Strolling along the prom. Paddling bare foot in the surf. Lining up for donkey rides. Hunting for crabs. Burying your dad in the sand. Spending time in the arcades. Riding the dodgems. Posing for family photos. Grabbing ice-creams, donuts, chips or jellied eels and pickled whelks as the mood takes you…
The City Adventurers were keen to get away and spend a luxury weekend break at Bookin’s holiday park – probably the UK’s most famous coastal resort and a home away from home for families seeking a traditional British seaside break.
Bookin’s holiday park ? Are you sure that’s the right name, I hear you ask.
OK, so maybe this holiday park is more infamous than famous as it was run by the team from Red Herring Games and this weekend was going to be murder!
A few days before the holiday we received our goodie box, packed with information about the weekend and a selection of snacks.
The weekend began with a welcome form one of the Yellow Coats, then it was eyes down for an hour of Bingo before the Magnificent Magical Matinee. while some people retired for a snooze in their (virtual) chalets, some of us headed to the kitchen for a cook-along with Holly Day. We made a delicious paella with a side of garlic mushrooms.
There was just enough time to eat before we were back for cocktail hour. Red Herring Games had included recipes for a couple of cocktails, (although they had also offered a delivery service for UK customers). We were invited to chat to fellow guests in breakout rooms before returning to the main room for the highlight of the night……the murder mystery.
It was a chance to meet all the characters running Bookin’s holiday park as well as the entertainment team. In our pack we found a lot of evidence relating to them and the crime that had been committed. We were able to question people in small groups and came up with a few theories to put on hold until the following night.
The next day we were back with the entertainment team for an Escape Room adventure. Our campmates from the USA had played the game the previous night, while us Brits got some shut eye. Now it was our turn to follow the clues around the camp. We did well with our team of escapers and completed the mission in 37 minutes.
Talking of puzzles, the goodie box also contained a number of postcard puzzles. If we managed to solve them we would gain access to the Bookin’s holiday park safe and further clues for the murder mystery. We had done reasonably well with most of the clues, but were stumped by others. Luckily the Yellow Coates were around to host a postcard puzzle workshop to point us in the right direction.
Next, we had a writers forum with Abir Mukherjee, M. W. Craven and Anne Coates. This was followed by a dance workshop with Holly Day, then a quiz.
At 7pm we were back to the murder mystery. More information had been emailed to us and we had all(I assume) managed to open the safe. We split into our groups and questions our suspects again. Then it was time to make our accusations.
When the results were in, we discovered the City Adventurers had agreed with the popular vote. Unfortunately, that meant the City Adventurers and most of their camp mates had got the wrong answer!
Never mind. It was a fun packed, if hectic weekend, of fun from Red Herring Games.
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