Why there
On our tour we spent a night at Durham. A nice, clean site with super facilities.
But I won´t imagine to spent my holiday next to a
hellishly loud motorway crossing, where traffic is never abating.
Durham Grange Club Campsite
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Durham Grange
Used as a base to explore Durham. Ideal location because close to Park & Ride and Durham itself is superb. The site is well managed, clean with pleasant walks nearby and staff helpful. No shops or pubs close but we managed to plan our days eating out in the city. There is a minor background noise from the motorway but as we were just using the site to sleep etc and once our motorhome doors were shut we never heard anything.
Enjoyable Durham
We have just spent two nights at Durham Grange in our Motorhome. The site is easy to find but we found it too tightly packed especially on the grass in the middle. Apart from that the site facilities, toilets, showers etc were fine. We liked its proximity to Durham especially as we walked through the fields to the river and along the bank into the city, taking roughly an hour and a half. We also used the park & ride into Durham but getting across the very busy roads was quite difficult even though we are quite nimble. As most reviewers have mentioned, the noise from the A1 is incessant.
scallywag2
Reviewed on 12/09/2016 17:40
Convenient
As other reviewers have said this site is less than 500 meters from the motorway.Therefor it is not quiet but it is in a rural location! There is an excellent dog walk on a network of paths starting about 100 meters from the entrance. good for visiting Durham (park and ride nearby on the other side of the A1M) and Beamish. Good facilities on site with high standard of cleanliness.
Permanent Road Noise
Not sure what the previous report means by a strange approach. It couldn't be more straightforward. Leave the dual carriageway as instructed and the main gate and office is 150 yards ahead. A well laid out spacious site with spotless facilities. The best bus stop is the Durham P&R just over the roundabout in about 1/2mile. As others have said there are many interesting areas to explore within not to short a distance. Seaham is the nearest seaside resort. An ex mining town it is just recovering from 20 years of regeneration. It has a lovely beach and seafront.Visit the lifeboat museum to hear about the lifeboat loss in the 60's The downside of this site is the constant motorway noise. I don't understand comments like "some road noise" There is either road noise or there isn't and at Durham it's 24hrs. 3 sleepless nights I'm afraid so the site is not for me.
Great Site & Location
We're a family with 2 children aged 15 & 6 years. Strange approach up to this site but don't be put off by it. Very warm welcome from the wardens. Site well laid out. We chose pitch 37 having not read a previous review about how noisy this little cul-de-sac was. However, in our 5 night stay, we only heard 3 vehicles at the rear of us so we weren't really disturbed by this. Yes, you can hear some road noise from the A1 but again, this didn't disturb us. Site playground is great for smaller children. Showers clean & well kept. Site grounds well maintained. Park & ride very convenient & Durham a beautiful place. Brilliantly situated for a trip to the Beamish museum - well worth visiting & only 15 mins drive. Railway museum only 20 mins away & good to while away a few hours if rainy. We visited Lindisfarne (hour & a half away) as somewhere on our "to go" list & thoroughly enjoyed the island & the excitement of driving across the causeway! A part of the country we will return to & will not hesitate to book this site again for facilities & location.
Good Location To Visit Durham
This well run site is close to Durham itself (about 2.5 miles) and travel to Seaton Carew, Hartlepool & Seaham etc. is easy. The site facilities are good including a play area for children but expect some road noise from the A1. To go into Durham itself the bus stop is a 20 minute walk with some main roads to cross but taxis are readily available.
All in all a good site to visit the general area.
steve45
Reviewed on 07/09/2016 15:44
We won't be going back
This is the third time we have stayed here and we use it purely as a base from which to visit relatives. The site is small and very close to the A1M motorway and the noise is a constant reminder of that fact. As has repeatedly occurred before when we were at this site, there are lots of (unsupervised) kids riding bikes at speed the wrong way along the roads of the site.
The Wardens appeared oblivious of this cycling as they never corrected any of the children. Whilst we were in our Caravan one morning a small child, (probably no older than four years of age) knocked on our door and asked if we had any children for him to play with. He then rode across to the play area and teamed up with another youngster there. Not a complaint about the club per se but you couldn’t help but wonder where were the parents who are supposedly supervising these kids?
There was also a constant stream of people walking between the vans and across our pitch despite there being site notices asking for courtesy in this respect. We saw a number of kids squeezing between the railings and climbing over a locked gate to get into the other side despite there being No Entry signs. They damaged the fence in doing this. When we pointed this out to a male Warden his attitude was not good and he said that despite the No Entry signs, “they are allowed to do that”.
As our stay included the August Bank Holiday, the site was very, very busy and we are of the opinion that the Club are allowing too many caravans on this site. When we suggested to the same Warden that the Units are packed too close together (almost rear to rear) he said that it was allowed as it didn’t breach any regulations.
It appears that the 6 metre rule only applies to the distance from the side of one unit to the side of the adjacent unit. It does not apply to the distance from the end of one unit to the nearest end of a unit behind or in front of it.
Apparently 3 metres is the distance for this situation but the Units were much closer than 3 metres.
We will not be going back to this site.
bank holiday weekend
stayed at Durham Grange for two nights met up with family lovely site wardens very helpful and friendly will go back again next year
Pleasant site
The site is close to the A1 but the noise at night was not significant in my opinion. However, I was woken one morning at 4.15am by reversing vehicles beeps and gates banging, which could have been from the Highways depot or the farm or industrial building, not sure where. However this was the only nighttime disturbance in the 5 night stay.
Facilities always clean and grounds well maintained, friendly staff and a good motorhome service point too.
Very easy to find, I was on my own the first night and apprehensive about finding the site, pitching and my security being the first time I'd been on a site on my own but shouldn't have worried as all was well.
Really convenient for the tourist attractions nearby and the walk down to the river can be recommended (be aware there is a steep slope down to the river but even a girl from the flat land of Norfolk coped).
Would stay there again.
