Elan Oaks - Camping & Caravan Site — Hotel in Great Britain

The location is like a little heaven, with a river close by and surrounded by forest, absolutely brilliant ( apart from a swarm of mosquitoes that will feed of your blood every single night ) BUT the management is quite bad and over-reactive. They say you have to leave the site at 11:00 and by that they mean if you don’t leave by 11;00 , at 11:01 you get a text message as a “gentle reminder” and then more to follow, almost like poking a stick at you until you leave. Another thing is that you don’t get to pick your spot and also you don’t have an option of choosing where you want to camp so they decide for you when you arrive, which has ruined our camping weekend because we wanted to camp by the river and even though we kindly asked for a pitch there, during very very quiet times, we weren’t give one and the pitches next to the river were empty… The facilities are great, location is great but the management is absolutely mental and hard-minded over-reacting over anything. They expect you, the customer, to camp solely by their wish , not allowing and freedom whatsoever. Also they don’t have fire pitches and they don’t allow you to have a little fire in your barbecue and sit by it in the evening?!? What type of camp site doesn’t allow you to sit by the fire?!? Camping = camp fire. During the easter bank holiday we were charged £60 over what we’ve already paid because they stated that they are very busy during that bank holiday and we had 2 more friends coming in our campervan, when on their own website is stated that a pitch sleeps 6 and when we got there, the camp site was half empty, it was the quietest camp site i’ve ever been to…. and yet the management chose the pitch for us without giving us an option…. The second time we were offered a pitch in the most distant corner, as far from the river as possible when we asked for a pitch next to the river or close to the river…And as i said, the campsite was empty! It’s a pitty for ruining the camping experience like that and o hope they will file bankruptcy or sell it to a more capable human beings… Until then, i cannot recommend this place solely because of the stupid management . Stear away from it for now.

Answer to the bellow: Prior to our arrival i phoned and spoken to one of you and when i asked if we could camp in one of the pitches by the entrance , next to the river, i was told “we’ll see what we can do, depending on how busy it will be” and it wasn’t busy. We paid for EH and we were given the option to use a pitch without electricity and without being offered a refund for the electricity at least and of course we could not accept that. There were no other customers there while i was in the reception and it did not feel very friendly at all. It felt like i was told off “This is where you booked your pitch! You can stay closer to the river but there would be no electricity” and that’s it. I was told that the pitches on the right by the entrance are “not certified” for tents, only camper vans and there is no such certification existent even! Check the law! You see the sneakiness: in their response they did not mention the silly reason that i was given… As about our stay in the Easter Bank Holiday, i can provide the screen shot with the payment done via card, which by the way the owner insisted to pay cash, and now i understand why… as about the weather, that’s just another lie as the weather was absolutely perfect, sunny and blue skies all bank holiday weekend! Check it on any weather app! I stand by my honest review and my personal experience with this camp site the answer to this reply says it all! Silly and...

So overall this is a lovely campsite. It’s well maintained and has nearly everything you’d need. Positives were the cleanliness of the toilet block. This was really well looked after. Another positive was the location. This campsite is in such an amazing place and the reservoirs are absolutely stunning. There is a small shop in reception but it only really sold essentials. I always like a campsite shop that has local produce on sale. This just had your branded necessities. ||Okay, now for the mega issue with this place. Due to my disability (colostomy) I required the use of the disabled toilets. This was around 8:30pm one evening. When I went to use them I found they were locked and at this point the staff had all left the premises. I tried to ring the numbers displayed on the reception door but no-one answered after many attempts. I was left to use the standard toilets which was far from ideal and made me feel very uncomfortable. While I was there my partner received a phone call from the owner who was in Spain. He informed her that it was in their view my responsibility to have informed them of my disability on arrival to allow me special access to the toilets. However, he said he would get it sorted. ||Roughly half hour later the site manager arrived at our tent where my parter was situated and instead of apologising for their massive error, he doubled down and told her that it was indeed our fault for not specifically telling them I had a disability on our arrival. My partner informed him that it was their legal responsibility to provide access to disabled toilets but he just argued back informing her that due to their misuse they were now constantly locked. He also failed to understand that there is no requirement to inform someone of a disability and that nowhere on the website or during booking was this information requested. How were we supposed to know that their disabled toilets were always locked. The worst part of all of it was the fact that at no point did the manager apologise to us. During his time speaking to my partner he just bickered and defended their decision to lock the toilets. Then the next morning he passed me a number of times knowing who I was and still failed to say anything. I don’t think they really cared that they’d caused these issues and the attitude of the manager put a very bitter taste in our mouths. ||If this issue hadn’t arose I would absolutely recommend this campsite but I find it hard to believe that in 2025 such a huge level of discrimination would be argued over when they were clearly the people...

Elan oaks is a pretty campsite with lots of potential, however the facilities on the website are very misleading. The website says that there are toilets and washing up facilities on the camping field and there is access to shower block. It doesn't say that you have to walk nearly 5 minutes to get to the showers (yes, i timed it and it is definitely more than 20 seconds), and that the toilets on the field are porta-loos. For washing up on the field it was only 2 sinks with no rain cover and no hot water. The website also says there is free WiFi, but it doesn't say you can only connect to it if you are in the members section of the site (which is also where the showers are). The camping field is hilly and bumby, not ideal for a tent. We were also greeted in the morning by the smell of sewage coming from the river behind the field. I highly doubt this was agricultural smells, because it smelt distinctly like a toilet and human waste.

Signage in the campsite is also poor, being faded laminates, and no map of the campsite was provided in the booking email or on arrival to show where you are supposed to go. We accidentally parked and set up tent in the wrong spot because of this, and were made to move after having set up, and were bitterly disappointed with the lack of expected facilities across the campsite. When i tried to show the lady the email to explain the lack of directions, she shrugged it off and said it showed clearly (apparently the simple words "Elan Oaks Camping" is clear enough with no other indications, but i thought that was just the name of the campsite!).

I paid £20 for one night stay with a tent (which is what is shown on website charge). Overall, for £20 per night, we have stayed at other far better campsites which had stunning coastal views and easily accessible showers, free wifi everywhere and levelled ground for camping.

On the plus sides for this site, you do have a nice view of the hills and can hear the river. Entry onto the campsite is easy with an access code and there is a decent time for checkout. I wouldn't have minded the facilities here if they were clear on the website, and the price reflected the facilities available. I also appreciate that work is being done to improve the facilities now in the future, but the website needs to be up to date with accurate information on the current facilities, rather than lure people in with what they...