Hooks House Farm — Hotel in Great Britain

Absolutely awful experience dealing with this campsite.

I cannot fault what appears to be the beautiful coastal location/setting of this campsite, but a theoretical distant possibility is all this campsite will ever be to myself and my partner on account of how we were treated when trying to book in here.

After making contact via phone on a couple of occasions throughout the space of a few days to check availability, I was told on a Friday evening that as my partner and I were not sure regarding the length of our trip, that there would be no significant problems associated with me calling back in the morning once we had decided on the number of days we would like to stay, and that space was still available for the dates we were considering. Based on this, though I was the one who had previously called them, my partner called back to follow up at 10:30am the next morning due to me being busy at the time. The owners told her there was no space available, until she mentioned the conversation I had with them the previous evening, and then miraculously there was then somehow space available for us....

At the time we didn't think much of it as we were thrilled they could fit us in having travelled to get to the area that morning. Based on this, we proceeded to pay. We were told that the cost would be £27 for a none electric pitch which needed to be payed immediately over the phone rather than on arrival. Fair enough, policy is policy, but for one single night for two people in a roof tent in a none electric pitch in September, I would say this is very expensive for any time outside of the core summer holiday period.

From here we were asked all sorts of questions such as what vehicle we have, what sort of tent we have, and when we'd be arriving and pitching etc. We explained to the owners, that at the time, we had arranged unmovable plans for 7pm on the day of arrival, and as our roof tent is on our car, we wouldn't have been able to get to the site any earlier than half 8 to pitch the tent on the vehicle. Rather than opting to discuss any sort of pragmatic conversation around this, such as safe ways to access and set up our roof tent as it was going to be darker, the owners proceeded to simply cancel our booking on the spot, and refund what we were told was a payment that could not be refunded when we originally made the payment.

On this basis we never stayed here and instead we ended up driving back home 2hrs the same day we travelled to the area, in the absence of us being unable to find any other suitable options short notice.

I would really rather not ever stay here moving forward and wish to never return or deal with the owners again... Their land, their rules is fair enough, but some of the best campsites I have ever stayed at are ones where you rock up at whatever time, pitch your tent in the dark for a few quid, have BBQ and/or fire pit elevated off the ground, and have a good time and nomadic, chilled camping experience. People go on holidays/short weekend get aways to relax, and this seemed to be the most heavily regulated, rule driven, bureaucratic campsite I've ever had to deal with, and some of the other reviews also indicate this may be the case when staying there with regards to lightijg and other curfews.

If I could leave 0 stars for customer...

Our first time staying at Hooks House and it didn't disappoint. Everyone was friendly and welcoming. The campsite has beautiful views over the sea.||The majority of pitches are on a slope, so take your time to choose where to pitch. Robin Hood's Bay is 10-15 minutes walk away, through some adjoining fields via a well established path. It is downhill into RHB, but be prepared for a climb back to Hook's House. Take your time and enjoy the views as you ascend.||The shower and toilet facilities are spotlessly clean, and there is a grassed area dedicated as a child friendly play space - make sure to frisbee, scatch, etc, with you if you have kids. There are several drinking water points around the sight. The facilities block is within the area around the farm buildings, so if you pitch up in the bottom field, be prepared for a healthy walk to and from - it helped us to get our steps in.||This is a dog friendly site, but all dogs are to remain on their lead while on site. We found the vast majority of dog owners to be responsible. However, someone did let the side down, leaving their dog poo beside the path to the showers on one occasion - so just be aware.||There is a bus stop across the road from the campsite with regular buses to Whitby and Scaborough. Another stop is down in the village below. ||It was super to see a proactive presence from the owners. Regular checks were made to see that everyone was respecting the sites clear and simple rules, which are both clearly written on the website and found displayed on site.||Overall, it is a well run, perfectly located site that offers the opportunity to relax amongst the beauty of the North Yorkshire coast. We would certainly plan to return...

A lovely looking campsite that unfortunately imposes a discriminatory rule that meant myself and my friends weren't even able to book a night there.

Upon calling the campsite, a very nice lady answered the phone asking for details of my booking. After explaining that it would be 4 adults she asked what I meant by that. I explained that it would be 4 friends in a single tent and after further probing that we are 4 men (something that I thought wouldn't matter). She asked if we were 4 young men, to which I replied yes (aged 26-31). After finding out that it was a group of 4 young male adults she proceeded to say that we were not allowed to book due to our characteristics; a group of 4 males aged 26-31.

The reason given that the campsite have had bad experiences in the past. A regrettable reason, however, why tarnish everyone with the same brush? does that not seem like a disproportionate step back in a society that strives for fairness and equality.

An understandable approach would be to explain past grievances experienced at the campsite and issue a warning to our group that if any rules are breached at the site, you will be asked to leave without a refund. Completely blocking the possibility of any group of young men (let alone only 4!) from camping at their site is completely unreasonable and treads a fine line within society today.

I implore Hooks House Farm to rethink their archaic stance and allow small groups of all types to use their facilities with an explicit and clear warning that is any breach of trust occurs they will be asked to leave.

I'll finish this with a thought. If the campsite discriminated against any other group in society, there would probably be outrage and...