Camping at Cardewlees — Hotel in Great Britain

We booked a 3 night stay for our first camping trip. We chose this site as it appeared to be a quiet site with basic amenities (exactly what we were looking for).||We chose to stay on an all weather pitch, as it states it has electricity, water, chemical waste and grey waste. I assumed all of this was included on the pitch, not one chemical and grey waste point for the whole site, maybe I read this wrong. |Also it states use of male and female shower rooms. There are two showers, used by either male or females. The showers are individual with lockable doors. They have a shower tray with curtain and a space to get dried and dressed and have a mirror on the wall. As we knew the amenities were basic, we weren't shocked that there was low water pressure and temperamental temperature. We did find we needed to queue for the showers after 8.30am if we wanted to get ready for the day earlyish. |The two female toilets, were again very basic. There is no mirror or means to dry hands other than with toilet roll. There is one sink. So not ideal for using to get washed and brushing teeth if someone is waiting to wash their hands too. The toilets themselves appeared clean and there was toilet roll. I noticed a few spiders and flies within the spider webs hanging from the ceiling (but I imagine with them being outdoor toilets this is difficult to keep on top of. |I can't comment personally on the male toilets, but would imagine they'll be similar to the female ones. There was 1 disabled toilet, although I couldn't see a ramp for access and the door opened outwards, so if you are a wheelchair user, this toilet wouldn't be suitable (although I could be wrong and there may well be a ramp if required, I just didn't see one).|There was 1 outdoor sink for washing dishes, which again needed to be queued for if using at peak times. There was no plug for the sink whilst we were there so just had to keep the water running which wasn't ideal. However the views over the fields and the animals was a lovely bonus whilst doing the mundane job! ||We walked into Dalston using the path from the camp site (the provided guide for how to walk into Dalston was very handy). The village is lovely, with a coop, butchers, sandwich shops etc. The downside is the public toilets are closed (apart from the disabled one, for which a radar key is required).|We walked over the bridge over the river and walked along the path parallel to the river which was lovely and then managed to find our way back to the site. ||We went to the honesty shop once which had some logs and marshmallows to buy, although we didn't have a fire pit on our pitch, so didn't need to purchase them. |There was also a couple of other items available. |No drinks or ice cream/ ice lollies were available to buy, it would have been nice if there was. It also appeared that the fridge wasn't working and I didn't see a spare freezer to refreeze freezer blocks in, which would have been handy. ||We had two really great nights sleep, the campers were all respectful and noise was kept to a respectable level whilst still having fun. The farm animals in the surrounding fields sounded lovely (even at dawn).||Unfortunately our 3rd night, just as the site was quieting down for the night and people were sleeping (there was at least 8 young children on the site) we were disturbed by a car and caravan arriving after 10.30pm, closely followed by a second car, the engines were kept running for over an hour, I imagine for the headlights so they were able to see to pitch up, which wasn't a major problem (although I'm sure I read the gates are closed and no cars on site after 10.30 unless prior agreement) and to be respectful of noise after 10.30. |The children from this caravan were obviously excited to arrive and were running round and screaming, although being repeatedly told by their adult that they should get back in the car, they didn't and this noise continued for over an hour! This wasn't the worst of it though, arguments between the adults started and got louder and more aggressive, they appeared to be walking backwards and forwards over the gravel near our pitch, whilst continuing to have zero respect for anyone else on site and just kept going and going, this didn't seem to quieten down until at least 3am! |At first I did think that this was no fault of the site owners and out of their control, however on speaking with family members who have camped for years, they've said if a site states that no cars after 10.30 that this is enforced and have seen cars/caravans be made to park away from site and ask to wait to pitch the next morning, so as not to disturb the already sleeping campers. The arguing adults wouldn't have woken the full site had they not have been allowed to enter after 10.30. This really spoilt our last night. Whilst I didn't personally contact the owner regarding the arguments, I spoke to a fellow camper the next morning who said they'd text the owner during the night to let them know there was trouble which had woken and petrified their kids and to ask for advise on what to do. I believe the owner did respond after 8am to confirm they'd have a word with the noisy campers. ||As we were leaving that morning, we packed up and headed off site around 9.30. There was no sign of the noisy family before we left (probably sleeping soundly after going to bed after 3am) and we didn't see the owners before we left either, so I'm unsure of the outcome or how their behaviour was dealt with. |||We wouldn't personally go back to this site, as although we knew the check in and out times prior to booking, I have since found that checking in after 3pm and out before 10am (unless you pay an additional £5pp per early/late checkout) is a bit unusual for a hard standing pitch, as there is no need to have a 5 hour gap between guests as there's no grass to dry out, so unsure why there is such a late check in and early check out. |Also I'm sure I read that all dog breed are welcome on site as long as they're kept on a lead. We found that this wasn't enforced and dogs were allowed to roam (by their owners). As someone who is not at all confident around dogs, I had no issues sharing a site with dogs, knowing they'd be on a lead, but to find them running loose wasn't great. ||I also now in hindsight realise that £38 per night (£33 for pitch and £5 extra per night for our son) is fairly expensive for a basic site. ||Overall it is a lovely site and one I would recommend if someone is looking for a basic camp site. ||They do have a paddock, which is a field that can be hired for large group get together, which is a great idea.|There are 3 pods with gardens to hire and also a large bell tent with hot...

The farm itself is very run down and a fair distance from the campsite, there are nice views, apart from a railway line. For £40 a night we weren’t expecting much.

However, there was an incident on arrival that was out of our control & caused a stressful nightmare and resulted in £369 in an Air Bnb damages charge. After the host put in a claim for £500 for paper thin aluminium venetian blinds. We didn’t meet the host & were unaware when we checked out, there’s no proof we caused it, the host refused to show us that she replaced the item with something like for-like.

