Leadstone Camping

Leadstone Camping is located in Devon near a charming place called Dawlish Warren which some people may be familiar with if they have ever been on holiday to this area of the country before.
It is a family run camp site according to it's website so I assume all the staff are related.
This review is on the Leadstone Camping site itself rather than the attractions and surrounding area and is based on my 1 week stay there in August 2005.
...truth.

The Leadstone Camping website was very impressive - clearly laid out, easy to read and updated regularly - and this is partly why I decided to make a booking here.
I booked via e-mail and provided credit card details to pay the deposit (£15 per pitch), the balance to be paid on arrival.

I received an acknowledgement of my booking very swiftly (within 2 hours) along with a hearty "happy camping" ... more

Leadstone Camping is located in Devon near a charming place called Dawlish Warren which some people may be familiar with if they have ever been on holiday to this area of the country before.
It is a family run camp site according to it's website so I assume all the staff are related.
This review is on the Leadstone Camping site itself rather than the attractions and surrounding area and is based on my 1 week stay there in August 2005.

This is only the second time I have been camping so this review may upset any hardened campers who happen to read it .......

~~~ Website & Prices ~~~

I used the internet to look for a suitable camping site for the family holiday which we decided to take in Devon this year rather than going abroad as we usually do.
Mainly because we had bought a large (and expensive) tent last year and still had to get some use out of it and also because we had the notion that it would be an "adventure" - which, as it turned out, wasn't far from the truth.

The Leadstone Camping website was very impressive - clearly laid out, easy to read and updated regularly - and this is partly why I decided to make a booking here.
I booked via e-mail and provided credit card details to pay the deposit (£15 per pitch), the balance to be paid on arrival.

I received an acknowledgement of my booking very swiftly (within 2 hours) along with a hearty "happy camping" message via e-mail.

Prices were fairly standard and probably a little cheaper than some of the other sites I looked at and the site is only open from mid-June to early-September each year (Jun 17 - Sep 4 in 2005).
Prices vary depending on whether you go before or after July 22nd :-
Adult £5.25 £5.95
Child £1.75 £2.10
Elec £2.50 £2.50
Dog £1.60 £1.80

Children under the age of 3 are free and apparently a child over the age of 14 is classed as an adult in this part of the world (i.e. they are charged adult rate).
Not sure if this is standard across all campsites in the UK.

Make sure that you only book the number of days you are likely to stay as there are strictly no refunds, even if there are people clamouring to get into the site - I made this mistake by booking 2 weeks and then leaving after only 1 week (read on to find out why).

Despite statements to the contrary on their website, you will have no problem extending your booking once you have set up your pitch - in fact one couple overstayed their booking and then disappeared in the dead of night without paying !

~~~ Getting There ~~~

Unless you live in the South-West already, in which case you probably wouldn't want to holiday in your own backyard, then the chances are that you will have to travel to Devon either via the M5 or the dreaded A303.
Having endured the A303 before, I decided that the M5 couldn't be that bad - wrong - it was worse. It took us over 6 hours to travel the 160 miles from Newbury - that's less than 30mph on average.

Once you leave the M5, the campsite is very easy to find and the website directions are perfect. Don't use the AA routeplanner, however, or you'll end up in Exeter ...

If travelling by rail then you'll have to go to Exeter and change for Dawlish from there.

~~~ First Impressions ~~~

The campsite itself is located down a small country lane and the surrounding area is very rural and picturesque.
On entering the campsite, there is a small wooden hut to the right which is doubles up as reception/shop and a car park large enough for about 4 cars.
So if you are 5th in the queue to turn into the campsite then you'll just have to wait on the main road I'm afraid !

I was struck by a couple of thoughts when I got to reception :-
- it was claustrophobically small despite being surrounded by
acres
of fields
- there were 3 staff members in the hut which meant that my
family
and I had to stand outside (luckily it was sunny)
- the woman dealing with me had no idea how to add up or do
multiplication despite using a calculator and asking for help
from her son

Once I had paid my fees and left a hefty deposit (£40) for a gas bottle (which was then unceremoniously thrust into my arms), a man told me to follow his van to where our pitch was located.
One slight problem at this point - by the time my 2 young children, my wife and I had got back into our car and manouevered past the double-parked cars, which had arrived in the meantime, the man and his rickety red van were nowhere to be seen !

We eventually caught up with him after scouring the 3 possible routes he could have taken.

So first impressions - okay - but no more than that.

