Ham Hideaway Glamping — Hotel in Dover

AVOID AVOID AVOID

I had booked the Ham Hideaway Glamping for my hen do, to celebrate my wedding with my nearest and dearest. Unfortunately I had an extremely disappointing experience and I would highly advise others to steer clear.

When we arrived, rubbish and cleaning supplies were left out, giving a poor first impression. I called the owner, Richard, to explain I couldn't access the shepherd huts, only to receive a sarcastic response about needing to fetch the keys myself, due to no welcome or previous contact this was unknown to me. There was no welcome drinks as told on the booking, leaving us to figure things out on our own.

The staff had no record of our booking and informed us that glamping bookings typically would never happen on wedding days. This made us feel very unwelcome. We then had to wait for half an hour for anyone to assist us as a wedding was in progress. We were also supposed to have an afternoon tea upon arrival, but had to wait an hour. Eventually, we gave up and went to a local shop for drinks and snacks as it was clear we wouldn’t be getting any service soon. Once the afternoon tea did arrive, the food was to a good standard.

We had booked a cocktail-making session, which was an extra charge on top of the booking, but Richard informed us that the company hadn’t been in touch, so it was cancelled (it's now obvious this was never booked). He promised a refund and supplied us with watered-down cocktail jugs with only two options. When we asked for more, we were told no because the wedding party had them. Now, Richard is refusing to honour the £2k+ refund he had promised verbally and via email.

Dinner was served cold and seemed to be leftovers from the wedding. Our dietary requirements, which were communicated well in advance, were ignored. When we asked for condiments, we were told there were none left because the wedding had them all. The food was left out overnight and not cleared away, making for an unpleasant sight in the morning.

The heating in the tents didn’t work, leaving us cold, and there was no hot water for showers. Breakfast was subpar, but we were just relieved to leave.

The manager of the Blazing Donkey (now known as Ham Gardens) promised that Richard would contact me to resolve the issues and process a refund. Unsurprisingly, I never heard from him and had to reach out myself, only to receive rude, sarcastic emails. When I called Richard, he was rude again and stated I would never get the refund.

Richard has stolen money from hardworking individuals and ruined what should have been a special occasion. We made the best of a bad situation, but I strongly advise against booking here, or with any of his other businesses (Blazing Donkey, Ham Gardens, Ham Hideaway). A quick Google search of Richard Martin's court cases reveals his poor treatment of employees, giving you an idea of the kind of person he is. I regret trusting him and booking this venue. Don't fall for his lies.

Avoid this place at all costs, I would hate to see anyone else have their special...

I had booked the Ham Hideaway Glamping for my hen do, to celebrate my wedding with my nearest and dearest. Unfortunately I had an extremely disappointing experience and I would highly advise others to steer clear. ||||When we arrived, rubbish and cleaning supplies were left out, giving a poor first impression. I called the owner, Richard, to explain I couldn't access the shepherd huts, only to receive a sarcastic response about needing to fetch the keys myself, due to no welcome or previous contact this was unknown to me. There was no welcome drinks as told on the booking, leaving us to figure things out on our own.||||The staff had no record of our booking and informed us that glamping bookings typically would never happen on wedding days. This made us feel very unwelcome. We then had to wait for half an hour for anyone to assist us as a wedding was in progress. We were also supposed to have an afternoon tea upon arrival, but had to wait an hour. Eventually, we gave up and went to a local shop for drinks and snacks as it was clear we wouldn’t be getting any service soon. Once the afternoon tea did arrive, the food was to a good standard.||||We had booked a cocktail-making session, which was an extra charge on top of the booking, but Richard informed us that the company hadn’t been in touch, so it was cancelled (it's now obvious this was never booked). He promised a refund and supplied us with watered-down cocktail jugs with only two options. When we asked for more, we were told no because the wedding party had them. Now, Richard is refusing to honour the £2k+ refund he had promised verbally and via email.||||Dinner was served cold and seemed to be leftovers from the wedding. Our dietary requirements, which were communicated well in advance, were ignored. When we asked for condiments, we were told there were none left because the wedding had them all. The food was left out overnight and not cleared away, making for an unpleasant sight in the morning.||||The heating in the tents didn’t work, leaving us cold, and there was no hot water for showers. Breakfast was subpar, but we were just relieved to leave.||||The manager of the Blazing Donkey (now known as Ham Gardens) promised that Richard would contact me to resolve the issues and process a refund. Unsurprisingly, I never heard from him and had to reach out myself, only to receive rude, sarcastic emails. When I called Richard, he was rude again and stated I would never get the refund.||||Richard has stolen money from hardworking individuals and ruined what should have been a special occasion. We made the best of a bad situation, but I strongly advise against booking here, or with any of his other businesses (Blazing Donkey, Ham Gardens, Ham Hideaway). A quick Google search of Richard Martin's court cases reveals his poor treatment of employees, giving you an idea of the kind of person he is. I regret trusting him and booking this venue. Don't fall for his lies.||||Avoid this place at all costs, I would hate to see anyone else have their special...

Following our stay, of 13 women with an additional 6 day guests, for a hen weekend 2nd - 4th August, we felt it only right to leave our honest review. ||We have a list of Pros and Cons and understand whilst not everyone will experience the same issues as us, we would not recommend this company and site to anyone. ||Pros |Great location ||Comfy beds||Use of the windhover barn is very handy||Sian was very helpful after we were passed on to her from Richard ||Johnny looked after us well the first night and was very friendly. ||Sandra, after initially accusing us of not having full use of the glamp site when trying to check someone in, despite the website saying so for our package, was kind, helpful and did her best for us for the remainder of the weekend. ||We had a great weekend because we made the best of every situation and luckily had read the sites recent reviews and made contingency plans which shouldn't have ever been necessary. |||Cons |The owner is incredibly rude and unprofessional, and did not respond to any queries post booking, however, when he wanted the balance paid he called us immediately and behaved unnecessarily aggressively. He has previous for this behaviour and all of the staff appear to barely be able to stand him.||The BBQ hamper vegetarian options are incredibly limited.||The plumbing backs up and it took a very long time for anyone to come and look at it, including the bath in sweet briar being unusable due to the plumbing continuously gurgling.||The afternoon tea (which was pre ordered and all dietary requirements given and confirmed the week of the event) was fairly lack lustre especially for those who were veggie and dairy free. Our day guests also paid an additional £20pp for this and I don't believe it to have been good value for money. They also had the timings completely wrong despite us confirming the full itinerary the week of the event. ||The offer of bottomless drinks the first night was removed if all members of the party were not drinking it, despite us having pregnant women in our party.||If we thought we had any chance of any sort of refund we would request a partial refund due to what we feel was a very expensive weekend and we did not get the service we deserved, or had hoped for.||Unfortunately the owner is not that interested in the site being a success and the weddings at the Blazing Donkey next door, will massively take priority over your stay, of which there were 3 during our...