Reviews of Lakeland Holiday Park, Cumbria

We arrived at the park and were given standard caravan number 246 and were quite pleased with it, although it was certainly showing its age. We tried lighting the fire in the living room, but it only had flames about an inch high and gave out no heat, and as we had a 11 month old baby with us, we desperately needed some heat in the caravan. We walked down to reception but it had closed at 18.00, and we were directed to the security guard who told us to ring the number on our caravan key fob. We rang the guy at 19.30 and he said he would be there in 30 minutes to sort out the problem. We waited until 21.30 to ring again as he never turned up, and got the same reply - there in 20 minutes. At 22.10 we rang again and Thomas did come in 15 minutes, took one look at the fire and was downright rude . He said it was working and we had wasted his time. He could see that we were all sitting round in hats and gloves and it was obvious that the heater was giving out no heat at all. He stormed out of our caravan and I confronted him about his rudeness and he was taken aback that we would expect him to do anything about fixing the fire. He tried changing the gas cylinders after some negotiations and threats to report him to the management tomorrow, but the heat did not improve. I must say that he was surprised at just how cold the caravan was, so he brought his own electric heater to warm up the baby's room. The next morning we reported the fire at 09.00 when the office opened and also told them we were 2 duvets and 3 pillow missing - some of us spent a cold night huddling together - and added our complaints to a long list of complaints being registered by lots of people. It was interesting that several other people reported non-working fires. The duvets came quickly, and we have no complaints there, but at 14.00, no-one had been to check the fire, so we rang again and were told - guess what 20-30 minutes. At 16.00 we rang again and then got fed up at 17.00 and went to the office and were astounded to be told they had no maintainence staff on the weekend and the fire could not be fixed. If they are renting these caravans out for weekend rental, they should keep someone on hands to fix complaints. We were given an eletric heater that, to add insult to injury, did not work. Why we had to complain so many times before being told they had no maintainence staff, I have no idea. I really think that Haven do not fix the heaters at all and just keep telling everyone each weekend that they have no staff. The caravans are basically not as described if they have no fires in the living room and they are renting them out under false pretenses.

Our only other complaint was the pitch the caravan was on. It rained heavily and we could not physically leave the caravan without walking through water 2-3 inches deep. But in the campsite's defence, it did rain continually for 24 hours and it was torrential. A few raised paving stones would prevent this problem.

If we had not had the problems with heating and lack of duvets, we would probably have given the site 8 or 9 out of 10, so Haven really does have to get on top of the maintainence of these caravans or the site will get a terrible name. We still had a great time as we walked to Grange over Sands and had a great day there. We would not go back unless we had assurances that the heating would work or our money would be returned.

Please see attached letter of complaint I sent to Haven and was told it was all my personal view!

After our recent stay at Lakeland, and our horrendous week with you, I am writing on behalf of the above booking references. We initially complained on 21/7/08 but nothing was resolved. We then complained again on 24/7/08 and were told the customer services had just received the complaint (he sat on the desk next to the gentleman we originally complained to), this was not acceptable. As it was now day 6 of our 7 day stay, it meant that we had followed the Haven complaints procedure but Haven didn’t appear to adhere to it! I then received a formal letter dated 3rd August 2008 on my return, (this is enclosed, but sadly did not really address our complaints). Please find detailed below the complaints we had, most of which were on the original complaint forms. (Attached are related appendices).



Touring Ladies Toilets and Showers:



• Very poor cleanliness and maintenance.

• Only 2 showers working with pipe work connected

• 2 more showers falling off the wall

• Toilets extremely filthy and the floor was always covered in toilet paper.

• The rubbish bins were overflowing and had bags of normal food rubbish.

• There was never any toilet paper after 8pm.

• The wash basins were always covered in toothpaste and toilet paper.

• The hairdryer was badly damaged and tied together with a cable tie, not very safe.

• The back of the cubicle doors had toilet paper stuck to them.

• There was a sticker attached to the toilet roll holder for over 5 days, showing that they were not cleaned properly.

• Always smelt of smoke.

• On numerous occasions there were dogs in the toilets.

• Cigarette stubs outside the toilets, some of which were from the cleaner. Never cleaned up.





Touring Men’s Toilets and Showers:



• Only 3 out of 4 of the showers working.

• The sinks were filthy and filled with tissue paper with faeces on them.