~~~ The Pitches ~~~

The pitches themselves are very generous, managing to accomodate our 9 man tent and car with ease and they are quite clearly marked out so that you don't encroach onto your neighbour's turf.
There are 3 large fields separated by high hedges and they seem to be split so that caravans and camper vans are in the 2 fields nearest to reception, and the 3rd field is for tents, although there were some tents in the other 2 fields also.

The piches are well laid out and we saw the family next to us being reprimanded for parking their trailer outside their allocated pitch and blocking the thoroughfare.

There was plenty of space between tents but mainly because many of the tents were quite small as otherwise the pitches butt up to each other and 2 larger tents would be virtually touching canvas.

Apparently, tents are supposed to be 6 metres apart due to the risk of fire spreading, but at this campsite we heard one of the staff convert this to "6 paces".

~~~ Play Area ~~~

The site has a medium-sized play area for the children containing 2 swings, a climbing frame, an old tractor (really) and a few smaller items of equipment.
It is protected with tree bark and is visible from every angle of the field we were pitched in so is very safe for the children but could really do with being much larger.
Even so, our 2 children loved to play in it and spent at least part of their day there.

~~ The Facilities ~~

I apologise now for dwelling on this section of the review but it was the toliet and washing facilities that made us leave a full week earlier than we had planned and I'll explain why.

The toilet/wash facilities are located adjacent to the children's play area, but centrally, so that campers from all 3 fields have equal access to them which makes sense.
There is :-
- Ladies toilet block with 6 cubicles
- Mens toliet block with 6 cubicles
- Ladies toilet block with 2 further cubicles and 3 sinks
- Mens toilet block with 2 further cubicles and 3 sinks
- 8 x Unisex showers
- 4 portaloos (perhaps there was 5 ? can't quite recall)
- 2 x washing machines
- 2 x driers
- 1x iron and ironing board
- 5 x washing-up sinks (for pots and pans, etc)
- 1 x chemical disposal point
- 1 x waste water disposal point
- 1 x skip for rubbish

The website states that hot water is free to all sinks - which it is - however, it will cost you 20p to use the shower each time.
Not a lot of money but a real pain when you have queued for 40 minutes only to discover you have forgotten that important coin !
It also causes an inconvenience as the slot is too high for young/small children to reach so you have to accompany them to on each visit.
The sinks in the mens toilet were of the aluminium type and always looked disgustingly dirty - they are also located to the right of the mens urinals - great for when you are brushing your teeth.
One bonus is that you can use the urinal and chat with the people washing up their pots and pans as they can see straight through the toilet windows !
The portaloos were just simply awful - the smell was overpowering and I only used these once during the our stay.
The washing machines and driers were acceptable but don't be tempted to open the doors of the drier after switching on otherwise you lose your £2 and the machine switches off again.
There is a sign telling you this but it isn't exactly clear and legible.
We wasted a further £2 when the washing machine finished it's cycle, and we had residual washing powder left all over the clothes still. My wife complained and was given a refund but no attempt was made to warn others or fix the problem.

~~~ Queues ~~~

The biggest bug-bear was the queuing - queue for the toilet, queue for the shower, queue for the washing-up sinks - the queuing was endless regardless of what time of day you visited the facilities unless you went close to midnight which some people did.
We spent up to 40 minutes queuing for showers and you always had to queue for the toilet even if it was just a few minutes although it was much longer in the mornings as people used the sinks in the cubicles rather than those next to the urinals.

~~~ Hygiene ~~~

Cleanliness was not high on the agenda either - the toilets were particularly bad but the showers were not much better.
We saw the cleaners one night (around midnight) - there were 2 of them and the water in their buckets was filthier than that which they were mopping up.
I also noted that I couldn't smell any kind of cleaning fluid (bleach, etc) so I dread to think of what was lurking on the toilet seats...
We heard one man become very angry with the site owner telling him exactly what he thouht of the facilities and that his family was leaving that very moment (the same day they had arrived) - his exact words "I'm not staying in this over-priced sh*thole for one more minute".
The site owner merely turned and walked away - completely unphased by the incident which made me think that this wasn't the first complaint he had endured on this subject.

