Haggerston Castle Holiday Park

5 readers found this review helpful

I'm just back from a weekend at Haggerston Castle and i loved every minute of it. the caravan was lovely not too far from the park (100 lakeside east). It was clean and i dont have a bad complaint about it. The only downfal was the shop was expensive but i just drove to morrisons for shopping. There is loads of activities for kids and adults my friend and I did the power fan jump and it was excellent only £5 for 2 go's what an adrenaline rush!!! It also helped the weather good so we could sit in the beer garden and have a few drinks. And for the people that were sayin about horse mannure on the pathways its so isnt true, because i for one was on the horse wen a man passed on a quad on our back to pick it all up and we seen him doing it on every horse trip round the park. I would definately recommend to everyone of all ages :)

3 readers found this review helpful

We have just had a 5 day break at Haggerston and loved it although we went for a deluxe caravan please bear in mind these do NOT have heating in the bathroom or bedrooms so this was my only downfall really as it was freezing! Fire was slightly dodgy at igniting but it worked. We actually bought a cheap 10 tog duvet as the one provided was so thin so I would definatley upgrade to Prestige next time. Loads for kids though and Bradley, Anxious, Rory etc are fab for the kids. They had a 35 minute show each evening which the kids loved, we also went to Bradley's picnic where Bradley and Polly did some dances and the kids got a picnic basket lunch for £3.50 a ticket. I do feel they try to make money though by not letting you take your childs photograph with the characters, you have to line up and buy one from them for £7! The Funstars were great with kids, they also had family bingo and a disco on each night. The pool has just been upgraded and is far better than it used to be, lots of changing rooms. The Aquabar serves nice food and I didn't think this was expensive at all, they have an onsite burger king, papa johns and fish & chips. It was £6 for 30 minutes to hire a family bike thing which was fun, there is also a kids park, horse riding and boating on the lake. We paid £5 for our 2 year old to get her photo on a pony but she wouldn't sit on it, we didn't get a refund so that was a bit annoying. All in all we had a great holiday, there is an Asda in Berwick or Morrisons just down the road for shopping - we also visited Seahouses, Holy Island, Berwick and Bamburgh Castle has lovely views. I recommend this holiday to anyone with kids as they will have a fantastic time.

This holiday park was absolutly CRAP i would not recommend it to you. We had 2 power cuts in 1 day and they told us to evacuate the building and go back to the caravan,they never came to make sure everyone was ok.The staff are not very helpfull they hand out scottish money and do not tak it back. Lakes all over and are not fenced off very surprised someone hasent drowned yet.We wouldnt know about the entertainment we havent had an yet, there has been to many power cuts.Take away food far to expensive. Swimming pool,one to cold one just right.

6 readers found this review helpful

BOOK A PRIVATE VAN!!! we have been to haggy 4 times and the last twice we hired private and found that the owners look after the vans a lot better than the sites.we have just booked lakeside north 31 up again and its spot on and we saved £££ offwhat we would have paid.we emailed the owner direct at lakesidenorth31@hotmail.co.uk and have booked again for 2010.The park is tremendoiussssss and in a good location but I agree with most people the vans owned by haven can be very shabby this is because other people who book them do untold damage,sad for the decent people,who want a dedcent van for a weeks break.And this year theres a new look to the site with a new look to the pool area.SO BOOK AND GO PRIVATE....

5 readers found this review helpful

If you want to come down with bad coughs and illnesses then stay in a HAVEN caravan at Haggerston Castle, the mould will soon make you ill. This is the dirtiest, smelliest most unhygienic caravan site i have ever had the misfortune to stay in, the caravan its self was dirty stains on furniture, mouldy mattresses, dirty floors, cob webs etc etc the list is endless. The site is old and run down and in need of a revamp, the pathways etc have horse manure and dog pooh on them, and everything costs you money, but you do not get any value. You have been warned, on the plus side it is an ideal base to discovery the area, which we did everyday as we could not bare to stay in the caravan park.

