Hengar Manor Holiday Park — Hotel in Great Britain

Background - 5 adults and 2 under 18's (2yr old and 14yr old). The good: Upon entering the park, we were all surprised by how beautiful the grounds were. The groundskeepers are extremely talented and well placed. We were greeted by some lovely reception staff who were very friendly and extremely helpful. Throughout the stay, we used the swimming pool a few times and all I can say is that it is wonderfully clean and perfectly sized for the size of the park. The accommodation was great, apart from some points I will highlight later on. The room sizes are perfect, the kitchen is basic but that is all you need and the living room/dining room was nicely sized. The size of the park is perfect, compared to some other big names, it being a smaller park makes it feel like a more personal experience to be there. I have some gripes with the shop, but the selection offered in terms of basic essentials and some little treats and extras was perfect for what we needed.

The slightly meh: The restaurant food was really a mix of emotions. The first night we came, we had food in the restaurant. It was shocking. It was just about warm, and the quality was really just lacking. It seems like there was very little care or pride taken in the prep. Later on in the week, we ate there again(purely because our plans had changed last minute) and the food was lovely. It was like a totally different place. So the issue I find is that, it doesn't seem to be very consistent at all. The bar and wait staff, although helpful seemed to be lacking in something. I'm not sure if that is the workplace causing issues, or if they are even just a little under trained.

The ugly: The cleanliness of the accommodation was really lacking in various areas. The cobweb situation was a bit crazy but they were quickly sorted with us having a quick breeze round with a brush. Underneath the sofas we're disgusting so we ended up just leaving that, out of sight out of mind right? The downstairs shower was fairly dirty, covered in water marks and what seems to have been an actual spider kingdom. The onsite shop staff were really something. There was a man and a woman during our stay. Neither of which were friendly or welcoming at all. I must say the woman was a damn sight nicer than the man though. She almost seemed as though she was tired and had had enough of working for the season. Almost as though having to deal with customers (a big part of the job by the way!) was too much for her. Him, now he was frustrating. First of all, appearance. We walked into the shop and he was hunched over, scrolling on his phone in the corner. His fingernails were honestly disgusting, the filth underneath them really made me question actually eating any of the bakery items prepared by him. Although there weren't any mind! Myself and my partner turned up just around lunchtime and wanted one of their toasties. We were met with "No more food today, the oven is off" and that's it. He barely even looked up from his mobile. I could seriously go on but this is too long a review already. The children's entertainment in the evening was okay while it lasted but it doesn't last long. Once it's had its time slot, it's straight to bingo (every night). The kids who are still in the club with parents enjoying the evening are then met with prison like strict rules about not making even a single noise. Its very difficult when you have excited children because they are obviously on holiday. Children play facilities are seriously lacking. There is a set of swings, a load of balance beams and a set of monkey bars which are way too high for any normal kid to use. Even I as an adult struggled.

The park is labely as "family friendly" but I really don't think that's correct. I'm genuinely unhappy with my stay and I'd really struggle to stay again which is a shame as the park has...

We loved Hengar. We usually do Haven or Parkdean and much preferred this.

At first didn’t like how packed into the houses you were. Expected it to be loud and all on top of each other. But we were not at all. It was quiet. The location was peaceful. People clearly go a lot as we’re respectful and took bbqs and air dryers etc for washing.

The grounds were beautiful and well kept and the swimming pool was lovely. Always got a slot but lots we were told were full in the morning then managed to get in and so dead when it came to it.

Staff always on it in the pool areas keeping it clean. 3 young lifeguards on duty. Although my son ran into a spot of bother whilst with his cousin who thought he was faking it and he wasn’t and no one noticed. Thankfully I was nearby and watching.

Spa pool said 12 plus and there was a young girl about 3-4 in there and no one said a word. But the pool isn’t really any hotter then the main pool so probably not a huge issue.

Reception and the shop closing by 6 was odd. Shop was always adequately stocked and not expensive.

Had no idea how to book activities. Saw them on Facebook that morning but no idea how to book. Downloaded the app and it never worked was always blank once selecting hengar.

Had a silver villa. Was abit tired. But otherwise okay.

Reported Hoover as hoovered carpet and it stank out the room. Checked bag and it was wet mouldy and stank. This was swapped pretty quick. Reported faulty plug in the bath three times and was never sorted. Had to keep a knife in there to levy it open. The upstairs rooms smelt a little damp. Some bedding had no covers on. When asked for extra we’re told probably not as other people needed them?? Okay.

Due to location. Lots of bugs. Especially in the upstairs rooms if you leave windows open. Was attacked by a load of wasps on the loo in the middle of the night haha. Learnt my lesson and shut the window after that.

Club house was small. But never failed to get a table. Bar staff ok but drink sizes always varied. Bar never looked well stocked but never had an issue. Didn’t eat in restaurant due to prices.

Biggest let down was the arcade. It’s very tiny. The machines never had tickets in. They were blocked or broken or stole money. Lost count of the amount of times the young ones had to go to the bar because money was taken. Change machine worked one day out of the 7. Was fixed after two days of reporting and lasted less then ten minutes. Kids were putting wrong money in 2p machines and blocking them. ( not my kids) but it was never being fixed. All kids love an arcade. And I think this desperately needs fixing. So many people were moaning about it.

All in all we loved it here and would definitely come back. But there’s defo a few niggles. But where doesn’t...

We booked here for a 4 night stay with 2 young children. We were initially bringing our dog with us so booked a pet friendly "gold" villa but decided to leave her at home in the end.

This villa certainly is not what we would class as "gold". When we got there after check in time we were told our villa wasn't ready and to wait another 30mins or so. 2 minutes later we were told that it actually was ready, no big deal we were just happy to be able to get the kids settled after a long journey, so off we went to the villa. And this is where the problems started.

As soon as we opened the door we were hit with the smell of stale cigarette smoke and the most awful smell of wet dog! Windows were opened straight away as we have a child with asthma. Yes we expected there to be a doggy smell with it being a pet friendly villa but omg this was the type of smell you'd expect in a place that doesn't get cleaned and has a dog that's never had a bath. There was dog hair left under furniture which a curious 16month old easily found while wanting to crawl around, there was dog hair on the kitchen sides. Had we brought pur dog with us the decking would have been unsafe for her as the gate on it would have allowed and dog to get out as it didnt go anywhere near the ground so she would have fitted under it. Obviously we made reception aware and the response was "oh.....sorry about that", we couldn't move villa.

Fast forward to settling down for the night and for somewhere that says pets are not allowed on the soft furnishings they might want to try reinforce this or atleast deep clean the furnishings once in a while. All we could smell off the furniture was dog, this was on the couches and ALL of the beds!

Again we told reception about the smell, especially off the bedding, and was told that the bedding wouldnt smell because it is sourced off site by an external company, it STANK!

On our second day we went to get lunch from the restaurant as our welcome pack advised it was open for lunch to get there and be told it doesn't open til 4, that's hardly lunch time.

The arcade is mediocre and is not bigger than a double bedroom and pretty rubbish machines. The pool was warm at best.

The complex isn't ideal for families at all as there is nothing for kids to do really and other guests really do not care who they keep awake.

In the end we cut our stay short as the final straw was when we came back from a day out we were met with the smell of sewerage coming from the sinks and toilets.

When we got home all clothes, even if they werent worn or taken out of bags stank of dog, that's how bad the smell was. We have a long-haired double coated breed of dog, and never in a million years has she made our home or clothes smell as bad as that...