Bluestone: An Honest Guide to the Resort at Canaston Wood

Bluestone National Park Resort sits in Canaston Wood outside Narberth — Bluestone Resorts Ltd, Canaston Wood, Narberth, SA67 8DE. It is five hundred acres of lodges, activities and an indoor waterpark inside the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, and it is the most-searched single place to stay in the county. It is also widely misunderstood, usually in one specific way, so that is where this starts.

Not to be confused with the bluestones themselves — the rocks Stonehenge is built from, quarried in the Preseli Hills about half an hour north of here. The resort took its name from them.

It is not a beach holiday

Bluestone is inland. The resort is in woodland above the Eastern Cleddau, and the coast is a drive — around twenty minutes to Tenby, Saundersfoot and Amroth to the south, more to the west-facing beaches. Nobody walks to the sea from a Bluestone lodge.

That is not a criticism. It is the whole design: an all-weather resort built so a week in Pembrokeshire does not collapse when the forecast does, which on this coast it will. But if the picture in your head is a lodge above a bay, you want Lydstep, Manorbier or the coastal cottages instead. If the picture is somewhere the children can be turned loose in the rain while you drink a coffee, Bluestone is the strongest thing in the county.

What a break includes

Their own terms, as published: access to the Blue Lagoon Water Park, The Hive indoor play and the Serendome is complimentary throughout your stay. Breaks are sold as two nights or five nights rather than by the week, which is unusual here and useful — a short winter break at Bluestone is a real option where most Pembrokeshire cottages want seven nights.

The Blue Lagoon is a subtropical indoor waterpark, open daily 9am to 5pm, with no pre-booking needed for resort guests. Worth knowing before you plan around it: the slides run at limited times — Monday mornings 9am to 1pm and Friday afternoons 1pm to 5pm, per the resort's own information page. The pool is open all day regardless, but if slides are the point of the trip for someone in your party, those are the windows.

The activity programme — archery, axe throwing, cue golf, bubble swimming and a long list besides — is booked and paid for separately.

The lodges, and what they sleep

Accommodation runs from studio apartments and cottages for two, through one- and two-bedroom cottages sleeping two to four, to the lodges: two-bedroom for four (Caldey, Ramsey, Solva), three-bedroom for six (Gateholm, Skomer, Tenby, St Govan), four-bedroom for eight (Caldey Connect, Grassholm, Dinas, St Davids, Carningli), and six-bedroom for twelve (Tenby Connect, Pembroke). The Dinas Bunkhouse sleeps fourteen.

They are graded Village, Silver, Gold and Platinum, which is the main lever on price alongside the season. We do not quote Bluestone prices here because they move constantly with date and grade — check the live price for your dates rather than any figure a guide gives you.

Two things we cannot tell you

We would rather say so than guess.

Day visits. Whether the Blue Lagoon admits people who are not staying at the resort is not stated on Bluestone's own information page. Ring 01834 862 400 and ask before driving over on the strength of it.

Dogs. None of the resort pages we read set out a pet policy. If you are travelling with a dog, confirm it with them directly — and if the answer is no, the dog-friendly cottages near the beach are the fallback.

What is around it

This corner of the county is the family-attraction belt, which is the real argument for basing yourself here. Folly Farm at Begelly is minutes away, so a week can be built without long drives. Narberth itself is about ten minutes: the best shopping street in the county, and enough good food to make the evenings worth leaving the lodge for.

If you like the lodge idea but not the scale of Bluestone, Herons Brook Retreat Lodges sits on the edge of Narberth with its own fishing lakes, and New Park at Landshipping is the quieter estuary-side option. Both are in the Narberth stay guide.

Who it suits

Families with children young enough that rain is a genuine threat to the holiday, and groups who want everyone under one roof with somewhere for the children to go. It suits a two-night winter break better than almost anything else here.

It suits you less if you came for the coast, if you want a village with a pub in it, or if the idea of a resort with a programme is the opposite of a holiday. Those are all reasonable positions, and Pembrokeshire has plenty for all three.