Tudor Caravan Park — Hotel in Stroud

An excellent site and enjoyable stay, spoiled only by a rather unhelpful member of staff when we departed. On our arrival we were greeted by a very pleasant lady who produced our booking details and directed us to our pitch. The site was as per the website – well kept, toilet and washing-up facilities clean and everything as one would hope. Our reason for staying was to visit several nearby locations such as the Purton Hulks, Gloucester and Sharpness Canal and the Stroudwater Canal with its string of mills. In this respect, the campsite is ideally situated. However, when we came to leave (11.08.23) our opinion of Tudor took a turn for the worse. Knowing that pitches must be vacated by 11.00, we had hitched our caravan by 10.30. All we needed was a little time to have breakfast at the Black Shed café before setting off. I called in at reception and politely asked the woman behind the desk whether it would be possible to leave our car/caravan somewhere out of the way for an hour while we went over the road for a bite to eat. As this was 10.30, all we were requesting was half an hour’s grace past 11.00. At other sites, such a request would normally be (and has been) met with a cheery and helpful “Yes, certainly – pop it over there. It’ll be fine” or words to that effect. However, our receptionist fell somewhat short of “helpful”. Despite the vast size of the site and many obvious places where our car and diminutive caravan could have been parked in no-one’s way while we enjoyed a quick meal, she wasn’t having any of it. With a broad smile she told me that we couldn’t stay on our pitch (I hadn’t asked to do so) and that nowhere else was suitable because of the convoys of caravans that were expected imminently (I’m paraphrasing there!) I wasn’t quick enough to point out that it was 10.30 and no arrivals should have been turning up until mid-day at the earliest - plenty of time for us to down a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea. This unhelpful “no can do” attitude sadly left us leaving with a rather lower opinion of Tudor. We did eventually find a place to park elsewhere (not easy in Shepherds Patch for a car/caravan) and enjoyed our breakfast, during which time the anticipated queue of caravans stretching half way to Gloucester had failed to materialise. In fairness, the Ts & Cs do state "You must vacate by 11am". If everyone wanted to delay their departure, I appreciate that it would be a problem, but most people just want to get moving and the draconian application of the rules seemed excessive. It’s the little things like this that make all the difference to visitors’ perception of a campsite, and get mentioned when discussing sites with other campers (or when you’re a contributing writer to magazines). It’s not just about pocketing the money. “Going the extra mile” (only actually a yard or two in our case) pays dividends in customer satisfaction – and in their...

A lovely site if you're able-bodied, rather deceptive if you're not. Yes, there's a lovely disabled shower etc. But to get to it, you need to negotiate loose gravel. Get there, and it's locked, and not with a standard RADAR key either. No explanation on the door, nor when we'd booked or registered, so we wait until the next time reception is open and we're on site (they're only open 09:00 to 18:00, so if you're out for the day, you don't see them). So that's now day three of our stay.... and it seems you need to ask for a special key, £10 deposit. As I say, this hadn't been mentioned before, and I don't see able bodied visitors needing to pay extra or wait a few days to have access to a shower. Good job there's a loo in our van I can use.

The car park gate locks at 22:30. So how am I supposed to get back to the caravan after that? It's too far to walk, and rough ground. Compulsory early night? All right for the able-bodied....

WiFi doesn't work on the field. We can see the mast, but are told it's broken. No clue about when it might be repaired, no apparent interest. So the plan of sitting here enjoying the scenery and getting some writing done won't work out, I can't get to my files on the Cloud.

It's a shame, we've been staying at the pub for years, but the campsite (no longer connected, the pub tell us) just isn't up to it. I'm sure if you're able-bodied, it's great, but not for us.

Edit: Google won't let me reply to the reply, which was very prompt and thorough.... come on Google, get your act together. We made it clear on booking that we needed disabled facilities. We booked online, and also phoned to discuss it, since the online booking process didn't leave much room for extras. We didn't mention needing to be near the gates because we had no clue they were going to be locked before the pub was even closed! My husband tells me he saw a phone number "for emergencies" - not getting a shower won't kill anyone, so this wasn't an emergency, just annoying. For your information, and that of others, anyone can get a RADAR key, you don't need proof of anything. Just go on eBay or Amazon and pay...

Nice tidy site. Well situated for walks along the canal. Next door to The Tudor Arms (in fact you have to drive through the pub car park to get to this campsite). Pitch size was fine. The site was well kept. Staff were friendly and helpful. Great site that I would be happy to visit again.

Below are a few suggestions for improvements, none of which would stop me coming back but i think would improve the site.

The gate to the site has to be opened and shut manually. So if you are on your own expect to get in and out of the car every time you leave the site. Investment in an automated barrier would be very welcome.

Dog friendly site, but no designated dog walking area. You always have the canal path which is great but for a quick walk in the morning or evening I had to do a few laps of the site. They appear to have plenty of space for a proper fenced dog exercise area (a whole field wasn't in use while I was there, maybe a corner could be adapted?).

A lot of the site is used by sited caravans. Much more than other sites I've been to. They didn't bother me apart from one inconsiderate camper that is clearly unaware (or doesn't care) that the thin bit of fabric that makes up the walls of his trailer tent doesn't actually stop the sound of voices / his TV from being heard late into the evening. Must be almost unbearable for people staying in tents just metres away.

The water points don't have the hose pipe connectors on, so water just sprays everywhere, so expect to get wet when filling up, very annoying!

The main play area is a field that has pitches around the outside. A few times that I noticed caravans were hit with balls, a safe fenced play area would be better. Personally I don't go away to worry about other inconsiderate people damaging my property.

The 'adults only' area isn't signed so although no kids are allowed to stay on that part there is nothing stopping them walking through, or apparently visiting people staying...