Golden Cap Holiday Park — Hotel in Great Britain

Went for a 3 night stay in August. There is a very small lane leading up to the campsite, which was challenging to get through but a typical West Country road! The setting was beautiful with the campsite sitting right above the beach!

Upon arrival the reception area was very small and very hard to park and not well sign posted, so we ended up just parking anywhere. We were just in a car, I would imagine a car/caravan would find this difficult. The service was adequate but felt very robotic, was not the friendliest. However, during our stay in Dorset, in general we didn’t find it was all that friendly. Shame for such a beautiful place. The welcome booklet was somewhat helpful although we were confused as it pictured a swimming pool, only to realize that it was for another camp site with the same company. I would suggest they make a Golden Cap only booklet. Why do we need to look at other campsites when we are staying here? Advertising is fine but do it in another leaflet.

We were camping on the Big Berries field, which took us through a one way system which was fairly simple to navigate and took us past a very crowded camping area which had the electrical hook-ups (glad we didn’t book here!).

We were booked in on the Big Berries field which we absolutely loved as there was so much space and privacy. The ‘take your pick’ approach was perfect for us. We wanted to be close to the toilets/showers, however, it was very busy in this area and we wanted to be more secluded. We ended up in the far right corner of the field (which was probably the first away from the toilets/showers), but was a lovely place to pitch. We were by the trees, so had good shelter from the wind (wise move on our stay with the extreme wind we experienced) and were also right next to a water point, which was perfect. We were disappointed that we could not do a fire but understood that this is probably the a general rule across all campsites. Lots of space to kick a ball around and play frisbee without distracting others. Again, on the cramped pitches we passed on the way in, this wouldn’t have been possible and there was no other field for these campers to enjoy.

The toilet and shower facilities were ideal. Very clean and well maintained. The noise level was no problem at all. All the campers on our stay seemed respectful of one another. We only had one other interaction with the staff when they drive around checking our pass. The chap was friendly enough on this occasion suggesting we put our red tag on the outside of our tent.

The beach is a 5/10 minutes walk (depending where you are situated on the site I guess). A very rocky beach but very pleasant. A lot of shore fisherman. There is a pub there but we never ventured in, not sure why, it looked lovely, just never got round to it on this occasion I guess. There is a shop on site that seemed resonantly priced. We were going to try the pizza but we smelt it when others had ordered and the oven smelt like it needed a clean so decided against it.

All in all, we would visit again and would recommend to others. Our children are 11 and 13 and it was fine for them. However, if we would have had young children we would have been disappointed with the amount on offer for them (no playground etc).

Highlights: Big Berries field (lots of space and privacy), lovely setting (beach etc), clean toilet/shower facilities.

Lowlights: Didn’t feel that friendly, no pit fires allowed, very cramped in some areas of the site.

Would rate this a 8/10. Worth a stay in the Big Berries field but I would suggest staying anywhere on site (unless you don’t mind being...

Superb campsite - one of the best of many visited.

Stayed for 4 nights and had a wonderful time.

POSITIVES Fantastic location: great views, 5-10 minute walk to the beach, walking distance to 3 pubs, great walks right from the camping field, near Lyme Regis

Great service: check-in and -out was really speedy, staff were very attentive about any concerns, one individual in our group had medication requiring fridge storage and staff were very helpful and accommodating (happily storing the medication in the shop fridge)

Good shop: drinks, food, fresh pasties. Best yet, pizza available from 11am-5pm (a great lunch choice at a very reasonable price!) Very little fruit or veg - fresh food would be great.

Food vendors: visited the campsites in the day & early evening. Great to have food available on site. However, vendors tended to close relatively early (6:30pm latest), so not v good for a dinner anytime later.

Lovely atmosphere: relaxed and friendly

Plenty of space for tents: field was big enough that tents were easily accomodated with plenty of space in between

Good toilet facilities: clean (cleaned 3x daily), good showers with space for clothes, plenty of toilets, soap always stocked, washing machines available, no extra cost for hair dryers

COULD BE BETTER Toilets were quite far away from 1 end of the field: this meant there was a 5-6 minute walk to the toilets when camped in 1 end of the field. Not the end of the world, but a bit of a pain. Another toilet block at the other end of the field could help with both this issue and the overcrowding of the showers at peak times.

From 10-11pm each evening the sewage system near the toilet blocks became quite pungent. This was unpleasant to walk past, but only a problem when walking past this to the toilets.

OVERALL Great site, would recommend and would...

Liked: Views

Disliked: Was advertised as having an on site shop and take away, the shop changed its closing time on the night we arrived meaning it closed an hour earlier and the take away truck was closed as it is only open certain days. The camping field is at the very back of the site meaning amenities (I.e. showers, shop, take away truck and beach access) we’re quite a walk away. When visiting the shop one morning there were around 6-10 people including myself waiting from 8am (as that’s the time it stated it opened) until 8.30, when the shop attendant changed the sign to open she left the door closed and didn’t greet/inform the customers who were clearly waiting that the shop was open meaning we all stood patiently waiting for a few minutes after the door had been unlocked and the sign changed as we were all unaware. The main shower and toilet block was extremely outdated with push button showers which were hot one minute and cold the next. The showers were dirty and unkept. The toilets that were located in the camping field were nice however the cubicals were extremely small meaning opening and closing the door was difficult, also I found myself sitting on the sanitary waste box which wasn’t pleasant at all. Although there were attendants who come to the field once in the morning and once at night the toilet block was very dirty, there was no toilet roll, and the floors were left wet (children even fell in the toilets due to the wet floors) even after they had just been up to clean and restock the toilets. To top it off the barriers to the camping field failed to recognise our car and we struggled to enter the field a couple of times, when trying to call the reception and the number provided on the gate (the same numbers) to get help with access I was constantly met with a voicemail as it was before the 10am...