• The showers were being used as urinals.

• There was smeared faeces on the inside of the toilet cubicles.

• There was toilet paper everywhere.

• The soap dispenser and hand sanitizer had been empty since we arrived (5 days).

• Cigarette Stubbs outside due to the holder being full all week.



There was a sign to say the toilets would be cleaned thoroughly in the morning and evening. This was not adhered to, a quick once over of the floor was undertaken in the morning which took the cleaner about 10 to 15 minutes for both sets of toilets. No one ever came in the evening.



The Family Shower Facilities:



• The water in here was extremely hot, we did complain and apparently something was done, however on our second to last day my 5 year old daughter got scolded, as it started off ok, so we put shampoo on her but whilst she was washing it off it went piping hot and stayed that way for at least another 15 minutes, by which time my husband had to carry her screaming naked to the men’s showers and wash all the soap off her. We complained to a member of staff, who didn’t seem bothered.

• The Boiler cupboard was swinging open as the lock was broken and a child could have got hurt, touching the boiler.



The Dishwashing Facilities:



• There was sick down the side of the sinks, when we complained, it took 3 days and was just scooped into a pile and left.

• The light pull cord was missing so the light could not be used.

• There was no plastic case on any of the lights, so being next to water this was a safety issue.

• Rubbish bags were often found on the dish drainer.

• No plugs?

• Two taps had been broken, one was fixed on day 5 of our stay, and the other was still broken when we left. Maintenance were supposed to do a daily check of the facilities according to reception.



Disposable Toilet



• The door was ajar at all times, the smell was horrendous and any child could have gone in and hurt themselves.

• Why was there not a security lock, as the toilets had?





The Touring Field:



• Each morning a cleaner used a brush and cold water from the drinking tap with a little disinfectant to swish around the toilet floors. No other cleaning was undertaken and cold water does not clean properly!

• The security team from the next door airfield were blatantly using the touring facilities (which would add to the already poor situation). I even went to find a member of staff when they were there to be told there were none available and eventually I said ‘what’s happens in an emergency’ I was told to go to the main complex. I spoke to ‘Rob’ who said ‘he would come over in half an hour’, I replied ‘they’d be gone by then’, so he said ‘he’d come after buying something from the shop’. He did come over and drove straight past! He didn’t even get out of his car. This attitude was the norm for all the Haven staff, no one cared!

• The security locks were faulty; the cleaner even struggled to get in. One poor teenage ended up ‘defecating in his pants’ (I can only imagine how the poor lad felt); my husband came out of the door so he gained entry but it was too late.

• No warden presence, reception told us they were in uniform and on site, but we only saw one on our second to last day. A warden being seen may have alleviated some of the problems.

• The dogs were not on leads, so there was dog faeces on the field and also on the main complex.

• On the first night we stayed there the music from the main complex was so loud I could hear every word of every song, this continued until 2 am. (Long past the curfew of midnight).

• There was raw sewage spread across the field from where someone from Haven had unblocked a manhole/drain but it had been left to fester in the heat and was disgusting. I complained to a member of staff by the toilets who said ok I’ll get someone to look into it. We left the next day so I don’t know if this was the case. Although the original member of staff who unblocked the main drain should not have left it there.

• There were pipes sticking out of the ground, which were dangerous at night as the area was poorly lit due to the dishwashing lights not working.



Main Site Facilities



• Maintenance was poor.

• The toilets in the swimming pool were disgusting.

• Toilet roll was wet and soggy all over the floor.

• There was no other toilet roll

• No soap.

• I was appalled at this as the pool had just opened (so no excuse), and after having used the toilet I had no means of ‘wiping myself’ and then no soap to wash my hands! I came out of the toilet in tears, having felt like an animal and very unclean!

• Haven has a strict policy on pool usage for nappies, water nappies at all times. Why then on a number of occasions did I see children in normal nappies in the pools? Very unhygienic with a risk of Cryptosporidiosis, the lifeguard spoke to the family concerned about photography by the pool, so he was aware of the nappy, but never told them about the use of normal nappies is not allowed. “An ordinary disposable nappy would soak up the water and weigh your baby down. They are also risky to use in a swimming pool because the absorbent core could burst out and cause problems in the pool filter system.” Please see more information within the appendices.

