Ilfracombe Holiday Park

"Stayed at Widemouth bay for 11 years.. Its a great site lovely caravans.. great for explorng Cornwal... Bad side the club house is massive and is over run by screaming toddlers running around ,,, Its dominated by Freddy Fox club, which is great for mums and dads with youngsters but for people with out toddlers its hell.. when Freddy is not on the bored staff play disco music of their choice (and its the same every night)... Out of season ie late sept/Oct entertainment can be hit or miss.. Years ago there was fantastic cabaret there.. You might be lucky and get a good act.. The swimming pool was only built in the last 10 years or so and is boring.. No slides or inflatables allowed. just a pool.... The site is well maintained but beware there are quite a few hills and slopes to tackle. The caravans are great clean and well stocked with all you will need.. I love Widemouth bay it just needs bringing into the 21st century and needs more entertainment facilites..."

"i have nothing positive to say about this park wotsoever,it"s absolutely awfall.without any dought the worst park i have ever stayed at.
i found north devon much more enjoyable once i had abandoned my stay at this park & found alternative accomodation.
it"s your money & your choice,if your looking for a good quality holiday in north devon avoid this park.
this opinion is based on myself & my families experience of this park.who knows? you might like it!"

"I have read the reviews for john fowler and would like to have our say.we have stayed at john fowler 3 times twice at coombe martin and the last time at brixham.we found the caravans extremely clean,the staff really helpful and site was kept spotlessly clean.we stayed in march and as we had a small child they kept all facilities open even though we were the only family on site.we could not fault john fowler.
people who do not have a car should always research where they are staying.coombe martin site is at the top of a hill but the views from the park and private beach are worth it.
i would recommend john fowler to anyone especially families."

"we have been customers of john fowlers for at least the past twelve years and have always found it to be cheap and cheerful,but i'm afraid this time it's gone beyond the pale.As we are due to retire soon,we thought it would be nice to stay with a view to buying a holiday home on the st ives site.What a shock.The accomodation has really gone down,and the clientel,well god forbid that we would have some of them staying in our accomodation.The so called entertainment staff are a bunch of 17year olds who seem to think they're in a school playground,absolutely dire.Take my advice and look for other sites in the St Ives area especially if your going in high season,it's definitely NOT worth the money."

"We booked to stay with John Fowler as a cheap holiday, however I must warn that off peak season it is worth paying the extra to upgrade rooms. When we arrived we were put into the Celadine Chalet, it was very small, the TV didn't work and it was very cold and damp. It was spotless in terms of cleanliness, although we found a clump of hairs on the bed sheets!!! We went to reception to see if we could pay to upgrade and they managed to put us in a Royal Gold apartment for free. This flat was 100% better and we wished we had paid the extra £50 and booked it from the beginning! Again it was very clean, it had two bedrooms, a flat screen TV with a DVD player, and a dishwasher, which meant we could relax for the week! Also the bedrooms had fantastic views out to the sea. It is true, you do get what you pay for, although the peak season prices for the chalets I would not pay. The park itself had everything you needed, the entertainment was what we were expecting!! Fun but nothing that blew us away, the staff were friendly, especially on reception. What I will mention though is that you can't check in until 4pm. We left home early and got there at about 12, but we had to go into Ilfracombe with all our bags in the boot as we couldn't check in straight away. Lovely area, would recommend Woolacombe, although am told it gets VERY busy in the summer! All in all a great holiday!"

"I must say these reviews really put me off going here although it was too late I had already booked, and I'm glad I didnt cancel, it was good fun. We went 28th April 08 for a long weekend.

We stayed in a 3 bedroomed apartment, it was clean and tidy and had everything we needed, we went as a big family and had 2 apartments, unfortunately the other apartments boiler did burst soaking all of their clothes but luckily did not harm anyone, they were quickly moved to the next apartment along, they washed all their clothes gave them wine and chocolates and teddys for my nephews, we couldnt fault them.

The food on site was very cheap and good too, cheap and cheerful! although I can imagine it being quite busy in the restaurant in busy periods as it is quite small but they do do a takeaway.

It is on a hill! we took a walk into the town..... we didn't walk back!

