Big site with facilities or small site without? Dorset

[Spottybotty20]

Picking our first site for this summer, struggling to decide between the big brand sites with pools and soft plays (park Dean etc) or the small quiet sites. We have never stayed on either before and not really been on a proper family holiday yet (due to covid) so don’t know what we will need. We aren’t really mixers and kids are too little to join in anything.

I'm mainly looking in Dorset/Devon area and I’ve got a 4 year old and 18 month old so looking to keep them happy!

I’ve got camping and caravan club membership too so that’s where I'm finding the small sites.

any pros/cons you can share please?

I prefer small ones over big, but it depends on what you want your holiday to be. Do you want to be able to stay on site for activities, or will you be going for days off out etc, to beaches or attractions? If it's the latter, choose a smaller site. Your children are probably just a little bit too young to get the most out of a larger site at the moment, and you might appreciate a quieter site with a small playground or just space to play for a few years.

Norden farm in Dorset is a good site- a bit in the middle, no activities, but a playground and farm animals to see.

River Dart is a much bigger site, but less commercial than parkdean, it's spread out and the activities are more 'wild' outdoor ones.

Big with kids that age every time, you have something to do with the kids if the weather is shite on site

We've always gone for the smaller sites but that's because we like peace and quiet and our own company. Our DS are older now but have been very happy over the years riding their bikes around or lighting a camp fire (if you find a site that allows) or playing card games etc. A small playground is always a bonus. That's just what suits us though, a larger site with loads of entertainment not our cup of tea at all.

Big, if booking in advance. I love small sites if I know the weather is going to be good. If it is pissing it down, the pool and entertainment is well worth it

Small every time for me as long as there's toilets, a shower and washing up sinks

With mine, I would always go for the small site. There's only a certain amount of time you can entertain small kids in a pool without you and them going mad or shrivelling up. When the weather was crap (most of the time) we donned wellies and all in one waterproofs and headed for the beach,. Built some cracking sandcastles when it was deserted

We really like Wareham Forest www.warehamforest.co.uk/

It's a medium size site but has a great swimming pool and playground. No entertainment onsite but often have food trucks coming in over summer. Very near the jurassic coast for the beach

I've come to hate the big busy sites. Thats always some idiots with loud music or shouting late at night. (The worst was the karaoke machine....).

We deliberately go for less facilities in the pursuit of calmness.

I like big but basic sites - only ever been once to one with pool or entertainment etc. We liked the pool, no one liked the entertainment, and we all disliked having a small allocated slot for our tent with not much room around it.

We always go for big simple sites like Downshay Farm in Dorset with loads and loads of open space so the kids can fly kites and play ball games without being in anyones way, and the tents are very well spaced out in spots you choose for yourself. And we can have camp fires in fire pit each evening - the “pool and entertainment” sites often don’t allow camp fires. Happy with freezer ice pack facilities, loos and hot showers, and somewhere to get water. Don’t need electric hookup. Playgrounds are nice if they don’t get in the way of the other things but ours are a bit old for them now.