BIG4 Castlemaine Gardens Holiday Park — Hotel in Castlemaine

Stayed with family of 4 (2 adults, 16yo, 12yo) at the Safari Tents - and was totally blown away by the experience. The good experience began before arriving with conscientious phone calls asking about bedding arrangement - and excellent follow-up. Next was the arrival process - smooth, everything organised before hand, just drive straight to the tent and begin relaxing. The most amazing thing was, I thought it likely the photos might lie a little - and weirdly they did in the opposite direction... the tents were as good if not better than expected from the photos. And most importantly, they were spotlessly clean (which must be a challenge in a tent). We unfortunately stayed 1 night only - but booked last minute (and got a healthy discount). Check out the prices on their website before purchasing through third-party services if no discounts offered. Overall, this was such a pleasant surprise, and can't recommend more; even for a short stay - and the kids loved it (which is a job well done in my book).

Pros: Cleanliness, size of tent, great ac heating (even in early April appreciated), great kitchen if you wanted to self cater (though microwave only). The children's nook was brilliant (not every 16/12 year old would feel comfortable sharing the space; but it added to the fun). The claw-foot bath on the verandah/decking was brilliant... oh, and the hot water is wonderfully hot. This was such a great place - and so nicely situated next to the beautiful botanic gardens, and across the road from the great Mill complex. The forest view was so calming (though be aware there's popular walking tracks across the hills, before you jump into the bath for an afternoon unwind). There was plenty of privacy as well, though the glamping tents/safari tents are reasonably close... but no noise. The four poster bed would make any family hotel room proud; and the shower was divine.

Cons: The most significant was the pretty poor wifi connectivity - though in many ways this added to the stress-free stay. While we had a very delicious dinner at the Bridge Hotel, there's very limited options if you just wanted to stroll somewhere (rather than driving to dine). The other minor complaint was the light in the separate bathroom was too dim... this added to the "camping-ness", but unfortunately was verging on a hazard (and not that helpful if you had anything serious to do in the bathroom at night). These were fairly minor complaints in an otherwise...

Communication; or lack thereof really ruined our holiday experience. Last year we enquired if they allow fires, the response was a clear yes, no indication of restrictions under certain circumstances or times of the year, (many other parks do allow all year round except total fire ban days of course). We stayed there last year and had a great time, so great that we booked again on our departure for full 7 days over Easter. We had a large group & booked 8 sites, majority families with kids & grandparents. Having had 2 previous bad experiences with parks changing ownership and fire policies without communicating this until arrival, I double checked (within the 30 days of no refund policy unfortunately and full payment on booking) to then be told it's a fire danger period as per CFA's current status and no fires. Not once had they proactively communicated this to existing bookings. However, the CFA do allow camp fires under certain conditions, all of which were easy to comply with but they chose not to manage it and just blanket ban them, their policy not CFA's. The weather was also very cold & often wet. As a result we had 2 families choose not to come. The other reason we loved the park the first time was we parents could sit at our sites (around the fire) and watch the kids on the jumping pillow which they used for hours on end each day. Upon arrival we notice the jumping pillow removed and replaced with a volley ball net and single soccer net on sand. We choose the parks we do based on the features advertised / enjoyed at the time of booking. I find it extremely deceitful to not communicate a change of park amenities, especially to those who had a booking before these changes took place. If we weren't locked in with the non refundable full amount of nearly $600 we would have not gone. We did not get what we paid for. Poor communication and...

We stayed in the BIG 4 Castlemaine Garden Holiday Park for 2 weeks during the July School holidays in our caravan. We had an awesome time there, the kids loved it! All the facilities was very well maintained and always kept spotless and clean. Staff was very helpful, even offered to assist backing the caravan and also when we were leaving due to the tight angle, a big thanks again to all the staff. The kids enjoyed riding their bikes next door in the beautiful Botanical gardens with wide walking and bike tracks. It has a lovely lake with ducks and some very large old trees scatted in the garden. There is a jumping pillow next to the camp kitchen, across the road is the Mill that sells second hand and collectible items. The town center is within riding distance or 5 mins by car, they have a farmers markets regularly down at the oval and an awesome BMX tracks that has lots of humps for the kids to enjoy.

You can take a steam train out to a very quaint historic town of Maldon, we did this a few years back and definitely worth doing. Unfortunately it was closed due to the COVID restrictions, the kids was really looking forward to it! We used Castlemaine as our base and did day trips out to Daylesford, Maryborough, Bendigo, Kyneton and the mineral springs.

Castlemaine is a beautiful town and definitely worth staying here to explore the region, it was quite when we were there due to the winter period but I must say the weather was beautiful, hardly any wind for the duration and only rained 2 days out of the 14 days. If it's like this every winter we will definitely be back!

(Just a note to the cleaner to inserted the toilet paper correctly into the box holder as it was troublesome having to keep sticking your fingers into the box to roll out the...