Wild Duck Holiday Park

1 reader found this review helpful

We had a camping holiday and were concerned after we had booked due to the bad reviews we had read after booking. We nearly concelled but the children were lookng forward to it, so took a chance. We were pleasantly surprised and happy with our extra large pitch which could have held another tent with a family. Yes you do have to drive through an housing estate, however it is a pleasant looking estate and when you get to the park you soon forget about the estate. The toilets were always very clean or in the process of being cleaned. My only complain about the toilet blocks were the showers need updating so that you can have a shower without the water turning off after aprox 10-15 seconds. The entertainment is not my thing but the two young children loved it and the staff looked happy to entertain day in day out. The pool was also an activity that the children enjoyed and there were some paying activities that took place witch were scheduled appropriately. Would recommend to a friend and would go again.

1 reader found this review helpful

Literally just got back from a 1 week stay here,the location of our caravan was great with a football court and park just across the road,the staff were friendly and helpful.The arcade was great and MEGA value with bowling-£1 for a whole isle.The entertainment was great,different things on each night.Thanks to everyone for being just great!The entertainers were greatwith everyone and i had an amazing time thankyou!!

2 readers found this review helpful

just back from a ten night stay .... we booked a grass pitch with electric hookup for our tent...we were give a sandy pitch under trees that quickly turned into a muddy puddle when it rained...the campsite is a mishmash of caravans and tents...the toilets were terrible first thing..the showers were full of mud...the two cleaners looked like they didnt want to be there...the bar prices are extortianate....the washing machine cost £3 for a 15 min wash then £3 to half dry your clothes...the mobile home part of the camp is totally different, well looked after and some beautiful vans.......visit this campsite at your peril...!

5 readers found this review helpful

the best holiday ive ever had the staff are so friendly and always happy to help you and cant do enought to help you. and that is the same for all the staff in the park from the cleaners to the bar staff to the funstars.
we always go to wild duck because of this and have never had a bad time ever and thats in ten years of going there.
thank you wild duck and keep it up and see you all next year.
and you must go to the chip van.
its brill and very well priced.

3 readers found this review helpful

It has been getting on for five years since we last went to Haven Wild Duck. That makes my son only five then, he is now ten and we thought as a last minute holiday we would give them another visit. The weekend cost £144.00 for three nights for a touring caravan on an electric pitch with an awning. That seems a bit steep but we booked and arrived in some drizzly rain and were met by too very helpful reception staff and were directed to meet the touring warden who was excellent and even shook our hands and hi fived my son. A brilliant start. We were pleased with our pitch and set up.
I was pleased to see that the site was practically litter free and the once over following orange skip had been replaced with large wheelie bin skips and a recycling point for bottles card etc.in a fenced of compound.
What did we get for our money and was there anything new since our last visit. The short answer is, no! They want to buy my tourer for a luxury caravan, charge me extortionate prices in the shop. the restaurant, and the bars. You could however go swimming when ever you liked, provided it was not during the times they wanted to make money out of you. Swimming times were 10.00 til 1230, then it was water walkers, aqua club, swimming lessons etc. All this was extra to the cost of the holiday and puts pressure on parents. And as a bonus you could use a locker in the refurb changing rooms for 20p which you didn't get back. (Going to the share holders no doubt)
The Club in the evening was over crowded hot and tatty. The emphasis was on sell bingo sell sweets sell drinks sell your mother!
We were lucky with the weather it was sunny and warm so we had a had a good time when we went out for the day.
Overall the park is quite clean and tidy with a little tlc required to some areas. Chips shop charges high selling poorly cooked and low quality food. The surrounding area will give you more choice for eating out.
Not quite a Haven! You've been warned

3 readers found this review helpful

Myself, husband and two boys aged 8and 10 have just returned from a week at Haven wild duck site. Staff very helpful and friendly. Stayed in a standard caravan which had everything you needed.Cleaning could have been done a bit better, on first sight all looked ok. But some areas could have done with being wiped around a bit better. Good as a base for days out Thrigby wildlife park FANTASTIC, Sealife centre ok if have free tkts but alot of money for what it is.
All in all we would go back to wild duck didn't buy the session passes, swimming pool clean, show bar boys enjoyed the shows but for adults very cringe factor the two guys that do it not the best.
If self catering dont take all food with you buy when get there, a huge asda 24hrs and tesco extra not far from the site.

1 reader found this review helpful

Just retuned from a 'sun break' at the Wild Duck and what a lovely site it is. We were in a caravan in a wooded part of the site not far from the shops, entertainment, swimming pool etc. and found it really quite and relaxing. Good caravan, clean and tidy. Surprised that the entertainment was so good, even saw 'Same Difference' from X-Factor which really impressed my 15 year old daughter and friend. Staff very friendly and good check in service. Would recommend to anyone. Probably only drawback was that there wasn't enough room in the 'club house' unless you got there early. thank you.
Gardner's from Devon

