PGL Travel Reviews 

Based on my children’s positive experience last year, I felt confident booking with PGL again. However, I was disappointed and concerned by aspects of their recent stay at Newby Wiske.

Both of my children and my friend’s son reported feeling hungry for much of the stay, with the hot-food portions being particularly small. I was also concerned that my request to speak with my children went unanswered for almost 40 hours, and when I eventually spoke to my son, a staff member stood directly beside him throughout the call, meaning he had no opportunity to speak with any degree of privacy.

My son is booked to return shortly, so I have raised these concerns directly with PGL and hope they will respond constructively and provide reassurance before his next visit.

My child had such a fantastic time here, he loved every day and wants to go back again for another adventure break.

the care, dedication of the pgl staff and the excellent organization truly made a difference to my daughter experience. Great location in the nature

Extremely well organized, staff take the time to explain everything, patient and understanding with the kids and a great variety of activities

Have been to PGL Barton Hall twice now. The accomodation and general look and feel of the place is a bit tired but the staff and activity equipment is top notch.
The staff are always really friendly, patient and helpful. There's a great range of activities and the swimming pool is really nice when the weather is good.

Fantastic organisation from start to finish. I was very comfortable with my daughter being there and most importantly she had a brilliant time, would highly recommend.

Son had a fab week (Mon-Fri) at Newby Wiske. For his first time away from home, we were reassured by daily arranged calls. Despite going by himself, he made friends with the help of the team leader.
Now that he's back home, he cannot stop talking about it. Will surely book again.

My daughter left camp because she was being bullied not acceptable I wouldn’t recommend booking

I highly recommend PGL! its a fantastic place for kids, it's a very safe environment and full of activities! most important to me is that my daughter makes new friendships, learning to be independent and creats lots of memories! she has been going for last 4 years, the stuff is amazing, keeping them save and entertain, and if any issues they communicate with parents and try to solve it! Best place for kids

A wonderful and once in a lifetime experience that I would encourage anyone to go to.

Wonderful holiday, varied activities and fantastic staff. Thank you 🤗

PGL is fun for all the family, the staff are helpful and encouraging with an abundance of enthusiasm and energy! Food and accommodation are perfect for this type of adventure. We will definitely be returning.

Amazing holiday, everything planned and all food taken care of - a busy mother’s dream!

The title says it all really. We have attended a 3 night activity weekend for 3 years in a row and are never disappointed. The activities are varied, the instructors and staff fantastic and the whole experience is excellent value for money. I couldn't recommend PGL Barton Hall enough.

It was a wonderful family experience, particularly for 2 children with additional needs. The instructors were supportive and patient with them, and they achieved more than they ever thought they could do.

I was looking for an alternative to Butlins and started seeing adverts for PGL on Facebook - The price seemed almost too good to be true for a whole week of activities with accommodation and all meals included. We chose Barton Hall in Torquay.

From reading online reviews I was already aware that the accommodation itself is very basic and 'to expect school dinners' so I set my expectations extremely low for these and was pleasantly surprised on both counts.
The rooms ARE small and basic, but our room was clean enough, with fresh bedding and a refurbished shower room. The bunk bed was surprisingly comfortable! And there were enough electrical sockets including ones with built-in USB charging ports.
From other reviews I really expected the food to be poor quality and bland but, whilst obviously not Michelin quality, it was consistently good. Most importantly it was all nicely cooked and genuinely had flavour.
About the only bad thing for me in the restaurant was the coffee which comes out of fancy looking 'Douwe Egberts' (which I've never liked) machines but is just instant coffee. I think they're missing a trick by not having better coffee on sale at the bar - If they installed a decent bean-to-cup machine I reckon it would pay for itself quickly.

Currently being on a high-protein diet myself I was pleasantly surprised to find Edamame/Soy beans and Cottage Cheese available on the salad bar most days, and the salad was always fresh and nice. My boys loved the selection of cold pasta salads.
They have a decent bar which also sells additional hot food such as Pizza and Nachos - I never needed any of this but it looked good and both the food and drink prices were very reasonable.
I didn't really know what to expect in terms of activities and equipment but the programme was excellent! There wasn't a single dud for us, my boys (10 and 7) thoroughly enjoyed every single activity and we discovered some new sports along the way with both 'Disc Golf' and 'Aeroball' (like basketball played whilst bouncing on a trampoline) being noteworthy.
The 'Giant Stand up Paddle Boarding' was utter carnage in the most fun way possible - nobody stayed dry and whilst it's hard to choose a favourite, this one was definitely a highlight.
All equipment was modern and in good condition and the instructors were all extremely well trained: I'm so impressed that they are able to manage the risks and safety for young children to be allowed the thrill of firing real arrows in Archery and shooting Air Rifles. All activities were completely inclusive with the instructors capable of quickly adapting to the capabilities of each individual - there wasn't a single moment when I had any doubt at all about the safety of anything.

Set on an old Pontins site, PGL clearly has some tired old buildings to try and maintain and places like the 'Dartmoor' hall and stage are a bit dated, but they're clearly prioritising the right things and spending money where it will count the most. We had a blast doing the evening Bingo, 'Quingo', Silent Disco and watching the Karaoke and it was quite clear that the reps loved hosting it all.

The whole site is located just outside of Torquay, with a Tesco Express and Co-Op a short drive away (or a moderate walk). We decided to stay an extra couple of nights in the area and whilst struggling to find somewhere, the staff told me that PGL offers B&B. So we ended up staying two additional nights for far less than the cost of an hotel, which not only included breakfast but allowed us to continue using the pool (heated and clean) and games room AND to participate in the evening entertainment!

Really the only minor annoyance (speaking as someone who is pretty terrified of wasps) was that there were rather a lot of wasps about. There's not much anyone can do about that and they assured me that they destroy nests when they find them. I did suggest that they could invest in some wasp traps to put up around the place to try and reduce the number of them bothering people. The staff said that there were more wasps than usual so maybe it's just a bad year for them.

I was especially pleased with just how much is included and how little cost extra. As much as we've had a couple of great holidays at Butlins (which is way more crowded and much more about the fancy pool and big shows), they constantly try to milk you for cash with all the arcades and paid extras where you can easily end up spending literally hundreds of pounds extra on-site.
Whereas with PGL you're only going to buy perhaps a few drinks/ice creams and maybe a couple of very reasonably priced items from the gift shop. Which makes it much cheaper overall.

Honestly, we've had the best week - I really cannot fault it and I'll be recommending PGL to everybody.
And despite the pesky wasps, we will definitely, 100%, be going back again.

We booked a last minute 4 night family adventure holiday at Caythorpe with pgl in July 2026 for 2 adults and 2 children aged 12 and 10. We went with our friends and the group activities were arranged to happen with our friends. From the moment we arrived we got straight into the activities. The programme of activities was well organised and varied, ranging from orienteering to raft building to paddle boarding to climbing to canoeing to problem solving. All the instructors were friendly and supportive encouraging us to try new activities. The evening activities were also fun and there was an opportunity for the adults to relax while the kids played. The food was plentiful and exceeded our expectations. The site was well maintained, pretty and peaceful.
It was fantastic holiday and we really enjoyed it and hope to return next summer.

The PGL staff were exceptional from the very moment we arrived until we departed from PGL Dalguise. The staff fully engaged and encouraged every single one of our group challenging them to push themselves possibly further that they have before. Every one of our group had a fantastic weekend making memories that will last with them for a lifetime.

Excellent holiday with my very active grandsons aged 9 and 11 years old. So much encouragement from the instructors and so much fun trying a myriad of new activities and excelling at all of them. Highly recommended.