The site is in a fairly large sloping field, but there is no fenced off designated area for the sole purpose of Caravan Club members, the pub garden & car park run into the caravan area seamlessly. I thought a separate, designated area was a requirement for CLs.
A footpath runs through the field and caravan site. Dog walking and villagers exercising their dogs off-lead, throwing balls etc. were seen regularly during our four night stay. Dogs off-lead are in breech of the Club rules for CL sites.
We had booked for seven nights in July. However we cut it short due to the following two events;
On Friday late afternoon, a marquee was unloaded and erected on two caravan pitches and then later moved into the pub garden area. Naturally we asked what was going on. My partner was told that there was a 26 mile charity walk starting and finishing at the pub the next day with a hog roast afterwards, but it would have no impact on us at all.
We were woken the next morning at 6.30 am when people started arriving for the walk. They all came by vehicle and parked in the field where our caravan was. Approximately 40 door-slamming cars. When I looked out of our window, the site had been turned into a car park!! The “Finish” line was erected between two of the caravan pitches.
Obviously we have no issue with charity events, but we should have been informed about this when we booked the week before our arrival. When we asked why we hadn’t been warned, we were fobbed-off and told that they did not know it was happening!
That afternoon, one of the villagers who we regularly saw exercising his dogs off-lead, allowed one of them to urinate over our hitch lock cover, water hog handle and water pipe. We were in our caravan at the time - I heard a man’s voice call his dog, looked out of the window and just saw the dog’s tail, I assumed the dog was just sniffing around & didn’t go outside to check. The man walked over to our caravan, took hold of the dog by the collar and led him away from our caravan without saying a word to us. It was only much later on that we realised what his dog had done. It caused us much distress.
The pub landlord was apologetic and helpful enough. When I suggested that the dog walker come and clean the mess up, he offered to do it himself & made a thorough job of it.
The site seems to be plagued by flies. I am not sure whether this is is due to the adjacent fishing lake hidden behind dense bushes & trees or the porta-loo storage area next to one of the pitches.
Quite frankly I am amazed and very disappointed that this site has been approved by the Caravan Club. It’s a great shame because the site is situated in a lovely rural area and you can’t hear any traffic noise, which is a rarity!