• The soft play area was filthy, particularly under the stairs. We originally complained on 21/7/08 but nothing was done until we complained again on 24/7/08.

• The soft play area was falling apart, the punch bags had fallen loose and the seams were coming apart, with the filling falling out.

• The metal bar surrounding the outside of the soft play area was at a height whereby a child could hurt their head on it. A piece of sponge had been cello taped to it (I imagine as a temporary fix). However, it was there from our first day till our last, how long does it take to fix this?

• The Crown Green bowling was used as a scooter park at night time.

• The shale around the bushes was always spread across the footpath, my 5 year old daughter fell over and cut her knee on the shale.



Entertainment:



• Professor Schlopps workshop only lasted 6 minutes, having been to it before and it lasted at least 20 minutes, before the children were chosen. We drove all the way back from Barrow in Furness for a 6 minute activity, I was not pleased and the children were in tears!

• The children’s evening activities to pick who was to go on stage were fixed. The children were pre picked. i.e. Funstar ‘Scott’ called a child’s name to join him on stage (‘The mouth’ obviously a nickname), before the game was even done, the other Funstar said ‘but we’ve not done the game yet’. Then ‘The mouth’ was picked to go on stage. It’s not fair to give children a false hope of being picked if you pre-decide.

• The bar never opened before the entertainment started at 6pm, so we always ended up missing a few minutes of the entertainment whilst getting a drink and there was only ever one member of staff, this was peak season.

• On numerous occasions the bar had run out of things and the excuse was its being delivered tomorrow. That doesn’t help, especially for example when they only had 2 choices of cereal for the children’s’ character breakfast.

• The Trampoline/bouncy castle supervisor was asleep on at least 4 separate occasions.

• After the nappy incidents in the pool, and our complaints not being resolved we didn’t feel we wanted to swim in an unhygienic pool with the risk of catching Cryptosporidiosis. No excuses for this as you sell the swim nappies for £1.50, but you don’t enforce their use.



General:



• Not Havenised – in comparison to other Haven sites. Missing the Rory & Bradley Signs etc. The only one evident was falling apart.

• The Camping pitches were too close together. Having stayed at other Haven sites and everyone abiding by the 6m square rule. The pitches we had were only 3 to 4 metres wide. When we originally pitched no one was next to us, but by the middle of the week the site was getting full and we could touch the next doors trailer tent.



To quote South Lakeland District Council on tents “Every unit should be not less than 6 metres from any other unit in separate family occupation and no less than 3 metres should be permitted between units in any circumstances.”



For Caravans “every caravan shall be not less than 6 metres from any other caravan” , “Where awnings are used, the distance between any part of the awning and an adjoining caravan shall not be less than 3 metres. They shall not be of the type which incorporates sleeping accommodation and they shall not face each other or touch. “





This was not the case for pitches 59 and 57. It appeared pitch 58 had been added on as an extra. On the other pitches it was very hit and miss, as the warden was not monitoring where people pitched, as the site was getting fuller it was apparent that the warden was having a problem placing people due to his earlier neglect at the beginning of the week.



I apologise for the lateness of this letter but unfortunately I have been in hospital and therefore this is the earliest opportunity I have had to reply. A few comments on the letter I received from the Lakeland site:



Paragraph 3: The shower block was not cleaned twice daily, it was skimmed over briefly in the morning. The Touring warden was never anywhere to be found, and I asked for the Holiday Sales manager twice to be told he was dealing with a customer, so I requested as a matter of courtesy that he come and visit us that day. As one of our party was at our pitch throughout the day I know he never came to see us!



Paragraph 4: I appreciate parts need to be ordered for maintenance and can take approximately a week at most to be delivered, however it was apparent that the faults I have described have been like that for a long time due to the rust, dirt etc around them,



Paragraph 5: My complaints on the entertainment was not the programme, as it clearly (according to the timetable) should have followed the Haven guidelines. It looked exactly like the timetable at all the other sites we have visited with Haven. In fact we love the Haven entertainment programme it’s generally what makes the holiday and gives you the ‘holiday feel good factor’. It was a pity that Lakeland staff didn’t follow the timetable, pre picked children, cut short activities and were generally unenthusiastic.



Paragraph 7: I’m glad complaints and comments are taken seriously, but these were intially made at the beginning of the week, and reiterated later on. What good is it to me if you take them on board for future customers, when my holiday was completely ruined, without so much of an apology on site, or any resolution whilst I was there.



