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Butlin's 2024 Map
On this section of the Butlins Memorabilia website, we take a closer look at the history of the Blue Camp accommodation. By referring to a map of Butlins Minehead in 2024, you'll notice that the Blue Camp began with the single-deckers in the middle of the campsite (west side) and extended to the end where the double-deckers are located.
Taken from my 1967 Entertainment Guide
To begin, we'll explore the history of this important site by referencing my 1967 Butlins Entertainment Guide map, which highlights the location of the Blue Camp. Comparing it to the 2024 map, we can see that not many changes have been made to the layout, except for the presence of the Infants Centre building. The chalets from A to O on the map are single-storey, while those from P to ZR are double storey.
Taken from my 1974 Entertainment Guide
The 1967 entertainment guide contains further details about the Blue Camp and the Infant Centre. According to the map, the infant center is marked as number 16, positioned between the single and double-decker accommodations. Further scans from the guide show you additional information about the infant center and the services offered to the customers.
Taken from my 1974 Entertainment Guide
The Entertainment Guide continued in 1974 with the Do's and Don'ts of staying at Butlin's Minehead. Some of these rules remain in the current version of Butlins to this day.
Showing the map from the 1975, 1976 and 1977 Entertainment Guide
As you can see from the Entertainment Guide maps, the blue camp did not change between 1975 and 1977. The nursery did have a romper room added upstairs during these years (16). The only change on the map is that the front rows are now only two and the back four. However, the number of rows had never changed, it was just the format of the map that changed.
1977 Entertainment Guide
The Infant's Centre description has been updated to now include the Free Nappy Washing service, along with the updated charges for the Push chairs, which have gone up.
The Nursery Chalet Patrol has been relocated to a spot that offers a full view of Butlins Minehead. It's worth mentioning the "Child Listening Service" in the brackets.
1980 Butlins Brochure
On the fifth page of the brochure, there's information about the services offered by the Infant Centres. I was particularly interested in the details about Butlin's Clacton and the extra services it was providing to the customers.
Showing the map from the 1982 Entertainment Guide
As my research continued, I found that there was a change in 1982 when the nursery building was renamed the Nursery Centre. The chalets continued to be called the Blue Camp and represent the front to rear of the west side centre of the chalets.
1982 Entertainment Guide
The price for the pushchair hire has gone up from its original 50p for the week to now £3. The deposit at the start was £2 in 1967 as in 1980 it's £7. Another area to take note of is the Free Nappy Washing service no longer includes Saturday. The playroom is an area that has not been seen in any of the guides and could be something they might have added further along or just as a promotion in the brochure. The Evening Children's Patrol is now known as the Chalet Patrol with the same rules on how to book the service.
1985 Butlin's Entertainment Guide Map
The only change I could see from the 1985 entertainment guide was the format of the map, which now showed the chalets as white boxes.
1985 Entertainment Guide
In 1985, they decided to move the pushchair hire from the Nursery building to the hire shop in the Windsor Building. The nappy service was still available, but now the play rooms were getting more attention in the guides. They also introduced a new service called Night Owl, which I think is a great addition to the Butlins holiday.
1986
Butlins experienced major changes as the owners made large investments in the beloved brand. They reduced the number of camps to five and Butlins Minehead was renamed Butlin's Somerwest World. The camps were completely revamped to fit into Butlins' new era.
1986 - Donated by Nigel via the Facebook group
This 1986 map shows you that the Blue camp is now renamed to Beachwood and continues to be in the same location as 1967.
1987 Butlins Entertainment Guide
In 1987, the Beachwood name underwent expansion with the inclusion of single deckers on the Yellow Camp side. Interestingly, two rows of single decker chalets retained the name Yellowstone in both 1987 and 1988.
Showing the map from the 1988 Entertainment Guide
The then owners of Butlins, the Rank Organisation, had made some major changes to Butlins. Five camps remained, of which Minehead was one. Now known as Butlins Somerwest World, all areas have been renamed to reflect the new era of Butlins. Blue Camp was renamed Beechwood and expanded. It now includes part of the former Yellow Camp chalets, which form the east side of the centre.
