Rated 4 of 5

Rated 2 of 5

Peace and tranquility

Rated 2 of 5

Access to local places of interest

Rated 2 of 5

Beauty of surroundings and scenery

Rated 1 of 5

Ease of arrival/welcome

Did not enjoy - a few highlights do not outweigh the numerous issues. Felt unwelcome.

Just come back from here and we did not enjoy our stay. The entire caravan aspect of the site seems to be an afterthought, with the focus of the site being on the narrow boats which reside here. I felt unwelcome and unthought about in a lot of respects. First sign of this was when arriving. We pulled up and there was no obvious direction for the caravan/motorhome area. We found a reception building which seemed to be prohibiting our entry stating ‘Access to boaters only’ and was advertising the sale of boats. Despite the sign I entered anyway as there was no one else to ask. This turned out actually to be the correct place to my surprise and the man at the reception booked me in, after some issues finding our booking. I was asked to pay £15 per night, which was less than the agreed £25, so I clarified that we wanted to use the site facilities (toilet and shower block etc) at which point he said it would be £25/night. There was no map available, something I have found at every site previously, but he drew a sketch to indicate where to drive. We drove to the relevant area and found ourselves on an extremely muddy grass pitch. Not really what I was hoping for and not indicated when booking. The electric hookup and water tap at the side of the caravan are fine and very close to you, so no issues there. Shower and toilet block facilities quite good, but again signs indicating “Access for boaters only” in this area. This made me feel quite uncomfortable, I know I’ve paid extra for the privilege of using these facilities but the boat users seeing these signs must think I’m taking liberties. In terms of accessing the facilities I was given a code on a piece of paper to access this area, an investment in a digi-lock would seem to be a good idea as they are currently using something like a padlock that you might put on a suitcase - not illuminated and difficult to operate in the dark, with a sign up saying you must scramble the code after closing the gate. The footpath to/from the shower block from the caravan area, is also very difficult to see in the dark with what I would consider insufficient lighting. Having no map meant we had to figure out waste disposal points ourself (nothing at this site is signposted either) and I never found out where to put rubbish, so I had to use their dog poo bin for our caravan rubbish. This all boils down to poor information - I’ve never had such poor info before! Lastly on leaving, I went to empty out the toilet cartridge and found there was no running water to rinse it out with, not very hygienic. All in all, I would not return to this park and would actively encourage other caravan/motorhome users give it a miss. Narrow boat owners may have a different experience however.
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J R Weston replied on 11/04/2018 14:08

Posted on 11/04/2018 14:08

Thank you for your comments regarding your visit to the marina CL site. We can only apologies that you did not enjoy your stay, but would like to make the following comments regarding your review.  The marina office has always worked well for caravaners to book in, and is clearly mentioned on our website, with our marina staff on hand to help you 7 days a week.  I am unsure as to why you were on a muddy grass pitch, as we have 5 hard standing pitches, so uncertain why you were directed to that place. Your comments with regards to signage for caravanners  has been taken on board, and will be addressed.  With regards to the Elsan, there is running water, but due to the adverse weather conditions that we were experiencing, could it of been just simply frozen?.

 

prl100 replied on 15/04/2018 22:19

Posted on 15/04/2018 22:19

Hi there, thanks for your reply.    

If you are questioning why we went to the grass pitch - please speak to the gentleman that checked us in at approx 3pm on the 17th March. On booking us in he initially said there was no booking and that all booked caravans were already occupying the 5 spaces you had, before eventually finding our name on a post-it note(!) stuck to the booking diary.            


At this point I was told that there’s usually only 5 caravans there, we are number 6 and he made a joke about this, before giving me the directions to the muddy grass pitch.    

I found this to be rather unprofessional but left these details out of the original review as a courtesy to you.              

   
When booking via the caravan club website it stated the following “The site has hardstanding’s with water points, electric hook ups and lighting on all the pitches, all included in the advertised price” yet a hard standing pitch was not what we were given, despite paying the advertised price.         

As the grass pitch has its own power and water hookup I assume we are not the only people to be sited there.               


My point about the marina office is that,  whilst it may have worked for you for a number of years, a big sign saying ‘Access to boaters only’ does kind of suggest to the average person that they should not be going there if they are not a boater and this did cause us confusion when we arrived. 

You mention that the marina office is clearly mentioned on your website - I booked through the Caravan Club website which merely makes a quick passing reference to the marina office (“all bookings are made by the marina office”), with only a picture of the shower block featured on the site. 

Your own website as of right now actually states that the marina office is due to open in autumn 2014 so does not seem to have been updated in about half a decade. Again this only reinforces my point of inadequate information being provided.