Paragraph 8: The offer to ‘drop them a line’ should I ever wish to return to Lakeland, does not entice me in anyway. Why would I want to waste more of my precious holidays on a site, which could not deal with the complaints I had whilst on their site. Therefore I have a lack of faith with regard to this.



Paragraph 9 & 10: I appreciate the Haven letter does apologise (quite a lot), it is just a little to late, as Haven were given the opportunity to rectify the problems and apologise whilst I was on site, which they failed to do. I was assured when I complained that Head Office would reply to my complaint within 28 days, and as I have not received any correspondence from Head Office I wonder if this complaint was ever sent to them.







Conclusion



To conclude I would say that having been a Haven customer for many years and having stayed at a number of your sites, both as a tourer and in one of your caravans, I am disgusted that this site is within the Haven brochures. It merely felt like the Touring side was a field to get money from people but without maintaining or cleaning it. As a child I stayed at this site (prior to Bourne Leisure owning it), I had fond memories of it as the ‘Ponderosa’, which I wanted my children to have. It is indeed the worse Haven site I have ever stayed on, not only through the lack of cleanliness, maintenance and general upkeep, but also the lack of enthusiasm from your staff, everything was too much hassle and the ‘not interested’ attitude prevailed throughout.



It is a shame that it is your only site within the astounding beauty of the Lake District!



Our friends (who have never been with Haven before and I doubt will ever go with you again), were most disappointed.



You may ask why we didn’t come home (believe me it was discussed every day), however as we couldn’t recover the holidays taken from work, and the children love ‘Bradley’ and ‘Rory’ so much it would have broken their hearts if we had, we decided to follow the Haven complaints procedure, which unfortunately didn’t resolve the issues.



Finally I quote Haven’s terms and conditions:



“'If we change or cancel your booking' As an experienced and responsible operator, our aim is to provide all the services, facilities and entertainment as described in our brochure. Should it be necessary for us to make any major changes to your booking, or in exceptional circumstances cancel your booking, we will endeavour to advise you, or your travel agent, and provide the following options:



1) a replacement holiday comparable or superior to the one booked or

2) a replacement holiday together with the difference in price between the replacement holiday and the holiday booked or

3) a full refund”



I feel the holiday we encountered did not live up to the standards or descriptions Haven give on line or in their brochure.



Please refer to the appendices for photographic evidence.



Anyone know the name of the current director as my complaint was sent to Head office but got bounced back to the site and the response came from the man who did nothing whilst I was there!

I've just got back from the Lakelands Caravan Park and after reading so many negative reviews I thought it needed a positive one to show that not all opinions are the same!!



We booked through the Sun Newspaper £9.50 offer and upgraded a few months later to a Superior plus caravan for an extra £90 for 2 adults and a 2 year old for a Friday to Mon break as we decided we wanted heating in the bedrooms.



The day before we left I decided to check the reviews (a bit late I know!) and was shocked to find to many bad ones about the place and the caravans being filthy and so we set off with very low expectations.



Somebody said that there were no signs for the park which is very true but the site is in a very small village which has a sign for 'caravan park 1 mile' which was the obvious sign to follow. It's right at the end of the road that leads to the 'beach' so not that difficult to find.



After getting our keys and passes, we drove to the top of the site to caravan F64 can't remember the name of the 'close' that we were in but opened the doors expecting the worse and was greeted by a lovely clean spacious caravan in a lovely quiet area of the site.



Everything that was needed was there including hoover, clothes horse, ironing board...



We went for a walk to the complex expecting that to be like the reviews but didn't really find much to complain about. You have to walk through the arcade to get to the club, the swimming pool, cafe etc everything was pretty much as you would expect a family Haven to look like.



Our 2 year old loved the playbarn type thing that was in-between the cafe and the club so it was safe and convenient for us to sit back and have a drink while watching him play. I didn't inspect the playbarn for cleanliness but it looked absolutley fine.



We didn't eat in the cafe, we ate out or in the caravan due to us going out visiting places alot. It was probably expensive for what it was as most places like that usually are.



We tried the swimming pool which was small and would probably get over-crowded in high season. The changing rooms could have been kept cleaner too. We didn't bother going again, it seemed to much like hard work.



