Barn at Beal Restaurant & Campsite — Restaurant in England

We booked 2 nights Motorhome pitch with EHU and there were great things about it. It’s a shame there was ZERO interaction or service available. We arrived in storm Amy on a Saturday afternoon and couldn’t initially find our pitch as the map we had been sent, that talked about Covid social distancing, didn’t actually show it. I rang the number in the email only to get an answer machine. Not helpful. After getting out and going to the restaurant where he was ignored for 5 mins, my husband ventured out in to the gales to see if he could find our pitch. We finally discovered it down the bottom of a gravel hill, the last pitch and furthest away from the shower block and toilets - too far away to venture up a stony hill in that weather and NOT shown on the map. We have our own facilities so used those that night. The pitch was perfectly flat and had wonderful views across the countryside to Holy Island and the EHU worked fine.

The next day we headed off quick for the causeway crossing and so didn’t use any of the facilities again. The barn looked closed when we returned and so we stayed in our van as it was still stormy out. Monday morning came and I trudged up the hill but could only find the Ladies showers and not the toilet block - nothing was signposted and the map was useless. There was nobody around to ask even. I did note that the top pitches were all empty and so good customer service would have maybe offered those to us on the Sunday night to be nearer to the facilities in a storm. The previous site we were on in Whitby moved people to more sheltered ground and checked everyone was ok - I didn’t even have a check in after the messages I left.

The shower block was absolutely huge and stunningly fitted out and I’m not sure why the toilets weren’t put in with them. I never did find them and so used my van instead.

Leaving, we used the easy drive over grid to empty waste water but had to ask another camper in the end where the chemical waste was. It was between two pitches half way down the site. The signs need to be clearer and the map needs updating as these little things made a big difference. I didn’t want to go poking about in a storm looking for things! After the initial non interaction in the restaurant we didn’t use that and so headed to Berwick for breakfast.

You can’t beat the location but customer service needs to be better and the map needs to actually show all of the pitches on it, especially if there’s nobody there to help you. Felt a bit like a fully self service site at a...

The Barn @ Beal seems to be a very confused place with most or the care being put in to the restaurant, the campsite felt like an afterthought to make more money. On arrival at the campsite after a 6-hour journey we found that the pitch i had carefully selected as we have a rather large awning had been halved in size because a road had been put in to 4 new pitches below. This meant our first encounter with the staff was a negative. At this current time the website still has not been updated to reflect this. We were moved to another pitch, but it was still pretty small and with all the pitches hard standing concrete we still struggled to fit our awning on to the grass to the side. All the pitches were surrounded by quite tall hedges so when you were sitting down you couldn't actually see the beautiful view!! During our stay we found out the campsite & the restaurant are run independently from each and it showed. The lovely lady Jackie who has just taken over the lease of the restaurant had only started 4 days before we arrived!! I think she has a lot of work ahead of her to get that place up to a good standard but she was definitely taking the bull by the horns and i believe she'll do a great job!! However the staff were pretty shocking, no eye contact, little conversation, very slow service and the breakfasts that my husband & i ordered most days, although exactly the same every day differed in price from £16-£25!! We ate dinner there one night and the food was pretty rubbish, either over cooked or under cooked. The campsite facilities are very basic and the men's toilets stank all the time. Apparently cleaned twice a day but we know this wasn't true as the same piece of loo roll stayed in the same place for the entire time we stayed there!! There are also no laundry facilities which, for long term campers was the first time we'd come across this at a site. As long-term stayers the evening restaurant & bar are only open on Friday & Saturday nights which was disappointing but i can highly recommend the breakfasts sitting in the sunshine, just s shame the price differed so much. All in all we thought the Barn at Beal has great potential and although we understand possible staff shortages it was a shame the bar wasn't open most nights. We felt its just a short stay site, maybe one or two nights but i would not recommend it for a long stay. Maybe i'm just being picky having staying at a lot of campsites all over the country but this place has a long way to go before i would consider...

Since my last review of this venue, it has changed management, and it has, in my opinion, not been for the better.

I used to look forward to going for food and drinks here with my family, but despite loving the views and the area, I will think twice about using this venue again after my most recent visit. Arrived at 1435 on a Sunday afternoon and waited a number of minutes at the front area (as asked by management sign) before being attended to, we were shown to a seat and given a menu. Looked at the menu and limited choices to see that all hot food services ceased at 3 pm. I then overheard waiting staff tell another customer that the kitchen was closed, so no to hot food, ok. We chose our drinks and opted for fruit scones and clotted cream. No scones available. OK. Partner went inside and ordered 2 slices of border tart. While all this was happening a number of new customers (3 tables worth) were arriving and waited a good while (5mins plus) before any of the staff emerged from inside the venue to seat them, then when taking the orders the passing on of information about food available and lack of options was not the greatest. This is would have be understood if it had been stuffed full to the rafters but there were 2 tables occupied inside and 4 including ours outside. I saw at least 5 waiting staff in our time there so there was little to no excuse for the lackadaisical approach and poor customer service. If you are advertising food til 3pm then why did the kitchen close a full 20 mins before? I understand that times are tough and costs have to be micromanaged to be the most effective but training your staff to be more attentive and responsive is one investment you cannot shirk. It will cost you more in lost revenue that anything else. I would also advise either changing the wording on your menu to reflect the kitchen closing/hot food serving times if you regularly close before the time advertised.

It is a damn shame to see a much loved spot take...