Brook Valley Holiday Reserve — Hotel in Nelson

The holiday park is over 20 years old (I know this as I stayed at the park 20 years ago) but located in a nice, quiet spot i.e. valley about 15 mins drive from the middle of Nelson city. It is reasonably priced with choice of cabins or camping. A must whilst staying is a visit to the sanctuary nestled at the back of the holiday park. 700 hectares of beautiful protected bush with a network of tracks running through it. Surrounded by a predator fence it was once upon a time the water supply for Nelson city. The sanctuary is run by a big group of passionate & dedicated volunteers. We were told; whilst visiting sanctuary, we could become a volunteer. Had to politeky explain we were not...

This campground is a bit of a relic. The facilities are rather old and rundown. You need to buy a token for $1.00 to use the shower and the showers are not modern. Not many campgrounds still charge extra for the shower these days. Be aware there is no internet or phone coverage on either Spark or Vodafone. You can pay $7.00 extra to get limited WiFi whereas most campgrounds provide free WiFi. I believe this campground is owned and operated by the Nelson City Council so they probably don't want to invest much money but they certainly know how to charge the customer. My advice is to avoid this place unless you want to relive your camping experiences...

The campground itself is cute and quiet in the woods, But logistics were confusing, we contacted via email for a reservation, after we paid we never got a confirmation so we stopped by the campground early to check in at 4:30pm, apparently the office closed at 4:30 and nobody was there. Which was unfortunate because the showers take tokens exchanged in the office so if you don’t arrive before 4:30pm you can’t use the showers that night. No email about reception closing so early or alerting us about the shower...