The prices in the on-site shop were more expensive so best stopping off at a local suprmarket or corner shop for essentials.



Best places to go outside of the site was the South Lakes Wild Animal Park in cross gates, Dalton-in-Furness about £10 per adult, brilliant way to spend the day, take a picnic though, they were very slow in the restaurant. Lemurs were so funny, they run around freely and are so cheeky!! They have Giraffes, hippos, Rhinos etc.



We also went to Duckys Park Farm on the road coming out of the site, about a fiver each and they have farm animals and a big indoor playbarn for the kids, good to spend a few hours on a rainy day.



We also caught the boat from Lakeside to Bowness and back which was really nice and if you fancy a meal out, try the Italian on the main road in Grange-over-sands. Gorgeous food and friendly service, also child friendly.



Anyway, we worried about nothing in the end, maybe we just got lucky? Either way, there is so much to do in the area, we will be going back next year and hopefully our son will be old enough to dance the night away in the club so that we can have a few drinks and relax rather than chasing him in and out of the playbarn all night!

We booked a Prestige caravan for my family, 13 and 1 year old. On arrival we were greeted by friendly staff and went straight to our caravan. It was pretty clean and had everything we had asked for as extras incl high chair etc. We were pretty pleased with the caravan, cleanliness and overall space etc within the caravan.



I wish we could have moved the caravan to another site though. The site was shocking. The pool is very small and over crowded which meant it was probably filthy. We had planned on visiting this every day for our baby but there was no way we would have went in there. The soft play area looked nice from afar but when inspecting closer we saw how filthy this was. The overall cleanliness of the site and facilities was extremely bad and we never ate there, choosing instead to cook in the caravan.



We travelled every day when we were there. There is a great farm next door to the park which the kids loved. We also travelled to the Lakes the other days. This made the holiday more expensive than we had anticipated but worked out more enjoyable.



I would never return to that park, but the area is nice and would love to return.

5 day stay in a tent at Lakeland and would never go back. We were not warned that the field was under water and muddy, we were flooded from day 1. There were rats running around in the mud, many lights did not work, there was noise every night into the early hours, the toilet and shower block was filthy, only 3 working showers for the whole campsite and these were freezing. Complaints were ignored, people were leaving early as we did in the end. A dreadful site with no drainage and staff that didn't seem to care less.

Well we decided our 1st family holiday with our 10 month old son should be UK based (now we wish we had went abroad after all!!!).



We arrived at Lakeland Holiday Park on August 9th (saturday) - thank god for sat. nav. as we hardly saw any signs giving directions!! After being allowed check-in just after 4pm we were so disappointed to arrive at our caravan (which was supposed to be a superior plus!!), when i arrived it was clear that it hadn't been cleaned or hadn't been cleaned to an acceptable standard (the kitchen bunkers were dirty with coffee cup stains, crumbs etc, the floors hadn't been hovered, the toilet floor stunk of urine and the overall caravan had a very musty smell about it!!!). So after travelling 5 hours I found myself having to clean our accommodation - not what i had planned for my first night of my holiday!!! The caravan we were given definately was not worth the money we paid - we have actually realised that we would have been cheaper staying in a premier inn/travelodge for the week instead and at least we know they are clean and what to expect!!! Needless to say we will never return to a haven park again!!!



The facilities at the park were not that great either - thank god we had our car or i would have gone mad!!! We ended up being out all day and only coming home to sleep and even then we went to blackpool for two days - so we didnt even use the park/caravan as much as what we should have done if we were satisified with what we had gotten for our money. Everything this park has to offer you can find outwith the park - so if we were ever to return to the Lake District we would stay elsewhere as there is nothing this park offered us that we couldn't find elsewhere!!! We even went to a local leisure centre for use of the swimming pool!!



The only good thing from this park is that the staff we met were very friendly!



Hope this can help a few people before booking!! I used this website before we went, to see what people were saying about it, I had read mixed reviews so went with the thought that it couldn't be as bad as some people had made out - I was wrong!!! I definately would not be going back here - I probably wont go to another haven park again - its a shame that the first haven park we go to puts you off so badly but the truth is it has - so in future we will be holidaying abroad just as we did before we had our son, either that or staying well away from haven.

