2 Nights
The site has 10 numbered pitches, half are well spaced grass and half are less well spaced hard standing. We were required to phone in advance to obtain our pitch number. The large square site is surrounded on 2 sides by high conifers and on 2 sides by the high popular trees seen in the photos which along with a barn filled high with straw bales and a large trailer restricts visibility of the surrounding countryside. The photos suggest a pronounced slope to the site which is not the case. TV reception is reported as 'fair' but we found it good with our omnidirectional aerial. The reported ‘information room’ is a small basket adjacent to the shower with a handful of leaflets in it. The only local leaflet was a map of walks around Helion Bumstead produced by the parish council which was a blow up of the 1:25k OS map. There appeared to be 4 village pubs within an hour’s walk but only the Fox & Hounds at Steeple Bumpstead (45 mins) was open for lunch. The closest pub in Hellion Bumpstead is a community pub with limited opening. Steeple Bumpstead is much larger and has a Jet petrol station that doubles up as a convenience store and post office. We took our motorhome to the Tesco supermarket in the town of Haverhill. Had we stayed longer we might have caught the bus from Hellion Bumpstead to Haverhill in one direction or Saffron Waldon in the other. Bus times are shown at the bus stops in Hellion Bumpstead. We only stayed two nights but the impression we gained is that if we had stayed longer we would have run out of things to do without driving somewhere. During the day there was some farmyard (incl. pig) and aircraft noise but it didn't trouble us on what we considered to be a quiet site. Slate Hall farm includes caravan and motorhome storage.
