The Hop Farm

Liked Hop farm was well sign posted from the main roads as was the campsite area and reception. A lovely lady checked us in and explained everything. We chose a hardstanding pitch in C field with electric and water and a lovely view of the grass areas. Shower block was modern ,clean and nearby.
While we were there which was midweek we walked to the river Medway, ate in the Brewers Fayre pub and caught the hourly no 6 bus into Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells from the farm entrance.
We had a lovely break and will return soon.

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Liked Toilet facilities great, pizza van one evening, own water points as well as electric points. Lots of space.

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From the manager: Thank you for choosing to stay with us on Saturday 12th July.
We look forward to seeing you again, perhaps you can stay for 2 nights and enjoy walks along the river.

Liked Area, nearby river, all facilities, great location

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From the manager: Thank you for choosing to stay with us this last weekend 11th and 12th July and that you enjoyed yourselves.
We look forward to your next visit.

Liked Location tranquility river

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From the manager: Thank you for choosing to stay with us and sharing your photo of your stay this weekend, I am glad you were not in the same field as the large group who gave us a score of 1/10 and you managed to find a different part of the river to get access to.
We hope to see you again soon.

Liked Friendly people lovely place great atmosphere very clean

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From the manager: Thank you for choosing to stay with us on the weekend of the 11th and 12th July and that you enjoyed yourselves. Luckily you chose to be away from the very large group who refused to adhere to the campsite rules and spoilt the enjoyment for some other guests that weekend.
We look forward to your next visit.

Liked Location and plenty of space to pitch.

Disliked Upon arrival at reception I was given a map and blue card. I was told the code to the shower block/ toilets. The gentleman didn’t seem that happy but I thought maybe he was having a bad day. I said that I hadn’t camped here before and was meeting with family. He said you can pitch up anywhere. I travelled across the fields and met up with my family and friends, some had been there overnight the rest came on the same day. Myself, daughter and grandson arrived last so everyone came over to help put up our tent. Whilst we were busy the lady from reception approached us looking very irate saying that we were blocking a public right of way. We said we were not aware of this and there was no signage to indicate this and I politely pointed out that I had just been told in reception I could pitch anywhere. She then proceeded to tell us that they were understaffed and ‘ Do you know how busy it is’. If we were made aware we would not of camped in that spot. We had left plenty of room for people to get down to the river with their paddle boards canoes etc. and some walked through our camp which we didn’t have a problem with. The lady was very unprofessional and unapproachable saying that we were inconveniencing her guests. She tried arguing with us saying we had already been asked to move our vehicles a few hours before, every time we tried to speak she just shouted over us. She eventually left us. Later that evening the gentleman from reception who was doing the evening rounds again approached us telling us to move our vehicles from where the lady had said to put them earlier. He was unsteady on his feet and appeared intoxicated. We asked him where he would like them moved in the morning as the owners couldn’t move them because they had had a few drinks. The next morning we were shouted at again by the lady about blocking the path again but it was a vehicle left by other camp users. She went off to find them down the river without even an apology. Friday evening the group next to us were chopping wood at midnight in the woods and played music until 2/30 am we did not complain. Management didn’t come and treat them how we were treated. On Saturday we played music on a big speaker until we were asked to turn it off. We then played music quietly on a small radio. The lady returned to us grabbing our radio shouting at us all asking how to turn it off. She was going to confiscate it until morning. We asked for it back because we were all getting ready to go to sleep. The gentleman also approached us and we noticed that they were both intoxicated. How are they able to manage a campsite if they are both intoxicated each night we were there. Yes we should of turned the music off earlier but they had it in for us the minute we arrived. Whilst asking for the radio back the women became very aggressive and ended up strangling a 16 year old and breaking her necklace. The police did attend which we were grateful for and have told us that she couldn’t take our property as that was theft and she shouldn’t of strangled a child and that we could pursue an assault charge. In the morning another group of campers the other side of us said that even though they were glad that the music did go off they were willing to give a statement to the police as they had heard everything and that the management treated us appallingly. I think The Hop Farm need to educate the management in how you communicate with your paying customers and not find excuses for any negative feedback. You also need to employ more staff as the current ones can’t keep up with the work load especially if they are drinking each evening. I was sober the whole weekend unlike your management who seem to have got the facts a bit muddled. I also wonder why do people feel the need to comment on what happened that weekend and lie and stay anonymous !

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From the manager: The review above and others who stayed this weekend 11th and 12th July have given good reviews. Unfortunately Pitch-up lets people who I have blocked from coming again write these reviews,and as they had several bookings expect more reviews like this one.
When doing our checks at 10pm we kindly remind campers that it has gone 10pm and could they turn their music off but to still sit outside and enjoy themselves respecting other campers privacy or sleep, they are more than happy to do this. There had been three occasions last year where I did confiscate music systems to lock in the office until 9am the next morning, each time the owners came into the office to collect and very apologetic.
I as a 64 year old woman and my partner 65 (with limited mobility) and we were on this occasion assaulted by this large group (3 men grabbed hold of me and then let go to punch my partner in the side of the face) I was then grabbed hold of by 3 or 4 of the women, when I managed to get free of them and walked away I phoned the police but could hardly be heard for 2 women right in my face shouting.
The police arrived to deal with the situation (one of the men who had grabbed me refused for several minutes to give his name, address and date of birth to the police saying he could not remember it, until he was read his rights). The police ascertained that none of the group including the16 year old girl had been assaulted by us and when they left they said it was not possible to arrest them all but if they were called back they would bring a large van to be able to do this.
This was their first visit in 7 years and hopefully they will not return by using different names. This is a family campsite with a few basic rules to adhere to, we want everyone to enjoy themselves and feel safe and secure whilst here.

Liked We had a very relaxing weekend the site was very nice staff was very friendly and helpful the toilets and showers were very clean we would stay again

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From the manager: Thank you for choosing to stay with us this last weekend 11th and 12th July and that you enjoyed yourselves.
We look forward to welcoming you again.

Liked We stayed by the river — perfect for morning coffee with a view or a sunset by the fire.
Sue and Tim very friendly and helpful, thank you.

Disliked Nothing

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From the manager: Thank you for choosing to stay with us this last weekend 11th and 12th July and that you enjoyed yourselves. I am so glad that you chose to be in a quiet field.
We look forward to welcoming you again.

Liked Loved the amount of free space - we stayed in one of the fields with no electric and this was fine for us . Ample fields and spaces to chose - we literally pitched our tent in a corner where the shade moved round - we had access to the river and the kids loved the swings . Took our paddle boards with us .

Disliked Na

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From the manager: Thank you for choosing to stay with us this last weekend 11th and 12th July and that you enjoyed yourselves.
We look forward to your next visit.

Liked Good facilities, lovely walk along the River. Great for kayaking and paddle
boards. Plenty of space to play. Pub round the corner and we even got to go to the boot fair that was on the ground.

Disliked Our electric hook up plot was not very big. Would have struggled if we had our kids with us too.

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From the manager: Thank you for choosing to stay with us this last weekend 11th and 12th July and that you enjoyed yourselves.
The Electric pitches are quite small 7m x 7m and close together. Many guests choose non-electric and bring either foldable solar panels or battery packs for electric, they also bring toilet tents if they want to stay further away from the facilities.
We look forward to seeing you again soon.