Black Knowl Club Campsite
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Being just over an hour from home, we love Black Knowl, and have been many times. Brockenhurst itself is delightful, with cafes, wine bar, an excellent butcher, Tesco & Co-Op. Our electric bikes enable us to explore far and wide on the many traffic-free routes through the forest. Lyndhurst is an easy cycle, with interesting shops and the New Forest Heritage Centre being well worth a visit. One minor disappointment was the Fish & Chip van (Wednesday) - having been on a 20 mile ride to Lymington and beyond, we were looking forward to a fish supper, and not having to cook. We were very surprised that they had run out of all fish by 7pm (open until 7.30pm) - surely that's the mainstay of their business (they serve several CAMC sites in the area throughout the week)?? Let's hope it was just a one-off, otherwise maybe the site should consider a different vendor?
Perfect!
Love this site. Set in the New Forest you are spoilt for choice where to walk without needing your car. Perfect for our black Labrador - lots of streams to cool off in after the walks and hot weather we had at the beginning of the summer. Brockenhurst, a lovely walk across the lawns, has everything you need for shopping - a fabulous butcher/fishmonger, green grocers and bakers, as well as gift shops, Tesco’s and a co-op. We only shopped once elsewhere over the 3 weeks we stayed! Plenty of places to eat from breakfasts, cream teas to dinners and drinks. Recommend the Snakecatcher, Commoners Wine Bar, Forresters, New Forest Inn and The Oak Inn in Bank. Just a fabulous place. Only small criticism was that wardens were a little slow refilling the hand sanitizer points by toilets and service points so have your own handy. Can’t wait to be back next Autumn.
LizandMark
Reviewed on 01/09/2021 08:09
A gem of a site in a perfect location
We've been to this site dozens of times over the past 30+ years and it never fails to deliver a magical break away. Literally in the heart of the New Forest, Black Knowl is in an isolated but accessible location with wildlife just the other side of the entrance.
For peace and quiet this is also a perfect choice as there is literally no sound after 8:00pm and you could close your eyes and imagine you're the only family on site. A slight negative is the attitude of some caravanners towards children and we noticed our children receiving frowning stares from a few couples. Luckily this doesn't bother us not our children.
Cycling is popular on site and rightly so because there are dozens of excellent cycle trails nearby, both on and off road. Some great pubs and restaurants in the local vicinity too, we recommend the Foresters Arms and the Snakecatcher in Brockenhurst village - both easy walking distance.
The site wardens were helpful and friendly and always had time for a chat or offer advice. The facilities are excellent and newish (I'm old enough to remember the big round toilet block) and have disabled and family rooms available should you need them, access via a key.
As an aside, and this relates to all Club sites, in recent years it seems that motorhomes are greater in number than caravans and some of the enormous ones can sometimes give the site the appearance of a lorry/coach park when they congregate together.
We will be back
This site is wonderful, we didn't originally plan to stay here. We actually where on the site just down from here, thought we would go off grid for a change. It was like a travellers camp, so when we saw Black Knowles had availability we booked straight away. What a contrast, it felt like we had come home. Site is well manicured, staff are wonderful, toilets are modern and exceptionally clean. Shop is well stocked, but diet coke or Pepsi would of been the icing on the cake. We only planned staying 2 nights ended up staying for 4. Please don't scroll past this site if you want to stay in the new forest it's a credit to the team
Enjoyable stay
Very enjoyable stay, love the fact that you can go for short or long walks direct from the site. Site is the usual cleanliness for CAMC sites. Takeways that visit the site are Fish/Chips, Pizza and Chilli Night. Pizza was good but we felt a little expensive. Did not try the Fish/Chips or Chilli. Plenty of places to visit, local towns, museums and a day trip to Isle of Wight. The Fish and Chip shop in Brockenhurst is well worth a visit. Shopping in Brockenhurst is excellent with a butcher, bakery, hardware, Tesco and Co-op.
Just as described
As expected the site was well kept and facilities spotless. Be mindful of the directions to the site and watch the speed bumps. Lovely quiet location. We cycled through the forest to Lyndhurst about 5 miles mostly on tracks but the roads were busy as we approached Lyndhurst. Lovely to cycle through the woods. Brockenhurst is just a 2 mile cycle away and is a small but lovely town with a Tesco and a CooP plush a few eateries. A very relaxing stay in some of the hottest weather this year (2021) so far.
LegsHS
Reviewed on 02/08/2021 14:02
Site full but not to busy
Site was full when we stayed here, but because the pitches are so spaced out you wouldn’t really realise.
Given that the pitches are so large it’s strange that some people find the need to extend their awning 2+ metres out onto the grass behind their pitch, and also erect wind breaks 1 metre out onto the grass alongside their pitch.
1 of the 2 washing machines was awaiting a service engineer. 1 washing machine is not a lot for a site this size. Also 1 of the family washrooms was awaiting a service engineer - somebody had snapped the tap off a hand basin. Come on guys, how the heck do you manage to do that?
Great site in a great location. Will definitely come back.
MCS2
Reviewed on 24/07/2021 09:40
First time at Black Knowl
A very well laid out site with clean and pleasant facilities. Check in was friendly, helpful & efficient.
We did use our own washroom for the majority of the time (due to COVID) but couldn't resist 1 shower at the end of a hot day!
Lot's of lovely walks, especially down by the river, easily accessible and easy terrain even for our two little dogs (Chihuahua's) On a hot sunny day the river walk is great, mostly shaded.
The walk into Brockenhurst did take us about 1.5 hrs, there and back, but then, we are not fast walkers! There is a well stocked Tesco express and Co-Op in the town.
Just one small issue, do the noisy ride on mowers really have to start work Sunday morning? Did spoil the last segment of the stay there!
Generally Good. Watch out for your EHU being unplugged!
Black is generally really good, with good facilities and excellent pitches.A big improvement since it was 'renovated' a year or so back. The location is also excellent, being in centre of the New Forest is ideal for those who have dogs, enjoy walking, cycling etc. Brockenhurst Village is a (relatively) short 35 minute walk away.
We have noticed however that some of the ‘wardens’ are sometimes less than friendly. This possibly because this site in particular is much busier than usual at this time of year. I guess many people are unable to access their usual summer caravan trips to Europe’s sunnier climes and as a result have had to stay in the UK.
One other concern on this site. We noticed that the ‘wardens’ here have a policy of cutting the grass around the pitches on regular basis. Nothing wrong with that, except that to do so they remove campers Electric Hook Up lines when they are away, and then cut the grass. Some time later the wardens plug the EHU cable back in. This risks ‘tripping’ the caravan internal electrics, and is not recommended as far as I am ware
Imagine going out on a hot day, and returning a few hours later to find that your fridge and freezer had been off for some time (not all automatically switch to gas) and that the deliciously cold ice cream you were looking forward to is now a melted puddle, as are the rest of the contents of your fridge / freezer.
So, be aware.
peace and quiet
If you love the New Forest this is an excellent site to stay at, it has the usual high standards you expect at a club site, alas we only booked for the weekend but we still had time to explore the numerous trails and roads on our bikes as well as feeling relaxed on site, hopefully we`ll be able to stay for a longer period in the near future.