River Dart Country Park — Hotel in South Hams

Firstly I wrote this complaint to River Dart management more than 2 weeks ago and have been ignored by them.

We visited River Dart Country Park on 26th June. When we arrived, it seemed like a very nice place so we thought we would have a great day. As we were heading towards the play area, my friend, my husband and I decided to take away tea and coffee from Sawmills Cafe. As we were placing our order, my husband decided to get some crisps which were placed on a table at an easy reach for customers. We always read the packaging before we eat anything, also as the table was low, even reading the flavours of the crisps were not very easy and my husband handled 1 or 2 packages only to be told off by one of the staff not in a very pleasant manner. The staff asked him only to touch what he was going to buy otherwise they would have to sanitise the crisps. I don’t understand how he was supposed to buy what he was going eat without reading what it was first. Imagine supermarkets say the same thing to all of us?? Also why would the snacks be right where customers can touch? We were shocked by this treatment and my husband left the crisp corner without buying any crisps.

We were given oat milk to add to our tea so my husband went to one of the tables inside the café and started to add the milk to his tea on it. The same staff asked him not to use the table but use the other table right next to that one, again in an unpleasant way. At this time my friend and I were still at the till and felt quite disturbed by the unreasonable rules and attitude.

The staff was giving me my tea and I said to her, “You just touched our tea, should we feel the need to sanitise our cups?”. While we were expected to find sense in the rules of the Park Cafe, the staff didn’t want to find sense in what I said. Yes it was not sensible, nor were the rules of the café and the attitude. My friend joined the conversation and pointed out the whole thing was a bit over the top. She said to the staff, “All the children are playing in the play area and they are all touching everything.” Although this should have made sense to the staff, it possibly did, she said, “Other customers are fine with the rules.” And I said to her, “Maybe they just don’t say anything.”.

After this, my friend’s cup’s lid was broken so she asked for a replacement lid and she went on to hand the broken lid to the staff and the staff replied again with attitude, “No, I can’t touch it.”. At this point, we were really taken aback and decided to leave before we were told off for anything else.

In all the places we go these days, we have never seen anything like this especially where people are playing on top of each other. We left River Dart after 5pm and were quite hungry. We didn’t even dare to go near their café. Instead we went to another restaurant in Newton Abbot. We had a pleasant evening meal and no one was told off by the staff...

We have been many times for day trips but this weekend we did a weekend camp with our 3 and 6 year old children. Although this is undeniably a beautiful place to visit, with fabulous outdoor facilities we were bitterly disappointed with our camping experience. The field was full of groups who were incredibly noisy and in full on party mode. There is an 11pm noise curfew and this was more or less enforced but the noise level up to this point was horrendous. My 6 year old did not get to sleep until 11pm both nights which resulted in a child who was too tired and emotional to really enjoy the outdoor activities. There were also packs of kids charging around through all the pitches and round the tents and shouting at the tops of their voices. My 6 year old was so intimidated by them that he wouldn't go to the toilet block opposite our tent alone. We did go to complain the first night and found the wardens to be really helpful and told us they had asked the people involved to be quite a few times already. They promised to speak to them again and would also have a further word with them in the morning. Before we left we went to speak to reception about how unhappy we were with the noise level and they seemed fairly unconcerned and said June and July is just like that with groups every weekend. They said before the summer holidays begin (before the already high pitch prices go up) it's pretty likely we would have a similar experience, hence we will not be returning. Its is a huge shame as we live locally and would have loved to come regularly through the summer term. I do think the policy to allow groups (many campsites do not) should be made clear at the time of booking. It is definitely NOT a good place to bring small children if you want them to get any sleep before 11pm. I wonder if River Dart could look at using the picnic meadow for single families as a quieter area to protect them from the groups as it really should...

Colin in customer service earns 5*, great 1st impressions and service. We stayed on pitch 185 hard standing. Sadly it wasn't very level even after using the levellers. Would be quite a cheap and easy fix by adding more stone towards back of pitch. Restaurant was also 5*. Couldn't believe the quality of food for the buffet breakfast (butchers sausages and bacon?) all for £10.99. I must admit i wasn't expecting such good quality considering 2 kids up to 16 years old eat free. Shame the offer didn't include dogs!! Food well cooked and piping hot and the restaurant staff a credit to you. Very impressed. Now the not go good bits.... The facilities were basic and clean yet cold. The heating appeared to be a couple small fan heaters that were never on when I went in. The shower temperature being warm rather than hot didn't help. The outside washing up area was filthy and needed a good deep clean. We cleaned the area before even wanting to wash up. A pearl of being outside but a wipedown and sweep up when cleaning the toilets would suffice. We came on a deal and for the price paid of £30 per night it was ok but if I'd paid peak season prices which for us with 2 dogs can top £70, I would expect better. I'm also not sure the facilities would be sufficient when the site is busy. My only other issue is the extortionate price charged for dogs. Full Price of £5.50 per dog for both day entry and camping. I can only assume this is to limit / discourage the amount of dogs on site. The most we've ever paid is £3 and at least dog washing facilities were provided for that, which they're not at River Dart. Saying that, we would return as I'd love to try the carvery based on the excellent breakfast, but only when pitches are on offer. If you're charging absolute top dollar the facilities need to match. Oh, the park itself was clean and tidy and we'd certainly like to return when it's a bit...