Am I the only one to have a BAD Keycamp experience???

[Gillian76]

We have just returned (a week early) from our Keycamp holiday in Lake Garda, Italy.

We all got to the stage on Sunday afternoon that we'd had enough and decided to chuck in the towel before we killed each other! Problems were...

1. Too noisy - music and general noise from other campers went on til after midnight most nights. Couldn't get the children to bed at a decent time

2. Too hot - temperature was over 30 degrees most days. So tired children couldn't nap during the day as ten was like a furnace.

3. Other health problems - DH had the most appalling sunburn despite wearing factor 50+ sunscreen. After day 2 he had to stay out of the sun completely. I am covered in mosquito bites which have swollen up dramatically. DD had toothache so we didn't sleep at all for the last 2 nights.

I don't know whether the children were just too young (5, 3 and 2) or whether it might have been cooler in parts of France. I'm absolutely knackered however and think our holidays will be in the UK for the foreseeable future!

It all feels like a huge anti climax after the weeks and months of planning to get us there

We have also blown all our spending money gettin back home early

The key to a happy camping experience is to pick the camp site with great care. Lively campsites are fab if you have lively teenagers who wouldn't go to bed early if their life depended on it!

We tend to pick smaller , quieter campsites, the last one we were at was 250 pitches only and a strict no noise rule after 11 and before 7 which was bliss for us old fogies!

Sorry you had a crap time. We took out two when ds was 3 and we had an OK time. I must say that each camping holiday since then has got better, so I think you might have a better time when the ids are older, but I think that is true of most holidays tbh.

The rule was silence after 11pm, but clearly was not adhered to!

Wow!

Well, tbh, I wouldn't have come home - you may have found that you got used to it all after a week.

Did you have a car? Could you have gone to the beach or to a forest in the hottest part of the day?

Anyway, I suppose none of that is important as you are home now!

Hmmmm PITA when that happens.

Smaller tend to be much quieter.

You can also use sites like UKcampsite to ask if people have been to the site and what rules are enforced. That is what we have done in the past and it has worked well.

It is horrible when it is too noisy.

Sorry that you had a bad time. Our of interest was it a big site? I think that the Italian sites are big, but could be quite wrong.

The forecast was for hotter weather this week, which was the tin lid, really!

We did have a car, and tried to take the kids off site during the hottest part of the day. Problem was that over an hour's drive north lowered the temperature by a degree or two.

We were in France when there was a heat wave 2 years ago. 40 gegree heat and it was uncomfortable and my kids were older , which makes it easier. We tended to go for gentle walks in shaded forsests, or shop in A/C hypermarkets to cool down!

345 pitches

yes we were there too hmb - hot wasnt it

we used to go to the beach at about 4pm - any earlier and it just wasnt funny.

Not that big, so that blows my theory! We have been to ones with a 1000 and it wasn't that noise, mind you we were in a 'van

We also went to the beach after 4 and before 10!

Where were you Enid? We were in the Vendee

Think we'd better stay at home for a few years

Southern Brittany

feels like that, doesn't it!

I felt like that after an awful holiday in a tent when ds was1.5 and it rained for 10 days out of 12! Bloody awful, but we are back in the tent again so it must have worn off!

I can receomd some quieter sites, but Keycamp don't go to them any more