Graeanfryn Farm

I stayed here earlier this Summer holiday with my family. We had just bought a new touring caravan and this was the first place we tried it out in.
We have been to many camping sites before we bought our new caravan, staying in a tent, but after freezing half to death and getting soaking wet (as well as having to listen to the whole sites arguments/ snoring etc through the thin fabric walls of a tent) too many times in our "waterproof" tent we'd just had enough, and decided a caravan would be better to suit our needs.

Location

Graeanfryn Farm is in Nefyn, we had stayed in this town before and that is why we choose to come to this site for our first trip in the caravan - if anything went wrong at least we knew the town quite well and wouldn't get lost on our way back home and also its a lovely place with lots of really nice beaches nearby.
Although we had been to the town before, we had never actually visited this particular caravan and camping site.
The site is at:
Morfa Nefyn
Gwynedd
North Wales
LL53 6YQ

The surrounding area is mountainous, very quiet and perfect if you like walking or want to get away from it all. Although the beaches are said on the leaflet to be 1 mile away from the site and we are all good walkers, we found that we would have to drive to get to any good sandy beaches, especially carrying all our belongings that we would want to take to the beach.
We also couldn't walk to a shop as there were none nearby, we had to drive to another town by just following the road and finding the nearest shop to buy anything. It took about ten-fifteen minutes to get to this nearest town in the Landrover. While we were there we also walked along a stony, windy beach which was nice except for the weather, and after this it was far too cold for ice creams so we all had a hot drink in a nearby cafe which was lovely.

If you have Google Earth on your computer, an idea is you could search up the area: Nefyn or by using the postcode above and then you could have a look at the site if you were interested to know more.

Entertainment

When it rained during our stay we stayed in our caravan which sometimes felt quite claustrophobic. The only thing we really had to do at these rainy times was play card or board games, or read, or talk. We didn't have a TV set up in our caravan yet although other caravans on the site had TV ariels on their caravans, and we could see them watching it through the windows (not being nosey or anything!) so we know it would be possible to get one and watch it on this site.

There was no entertainment on this site, the only things of any interest where:

• Views of nearby mountains (although thanks to the British weather most of the time during our stay these were covered in fog)
• Horses galloping in a field next to us - only interesting if you like horses, and their neighing could sometimes be annoying during the night if your a light sleeper like my dad and it kept you awake all night
• There was however, making up for this, a pub down the road, which it took about five minutes to walk to...

Y Bryncynan
A lovely pub where children are welcome, there are picnic benches outside which everytime we drove past were always really busy - usually a good sign.
We had a drink in this pub one night, a round of five drinks (3 J20s, one pint of lager and one glass of wine) cost around £12.
The views are much better in the pub than they were in Graeanfryn farm, as we sat outside on one of the picnic benches we all felt very relaxed as we drank and watched the sun go down in the distance, and a big mountain to one side of us if we wanted to look at that. Even though the sun was such a bright red that evening (red sky at night = shepherds delight) the next day it was cold and rainy as it usually is in North Wales. We didn't eat during our stay but I glanced at the menu and the meals looked reasonably priced, plus the place was really busy and I looked at some of the meals and they were really big, too.

Facilities

There was one main room on the site, the 'shower block', which had in it:

Four shower rooms
I thought the shower rooms were rubbish standard, they were dirty, the floor was always wet and it seemed as though no one ever cleaned them.
Each shower room was about the size of the average bathroom, with a toilet, shower and sink in it. There was a bin for your rubbish, although the bin was one of those cheapy ones you get with no lid (I should know, I have one in my bedroom!) which I felt wasn't very good in a bathroom, where it would be used for sanitary towels etc, as you can see what everyone has put in it.
There was one of those plastic boxes you get on the wall in most public toilets, with paper towels in, except the ones on this site where empty.
The showers didn't seem bad quality as far as the electric bits go themselves but the floors and plugholes were dirty, muddy and had hair in them. They really could have done with a good clean.

Washing up sink
One day while we were staying at the site it was quite cramped in the caravan so we decided to take our washing up to the shower block to use the sink there.
We carried it down in a bowl, we had to take our own washing up liquid, which you do in most sites so I'm not complaining about this, and we used the sink there.
It is really horrible, though, how the toilet doors open up right next to the sink, and you can only close them from the inside. Also they have a small space underneath them where unpleasant smells and any sound can pass under.
While we were washing up a man went to the toilet and left a really bad smell! Luckily we had finished by this time but I can't imagine if we had been staying in a tent and our only alternative was to use these toilets - at least we had a caravan we could use if the shower block was full - as it often was.

Noticeboard
There was a noticeboard in the shower block, as well. To get to it you had to walk through a dirty, wet floor first!
On this noticeboard there were posters such as one which said:
'free range eggs from geese, chickens for sale'
There were also leaflets in the shower block so if you were new to the area and want a day out somewhere you can pick up a leaflet and choose from there where you would like to go.