7 readers found this review helpful

I am reviewing the accomodation first but please read on for the reasons not to go...
We had a 4 day break in a Prestige van with entertainment passes for my wife, me and our son. The van was very good, number 74 TL and as it was an accessible caravan it had tonnes of extra space and a larger toilet/shower room. This was an unexpected benefit but to be honest my wife and I are very tall so the lowered sink and wash basin only caused us backache but our 5 year old son loved it.
Bedding: The beds had been made up (roughly) when we arrived but the quilts and pillows were so thin in both bedrooms we decided all 3 of us would sleep in the double bed and throw all the quilts on top to keep warm. There were heaters in the rooms but these were pretty much useless and had no affect. The DVD facility we paid for didn't work as a remote had not been provided but the staff brought one up for us when we called. Unfortunately the DVD player still didn't work so my son didn't get to watch any of the films he had brought with him. We didn't ask for a replacement but am sure they'd have brought us one.
Carpets and flooring were clean although upholstery had some grafitti on it.
The swimming pool was a bit of a joke as they allowed only 100 at a time for safety which is fair enough and they give you a pager to call you for the next session. When we got in we found only 15 or so changing rooms for what we found was way over 100 swimmers. Only 2 showers to do the lot of us and not a single person apart from my son and I washed before entering the pool.
The showbar was so smelly and dirty. The smell of stale alcohol was overpowering and only subsided when the facility filled up. Entertainment (not sure of thats the right description) was almost non existent. Bingo first then a DJ playted music for the kids to run around to making a trip to the bar very dangerous. One night there was a game show where a chap had to go around and get 100 kisses in 2 minutes and another to get a 100 people in a congo. Now with hundreds and I do mean hundreds of kids running about these 2 stunts were very dangerous. So we left.
The amusements are unavoidable and even though our son is just 5 he was taken in by it all and wanted to collect tickets for prizes just like the other kids. At one point I worked out it was costing about £20/hour to keep him suitably amused. We try only to spend a little time there but probably spent about £120 in the 4 days and collected 2111 tickets that gave my son 2 plastic motorbikes that felt and looked like they were worth about £5 for the 2. What a con!!! The only thing included in the package was the swimming pool already mentioned, everything else cost money and the value was very low.
Finally, the look of the place for a 5 star location was very poor indeed. Pathways were often covered in horse dirt and we found dog muck on footpaths around the funworks building lay there for the whole time we were there. Very dimmly lit, dirty and smelly. There only saving grace was that the staff were very pleasant throughout.

3 readers found this review helpful

i was shocked at the state of the caravan ,floor dirty with stains and cigarrette burns ,im glad i took my own quilt ,the ones there were awful ,worn and bobbly ,the pillows were awful ,the kitchen and toilet and shower room were clean ,the sofas collapsed when we sat on them the wood undernesth was broken ,they were awfully stained ,the entertainment area was grubby ,there was some sort of xmas tree there in september ,it was an ideal base for looking at the area ,we were not interested in the entertainment ,bingo etc ,i didnt see any good food there ,we did buy fish and chips the first night ,they were very good ,but overpriced ,we stayed there from the daily mail offer ,do you suppose we got the worst caravan as it was cheap ,but i talked to another couple ,they had blood on one of their pillows ,yuck .we did have a wonderful holiday ,but the caravan was on its last legs.

7 readers found this review helpful

I cannot for the life of me understand where all these people who rate the site 1/10 are coming from. We had a fantastic week in August. We hired a privately owned caravan which was lovely. We had such a great time we have now bought our own caravan on the site and have been back almost every weekend since.
There is everything for all ages. You can have a quiet holiday if you want to or lots of activities and hustle and bustle if thats your thing.
Only issues to be aware of is the onsite supermarket is excellent but it is very pricey its okay for a bottle of milk or loaf of bread but wouldnt suggest you do a weekly shop there- so if you are self catering suggest you drive up to Berwick (about 8 miles) and shop at the Morrisons or Aldi there.
All in all its a lovely family site with something for everyone

3 readers found this review helpful

well been going to haggerston for the last 8 years aand i just don't get how everyone is saying how horrible it is and the park and complex stinks well i really have to dissagree with them the complex is great very clean lots of amusments to keep you busy and the 2 main bars( showbar and carnabys) well they are also clean your always seeing cleaners comming to your table to get the rubbish and the empty glasses and the staff well they are really helpfull and the funstars are great with kids and always laughing with the adults and with bradley and the gang are great for entertaining the kids you have alot of food places you can eat at burger king,fish and chip shop,papa johns pizza and the royal garden chinese they are all nice.
the only down fall is you only get 45mins in the pool.
i have been there so many time i bought a caravan there 2 years ago and still go down as often as i can and stuff love it as much

4 readers found this review helpful

Well i have stayed at a few Haven parks and i have to Say Haggerston Castle has been the best. We usually stay at the smaller parks but we decided to try a bigger park this year. and i am glad we did! The park its self is Gorgous with 7 Lakes and a 'secret' walled Garden. There is so much entertainment for the kids including Little cubs, Club R&B and T-co. also lot's of live entertainment for the adults to enjoy throughout the two showbars at Haggerston. On the park there is lot's to do including Go Karts, boating lake, electric buggies, high ropes activities, climbing wall, bunjee trampolines, Funworks amusments arcades(which is massive), an indoor and outdoor heated pool. Also there is lot's of food places to enjoy a nice evening out or back in the ocmfort of your caravan. these include the aquabar, Burger King, Traditional fish and chips, Papa Johns pizza. The funstars are great with kids young and older and are a great laugh with the adults too. Overall i give this Park 10/10. Will definately be returning next year !!!! but please note i advise you to book your caravan through a private owner and not through Haven as it is so much cheaper and usually well looked after. hope to see you at Haggerston ;)