If you want something cheap with no frills then this is the place to come, there wasnt much for the kids but then that didnt bother us as we were out most of the time, although they do have a kids club which I cant comment on as we didnt use it but my son did enjoy playing the games and dancing in the evening with the characters"

"we have just returned from a week at this resort, we enjoyed our stay although we would not use this park again due to its location.we arrived two hours early as check in was 4pm, as our caravan was cleaned they let us have the keys , the staff were very plesent, we stayed in a primula gold 4-6 berth caravan which i have to say was very nice , very clean and modern too. this site caters more for the younger family, it has a very steep incline so it isnt for the less mobile or the unfit as you will find yourself stuck in your accomodation all the time unless you dont mind getting the car out or paying for a taxi all the time. we went to the only resturant the site has one evening, but had to leave as it was very noisy as the childrens entertainment is in the same room also we watched all the food being cooked in a microwave, so we left and walked down a steep hill in to combe martin whare we found a nice place to eat. the best thing about this resort is the view fom the bottom whare the reception and bar/restaurant is. our caravan was supposed to have asee view but it was very limited. we enjoyed our holiday as we went out everyday and evening."

"We stayed in a Bronze chalet for the 1st May bank holiday. I had picked the chalet as it had a bath and allowed smokers - both a rarity! Check in is limited to between 4pm and 7pm so the queues were large but the reception staff efficient so only waited about 10 minutes. The chalet has the added bonus of the beds being made but you need to bring your own towels and cleaning/wasing up materials. Chalet is small (lounge, tiny kitchen, bathroom, double room, twin room) but adequate for a family and clean. Few of the chalets have any outside space and car parking can be hard if you go out for the evening.

The hot water let the chalet down very badly. It only heated enough to wash up so we had to boil the kettle and saucepans in order to fill the bath. We complained to the reception who said that they would send someone round but this made no difference. A real problem if the whole family goes quad biking in the rain!

There is a pool (nice and warm but basic) and sauna. Don't bother with the sauna as people are in and out all the time so never gets the opportunity to heat up and stay hot.

There is also some golf putting thingys (free), a shop (usual thing for this type of holiday), a small amusement arcade and a large clubhouse which has entertainment directed at children.

A ten minute walk down a steep hill to the town. There a regular buses during the week but not on Sundays or Bank holidays. The road to cross from the bus stop is scary and I wouldn't want to attempt it with children or slow walkers! A taxi from the town is £3 before midnight or £4.45 after. There are plenty of restaurants, pubs and a couple of nightclubs in the town for more adult evenings.

Nearby are good beaches, nice walks, quaint shops, all manner of day trips. Maybe not the best place if you have walking difficulties as you'll have to go everywhere by car."

"Just got back from a half term break at the John Fowler park At illfracombe and had a great time.O.k the park may not have all the facilities of larger parks,but the price reflects this!! Stayed in the brand new 3 bedroomed chalets that are new for 2006 and had not one complaint.They were fitted to the highest possible standards including dvd player,freeview flat t.v and even a dishwasher to avoid washing up (great as their were 6 of us!!). We did not plan on staying in much but as the wheather was a bit poor poor on a couple of days the pleasant surroundings of the chalet made for a pleasant stay playing board games and having a beer or three with the kids quite acceptable.The pool and bar area were a little sad and dated,but on the day we were leaving the bulldozers were looming and were told by park staff that the pool was to be doubled in size and the clubhouse demolished to be replaced with a 1500 seat new venue.This was my familys first visit to the park but i will definately return hopepfully next year to the same park.As i have said above its not disneyworld but then its not disneyworld prices,you get what you pay for and there is plenty to do around North Devon.Woolacombe is good,quad bikes close by were superb and the milky way park nearby was good fot the kids. as Arnie says "i will be back"."

"Don't ever be tempted by the pictures to go here...dirty damp and smelly.. toilet didn't flush had to keep filling it cistern.. dirty kitchen bedrooms living room the whole place stank..spent more time cleaning than holidaying.. mildew bedding..and carpets that looked like they had been rolled in mud dog hairs etc couldn't even tell what colour it was... never again worst place I've ever been Clubhouse like a working in a Man pub. No amusements for kids just a few machines for the whole site a tiny playground with a few things in it, I couldn't wait to leave and get home and shower and get the grime of us."

"I've been staying at Sandaway since 2007 and to say I've seen better days is an understatement. Filthy apartments, even more tiles missing from the pool with algae rising to the service this place is seriously in need of funding/better management. Had to wait until 9am to get a frying pan which should have been provided and waited a further 40 minutes for it to arrive. Sadly we'll be changing holiday destination now!"

"We stayed here for 7 nights beginning of August we booked a bronze chalet for £558 we arrived on time and checked in must say staff was very friendly the chalet was a disgusting place very damp and mold present very dirty this place could seriously do with being knocked down the facilities was poor no entertainment during the day nothing really for kids a little place at the back of entertainment room was understaffed will say though the restaurant food was very good so all credit to the Chef Devon was a beautiful place a shame are holiday was ruined by accommodation. "