I think I’ve become the official Five Ways camping bore, but after much prompting and probing I’m beginning to get feedback from people I know directly. It was definitely interesting to get a comparison between Wowo and Blackberry Wood campsites. Blackberry Wood is Cool Camping‘s No 1 campsite and Wowo is one of their top sites for kids. The problem according to one of our Balfour mums ‘advisers’ is that apples are not really being compared to apples. At Blackberry Wood there are only 20 tent pitches in their own glades, or you can stay in one of their yurts, or a double decker, gypsy caravan and retro airstream trailer.
Wowo also offer yurts and tipis, but if you’re bringing your own tent then you’ll be pitching it along with other campers in a field (see map above). This make it very different from Blackberry Wood and popular with large groups, particularly those with younger kids. This kind of difference might be something that a reviewer of a camping guide would miss because you really need to be in a large group to understand why a particular site might work for one age group and not another, given that a school trip can include 30 or more families. I can’t personally comment on Blackberry Wood as I haven’t been there, but I can say creating a circle of 10 tents on our trip to Wowo with a communal area in the middle for cooking, playing and sitting round the campfire worked really well. So it would be interesting to hear whether Blackberry Wood is more about smaller groups or families on their own, or if it’s better for older groups. Hopefully, I’ll find out soon and get back to you.
I also had feedback in response to my Camping out in Brighton post, by a family who had camped at Sheepcote Valley Caravan Club site. They thought the site had done it’s best to separate the area set aside for tents from the main site, which they thought was more like a car park for caravans and trailers. What they hadn’t considered was that the location would attract younger campers who like to stay up late and not be disturbed by young kids waking up only 2 hours after they’ve gone to sleep. So Sheepcote Valley Caravan Club might be a great place if you want a cheap site by the sea where you can also go clubbing through to the following morning, but it might not be the most family friendly campsite.
I’ve also had feedback about South Lytchett Manor Caravan and Camping Park, near Poole, Dorset. Judging by their site, they possibly have the grandest entrance of any campsite in the UK and our reviewers thought it was excellent although by their own admission this is the only site they’ve been to so far. They were definitely impressed with the toilet block which was very clean and made more bearable when confined to a cubicle for longer periods by the piped music (Simon & Garfunkel when our reviewer was there). They mentioned also mentioned there was a kid’s playground, friendly welcome, games room, shop, information hut, pond and goalpost, which was everything they needed. Their only gripe was the traffic noise from the A35.
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[...] (who sent me Sunday Times Guide) experience at South Lytchett Manor Caravan and Camping Park (see here). Then again Paul and his family had a great time there, so does it really [...]