How wet was my valley? (Valley Caravan Park (Polzeath))

Member Name: kingfisher111

Product:	Valley Caravan Park (Polzeath)
Date:	13/08/08 (543 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: lovely caravans

Disadvantages: could do with a bit of refurbishment

We have just returned, albeit slightly earlier than expected due to the worst wather ever, from our holiday at Valley Caravan Park in Polzeath, Cornwall. It's a really well situated site right in the centre of Polzeath and one of the few places that you do not have to walk up a very steep hill to get to! It's a site that offers quite luxurious static caravans as well as pitches for touring caravans and tents and we were very glad, due to all the rain, that we were staying in one of the static caravans.

We booked our holiday quite a few months ago after my sister had found the detaikls on their website. It was a large family holiday so we needed to book three caravans in order to accomodate fourteen of us. The website -

www.valleycaravanpark.co.uk

- was very informative although we were a little bit put off by the owner's attitude to teenagers. All teenagers and their parents had to sign a good behaviour form promising not to do anything unacceptable. It seemed a bit over the top when we first read this but it did go on to explain that they had had a lot of trouble from noisy teenagers over the years and it seemed as if this was a last resort. Anyway, forms were dutifully signed and the caravans were booked. Our caravan cost about £650 for the week in August and we had a two bedroomed one. My parents, sister and her children booked a three bedroomed one which was slightly more expensive. Also if you have more than two adults in a caravan you have to pay extra!

We arrived at the campsite on saturday afternoon and it was absolutely pouring down with rain so we were not seeing the place in its best light. My first reaction was that everything was so muddy mainly because there are only dirt tracks as oppose to tramac to walk and drive along. I also felt that everywhere all the tents and mobile caravans were really packed in which gave the whole place a slightly messy chaotic feel.

It was easy to find reception which was part of a two storey building which housed all the other main facilities such as a bar, a cafe, a games room, launderette and shower block. I was really surprised at how easy it was to check in and it seemed almost lax. We didn't have to fill in any details and I was particularly surprised that we didn't have to give our car details. I also expected to have to pay a small deposit in case of breakages but we didn't have to do that either. In fact all that happened was that we gave our name and we were supplied with our key!

Free coffee and tea was available on arrival in the bar and we thought that as that was a nice gesture we would give it a go! The coffee was fine but I did feel that the bar was in need of a major overhaul. It was quite dark and dingy and did not appear to have been decorated for years. However it was home to a pool table and a table tennis table and also a reasonably sized television. The other good thing was that you could pay to be given a code for internet access and you could use laptops in the bar. This was only £5 for the whole week which I thought was excellent value!

After our coffee we went to find our caravan which we had to drive to up a mud track which really looked as if it was going nowhere. We really liked the position of our caravan though as it with two others (one used by my other sister) was actually away from the main site and gave us a lot more privacy and space. The caravean my parents had was much more surrounded by others and there was not really a lot of space to sit outside.

I was really impressed with our caravan. It was really well fitted out and pretty much had ecerything you wanted - a good seating/ dining area, a good kitchen, a spacious shower room and two bedrooms - one with a double bed and one with two very thin singles! You had to supply your own bedding and towels but that was OK. It was also a little hit and miss what utensils and equipment you had in your caravan and there was no inventory. We didn't get a corkscrew or any wooden spoons but my sister did - but she didn't get a chopping board and we did. Neither of us got an ironing board but my parents did but no iron! It was all very haphazard!

The facilities for cooking was very good and we were able to cook proper meals on a gas cooker with no problem. There was also a microwave and a fridge with a small freezer compartment.

Sleeping in the caravan did not give us the best nights ever. Because the rain was so heavy it was very noisy drumming down on the roof all night. Added to that our double bed had the sort of matress that as soon as one person moved ever so slightly, the other one felt as though they were being tossed by waves. Even worse was on our second night we were woken by three incredibly loud explosions which plunged the caravan into darkness and we discovered that the electricity transformer just outside had exploded. It all flared up and then went out but caused all the power to go off. Then our whole night was interupted by people driving up to sort it out! It just went from bad to worse but that wasn't the campsite's fault!

Because the weather was so bad we spent more time than we would have liked inside so we were glad to have a decent television to watch the Olympics. However, most nights there was entertainment on such as a bingo night, quiz night, karaoke and a band. These were all a bit of fun and it was amazing how packed out the bar was for the bingo! Bar prices were really cheap - at least compared to the prices we are used to paying in Berkshire! Next to the bar was a very garish loud games room - the sort of place that is every parent's nightmare as all these machines just swallow up money!

Overall I felt that this was a reasonable campsite which had just about enough going on. Staff were friendly and helpful and we had agood time. However, who wants to be anywhere but home whenh there is constant rain! Maybe I need to go again on adry week to really see it's potential!

Summary: A reasonably priced holiday but would have been better if it was sunny!