Kelling Heath Holiday Park — Hotel in North Norfolk

We had really high hopes for Kelling Heath, which was highly recommended by our friends.

We visited end of July for a week with our two young children (5 and 2) and had a wonderful time on the whole, really lovely time, however a few things did mar our experience a little, unfortunately. If some of those things were looked at, it would have been truly brilliant.

The good: Its a sprawling, huge and wonderfully maintained site, surrounded by lush woodland, open areas, and sensational views.

There's so much for the children and adults to do, including an outdoor swimming pool, and indoor swimming pool (extra charge), Woodland and scenic walks, children's activities and play areas.

The main playfield is amazing, with a football pitch, huge climbing area and play area for smaller kids.

The facilities are well maintained and clean, and plentiful.

The central village square is large and excellent, with seating areas, ping pong, village store (reasonably priced), bar cum restaurant, pizza place, health club and reception. All great. The central bandstand was host to a variety of kids and adult entertainment daily, all really good! Also nightly if you so choose they have a variety of outside companies bring their food vans in for some delicious treats.

The bad:

It's noisy. Yes we went at the beginning of holiday season and yes it's a big site but the 10 o clock curfew never kicked in over the seven days. We're not sticklers, we love a chat after hours and expect everyone else does too, but the music from the village square is REALLY loud, there were teenagers shouting, swearing and screaming until midnight in the playing fields, unfortunately some very loud and obnoxious campers (not the fault of the site - however still dealt with with a very light touch), the noise of the road pretty much all evening and the mass exodus of the village square at night with loud families heading back to their tents. Feel it needs an adults only area to separate those who want some peace and quiet for their children.

The tent areas are really packed together. The pitch sizes are okay (however if we'd had our car there we'd have literally nowhere to sit outside) but literally one on top of the other. You'd expect for the price, you'd have a little room between pitches but feels like they've crammed as many as they can in, which was very 'cosy' to say the least.

Most pitches are onto busy roads (at least on the Blue Butterfly area) with people going MUCH too fast. Kids are riding their bikes, running around and we were in constant worry for our kids being run over.

Showers were ok, some better than others, but pretty 'piddly'. Normally wouldn't mind, but once again, for the price...

No shared freezers. Unless you have electric cool boxes, you are left having to 'hire' ice blocks from the village store, swapping over daily for a fee. Not extortionate, but inconvenient and cost adds up over a week. A shared freezer or two at each area would be much appreciated.

Please note that we are not here to moan, only to offer up a friendly and detailed review so that people thinking about visiting can make an informed decision.

We had a wonderful time, don't get me wrong, but we felt that for the price (which is at least twice as much as you'd pay for any camping site), there were areas that might prevent us from immediately booking our next venture there.

Ps. Take your bikes. It's big, and the bike rental is a fortune.

Happy...

We have been visiting Kelling Heath for the last 13 years, for 2 or 3 weeks at a time. The site itself is excellent, well maintained by Nick and the team, and the facilities are superb, particularly the toilets which are modern, regularly cleaned, and ample for a site full of campers. Over the last couple of years the onsite pub/restaurant has declined in its offering, and this year there were no breakfasts available, and the food service stopped at 8.30pm, and the pub closed at 9pm, which was a bit disappointing. The shop is well stocked though and carries most things needed for self catering in a caravan, with some treats, including wines, local ales, and spirits. The site dealt brilliantly with the Covid restrictions and regulations, and we felt safe at all times during our visits. From time to time special events take place in the Square, like local crafts etc, but it would be nice to see a little more activity and use of the bandstand. We've used the indoor pool a few times over the years, which is a nice treat too, although soon the new centre in Sheringham will be open. The only thing that bugs us slightly is the pricing. We don't mind paying the going rate, and even the elevated rates for the neat gravel pitches, but there are additional charges for everything, including awnings, dogs, and extra cars, and they really start to add up, and it seems hard to justify the extra charges for each dog, or for an awning on the gravel pitches for instance, where there is no extra maintenance or grass repair needed..... or maybe that is just us :) There is an onside laundry, washers and dryers, and are dishwashing areas attached to the toilet blocks. Overall it is a lovely site, one of the best we have been to, and hence the repeated returns. Oh, another gripe though is that we always get an email with a discount off our next visit, but somehow the discount never seems to apply to our breaks......as we have spent over 40 weeks at the site over the last few years it would be nice if there was some sort of loyalty scheme, hope you are reading this Kelling Staff 😀 In summary, a first rate campsite, great base for exploring the area, well off the main roads, with good walking to be had nearby. Holt and Sheringham are two delightful nearby towns, and for enthusiasts, the North Norfolk steam railway runs right alongside the camp. There are adders, snakes, slow worms and lizards on the heathland, and hen harriers, owls and buzzards in the skies. As long as folk turn their awning lights off the skies are nice and dark, with visible milky way. Will we go back next year? It is...

We have just returned from 12 nights camping at Kelling Heath and we had an amazing time as usual. It is such a beautiful site. So many walks to do and so much to explore. Our smallest children were heartbroken when we had to leave. The staff on site were so friendly, especially those in the village store. |We had so much fun pond dipping at the conservation pond and caught fish and newts! We saw our first adder on this trip which the children adored! |We visited the outdoor pool on a very hot day and had no trouble getting in. |We loved going on the stram train from Kelling Heath to Sheringham- the children adored it. |They also loved feeding the sheep most days and seeing what the red squirrels were up to.|We used the pop up food vendors on site occasionally, some a little pricier than others but again, very similar prices to at other locations locally and a good variety was available. |We were pitched nearer the village this time and we enjoyed the music at night from our tent. However if you have young children who go to bed early, you may want to position yourselves further away as it can be a little tricky at bedtimes getting them to sleep with the music. Music does go off at around 9.30pm each night though so they are very considerate.|If you want a campsite where your staying in silence, with not much to see or do, then this isn't the place for you. But it your looking for a location where there is so much to see, do and explore then Kelling Heath is definitely the place for you. It's a very fun and beautiful setting which has stolen our hearts. We adore it and visited 4 times last year for smaller trips and this year for 2 longer trips. We can't wait to return! ||My only suggestion being a 'regular' visitor is the night time disturbances from certain guests can be difficult to deal with if your nearby them. In our 12 nights stay we experienced some noisier guests who thankfully weren't pitched near us but I do wonder how they aren't being noticed by security and being asked to quieten down. We could hear them and they were quite far away from us. It can be tricky to call the number to report noisy/inconsiderate guests, especially if they are in the pitch next to you! Perhaps a system can be implemented where people can text a number to report noise disturbances late at night discretely. Then security can approach them and other guests don't feel worried being heard calling to report them.|Most guests are so lovely though and follow the quiet after 10pm park guidance.||Thank you Kelling Heath for another...