Misrepresenting sites online

pontardawe replied on 12/07/2023 11:55

Posted on 12/07/2023 11:55

We visited Putts Corner site 2nd week of July 2023 , have visited this site for 13 years it has always been a 4 star site with reviews to match but this year on entering the site the difference shocked us , it looked completely neglected, we usually get greeted by happy, helpful staff but this time we were greeted by a disgruntled warden who said your too early and don’t go wandering. After setting up I had a wonder round and where the site was usually full of flowers it now has overgrown hedges with brambles and nettles everywhere, the grass is seldom cut and in places very long encouraging Ticks, we were told that the club had brought in “no mow May” but this was July and the idea was to attract wildlife, I don’t know if someone in management has realised but this site is surrounded by fields, trees and obviously wildlife, when I spoke to other visitors most had the similar view to us, one who’s wife was disabled said it’s scruffy and was only going to stay overnight. Near the main bottom toilet block look what appears to be an old Wi-Fi pole has broken at its base , is leaning dangerously and is being held up by a piece of rebar and tied with a lifting sling.

The biggest problem is the site is being misrepresented on line the star rating and site photos are old , it no longer looks as per photos and recent reviews rarely give a high star rating but the club is still charging 4 star rates, I checked other club sites on line and found other sites with a no mow policy so I just can’t get my head around it, if you went to a 4 or 5 star hotel would you expect the exterior and gardens of the building to look pristine or a scruffy mess, it doesn’t make sense. We’ve decided that if this is the club’s policy from now on we don’t want to carry on being members and will cancel at the end of the season, there’s plenty of options like pitchup.com And of course the decision’s like “no mow May” has been taken by the club without taking a feeling of the members .   Don Sykes

 

Moderator Comment - Don, this is really a subject for either a review or the discussion area. As its in more general terms about the site I will move it to discussions. 

Tinwheeler replied on 13/07/2023 13:35

Posted on 13/07/2023 12:41 by Rocky 2 buckets

Hey Tinny, I donated to the fighting fund to stop it👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Posted on 13/07/2023 13:35

Well done! I believe they’re only now clearing up the carnage and the whole scheme is under review with a different Council leader in place👍

mickysf replied on 13/07/2023 13:39

Posted on 13/07/2023 12:27 by Takethedogalong

I think “moderation” and control might be the issue here micky🤔 Photo of next doors garden, the whole large plot looks like this, it’s strangling all the other plants, crawling over walls, coming through fencing, etc…. Totally out of control.

Posted on 13/07/2023 13:39

Precisely, it’s about managing, maintaining and enhancing where we can. These photos are of my daughter’s fence line. It used to be covered in building rubble and discarded household detritus when she bought the property. Cleaned and then sown with a commercially sold Bee and Pollinator flower seed mix (some native wildflowers included) this it it today, 18months on. The increase in wildlife therein is phenomenal. Oh, and it will be cut in September and the seeds hopefully collected and or dispersed naturally.
In contrast, a dwelling a mile or so away, a derelict garden (deceased owner) has gone from acceptable to a mess absolutely covered in horsetail and dock which is spreading to adjacent gardens. Our friends, the neighbours, are pulling their hair out but until it’s sold nothing is apparently going to happen. Can’t be a good selling point can it!

Takethedogalong replied on 13/07/2023 14:39

Posted on 13/07/2023 14:39

I am a regular seed Bomber, try and throw seeds from things like poppies, aquilegia, lychnis, nepeta, etc…around. Our neighbours are wonderful, don’t get me wrong, we haven’t had a cross word in 35 years, and if they are struggling, I will offer help. It’s just a slightly misguided approach, and I am trying to manage it as best I can. We all help each other out with things.

I am not a fan of the heavily tarmac covered Club Sites, but you do see some nice planted areas on some, and some of the floral displays by staff have been lovely. I am guessing staff are under pressure to do more in the same working timescale, so it’s not always as easy to deliver the extras. Not been on a Club Site since last September, in fact only done around six nights in last couple of years, so well out of the Club Site loop nowadays. Like others, we love the variety you get using CLs. One visit might be a big orchard, another might be a little bit of someone’s beautiful garden. We have even done churchyards😁

DavidKlyne replied on 13/07/2023 16:01

Posted on 13/07/2023 10:27 by Cornersteady

Just in case the wrong idea is taken about what club sites really looked liked, well this one anyway, here is the reality taken in very early June, and notice it is only done of the larger grass strips, sometimes with a border and so not quite as bad or mad as people are making out? By the time we left it had all been mowed

I quite liked the flowers.

 

Posted on 13/07/2023 16:01

CS

Thanks for some photographic evidence. What you posted, to me, looks like a mess and unkempt. It won't apply to all sites but some have swaths of grass well behind the pitches and that could be left uncut, perhaps not only for May. However small areas of grass between pitches should really be maintain properly in my view. Whether there is a need to cut the grass as frequently or as short  as in the past is maybe not necessary but it should be easy on the eye. What the Club could do is the plant hedges between pitches which would not only offer greater privacy but also provide a habitat, all year round, for birds and insects?

David

brue replied on 13/07/2023 16:40

Posted on 13/07/2023 16:40

This is our area of unmown grass at home, it's not a large area and the only interference by me has been the addition of a wild mallow. There are several different grass species  growing at different heights, grasses are interesting plants, these attract insects including meadow butterflies. Our pets love it. However this is "managed" by us and will be strimmed off later in the summer and the undergrowth de-thatched etc. As some of us have said before these things need management to keep them in good heart. They do help wildlife so are useful to all, I've enjoyed seeing what emerges. smile

brue replied on 13/07/2023 16:47

Posted on 13/07/2023 16:47

PS I prefer to see tidy sites but am happy to see areas less well tended if it doesn't impinge on the overall enjoyment.

mickysf replied on 13/07/2023 17:08

Posted on 13/07/2023 17:08

Tidyness and nature are a bit of an oxymoron unless you can see the beauty of the Fibonacci sequence🌻😉 Went for a walk across the old hay meadows stretching from Harmby to Leyburn and then on to Old Glebe Meadows last year, wildflower adorned and abuzz with wildlife. Crossing an ‘ordinary’ sheep field later in the day was almost a desert and practically bereft of life in comparison.

https://data.wildlifetrusts.org/reserves/leyburn-old-glebe-nature-reserve

Well worth a visit from Lower Wensleydale CaMC site at this time of year.

 

Cornersteady replied on 13/07/2023 17:37

Posted on 13/07/2023 16:01 by DavidKlyne

CS

Thanks for some photographic evidence. What you posted, to me, looks like a mess and unkempt. It won't apply to all sites but some have swaths of grass well behind the pitches and that could be left uncut, perhaps not only for May. However small areas of grass between pitches should really be maintain properly in my view. Whether there is a need to cut the grass as frequently or as short  as in the past is maybe not necessary but it should be easy on the eye. What the Club could do is the plant hedges between pitches which would not only offer greater privacy but also provide a habitat, all year round, for birds and insects?

David

Posted on 13/07/2023 17:37

My pleasure.

The smaller strips of grass between pitches were cut as normal it was the larger spaces that weren't. 

replied on 13/07/2023 17:59

Posted on 13/07/2023 17:59

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