We didn’t get to leave a review on Air Bnb as you have a short window of a week and we left it whilst the issue was being mediated, hoping for a mutually fair resolution. However, the host instantly gave us a bad review.

The host did not respond when we made a request a week before arrival, for off the lead dogs not to run up to our pod. As we read she has 7 dogs. The host then had her dogs off lead, running rings barking around peoples tents. The ‘secure’ gardens have large fence panels missing so we had to use long leads.

The field next to the pods and campsite is full of cattle. We let our dogs out in the garden after the long journey. There's only a 4ft barbed wire fence in between. A cow jumped the fence into the main campsite, and was on its side frightened and trapped. This scared our dogs, so we panicked about helping the cow & put the dogs inside the pod, whilst we saw if we could help & called the host to let her know, after a few mins the cow freed itself. She said, when they’re home she’ll send her husband to remove the cow and he said it happens all the time.

Check out was 10am. 2 hours later, the host called us in the most aggressive tone, saying we have caused significant damage and ‘haven’t even had the decency to tell her’. We told her that we didn’t know of any damage that’s why we haven’t told her. The host then sent us 2 photos from Snapchat which looked so much worse than how we left it. It is clear that she saw slight damage and made it 10 x worse for the photo so she can go for this crazy high amount via Air Bnb.

We told her that the only possible time it could have happened was the 2/3 minutes that we had to put the dogs inside, whilst we called her about the cow and tried to help it. But that we really didn’t see a problem with the blinds as we had no sun blazing through them in the morning. We said either way, send us the receipt for the replacement and we’ll pay. The host didn’t go for this option, she instantly put a damages claim through Air Bnb for £500!

We appealed and explained the incident, that we always look after the hosts property as if it was our own. We countered her complaint with the cattle jumping into the ‘secure/ dog friendly’ gardens, should not have happened as they are aware the fencing is inadequate, and would have been the cause for any damage. What if they jumped onto a tent!? We asked Air Bnb where is their customer service and concern for the guests safety.

We sent Air Bnb a link to similar blinds for £15 and also custom sized ones for £60. But they ignored it and the host is able to decide how much she wants. We told Air Bnb that there’s nothing to stop her asking a friend to write up an invoice and that it’s not a fair & transparent policy.

Air BnB said they’re taking the charge down to £369 due to depreciation & asked the host if we can see the receipt and she refused. There’s no check in procedure, so there’s no way to know how it was on arrival. We are stunned by the lack of accountability about the incident with the cow.

If the replacement blinds were the same why refuse to show us the invoice.

I am talking about the camping field next to the pod as the fence has large panels missing so the dogs could have got to the cow which was trapped in barbed wire. We didn’t tell you about the damage because it wasn’t like that when we left, host made it worse so she could ask for £500 for very cheap...

deleted and reposted to response to the owners absolute ridiculous response. We were absolutely NOT the only guests on this site during our 12 days stay. The owner is an outright liar, and the fact they get away with treating people like this is disgraceful, as per the other poor reviews ||||We stayed here for almost two weeks in November (we left early) and it was an awful experience from start to finish.||||We arrived to dirty facilities and no hot water in the showers. We contacted the owner and they were apologetic initially saying their cleaning staff hadn’t shown up for the weekend and they hadn’t know, so I took what we were told and hoped that would end up being just a blip and the toilets were wiped over and the showers were fixed. ||||For the rest of the week, the facilities were very rarely cleaned (not anywhere near once a day despite them doubling down on this later on) and were absolutely not immaculate as their social media boasts. The trade waste bins and dog poo bins were continuous overflowing the whole time we were there. ||||The second week, bad weather came. The toilets, taps and showers were frozen for the majority of 4 days of the second week, and the facilities weren’t cleaned until the Thursday when I confront them again (so min 4 days on the bounce). When I told them that they’d been frozen for the majority of the week, that the facilities hadn’t been cleaned, there was no hot water again, and that one of their bathrooms had flooded, the whole experience went from bad to worse. ||||There was no apology, then there was the “well you should of told us they were frozen”, followed by her husband saying that I was lying and there was no way they’d been frozen as he’d cleaned them everyday, and then he accused me of purposely not telling them about their flooded bathroom, despite it being in black and white I actually told them twice. If they were being cleaned daily as they so claim, surely they would know that they were frozen? Unfortunately they didn’t have an answer for this and her husband was admant I was a liar. The way the owners husband spoke to us was absolutely disgusting, his tone was abusive and there was no apology at any point beyond the initial one at arrival. The owners responses via text to the issues were rude and defensive with no mind for customer service whatsoever. Both the owner and her husband glossed over alot of what was said and would respond questioning you to try and play some absolute ridiculous game, instead of actually taking accountability that maybe they actually should have done better. Having gone back through the reviews, a lot of the responses to criticism is the same.||||Her husband even said “well where’s your proof then? Show me your proof? Just leave us a a bad review I don’t care, the other people who were here didn’t have a problem, you’re the problem, we’ve barely had anyone else here, what do you expect staying on a campsite in November?”…..well Johnny, here’s your answer…..I expect to have clean usable facilities that I’ve paid to use, just like at the place that we went straight to in -0 temps, with absolutely no issue’s after staying at your campsite. If you’re unable to provide the facilities in poor weather, then it’s probably best not to be an all year round campsite if you haven’t got the infrastructure to support that. Oh and some general respect as a paying customer wouldn’t have gone a miss. ||||We left 2 nights early, and after nearly 2 weeks of chasing a refund for them, I had to provide my bank details to complete it, again no apology. Overall the customer service is nonexistent, the facilities are neglected (not just basic)and unhygienic the majority of the time (I don’t consider poo stains in a toilet clean myself, call me high maintenance) and the whole experience (especially the lack of accountability) was...