Fridge/Freezer
Although this fridge is advertised on the leaflet for the site, I tried to open this every time I went into the shower block for a test, but everytime I did it was locked and would never open! I think they should either open it as I saw lots of people trying to get it open with food in their hands so people obviously wanted to use it.
The fridge was white and not very big, it looked like it could have belonged to the owners and then passed it on when they got a better one!

Drinking Water on the Site
There were two outdoor drinking water taps on the site, they were far apart, but as the site is quite small you didn't have to walk too far to get water wherever you were on the site.

Advantages

These are things I liked about the site:

• It was children friendly - kids running everywhere, I know this counts as a disadvantage too for some people but it was good for my little sister as she made lots of friends here
• Although the views weren't breath taking or anything, they weren't too bad and some people would probably like to sit outside and enjoy looking at them. Even though it was often foggy it was nice to see the mountains when the sun came out.
• From looking at leaflets in the shower block, and driving around looking for beaches and places of interest, and visiting some I discovered there are lots of nice places to visit in the area, for example on our way to the site we spent a day in Portmeirion (I will try and get round to reviewing this soon) which is like an Italian village in the middle of North Wales.
• The prices for staying on the site are fairly reasonable, we have stayed on more expensive sites before which aren't much better. We have also stayed on cheaper sites which are about the same standards so the prices aren't excellent, but they are good.
• Although we didn't use it, there is a barbeque area on the site, with BBQs and picnic benches. Since you weren't allowed campfires or to use disposable barbeques on the grass I think this is a good idea.
• And of course, the pub down the road which you could easily walk to and which was a very nice place to go for a drink with the whole family being welcome.

Disadvantages

These are the things I didn't like so much:

• The weather was terrible - of course I don't blame
  Pictures

  

  Our caravan parked up at Graeanfryn Farm, all the caravans were quite close together and there wasn't much space

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  this on the site but wherever you go in North Wales the weather always seems to be cold, rainy and foggy, which is exactly how it was in Graeanfryn farm when we stayed here - even though it was July when we stayed!
• The shower block was too busy and needed cleaning. I think it would have been better if the actual shower rooms and washing up sink were in separate rooms. I didn't like how they were so cramped up next to each other. The floor was always wet and muddy and I think it could have been a lot nicer in there.
• There wasn't much space on the actual site itself - all the caravans and tents were really close up, and sleeping in the awning I could here practically everything that the people in the tent next door were saying! A bit more space would have been better between everyone who was staying on the site.
• Better service from the owners - I didn't get to see the owners during our stay, even though they lived on the site themselves. There was a button you could press on the site if you urgently needed them, which was good, however I think it would have seemed like a friendlier site if the owners walked around and talked to the holiday makers a little bit more.

Prices

While I was there, I picked up a leaflet to help me with writing this review. Inside the leaflet you can find the prices of staying on the site under the heading 'Tariff' which I will type below to be of extra help to you:Caravan/Tent/Motorhome with 1 car and up to 4 persons £12.00 per night.
Bank Holidays £14.00 per night.
Extra persons at £2.00 per night each.
Exyta car/boat/jet ski by arrangement at £5.00 per night each.
Deposit of £10 required with booking.

As a family we've been stayed on sites before, many which are cheaper than this site but at a not as good location, and many that are more expensive but about the same standards as this one. I think the prices for staying on the site are quite reasonable.

Contact

I picked up a business card from the shower block during my stay. These can be found with the Graeanfryn Farm leaflets, which you will find by the rest of the leaflets in the shower block.
On the business card it says:

GRAEANFRYN FARM
3* Caravan & Camping Site
Jan Harrison
Morfa Nefyn
Gwynedd
LL53 6YQ
01758 720455
01758 720485
Email: jan194@btinternet.com
www.campingnorthwales.co.uk

I have put this here incase anyone who reads this is thinking they like the sound of this and want to stay on the site. If anyone knows of any reason I should take this off because it isn't appropriate for the terms of the site, please leave a comment and I will delete it from here immediately.

Would I Recommend Staying on the Site?

I think although I have put many disadvantages for this site, I would recommend this for anyone who loves camping, caravanning or the great outdoors. Everyone has different opinions about things and I can't say how you would feel about staying on the site. I would recommend this because I am open minded and like to try a lot of different things, I think why not give staying on this site a try, you might like it which is great but if you don't never mind, and there is another site up the road from this one which we haven't been to yet, but thats always there if you got fed up with this one!
For anyone who doesn't like camping there is one static caravan on the site, it is by the entry gate into the site and looks very nice. In the site leaflet it is advertised as 'Luxury Holiday Caravan To Let In Morfa Nefyn'. It has private parking, raised decking, patio furniture and gas barbeque. Prices are from £300 to £395 per week.

I have offered my own experiences of this site above which will hopefully help you to make your decisions. Any questions or criticisms please leave them in a comment.

Thanks for reading,
Ruby.xo xxxxxx