Hazelwood Park (Devon)

...leave. I cant remember how Hazelwood Park popped up when I was searching on the wen, but I decided to throw myself on the mercy of their rather nice website.

The blurb says its facilities include a outdoor heated swimming pool, pool room, take-away, laundrette, supermarket and clubhouse/bar. Not a lot which is what we wanted but it is only a 10 minute walk from Dawlish Warren beach and a short drive from Powderham Castle, Exeter, Paignton ...
...choose from.

Hazelwood Bungalow - The super duper, top of the range bungalow. For an average of £200 a week more than the others you get a bungalow thats 60% bigger than the other bungalows, they sleep six people with a double bedroom, a room with bunk beds in it and a double sofa bed in the living room. They are also recently refurbished with a fully equipped kitchen, fridge-freezer and microwave. They also have the convenience of ... more

~We're all going, "I want to go home", on a summer holiday. "I'm going to be so bored". No more worries for a "They had better have an Internet cafe", week or two. Fun and laughter on a summer holiday..."Humph". Well, we were going to have a good holiday, not so sure about the 13yr old Internet addict in the back seat of the car.
No computer, no phone, no Playstation and no Sky TV! And it was just the way myself and the partner had planned it.

We didn't have a huge choice to choose from, we didn't want to spend a huge amount (last full week of the summer holidays mind!). We still hadn't chosen anywhere to go 4 days before we were due to leave. I cant remember how Hazelwood Park popped up when I was searching on the wen, but I decided to throw myself on the mercy of their rather nice website.

The blurb says its facilities include a outdoor heated swimming pool, pool room, take-away, laundrette, supermarket and clubhouse/bar. Not a lot which is what we wanted but it is only a 10 minute walk from Dawlish Warren beach and a short drive from Powderham Castle, Exeter, Paignton Zoo, Quaywest, etc.

There were 3 types of accommodation we could choose from.

Hazelwood Bungalow - The super duper, top of the range bungalow. For an average of £200 a week more than the others you get a bungalow thats 60% bigger than the other bungalows, they sleep six people with a double bedroom, a room with bunk beds in it and a double sofa bed in the living room. They are also recently refurbished with a fully equipped kitchen, fridge-freezer and microwave. They also have the convenience of being near the facilities, I'm not so sure that was a positive thing, but more about that later.

Beechwood Bungalow - The most basic bungalow, 2 bedrooms, one with a double bed, one with bunk beds. There's a fully equipped kitchen, a bathroom with shower, and in the living room 2 easy chairs, table and 3 chairs and a television, at a cost of £335 a week.

Beechwood Plus - As above, but recently refurbished, new kitchen, carpets and glass enclosed shower. Instead of being back to back like the Beechwoods they are in single rows so have windows in both bedroom. For this you pay and extra £50 a week.

Duvets and covers were provided and linen packs are provided for £4.50 a week.

So finally after much stress and moaning, but thankfully only an hour and 50 minute drive we arrive.
Book in time is 4pm so we leave the car and go off to explore the beautiful beach.

Our first impression was that it was small. The outdoor swimming pool was small, as was the clubhouse and bar. Of course as we'd paid for the basic bungalow and booked very late we were right at the bottom of the park.
So we get to our bungalow and its in a row but with a good sized patch of grass outside with more bungalows opposite. Oh yes, its basic, clean, but basic. The bathroom was also clean but the shower had a curtain on it which I always hate because they always get stuck to my backside! I was happy though.

Until I saw them................ANTS! (not cockroaches thankfully!). On the table, in the kitchen, on the floor, that was it, I was gone. I know its only ants but around my food? they might crawl over me in my sleep! Nooo! I don't think the huge ants nest in the middle of the grass helped.

