Our family holiday this year ( 2 adults and two 9 year olds ) had us wishing that we had stayed at home within two days of arriving. Although the attrocious weather was partly to blame, the state of the Caravan we rented and the facilities on the site were far from satsfactory.
Observations as follows :-
1. The toilet seat was hanging off when we arrived which I fixed. 2. Whilst not filthy it was obvious that the caravan hadn't been properly cleaned in months. The air vent below the kitchen skylight was completely blocked with grease and dust. 3. Most of the curtains were mildewed and a couple of the curtain rails kept falling off because they were not properly fixed. 4. The matress was the most uncomfortable I have ever tried to sleep on with the springs digging into me as I lay on it. The duvet was worn out and we were very cold the first night. In the end we used the duvet to pad the matress and covered it with a sheet, having bought a new duvet and pillows. 5. The seating in the lounge area was worn out with the springs evident through the fabric. Not particularly comfortable. 6. Parking next to the caravan was on grass which quickly became a quagmire in the wet weather. Fingers crossed every morning when wheelspinning onto the road 7. Good points included the shower, gas fire and oven hob, all of which worked well. 8. Most of the facilities on site are outoor and were not available in the bad weather. Indoor facilities included a small swimming pool which was highly chlorinated and a large number of slot machines. 9. The shop was a bit pricey which is to be expected although 10p for a small carrier bag is pushing it a bit. 10. We ate in the club restaurant on the first night only. Ok but nothing special. 11. When I asked for real ale at the bar I was met with a blank stare. 12. We went to the club on two evenings. Entertainment included Bingo and Talent competition. Not my cup of tea but many seemed to be enjoying it.
This was our first and I hope only experience of a static caravan holiday. We expected something different from what we found. Our mistake was partly due to the brochures which make the site seem very attractive. Had the weather been better I'm sure that things wouldn't have seemed so bad but we had chosen the site specially because of the facilities that we understood would be available if the weather turned bad.
The surrounding area is beautiful and the one advantage of the Altlantic storms coming in off Lundy was the spectacular waves along the coast from Saunton, through Croyde and along Woolacombe beach up to Morthoe. Other attractions include Clovelly, Watermouth Castle, Combe Martin Wildlife and Dinosaur Park as well as many excellent local pubs serving good food and real ale. Barnstaple is a very pleasant town. It was a wrench to return to the caravan each night.
Will be going back to the area but not this site. Grateful to be home again.
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Welcome to Ciao. Sorry to hear of your disappointing stay. Did the site offer different grades of caravan? I know when I worked on one of these parks, we had 3 levels of caravan and although even our 'budget' level 'vans weren't as grim as your holiday home sounds, we would always try to upgrade if a customer was unhappy.....I'd be incllined to email the site management a copy of your review for their comment...
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Advantages: cheap and clean caravans, excellent beach Disadvantages: a long way from the beach and other areas of interest. You need to use your car on a daily basis
Advantages: cheap and clean caravans, excellent beach Disadvantages: a long way from the beach and other areas of interest. You need to use your car on a daily basis
Sep 9th, 2009
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