Essex Glamping — Hotel in Castle Point

OK where to start, when we arrived (at Hadleigh Park) the office for Essex Glamping was closed, we were early to be fair but the website did say that there was a possibility to check in early, anyway, this didn't happen and we were told to wait for someone by a member of staff in one of the shops, the staff member wasnt the most polite but not the end of the world either, anyway Wayne, the main man turned up, he's the guy that will literally take care of your every need, he's amazing, polite, patient, understanding, and always has a smile on his face (even in 35 degrees heat), you can clearly tell that Essex Glamping is his baby! Wayne takes our luggage from the car park to the Glamp Site on the back of a trailer while we can either walk or ride there, it's not far at all, well at least to start, but I'll come back to that later. We cycled there from the Park which took all of 2 mins max, the glamp site was very tidy, as were the tents (see pics), they were equipped with kitchen, small gas hob, sofas, gas heater (not needed so no gas supplied), two couches, decking, outside seating and fire pit area, it's all very impressive, these is NO ELECTRICITY, so beware of this, there is the ability to charge things through solar panels, two USB's and a 12V, but the solar energy runs out quite fast if you charge anything juicier then a mobile, we tried a portable fridge, it killed half the power in an hour, then took all day to charge it back up which requires turning it off for quickest charge, we unpacked, settled in, went to a local supermarket and broke out the bbqs, we were in a group of 16, the space is ample for ball games, bikes, scooter, frizbees etc. Security wise it's OK, two ways in and out, one gets locked after 5pm, the other has a bolt on the inside that guests can lock at there leisure, just be careful you don't lock out the misses. It's also surrounded by fencing, shrubs and a bit of barb wire, it's no a prison but it feels secure, our 3 year old was able to run around without having to worry too much, but still keep one eye in the back of your head open. Now in case you are wondering why I gave 4 stars instead of 5, well there were a couple of things that effected the stay, one of those things were the mattresses, I haven't slept on mattresses this bad in 20 years, you can feel every spring, they are so old, very uncomfortable, I dreaded sleeping on them for a second night. We did have 2 bunk beds, so I checked every mattress for improvements but they were all terrible, the only other negative was the showers/portaloos, I appreciate that it's basically camping, portaloos suck period, don't really need to explain that, but the showers, we'll that walk becomes a bit of a mission when all you want to do is freshen up, especially after a "not so good" nights sleep on a bed of springs, fortunately we had the weather, but this would have been a lot worse had it been raining, the shower rooms themselves require some TLC, reminding me of the shower rooms after football training when I was about 14, not good, money needs to be spent there by somebody, as for many, the shower room can be a deal breaker. But those are the only two negatives, everything else was perfect. You have full access to Hadleigh Park, the Olympic Mountain bike trail, (its intense and can be dangerous so know your limits) but also great fun and fitness, two smaller trails for younger kids, great play area, nice cafe, lovely walks, cows, views are amazing, kayaking which was great on such a hot day. So the you have it, well worth it in my opinion, a BIG THANK YOU to Wayne for his hospitality, he's a very hard worker, hell make sure you enjoy your stay...

A delightful family run business with an ecological focus, great use of solar. The location is an absolute winner and whilst you are what feels like you are in the middle of nowhere, you are still only a 15 minutes walk from a Lidl.

We stayed here for one night in one of the safari style tents and was incredibly impressed. A lovely size tent with two bedrooms that slept up to six, a kitchen area that had two gas stoves, two sofas in the family area, and we were provided with 40 litres of drinking water. The beds were a little soft (but this was probably only noticed because we have extra firm memory foam mattresses at home) although I note from a lot of other reviews the beds get the thumbs up, so I'll put this one down to my personal preference about the firmness of a bed!!! The kitchen area had everything you needed.

Each tent has their own fire pit outside in a semi sheltered area which had a bench and old tree logs as additional chairs. We bought logs on site that were competitively priced at £10. They also had stocks of BBQ's for sale and many other things that might come in handy!

The location is brilliant, a few minutes away from Hadleigh castle and also the Salvation Army rare breeds centre, home of course to the mountain bike course used in the 2012 Olympics.

You have access to a shower block which is up where the mountain bike course is and very similar to what you would get in a small sport centre. It was very clean and worked well.

There were two toilets immediately on site (that consisted of six tents) which used compost to neutralise number two's, with plenty of toilet roll supplied! My only slight suggested improvement here was that by midnight all the water to wash your hands was used up, so I took the empty water tank to another field five minutes walk away to fill it up!

Solar panels provided light to both the accommodation and separate solar power did the same to the toilet block, a brilliant idea!

Helpful reminders to the guests about noise and this certainly wasn't a problem whatsoever for us.

As a bolt on to the glamping we also did kayaking for a pre booked 30 minute slot but when the people who were meant to be after us were late we were told we could stay out for longer free of charge, a really lovely touch.

We have now booked up for 2024 and can honestly see this being part of our annual calender for many many many years ahead, I, and my family, absolutely loved it here.

I can't sign off this review without mentioning how helpful Wayne (co owner I believe) was, and absolute gent and just so so helpful. You can tell how much he cares for this business and this was clearly evidenced by the quality...

Our experience is based on hot dry couple of days , may of been different if cold and wet.

All correspondence up to arrival and on the day spot on- and I asked a lot of questions and changed the booking dates and added add ons❤️

All luggage carried to tents which is literally a couple of mins walk from the car park ❤️

Shower block and toilet block with proper toilets - perfect and only a couple mins walk. ❤️

Portable toilets - onsite - clean and felt safe as had a mini decking area and hand washing. And light ❤️

Area hidden and fenced off - safe enough to keep children in and public out. ❤️

Tents - with fire pit.- and bunk beds. Etc ❤️

Solar lights and phone charger provided ❤️

We used the duvet provided as mattress covers and then put our own sheets over , fleece blankets on top and then used sleeping bags, to make mattresses more comfortable.🧡

Cooked utensils and plates etc partly provided - I’d recommend taking your own 🧡 And bbq utensils

No fridge or bucket for a makeshift one 💛

Sofas provided in tent didn’t match and one was broken and smashed threw - which means we didn’t really have a seating area to relax in - also picnic bench for eating dinner - can be moved to the decking but we left it to late to ask for help to do so , so that’s on us. 💛

Their is a nice path edged out - which looks pretty but isn’t very practical as it’s a lot higher than the stones filling the path - little ones ours and others tripped over it - but such a minor thing compare to how pretty the place is and so quiet.

No tap anywhere or site to get more drinking water- or water to boil to use for washing up and we used all the water quickly - Hadleigh park staff sent us round in circles looking for a tap 🖤

We was advised by park staff (not Wayne) we could get take away breakfast at the farm tea rooms , not eat in because of covid - this isn’t true this is permanently closed and the children were all hyped for food- also farm has ice cream signs out everywhere saying they open but they weren’t - 🖤

Would definitely return for the same price and the same...