Rated 4 of 5

Rated 1 of 5

Peace and tranquility

Rated 5 of 5

Access to local places of interest

Rated 1 of 5

Beauty of surroundings and scenery

Rated 3 of 5

Ease of arrival/welcome

Disappointed

Of the many CL’s that we have visited, this is the worst. If we had not paid a 50% deposit, we would not have stayed. This view was shared by others staying at the same time as us. The write up and pictures on the club page are a misrepresentation. We were met by the owner on arrival, who informed us that the advertised 16 amp hookup was only 10 amp and we would need to be careful not to trip it. The photos show a rural environment with vans spread out in a large field, but they cleverly don’t show the scruffy view of the commercial operation along one edge, with a collection of static caravans, workshops and assorted vehicles and machinery. The CL vans are confined to one corner of the field and the information sheet that you are given on arrival asks that you don’t even walk on the rest of it except for a mown path. The field is in fact their own campsite, where we saw tents and other vans. There is only one toilet not two. This and the shower are not as stated “exclusive use”, but shared with the occupants of the static caravans, the other campsite and people using the commercial premises. The shower was dirty. There was building work on the non CL area, which destroyed any chance of peace and tranquility. We could have been warned of this when booking only a few days before.

Comment from the Club: 

Many thanks for posting a review and we are very sorry to read that you did not enjoy the site. The CL Owner hasn’t received any other complaints so was very sorry that their site did not meet your expectations and would like to address the concerns raised. Having purchased the site in 2016 they are currently in the process of restoring and redeveloping the site for the benefit of members and this is something they advise to everyone on arrival. The site sadly had previously closed in 2014 and the current owners are doing their best to make it a great site again as it’s in such a fabulous location for people to enjoy. The final stage of the redevelopment will be to screen the CL site so that the vehicles and machinery area you mention will not be visible to visitors. Please note this area is not a commercial venture but purely a garage and workshop for the owners own hobby and enjoyment. The rest of the views from the site are of open meadow fields and the surrounding countryside. The CL Field is 4 acres and free for guests of the CL Site to enjoy. The toilets and showers have been used by the owners daughter and partner on occasion, other than that it is for the exclusive use of members staying on the CL Site. The website has been updated to advise that the facilities are shared to avoid any further confusion about this. The toilets and showers are regularly cleaned however if you are concerned about the cleanliness at any time during your visit please do speak to the CL owner at the time as they will always do their utmost to help. With regard to the other campsite you mention, the CL owners had some friends staying with a caravan on their private hook up  - this area will also be screened off from the CL once the redevelopment is complete. We apologise for the confusion about the hook ups and have updated the website to reflect that it is 10 Amps to avoid further confusion to guests. Thank you again for leaving a review and we hope this helps to address your concerns.    

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Meadow Bank Farm replied on 17/09/2018 13:31

Posted on 17/09/2018 13:31

I would like to respond to Mr Houghton’s review in the order of the points that he has raised.

The write up and photographs on the club page are a little out of date, agreed. We have updated the write up and sent some new photographs to the Club, that were taken very recently. However the curtilage of the CL site has not changed from many years ago when it first opened. We can only assume that Mr Houghton regarded the photo taken from the far corner of the meadow as being a view of the total CL site. We have addressed this with the new photo update.

The revised write up addresses the issues of the hook ups, exclusive use of the toilet facility and there being one toilet not two. We do currently have an issue with water coming through the shower curtain that has caused a problem with the floor. We are in the process of fitting a new shower door and a replacement floor that should rectify this.

Mr Houghton has misinterpreted our information sheet – it simply asks that visitors do not go into our private area. The rest of the field (approx. 4 acres) is free for people to enjoy although it is not part of the designated CL area.

With regard to the “commercial premises” that Mr Houghton refers to, they are strictly not commercial premises but purely a garage and workshop for my hobbies. It is planned that this area will be screened off so that it is not visible from the CL site

The building work referred to is a log cabin that has been built replacing the unsightly old outbuilding that was previously there. It is our intention that caravaners will benefit from this facility if they so wish when it is up and running with various culinary and holistic activities. Agreed, there was a little noise during the build of this, but we tried to keep it to a minimum and it was only during the daytime when most people were out and away from the site. We apologise if it was a disturbance. We are in a process of refurbishing and improving the whole property which was in a very neglected state when we bought it in 2016 and unfortunately this has involved some minor disruption but we do try and make caravaners aware of this where possible and we apologise to Mr Houghton if this was not the case for him.

In conclusion, we welcome any criticism and constructive comments on our site. It was a shame that Mr Houghton didn’t raise his complaints earlier in his stay so that we could have discussed them with him and if he wanted to move on we would have given him a refund on the remainder of his planned stay. I would like to add that he was rather rude to my wife when he departed, which was totally unnecessary and left my wife very upset.

Tim Hood

Meadow Bank Farm Owner

LunarSI replied on 15/11/2018 20:07

Posted on 15/11/2018 20:07

It has been very interesting reading the last review!!! 

What is also surprising is the club reply saying there had never been any complaints in the past.

We stayed on the site in December last year and as the last reviewer, it was definitely the worst CL we had ever stayed on.

We had paid up front for a week stay but left after only 2 days as we were so disappointed.

We left a review and also contacted the club as we learnt that the CL had in fact been awarded CL of the year!!!! How on earth did that happen?

This really concerned us as we wondered just how these awards are made.

What also surprises us now is that the review we posted in December 2017 is no longer there, however a positive one we posted for a nearby site that was able to take us at short notice is still on their site.

Is it just positive reviews that are left for viewing then?????