Burton Constable Caravan Park

...tent (complete with rooms) and Burton Constable was my first weekend destination.

I selected Burton Constable Caravan park purely because if its location. I work very close to the Humber Bridge, and the Burton Constable Caravan Park is located on the north side of the bridge, to the North East and close to a village called Sproatley. The main objective was to find somewhere within one hour of work, so as not to waste a Friday night ...
...is advisable to book at Burton Constable, and there are signs to say it is essential for bank holiday weekends.

We had pre-booked having first consulted both our AA camping guide, and the park's own website www.burtonconstable.co.uk. Check in was swift and does involve stopping at the main gates to register before you are given the rules of the site and taken to your camping pitch. Entrance and exit to the site is barrier controlled ... more

Despite enjoying the finer things in life, and working in hospitality which essentially means I can usually get industry rates in most towns and cities in the UK, my recent five day trip inspired me to a new hobby - that of camping. I have made an investment in a £600 tent (complete with rooms) and Burton Constable was my first weekend destination.

I selected Burton Constable Caravan park purely because if its location. I work very close to the Humber Bridge, and the Burton Constable Caravan Park is located on the north side of the bridge, to the North East and close to a village called Sproatley. The main objective was to find somewhere within one hour of work, so as not to waste a Friday night driving to a destination, and Burton Constable fitted the bill.

That said, camping is really taking off at the moment, and it is quite difficult at the moment to get a pitch, especially at peak times such as weekends and bank holidays. It is advisable to book at Burton Constable, and there are signs to say it is essential for bank holiday weekends.

We had pre-booked having first consulted both our AA camping guide, and the park's own website www.burtonconstable.co.uk. Check in was swift and does involve stopping at the main gates to register before you are given the rules of the site and taken to your camping pitch. Entrance and exit to the site is barrier controlled and you need to pay a £10 deposit, which provides a barrier key and also a bathroom key. I am not quite sure of the latter, but I guess it gives an extra sense of security.

There are about 20-25 "rules of the site" but I don't think any of them are particularly alarming, just normal common sense stuff about noise, waste, pets, kids and the like. It is however forbidden to hang your clothes on a clothes line outside your tent, so if you are the kind of camper that does that, well you will be better off not going here. Check out time on departure day is a leisurely 2pm. The most two onerous rules (in big type) are that children under 12 should be supervised at all times, and swimming in the lake is strictly forbidden. Neither of these posed a problem for me either..

Although I knew that this was a fair sized site, I was not prepared for its vastness. It is simply huge, and I wouldn't like to guess how many people were there this weekend. The start of the park is made of "park homes" which are regular homes, and there are literally hundreds of these, followed by various areas for caravans, large and small, before you finally arrive at the tented areas, surprisingly there is only space for about 30 tents.

In terms of facilities, there is a very well kept shower block area, with pot wash on the outside. There were about 8 ladies cubicles and five showers including one power shower, and the use of the showers was free to all. There were hairdryers of a sort within the toilet block also.

I didn't make a lot of use of the other facilities which include a bar, (which we decided would be too busy given the size of the park, so we didn't go and attempt to find out). There was a small shop, which was not that well stocked in terms of groceries I have to say, although if you needed anything for your tent there was a good chance you might be able to get something here. There is also a lake, and fishing permits were available and you can walk to the nearby Burton Constable Hall via Capability Brown Gardens. There is also a chip van on the site two days a week, if you can't face another burnt sausage.

Campers can leave their cars beside their tents, and in fact they can form a little bit of a privacy barrier, if you don't like the look of your temporary neighbours! We didn't particularly like one of ours as the father had placed his chair so it stared directly into our side door - thank heavens for a bit of space between us where we could leave the car (and also the fact he left early next morning). Campers are generally a friendly enough bunch though, and here was no different, although I do feel a few were quite jealous of my new canvas second home.

The ground was pretty good overall, even, and generally well kept. We managed to avoid wet weekend all evening until Saturday night, and it was torrential then, so much so that quite a few fled in the middle of the night - such wusses. Still I slept like a baby, although the ground was a little squelchy in places on the way to the toilet block this morning, but it was reasonable enough to walk on.

At night, the noise could be a little much at times particularly as there were a couple of parties going on for one celebration or another, and some family parties had clearly come en masse with a couple of large tents. However, while I would have liked them to quieten down a little sooner, they were pretty quiet by 11pm as per the rules. Perhaps I have been spoiled for choice as we had a small field to ourselves on my previous outing to the Isles of Scilly in July.

Area wise, the site is handy if you want to explore some of Hull, particularly the Deep complex and the Museum Quarter - the latter being excellent and free of charge. As a relative newbie to camping, I am still very much of the "let's find a pub for dinner" brigade, and I wouldn't really recommend the local pub in Sproatley and it was also a little difficult to find anything of a reasonable standard (bearing in mind camper dress code!) close by, although we settled on a chain style pub in the end.

Overall, if you have kids, and want a great cheap holiday, then this site is ideal, as there is plenty to do outdoors, including kids play frames etc. For me, it was just too big and too busy, but that said I had a nice time, and there was nothing that I could particularly fault about the set up either.

Prices from £12 per night based on two adults in a two man tent, no electric - minimum two night stay at weekends.

Please ignore some ratings, especially (ROOMS) and (FOOD and DRINK) 

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