We arrived at the Lakeland site on Sunday evening with our five children, with the intention of staying on the site for our first family camping holiday, for three nights. When we arrived on the site, the Receptionist for the tourers directed us to the field where the tourers were sited.



We set up our trailer tent and awning and then spent an enjoyable evening with the children. However, after a night of listening to the rain bouncing off the tent, we were dismayed to realise the following morning that the surrounding ground around our trailer and the ground within our awning was 'very wet'. We had to warn the children (aged between 6 and 16) to be very careful where they walked.



However, we ventured out to explore the campsite. When we reached the main Reception, we noticed a sign in the window which warned campers of impending severe weather.



On Monday evening, the rain poured down again, and after a disturbed night, we were awakened by our children at 6.30 am telling us that the tent was leaking! In fact, it wasn't that the tent had leaked, just that the lack of drainage in the field had raised the water levels to such a height that the airbed in the awning was almost afloat! When we looked outside, most of the touring area was under water.



When we inspected our awning, a lot of our personal items were saturated, ie towels, clothes, shoes, etc. So many of our items were so sodden that we had little choice but to decide to go home; we couldn't risk spending another night on a site that resembled a swamp.



Although we fully appreciate that nobody can guarantee good weather, and that Haven can't be responsible for bad weather, we think that the site owners have been irresponsible in allowing tourers onto the site and taking people's hard-earned money to pay for a site which isn't capable of dealing with a downpour.



In relation to this, we questioned:



1. Why didn't the tourers' reception warn us of how bad the drainage system was in the tourers' field?



2. Why weren't tourers advised that due to bad weather the previous week, some campers' vehicles had to be hauled out of the water-logged, boggy field (this was local newspaper headline news)?



3. Due to the previous week's severe weather and how this had affected this field (completely water logged), why weren't tourers forewarned about the flooding which had taken place?



Other areas of concern or disappointment are also noted below:



1 Our children were so disappointed with the Splashzone and Sports facilities. Archery was cancelled all week, fencing was cancelled on Monday, the bouncy castle (on a sunny Tuesday lunchtime) was cancelled (because someone had forgotten to put the night cover on the deflated bouncy castle the night before, so it was very wet).



Why did we have to stand in long queues to find out that these attractions had been cancelled? We actually stood in the queue for the bouncy castle tickets for 20 minutes, only for the children to discover when we reached the bouncy castle, that it wasn't available! Four disappointed kids! Why wasn't there a sign at the ticket machine saying, 'Bouncy Castle Cancelled for today'?



2. When our 8 year old daughter was stung by a wasp near to the crazy golf course, I hurried her inside (she was in a lot of pain) to find a First Aid Warden. The Reception wasn't manned, so I had to interrupt a lifeguard who was eating his lunch. He was extremely polite and instantly tried to assist by looking for the appropriate person, but didn't find anyone, so took us over to the Reception and brought out a first aid kit, which unfortunately, didn't include anything to deal with wasp stings. He was very embarrassed and suggested that I try to remove the sting using salt and water on a compress. I took his advice and fortunately, the suggestion worked.



Overall, we were very disappointed with our holiday with Haven. Although the campsite is well-equipped and the facilities were of a good standard, the site, we feel was understaffed and/or not managed appropriately for 'height of the season'.



Although this was a first camping holiday for us as a family, we as a couple have spent many years camping, and this has to be one of our worst experiences! We won't be recommending a Haven holiday to any of our friends/family, but hope our criticisms may help to improve the holidays of future campers to Lakeland.



CH and DS

My family and I stayed in a Superior plus caravan for a week. The caravan was relatively clean upon arrival and we had enough space for the 3 of us. A good point was the large walk-in shower-unfortunately though, this overflowed when I had a shower and soaked the carpets. Carpets in a bathroom and toilet seem an odd choice?



The park I would rate as adequate-in some areas excellent. The park area for children looked great although I didn't try it as I was a little put off the park quite early on and set my mind to exploring the Lake District.



We checked in about 4-they only let us in shortly before but we were expecting that. Some Havens let you in early but not here. Whilst we waited we had a meal in the Aqua bar which was truly awful. There was no tomato sauce left anywhere in all the bottles on the tables. My toddler's dinner was warmed in a microwave and was dried and just not edible.