The map has also been greatly improved to show the rows as they appear on the side, with the rear double-deckers having a gap where the walkways are located.
Showing the map from the 1989 Entertainment Guide
In 1989 the Yellowstone single-storey chalets were moved to Beechwood to make way for the new village called Exmoor Village. On this map, you can see them as number 33. If you look at the lines of the two-story chalets, a new number has also appeared, number 14.
Number 14 is the miniature railway which was also relocated to its final location.
Showing the map from the 1993 Entertainment Guide
Changes in the 1993 Entertainment Guide show only one area that has changed, and that is the Nursery Centre building. This now has a check-in, known as number 3, where customers can collect their keys.
Butlins become resorts - copyright to Butlins
Large changes were made to Butlins when the owner at the time, the Rank Organisation, had chosen to close all the hotels and reduce Butlins to three remaining locations. Minehead was one of the locations to continue to tell the Butlin's story as all the accommodations were renamed. Butlins are no longer known as camps as they are renamed to resorts.
Showing the map from the 1999 entertainment guide
Butlins Minehead underwent a major change when it was renamed "Butlins Family Entertainment Resorts". Still owned by the Rank organisation, the former Beechwood was to be split into three new villages. The double-deckers to the right of the dining room were renamed Ocean Point. The single-deckers in front of the dining room were renamed Pacific Wharf and the former Yellow Camp double-deckers to the left were renamed Atlantic Bay.
Butlin's 2024 Map
The Ocean Point Chalets continued to offer rooms only, with the exception of the last five remaining chalets, as they were self-catering. The rooms have been extensively upgraded to bring them into line with the new resort format.
Room only changes
By 2012, the front rows of Ocean Point had seen another change where Butlins had merged two chalets into one to create a new Silver Suite. The chalet would have a bedroom, shower, and a small living room (which used to be a bedroom). The Silver Suite would not have a kitchen and was designed to offer an alternative to a room only (photos below).
Self Catering remaining five rows
The last five remaining self-catering pitches have been closed to the public for over 15 years, but remain. At times they have been used by staff while work was being carried out on the staff villas.
Butlin's 2024 Map
The single-deckers in the front of the middle rows were rebranded as Pacific Wharf. These room-only chalets would stretch towards the double-deckers at Atlantic Bay on the left side and towards the Nursery Building on the right side.
On the right are the Ocean Point Chalets and on the left is the former Sunset Wharf, which is no longer part of Butlins (from 2023).
On the left is Ocean Point, formerly known as Blue Camp, and then into Beechwood. If you look at the letter F, you'll see that it's shaped. This was a symbol system used to help customers find the village they were staying in. Just follow this until you find the place where you will be staying for your break.
In this photo you can see work being done to the Ocean Point room, which will then be transformed into the current Silver Suite that you see at Butlins Minehead today (as of 2023). They removed all the doors on one side and replaced them with windows, while the chalet rooms inside were joined together to form a larger chalet from the other side. This changed them from one to two bedrooms to two to three bedrooms with a small living room with a shower.
You can see that the doors upstairs and downstairs have been removed, leaving only memories to tell the story of a time when someone might have lived in these very rooms. It's sad to see a part of history removed, but at the same time it's exciting to see developments being made to make it better.
Where I worked in 1999, do miss this greatly.
The old symbol system was still being shown on the chalets after being discontinued as a way to find where your staying.
This is the insert part that I typed about further up the page.
View of Oyster Bay from Ocean Point
The former single-deckers called Sunset Wharf had been demolished at this stage to be replaced with a new chalet village.
You can now see the new builds on the left-hand side and Ocean point going towards the rear of the resort.
The former self-catering units were used in the very early days of the family entertainment resorts.
On the left is the former self-catering unit formerly known as Beechwood and the Blue Camp. On the right is the same, but only one room, which is still in use.
This photo shows you the Butlin's Family Entertainment Resort backboard and decoration.
Bath in the self-catering, which was unusual to find as the majority of the chalets were converted into showers
I have to say that I was so very pleased to see this middle pathway removed.
