Where We've Stayed (Part Two) - Thorness Bay, nr. Cowes

After a few years at Fairway The Sun decided in its infinite wisdom to consign us to a different holiday park.

We were so displeased that we booked up a few days at Fairway independently, to run concurrent with our Sun holiday, but when we arrived at Park Resorts' Thorness Bay site we were pleasantly surprised. Although a larger site, it seemed well organised and there were plenty of activities on offer, even if our children were not by nature inclined to join Sparky the rabbit and his Krew Club on his morning adventures. The caravan was smart, even though it was Bronze Standard, although we discovered after several subsequent visits that the difference in quality between the various classifications does on occasions become blurred - we have had some excellent Bronze caravans and some unspectacular (but never bad) Gold ones.

The site has a shop, which is well-stocked unless your holiday happens to occur at the very tail end of the season, a decent swimming pool, a play area for toddlers, and a small basketball-type court. For socialising it had a pub (now gone) attached to the Reception area as well as the Regatta Bar, where both house and visiting entertainment is offered until late in the evening. Over the years in which we returned the Regatta Bar became a bit tatty, but last year Park Resorts spent a considerable amount refurbishing and redesigning it, and it has now been enhanced with a pleasant lounge and eating area as well as making for a more salubrious atmosphere in the main bar itself.

On our first visit there was a house band called Exodus who were truly excellent, playing a frighteningly diverse range of material which seemed to drift seamlessly from Abba to Black Sabbath to the Spice Girls. The lead vocalist was a guy of about my own age called John who came to our table for a drink during the interval and we enjoyed quite an interesting chat about music, Margate (whence he originated) and lots besides. John was concerned that the owners of the site wanted a female vocalist and indeed on our next visit he had been replaced. Although the young lady who stepped into his shoes put on a good show it wasn't quite the same. I was pleased to discover when googling recently that John still seems to be playing with Exodus, and I make no apology for giving his website a plug.

Anyway, back to Thorness Bay - anybody who is a beer-head like myself with a long-suffering family who occasionally opt to return to the caravan before the evening is properly finished will appreciate the value of having somebody to engage in admittedly laboured conversation whilst dispensing the drinks. The large majority of the staff that I've encountered at Thorness Bay and indeed at Park Resorts in general have been friendly, sociable and very professional (not to mention tolerant).

Thorness Bay became our next "base" on the Island from then onwards, which we would usually opt for when filling out our Sun coupons as well as on those occasions when we booked up separately such as during the peak season. I would recommend it to anyone.