The (inside) swimming pool was very small and the changing facilities totally inadequate. There were few changing cubicles so that people were changing in the (about 2) toilets. I had to walk through the bar with my swimsuit and trousers on to use the toilet there. There were a lot of people in the pool but it was OK.



My toddler enjoyed the little soft play area but it did get rough at times as there were children in there who were much taller than allowed.



To get to the bar/pool/play area etc you have to trawl through the arcade-usual for Haven I guess.



I took my child to the entertainment-a light show in the afternoon and it was so loud that my ears hurt! I had to take her out and this completely put me off taking her into see the entertainment again-unless we sat at the very back. Why Haven have to have their entertainment so loud I don't know-it was the same at Littlesea Haven in Dorset.



I feel the park doesnt really advertise itself fairly. There wasn't really a bakery that I saw-just the Delice France stuff in the Supermarket?! I didn't see any Punch and Judy shows or info on horse riding. Information was not available in plentiful supply as is usual for Haven. Maybe it was there I just couldn't be bothered in the end.



The nights, even in July/August got cold so I'd recommend taking an extra duvet and heater (although they say they are not allowed.) Also prepare for lots of rain!



I probably wouldn't go back. The park was adequate but there were too many 'cons' for me. The beauty of the Lake District more than made up for any irritations the park threw up! I would certainly go back to the Lake District-stunning.

arrived eventually having to ask directions as the signs to the camp are almost non existing. after booking in found the caravan to excellent recommend going superior plus after that it was all downhill. Went to the funworks cafe for burger & chips with a drink of coffee had to wait 40 minutes for the meal and the coffee was out of a flask as the coffee machine was broke, when the meal arrived there was no salt or pepper when we asked for some they gave us some packets of salt & a catering tub of pepper which we were asked to take a couple of pinches from, in the evening we went to the show bar to see the caberet and we were disappointed with the quality of the artiste even at 10 pm was still entertaining the children i should say at this point we have nothing against children we have 2 of our own & 4 wonderful grandkids the point i am trying to make is there is no entertainment for the adults or even a bar where you can have a quiet drink. We have been to many haven camps & had a great holiday but this one will definitely not be revisited

(we had superior plus caravan and there were 4 adults and 3 children)



We had a quick check in and got to the caravan straight away it was well signposted, good location not far from the main bit, we had everything we needed inside enough plates and cooking utensils etc.



The bedrooms and caravan were well heated, the caravan was excellent the main bedroom was en-suite and a decent size at one end, with the living space in the middle and 2 other bedrooms at the other side also decent size and another bathroom a little smaller than the main one and a storage cupboard.



The food in the aqua bar was reasonable we had on our stay burgers, sausage and mash, however all the meals that were served up to people looked nice and we didnt hear no one compain (but if you want gormet cooking dont goto haven), the alcohol was about the same as any pub not exceptionally dearer and a nice drink aswell.



The indoor swimming pool was not as big as it looked on the web however it was big enough it was never over crowded when we were there and it was very clean. The outdoor pool was cold however there were still a number of people in it again it was clean and so was the seating area around it.



The supermarket was well stocked and reasonably priced.



The site its self was excellent it is a small friendly site and very peaceful and clean.



It is an a good location for the lake district which is not too far away, I would deffinatly be going back again and would recommend it.

DO NOT go to this caravan park in March!! It was freezing cold! We have just arrived back from Lakeland after an Easter Weekend Break. At Checking-in we had to stand in a freezing cold ballroom (the Showbar) in a line of over 200 people (which stretched around the ballroom) waiting in sub-zero temperatures for the staff stood at the desk to open check-in at 4.00pm - and not a minute sooner!! (The 2.30pm check-in for Prestige/premium had long since finished, but that was their excuse)!

Our Superior Plus caravan was very nice inside, but we visited friends in others - don't go less than Superior plus!! The caravan was freezing cold! We asked for a heater or blankets at reception - but were told they had none left! I had to ring my brother to bring us blankets and a heater from Barrow, or we would not have survived the cold. The heater then of course blew the electrics, it took the camp staff 23 hours to send maintenance, who left his screwdriver on the grass & the dangerous junction box wide open for our kids to be electrocuted!! (he never actually came back), an electrician in the next caravan fixed it for us.

Other complaints? Fish&Chip shop closed down, cold water in small swim pool,very poor food in AQua Bar & no seats left in Showbar unless you get there early, etc, etc, etc,!!!

