the caravan is £30 per person, per night whilst the Burst of Blue accommodation is £23 per person, per night.

6. Booking early is usually cheaper than waiting until the last minute at Tattershall Lakes. The budget-friendly accommodation gets booked up earlier which leave you booking a massive three bedroom lodge even if you don't need it. As a very rough experiment, we searched in June 2021 for holidays in August 2021 and August 2022. The cheapest available accommodation for 2021 was £1240 whilst in 2022 it was £837, a difference of £403.

7. Hiring a privately owned caravan or lodge at Tattershall Lakes is one way to save some serious money. You can find a lot of them for hire at Airbnb. My main word of caution is that you don't get guest passes included if you don't book via Away Resorts. That means you'll have to pay extra to be able to use the swimming pools, restaurants and so on. It's also a bit more hassle to get guest passes sorted. You can see the price of guest passes here.

Search privately owned
lodges at Tattershall Lakes

Accommodation choices at Tattershall Lakes Holiday Park

Away Resorts has several grades of accommodation and most of them are available at Tattershall Lakes. The more basic accommodation is described as 'classic' accommodation whilst the more modern and fancy is described as 'exclusive'.

Within those categories you've got a number of choices.

The 'classic' accommodation tends to be cheaper and is split into three sub-categories of caravans, lodges and glamping.

The fancier 'exclusive' accommodation is usually more expensive and includes 'lakeside lodges', The Esme, The Tribeca and The Rockstar. The ones with funny names have swanky decor whilst the lakeside lodges have a more traditional look to them.

You can also upgrade to a hot tub holiday at Tattershall Lakes.

It's worth mentioning that the 'exclusive' accommodation is often larger and sleeps bigger groups so you will get better value out of them if you are travelling as a party of 7 or 8 people.

The difference in price between the different grades of accommodation at Tattershall Lakes varies massively depending on when you visit, so I personally am more inclined to upgrade on an off-peak holiday.

For example, we searched for an off peak week's holiday in mid-November and found that:

the cheapest caravan was £210 and sleeps four people
a luxury lodge was £435 and sleeps eight people
a superior lakeside lodge with a hot tub was £677 and sleeps six people

That's a difference of £225 to upgrade to a lodge which is twice the size or £467 to upgrade to bigger accommodation with a hot tub.

However, the cost of doing a similar upgrade in August 2022 is significantly more:

the cheapest caravan was £812 (sleeps four)
a luxury lodge was £1633 (sleeps eight)
a superior lakeside lodge with a hot tub was £2286 (sleeps eight)

In this case, upgrading from a caravan to a lodge costs £821 whilst upgrading to a hot tub costs £1474. That's £1000 more than it costs to upgrade in mid-November.

Besides swankier accommodation, there are some other reasons to upgrade. The main advantages are that you get an earlier check in time, towels included and a goodie bag with the more expensive accommodation.