Where is your favourite site please??

[lisad123isasnuttyasaboxoffrogs]

Want to try somewhere nice over may bank holidays and know from past that its best to book early for the best sites.
So tell me where your fav sites are, hopefully within 2/3 hours of London/Herts area.
So far we have been
Fen farm mersea Island which we love for hot and clean showers
Longthorne Farm, which we loved but hated the bathroom/smelly loos
Booked Bracelands for Aug
Chedder, but cant remember site but hated the fact we were hedged off in areas

Would like something near clacton maybe. Does not need to be near a beach.
We have a dog

went here in 2009. Was a lovely site.

looks lovely but bit far for a weekend :(

Here www.riverside-lakes.co.uk/ - although the website is getting an overhaul.

Not Clacton way, but 3 hrs from Herts if you are lucky. Near Wimborne, Dorset.

Lovely slightly hippyish campsite where they allow campfires and have an informal (at your own risk) swimming and boating lake (big muddy pond) that the kids loved. Can daytrip to Bournemouth for sea, and Moors Valley Country Park nearby is fab.

We've been here twice and loved it and they take dogs too.

www.southlytchettmanor.co.uk/

Wapsbourne Manor is great
www.wowo.co.uk/

the others are lovely but wanted to try outside of dorset as we always go there.

Waspsbourne Manor looks fab, but shame, the bank holidays are already fully booked!!!

We go to Kent for a weekend every year (we live in Bedfordshire - so is about 3 hours M25 permitting). Have found several fab sites there - one of our favourites is here with woodland camping and campfires.

The last time we went we had a fab day at Whitstable on the Kent coast. Do not know what their dog policy is.

I've only been camping once, so hardly a seasoned camper giving advice here! But when we went we went here
www.sandyballs.co.uk/
and it was brilliant, thereare brilliant facilities, restaurants, entertainment, swimming pool, playgrounds etc etc...we had a great time.

big sands is almost my fav.

The Strangers Home inn in Bradfield, Essex (see ukcampsite website) is a nice flat field behind a pub doing food, with play area. Not far from Clacton.

bo peep

cotswold view

cotswold view caravan and camping park.Lovely

Nantcol Waterfalls. A mn recommendation. Lovely and you can have proper campfires.

Slubber that was the area we were looking at going to at the end of July, it looks like a lovely campsite ( I grew up camping in a little village outside Barmouth every year for 6 weeks at a time!) and I wanted to go back. Weren't planning on booking really (wanted nice weather) but this site we will obviously need to. Is it as nice as it looks?

Yes it was, very lovely, and pre booking essential for the may and summer holidays as it's not very big.

It would have been even nicer if the sun had shone on it, but hey, that is probably asking way too much for Wales in august.

slubber good point, but i grew up in Wales so I am very use to not very much sunshine...sort of a lot of greyness!
when you book, do you choose pitches or do they just plonk you somewhere, and are some pitches better then others?

Nope it is a free for all (if you don,t have EHU, if you do I guess the pitches are a bit more marked out).

When we got there the chap said pitch anywhere just so long as you are sensible and don't shove yourselves somewhere right up close to where someone else it.

We were camping with friends so picked a nice big spot where we could pitch our tents close together.

A fair amount of the site it right next to the lovely shallow river, so plenty of gorgeous river view spots.

They were strict with numbers (I saw several people being turned away) so even in high season it never felt busy.

The best bit was the lad coming round in the late afternoon selling kindling and wood for the campfires. Totally made the holiday for us and the kids sitting round the fire in the evening.

We pitched closer to the loos for quick access with semi continent children, but with a stream right behind us.

Ah lovely Enid Blyton kids playing in stream for hours etc etc. Major downside was terrible realisation in the middle of the night when you wake with a full bladder to the delightful sound of constant tinkling water that maybe you should have pitched somewhere else.

[should have packed the bucket with a lid]

thank you for the info, i will chat to DH about it, my only concern is neither of my children can swim so we wouldn't be able to take our eyes off them with that much water....

No, mine couldn't either last year. You would need to keep an eye of course but most of the river that flows through the site is shallow, so good for paddling rather than swimming in.

himalaya that looks great - just my sort of place. I found a page with info and reviews here - what are the prices like?

My favourite dernwood farm We'll be there for the wedding bank holiday for 3 nights.

However you need to book in advance and pack light as you park the car and then trundle all kit through the woods on wheelbarrows to the camping field. Sounds like a faff but makes that first glass of wine around the campfire so much better . It means no caravans, electric hookups or showeres so you have to like roughing it a bit.