3 readers found this review helpful

It is wiered driving through a housing estate to get to 'your holiday' and i found this less an dless appealing when we went out and came back. Here we are in out hols and literally at the end of the road people are living normal regualr lives. Maybe it is just me !!. We booked a superior 2 berth for 2 adult and 2 kiddies. If you can splash out on the 12ft, ours was 10ft and it wa sok really just quite a challenge getting in/out of the double bed, quite funny at times. I know with Haven it can be a bit hit and miss as we picked up our keys a lady was going mad that her prestige caravan that she paid £600 quid for , for 4 nights was too small and a mess! Just dont expect it to be a holiday of a life time, it does what it says on the tin, kids love itm the evening entertainment and show for them is great and yes they got a cuddly toy each and a dvd but it was the constant holiday home posters that did my nut, even in the caravan,
on thr fridge and the tolirt door, for the love of, just let me have a holiday in peace!! I read the reviews below AFTER i had booked our break but can see what people mean. The campsite seemed fun and lots if kiddies playing, lots of unsupervied kiddies, one 4 year old hurtling round on a bike careeing and nearly misisng another bunch of kids on a kart !! My kids are 5 and 3 and maybe thats ok for some but not for us with cars and staff bombing about in karts. Look dont ecpect too much on a caravan holiday, i wouldnt book a high standard one t, too expensive and it is a caravan after all, if you want dvds and flat screen, then maybe a hotel or stay at home. Its a nice park , our caravan was a bit too closw to others and in bed you could hear otehr people walking about. But we wernt in that much, did some activites at the park but had a great times at the beach Gorleston and Greta Yarmouth, Burg Castle and Roman Fort, Didnt eat, did that last year, not great food so didnt bother with main meal. Swimming pool is okay, showers are crap, designed i think to stop you having a nice wash instead of repeating it back at the caravan , which was also crap but kids loved it my son finally learnt to swim and we as a family had a great time. That what Haven does, it is tack, it is about the parent pound NO DOUBT, but they do love the charcters and my eldest remembered from last year We didt stay and try and get kids to sleep in Showbar, so we didnt see the adult entertainment, But what is is with Bloody bingo!! which we didnt do.
its a nice park, woodland it is, a considered a smaller park but was bigger than the one we stayed at last year. Doniford- somerset. We wouldnt go back as wse tend not to return to places but keep trying new ones. We will probably do haven again but remember Euro Disney it aint , remember that and youll have a nice time.

3 readers found this review helpful

Arrived on Sat 24th July,for 7 nights, had booked a large basic pitch and this was our first time at a HAVEN thought would try it instead of usual smaller private sites, due to the facilities that were included....BIG mistake. YOU NEED TO TAKE OUT A LOAN TO STAY HERE PRICES ARE MARKED UP WAY HIGHER THAN NORMAL!!
Ended up under trees, sandy ground and lots of roots to contend with, weather was rainy so lets try the POOL....only open at certain times & very very basic, boring for little one's, Lifeguards stood chatting, letting kids dive into pool and run around the sides. Other times closed for Private fun incl inflatables etc which they charged £5 per person per 1/2 hour for, and at the times they wanted not you.
SHOWER BLOCKS....basic but clean, push showers and not very hot water.
LAUNDERETTE....£5 to wash your clothes??
OASIS BAR/RESTAURANT....SILLY PRICES ON EVERYTHING..£1.75 for a Muffin, £4.75 for a glass of wine, and the food was just as bad....surly staff who don't really care....Outside area with childrens play stuff, closed in evenings so you have to go into the SHOWBAR...even worse...dire shows, dire prices, cheap tacky stuff being forced on you to buy for the kids which you could probably get in the £1 shop, smelt awful, crashing tills, high priced on everything.
ARCADE...DO not waste your money on any of it, they have 'ticket' machines which you would have to spend a small fortune to get anything worthwile with.
MACHINES constantly breaking, sticking, not paying out...NIGHTMARE
CHIP SHOP....SIMPLY HAVE NO IDEA AT ALL CANNOT EVEN GET AN ORDER RIGHT!
PLAY AREA....not bad, but kids unsupervised throwing pine cones at smaller one's.
They also messed up my booking and had the nerve to charge me another £38 to stay the extra night that should have already been included, despite having notices that say 'stay another night for £20!!'
They have no control over the people staying despite saying 'family only' Loud and noisy groups of girls and men (which apparantly they dont allow) shouting at all hours.
You have to be off site by 10 am which can be a pain but in our case it was a relief.
I would not call this HAVEN I would call it HELL!!!
NEVER AGAIN

6 readers found this review helpful

We have just arrived home from a weeks holiday at Wild Duck and generally we have been happy with our experience here. There was a very good play area close to where we were situated that all 4 of my children (two 10 year olds, a 7 year old and a 3 year old) really loved and spent many hours playing there. The touring part had a really friendly atmosphere most of the time and both my husband and I and the children all made some really nice friends.
The toilets/showers had a good clean every day and there was always hot water in the showers. Having to keep pushing the button for water was a tad annoying but it meant at busy times people weren't lingering in them so you weren't hanging around.
We went to the swimming pool 3 times and although it was basic my children enjoyed playing in there. My only problem with the swimming pool was the changing rooms which were rather small with a very smelly toilet and the male lifeguards who enjoyed winding up some of the children. One of them tipped a whole jugful of cold water over my eldest daughters head when she was sat on the side of the pool which she got very upset about and then left. However, when the lifguard realised that he had upset her he was apologetic, possibly a good game for some children but picked the wrong target!
Overall we had a really good week here but there was one problem that really upset all of us (& other families that we spoke to) and I have complained about. When reading through the information given out when checking in it states that Wild Duck is a family park and they do not allow single sex parties. However, in the week that we were there 2 single sex parties were thrown off the site for rowdy behaviour and our last night was completly ruined by a group of 10 girls who pitched their tents right behind ours and behaved in a disgusting manner, using foul language, starting camp fires and drinking heavily, leaving all their beer cans/bottles strewn around. They finally left for the club house at 9.30 but came back even louder and more intoxicated just after 1 waking everyone up looking for more firewood and using ALOT of bad language. Security did respond quickly and stopped the camp fire but failed to quieten them down. We fianlly got some peace when they dragged themselves to bed at 3am, we had to be up at 6 to pack everything away as sites had to be vacated by 10. I really feel that this should have been dealt with earlier in the evening before things got so out of hand. Unfortunately it left us feeling very upset and ruined the end of my holiday.