Luckily we hadn't unpacked so it was straight back to the reception where they happily gave us a new bungalow and an upgrade to a Beechwood Plus. Now this one was a bit more pleasant. New kitchen and cooker, new carpets, repainted and a glass enclosed shower. Again with a large patch of grass outside and it was spotlessly clean. And no little ant blood spatters on the walls. And oddly for me there was only 2 things I found fault with. We couldn't open our little window in the bedroom cos there was a plant growing through it so it was jammed shut, and who ever painted it got a bit slap happy because they had got the paint all over the windows! Oh yes and apparently you have to request one to definitely get a ladder for the bunk bed, ever so slightly odd that one! I was quite a happy bunny, though some people may have trouble with the small amount of storage space

Off we went to explore the park, a good sized playground was only another row of bungalows down. The park is David Bellamy Silver awarded, so there were two large lakes stocked with fish, lots of trees and a stream, so you have to keep an eye out fore the little ones, and lots of ducks to feed. A lot of the caravans and bungalows there were private and people obviously took good care of them with lovely gardens and decorations. Only one problem, which could be seen as a real bother for some was the building site which would have been opposite our old bungalow. They were obviously building new bungalows so there was a fair bit of rubble and things around there. It also wasn't cordoned off very well so a few of the kids were tempted. On the plus side they didn't start doing work till about 10 am so no one got woken up really early by a digger!

There was no entertainment during the day so all the kids were outside the bungalows playing, I thought it was fantastic and my little boy made loads of friends but probably not the place for a nice relaxing romantic stay, particularly if your idea of fun is to spend all day in bed! The entertainment on an evening was not the most brilliant either. They always had kids entertainment from 7.30 till 8.30, then Bingo from 8.30 till 9.30 and then adult entertainment from then onwards till around midnight. The kids were welcome to stay. The kids entertainment was basic but the two enjoyed it. Karaoke was quite popular, although if I hear 'Hey Baby' sung by a small child once more I'm going to strangle it! There was a clown one evening. Fun, games and dancing on the others, although it was the same songs every time!
Bingo was just bingo! Myself, the partner and the little on usually left at this point because we had little interest in the adult entertainment which did include an Elvis tribute, Abba tribute and according to my daughter the unfunniest comedians in the world. Apparently a typical joke was , one chap to the other "Why wont you marry me", 2nd chap "Because you're gay and a Goth". Nope I didn't laugh either, and nor did anyone else! Drinks were also on the expensive side.

We didn't try the pool, mainly because on the days the weather was good we went out, and the rest of the time the weather wasn't brilliant. It was popular with quite a few people. The supermarket was a Londis and promised to keep to their prices, so for once it was reasonable and not over expensive, and well stocked.
The highlight of the facilities was the take-away. It offered chips, pizzas, kebabs, pies, sausages and all kinds of fish. I have to say they were absolutely delicious, especially the (local) fish and chips, very reasonably priced as well.

We did really enjoy our stay here, even though most of the time we were not there and it would probably would have been extremely boring if we had to stay there all the time. Only one thing I didn't like and that was due to the people staying there rather than the camp itself. Some of the bungalows are dog friendly and we did see quite a few dogs. You're guessing it all ready aren't you? Yep dog mess, some people just did not pick up their dog mess, and yes we are talking about the areas that the kids played. Luckily there were some conscientiousness people around who picked it up, usually those without dogs, but the rules do say all dog mess should be picked up and people should get a warning when they don't.

Oh and the reason I mentioned the Hazelwood Bungalows earlier. Yes they were close to the facilities but would have been a little too close for my liking, especially with the drunken lots coming out of the bar, who had to pass them on the way back to the other bungalows, they were also next to the take-away where the smells must have permeated the bungalows. They also had the misfortune of being near the entrances so quite a few of them would have had headlights shining into their rooms on regular occasions. They also had no play areas right in front of them, which is something I would have missed. You also had to keep a close eye on the kids because that area was busier for traffic than the others. Apart from that I'm sure they were very nice inside!

Definitely a place for families, especially if you are planning days out, or want to spend the whole day on the beach, there were also bus stops just outside to take you to areas like Exeter, Torquay, Teignmouth, Paignton, etc, although travelling through Starcross the nearest village is a bit hairy!

We spent last year in a Pontins down near Hastings and although there was a lot more to do in the daytime we enjoyed this place a lot more, probably due to the fact there was a lot more to do close by. Well recommended.

Prices are based on the week we were staying, they do change according to the season.

www.hazelwoodpark.co.uk 

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