Caravan Park Hell!!!

[MozzchopsThirty]

As our holiday to Spain was cancelled I booked a cheap caravan park in the UK for me & dcs

I honestly didn't think it would be this bad!!!!

The caravan is old & smells, I cleaned it myself when we arrived as it wasn't clean and there were still hairs in the bathroom.
Even my teen can't stand the smell

I slept in the smallest single bed ever last nite and woken up by what sounds like people running round in our caravan but must be next door I guess

No seats at the 'entertainment' last nite.

I've booked us into a travelodge tomorrow

Weve been to parkdean two or three times and always been impressed. I think it must vary by site!

This is why we now use mostly chain hotels. They usually work out cheaper as well.

The sofas in the living room might be a good idea, certainly wider

We usually stay in hotels, lodges etc but this year has been fucked up due to cancellations

Lesson learned anyway

Is there a sofa bed in the living room? Every one we've stayed in has had a fold away bed under one of the sofas.

If you don't mind being out in the countryside rather than right by the sea I would recommend booking a cottage in future rather than a caravan. It always amazes Me how expensive caravans are compared to cottages where you have full size beds and space around them!

I appreciate that this year it may have been a case of book what's available , but in future it's worth a look

In future I'll be off on a plane, we don't usually holiday in the UK

We do plenty of UK caravan breaks, many with parkdean. We've had 2 that were completely awful as you have described. We've discovered the key is to upgrade to the newest possible caravan deluxe/gold/luxury edition whatever its called and 'new for this year' . The 'standard' ones have always been terrible.

At Cresswell Towers we complained to parkdean and they recleaned the van, but it wasn't enough really, so we complained again when we got home (left early) and they refunded 50%.

We never use the entertainment or swimming pools either 🤢, just use them as a base to explore the area.

Sorry your having a crap time.

Have never done Parkdean but has stayed in various Haven sites and have always found them fine! Tend to go for the slightly fancier caravans rather than the basic though.
However, the single beds are small child size.

Have had some lovely holidays in static caravans at Woolacombe Bay or Crouse. And also an awful Parkdean one. It's not the UK hol that's the problem.

Croyde

@MozzchopsThirty

I have complained, they couldn't see anything wrong with the cleaning, but that's because I cleaned it They put some sort of ozone thing in here yesterday but the smell is still the same

that's the thing you shouldn't have cleaned it before they had chance to replace the caravan for you, the smell is another matter though. they should be taking that up with house keeping.

We've just come back from a caravan park (our Canary Islands holiday was cancelled).

It wasn't Parkdean, but Park Holidays (so guessing similar).

Where we stayed (Dovercourt in Essex), was chav central. Kids seemed to rule the place, and rode around on bikes on the roads, swearing and gesticulating at drivers. I think some of them were local kids who just use the facilities, as there was no security on the gates.

Apart from that it was OK. We never used the clubhouse, we self-catered, and used it as a base to go to beaches around the area.

The caravan wasn't too bad, but I always wash all cutlery/mugs/plates/bowls, etc, before using, wherever I go.

It wasn't comfortable, but it was great at night, for star-gazing.

the noise will be seagulls 'tap dancing' your roof , hobourne sites are so much better that parkdene

I remember taking DC to haven caravan site when they were little. I thought it was expensive compared to going abroad. It was grim. So filthy I had to clean before we went in. Carpets in public entertainment areas were so sticky your feet stuck. The DC were oblivious and had a great time. We never did another caravan trip.

We have a touring caravan that we normally stay in but decided to 'treat' ourselves to a static as our holiday abroad was cancelled and the kids love that type of holiday.

The caravan was nice as we booked a new one but right by a main road so incredibly noisy. You don't tend to get that on touring fields. It was the clientele though that was shocking. You could see the other civilised people walking around looking slightly bewildered. We stopped venturing out of our caravan in the evenings after someone blatantly tried to steal our children's penny machine tickets until I told him to put them down.

A particular group was out of control - refusing to get out of the pool after the time slots/fighting kids in the playground and so on. I get that the park is not in control of who books but they made no attempt to deal with the behaviour. It was awful. Sad thing is we had stayed at this place before, before it was taken over by Parkdean and it was a great place for the children.

You should tell them why you're leaving so they are under no illusions.

Hope you get better night's sleep and enjoy the rest of your holiday.

Parkdean are, in our experience, awful. Haven sits we have been to are much better.