~~~ Swearing ~~~

This brings me onto the subject of swearing.
The site has a strict "no swearing" policy and if you or your children are heard to swear you are asked to leave the site immediately with no refund.
We saw this happen to 2 people whilst we were there - and they didn't swear prolifically - just "oh sh*t, I've forgotten my purse" whilst in the camp shop was enough to eject one poor family.

~~~ Other Stuff ~~~

There is a camp shop of sorts selling milk, bread, bacon, eggs at a slightly inflated rate as you would expect, although the local Costcutters supermarket deserves a mention for it's extortionate prices and charging 15p to use a debit card !
We did use the camp shop as it was more convenient than the 20 minute walk into the village but steered clear of "CostIncreasers".

You could also hire freezer blocks and gas canisters from the camp shop - you have to leave a £1 deposit per freezer block plus pay around 50p to exchange it for another frozen one.
The gas canisters are slightly different in that you have to actually "buy" the canister for £40, which is then refunded if you return it on departure.

The first day we arrived (Saturday), we booked in, paid our fees and were about to get our pitch when we were told in passing that the house next to the campsite was having a 21st birthday party and that there would be some "noise".
There was some noise - a live band from 8pm until 1.30am accompanied with lots of shouting and cheering from the inebriated guests.
This, despite the site having a strict policy on no noise after 11pm - and (surprise, surprise), no offer of a refund or compensation.

~~~ Leaving ~~~

After one week, my family and I were exhausted, having been awoken at 7am every morning by "happy campers" and screaming kids (not their fault - they're just having fun after all).
We were all feeling a little "grotty" after our experience with the toilets and showers, then to cap it all, it started to rain.
We soon had a nice little river flowing through the middle of our tent and decided that we had had enough.
I took off all my clothes (except shorts) and dismantled our tent in the pouring rain whilst the kids sat in the car playing on their GameBoys - bless them.

We returned our gas canister and were refunded our £40 without a hitch - but my friend who was served by somebody else was asked for his receipt before they would refund his money. And then, the woman complained that the receipt didn't itemise what it had been issued for, even though she had issued it ! Unbelievable.

As we were leaving a full week early we expected an offer of a refund but alas, this was not forthcoming.

~~~ What I Liked Best ~~~

The road out of the campsite..............no, seriously though, there were some good points - large, mostly level pitches, plenty of fresh water points, the location was very good, the safe kids play area and the website which is run very efficiently.
All these are plus points for this camping site.

~~~ What I Disliked ~~~

I realise that camping isn't exactly 5 star luxury but I do expect some level of hygiene better than that which I experienced in a public convenience at York railway station one afternoon after it had been "visited" by around 5000 Newcastle supporters.
But the toliet and wash facilities really are inadequate at this camping site.

It was a shock to find that, although the website is run efficiently with e-mails being answered very quickly and politely, the staff at the campsite are actually very indifferent towards you and the running of the site is more like Hi-de-Hi but without the humour (or yellow coats !).

I also kicked myself for not realising that I had been overcharged for my stay, by the imbecile with the calculator, until after I got home.

A few other gripes :-
- the over-flowing, stinking rubbish skip next to the shower block
- the bizarre way that minor rules like "no swearing" are
enforced rigorously whilst real issues, such as broken
washing machines, are ignored
- the general inconsistency in the way that the staff behave and
act

My wife also hated the perfect suntan sported by the woman in the camp shop for some reason .......

~~~ Summary ~~~

Leadstone Camping is in a very beautiful part of the country and located conveniently for the beach and other tourist attractions and compared to many other camp sites I'm sure it would meet with many people's approval.
Unfortunately, the things which I find important - hygiene, friendly staff, refunds (!) - all seem to be missing from this camp site.
So, I'm afraid I'll be listing my 9-man tent on eBay fairly soon so if you're interested let me know - otherwise, as Leadstone would say, "Happy Camping" !! 

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