This was the second Haven camp I visited and the best.The camp is small is size and the facilities reflect this.I found the accommodation (gold) to be excellent and the staff at the camp could not be more helpful.Drinks are expensive at the bar but I have never been on a UK holiday where this is not the case. The camp is ideal as a base to explore the Lakes and the south lakes animal park is a must.

I found the camp really good,Haven are essentially cheaper holidays and some of the reviews in this site annoy me.If you want 4 * then pay more and don't book a Haven holiday.

Arrive with a swift check in but struggled to find the caravans due to lack of signs and numbers on the vans.

We were very luck and had 2 new caravans 1 of which was never used due to it being the 1st weekend of opening.

So great on that front and good location not far from the main bit. Had everything we needed inside enought plactes and cooking utensils etc.

Lots of cons with this place though and here they are:

The main entertainment was not heated and upon complainting we were told it dont have heating..... i mean come on its 2008 for god sake.

The place was freezing everyone was sat with coats on and we only spent about 3 hours of our time in this room due to the cold....mega loss of sales to haven!!! The children had running noses off it!!

The bedrooms were unheated as well and being march was still cold and the condensation off the windows ran on to the beds!!! (take a small fan heater with you).

The food was disgusting and cold that was sold on site, we dodnt try fish and chips as been warned about that, so take plenty food to cook yourself.

The swimming pool was not half as big as it looked on the web and was also stone cold, it had a few small chaning rooms on the pool side but no showers or lockers and people had to walk around the pool clothed to get to it!!!!!

The main complex area stunk of damp prob due to lack of heating.

Supermarket had very little stock and its was very over priced.



The site its self was peaceful and very clean. The staff were friendly and all repairs we reported were done swift.

There is not much inside or around the place so you need a car to venture out. We had sunday dinner at the pub near by (phesents inn i think) was very nice indeed.

As we arrived at Lakeland taking a look at the entrance into the holiday park, we all looked at each other in disbelief. It was out of the way, not well sign posted and overall looked like a piece of farmland with caravans thrown in.



Having to go to collect our key was breath taking you had to go through the arcade which was scruffy, the lounge area was very untidy and dirty and the show bar was even worse. When we received our key for our caravan, the caravan must have been forgotten about by a cleaner, mould on the windows, dirty carpets, dirty table and a very feisty smell.



Having been on a few haven holidays with our (two) children this has to be the worst one ever, the children were unhappy with the facilities if kids are happy the family is happy, BUT all the park surrounding areas were either muddy, unplayable, or activities were cancelled.



We called at the sites fish and chip shop on our way back to the caravan, well if this is what they call fish and chips they aint got a clue? Frozen supermarket chips and what looked like betterbuy frozen fish (NOT FRESH..).



As for the swimming pool, cant tell you as never got to use it (something to do with they cant reach the temperature needed) errrr yeah right.



We left the site a day early due to us all having bad colds and chesty coughs, best thing we did, should have turned around when we arrived.



Make sure if you still take up this challenge and decide to stay here, take loads of MONEY as £50 to £100 is so easy to spend in this park(per day).



As for a good point the supermarket was ok good staff very helpful and the childrens entertainers were trying to make up for a holiday from HELL.

I first came to this site in June on a "Sun Holiday" with my two boys not knowing what to expect. We had a great time - ideal for my 4 year old who loved the entertainment. When we got home we booked another week in September and have since booked to come in October half term.



What I liked was the beauty of the Lakes combined with the fun of a Haven site. I must say the most impressive part of this was the entertainment staff who were excellent - as if they really cared about their jobs and the children they were entertaining.



On both occasions the caravan was excellent although we did stay in a gold in September and we were a bit cold! Staying in a silver in October but have paid £10 for a heating upgrade! The swimming pool and facilities are too small for the site but what I have found is that everyone wants you to have a good time and you need to point out any problems.



I can foresee my family holidaying here whilst they are young enough to appreciate it! As for it being dirty - not at all - it was not a problem. I have used my Tesco clubcard points for the holiday in October and so paid very little for it although I have heard it is very busy during school holidays. I would just say enjoy spending a british holiday with your family at a reasonable price in a beautiful part of the country! Went to a pub in Cartmel for a meal and is was pricey but worth the visit. Don't knock it till you have tried it!