Dowlais Farm Holidays

Liked Ease of getting to campsite off the M5.

Disliked Very basic for top end cost. Shabby hand painted signs upon entry. Surrounding area extremely untidy.
Never saw the staff.

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Wow.
This feels a little harsh!
May I be clear in stating that we do not claim to have facilities above and beyond well maintained basic amenities. Our compost toilets are in keeping with the greener camping club ethos, of whom we are licensed with (feel free to research)
Our showers are powerful and hot water is always readily available. This goes for the wash up station too!
The shabby hand painted signs were painted by the family children when they were a lot younger (call them sentimental) and there are dozens of professional signs leading to and all around the site!!!
The farm in which the orchard is situated is the home of a building and landscaping company, the 'extremely untidy area' surrounding the campsite is where building supplies are stored, in tidy piles.
There are 2 phone numbers clearly displayed on the entrance board should you of wished to talk to a member of staff!
Staff are there a minimum of twice daily maintaining the compost toilets.
Thankfully, the vast majority of our visitors love our site for exactly what it is and return time and time again.
I suppose we can't please everyone.

Liked Lovely hot showers. Great compost toilets. Lovely location on pier to pier cycle way. Plenty of space. Fire pit.
Large Tesco a 5 minute cycle away.

Disliked On flight path for Bristol airport some aeroplane noise but it wasn't so bad that we wouldn't stay here again.

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Thank you for your review, we are pleased to hear that you enjoyed your stay!
You are right, we are situated approx 7miles from Bristol Airport and do get airplanes flying over but I agree with you that its not that bad, in fact I rarely notice them! Great news that it doesn't put you off staying with us again and we really look forward to welcoming you back!

Liked Everything looked new or well maintained, cleaned and cared for. Grass cut short. Big pitches. Good showers. Good toilets. Liked there being a separate face washing area for cleaning teeth etc. Short drive to Clevedon or places like Clevedon Court or Tyntesfield. Would stay there again and probably will in June next year.

Disliked Can't think of anything to go here.

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Thank you for your review, we are really happy to hear that you enjoyed your stay here, including the surrounding area, we do have some lovely places to visit on our doorstep!
We can't wait to welcome you back next June!

Liked perfect quiet spot, nice small campsite, with facilities as needed.

Disliked nothing

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Thank you for leaving a review of our little campsite, we are always really happy to hear that people have enjoyed their time here and we would love to welcome you back in the future!

Liked Self check in was great.
Laid back, unfussy site.
Quiet location.
Plenty of hot water in the rustic showers.
Compost toilets. Despite initial uncertainty were effective.
Location - proximity to M5 yet tucked away.
Coast path was a 10 min walk.
Lovely orchard

Disliked Could do with a clean up.
Rustic is no excuse for grubby. (Showers, wash up area)
No hot water in toilet hand wash area is inexcusable.

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Thank you for your review, we are pleased that you enjoyed you stay.
We are a little confused with the 'clean up' comment as we do ensure that areas are kept up together and are not used to getting such comments, we can agree that dust levels here are at an all time high due to the lack of rain and this does leave some areas (including cars etc) looking grubby!
With regards to the hot water at the hand wash station, unfortunately this isn't something we could address. We are a greener camping club certified campsite and there is no way to add hot water to that area of the campsite without causing a fair bit of disruption and moving away from our eco ethos. Hot water at a hand wash, while desirable is not a necessity. Thankfully the pot wash station and showers on the opposite side of the orchard have plenty of hot water which we hope can mitigate the situation for you.
We hope to be able to welcome you back in the future :)

Liked Clean, flat pitches, firepits were allowed, nice location, very friendly staff too!

Free firewood was a very nice gesture.

Disliked Couldn't find the showers!!

The child's swing was on someone's pitch,

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Thank you for your review, we are sorry that you would not camp here again.
You are only the second set of campers unable to find the showers and there are 2 phone numbers on the board that you could have called and we could have told you where they were. (they are the other side of the washing up station) we will add more signage.
The swing isn't part of our offering and has been removed, we apologise for any issues this may have caused.

Liked Lovely location very close to Clevedon and the Marine Lake.
Gorgeous surroundings.

Communal fire pit is a lovely touch and the shower facilities are really great, lovely warm shower.

Very easy to book and the 'self-serve' style of pitch allocation is great!

Disliked My only grumble was, as it was a small camp site, there was a large group present when we were there and they somewhat "took over" the site with kids screaming and running around, loud shouting from adults etc. Definitely destroyed the tranquil setting and made the rest of the campers feel uncomfortable.

The pitch signage/demise of pitch could be clearer.

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Thank you for your review, we are pleased that you enjoyed your stay here in the most part.
We are unhappy to hear that you were left uncomfortable by other campers and are really not used to this happening on our site which is generally a really peaceful one. I guess with it being the school holidays there is more chance of children being here but they really should not impact other campers and we would urge anyone staying here to talk to us if this were to ever occur again.
I can see how you may of been unsure of pitch boundaries, as we are a relatively new site some of the hedge boundaries are yet to really show, we do mow the pitch areas too but this has been a lot less frequent due to the lack of rain/grass. The pitches are a lot bigger than many campsites and it's important to us that our campers know how much space they have so we will give some thought as to how we may be able to make this clearer.
We look forward to welcoming you back in the future :)

Liked Excellent location, large pitches, good eco facilities.

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Thank you for your review, we are glad that you enjoyed your stay and hope you come again! :)

Liked So peaceful and calm. Simple with everything you need. Just lovely.

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: We are so pleased that you enjoyed your stay here! We would love to welcome you back in the future :)

Liked Location, including situation within an orchard; small number of pitches; adequacy of amenities.

Disliked Drinking water had a strange (medicinal) taste.

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Thank you for taking the time to leave a review, it's great to hear that you enjoyed your time here with us!
With regards to the drinking water, this is the first time anyone has commented as such, we are really at a loss as to what that could have been!
We do hope to be able to welcome you back in the future!