Hillhead Club Campsite

Rated 4 of 5

Rated 3 of 5

Peace and quiet

Rated 4 of 5

Facilities and cleanliness

Rated 5 of 5

Location

Rated 4 of 5

Good for families

Busy Busy

The site itself is in a lovely place, the staff were all friendly and helpful, its just too busy ! ( for us at least ). The layout of the site has much narrower roads than other sites making manoeuvring difficult at times, grass pitches are irregular shapes. So your experience here could be affected by luck of the draw, and the neighbours you get, some of the pitches you just would not want to be on. It does seem that having the onsite bar attracts some different characters to the norm. I am glad we tried it but its not for us , we won't be going back.

0 replies

prandall65

Caravanner

Reviewed on 24/08/2021 17:37

1 review

1 Helpful note

Report this reviewer

Rated 4 of 5

Rated 3 of 5

Peace and quiet

Rated 4 of 5

Facilities and cleanliness

Rated 5 of 5

Location

Rated 5 of 5

Good for families

Busy site ideal for families but standards not what they used to be

We have just returned from Hillhead, our 5th visit over the last 15 years or so. With three growing children (2 teenagers and a 7 year old) the appeal was the swimming pool and entertainment, which kept everyone interested for a main summer break. The wardens (or site managers as they are now called) were lovely and hard working, although I think could do with more help - both from members in following some basic 'rules' to keep it nice for everyone as well as the club themselves as they seemed very 'self managed'. Sadly there were too many examples of inconsiderate behaviour from other members (excrement left in toilets, dog poo put in bin within dishwashing area that ended up around the rim as bag had broken, rubbish left outside bins and too many vehicles allowed on site per unit creating crowed pitches and encroachment into other's pitches.) The issue of speeding traffic on site, despite the sad incidents and fatalities of recent years on the site network, doesn't seem to have got any better. What the answer is I do not know when common sense seems so lacking. I am quite tolerant usually, but I think it would have tested my patience for the hardworking site team doing their best. I suspect times are changing and the standards of the Caravan Club certainly are sliding in our opinion at this location. It is a large site and to rely on the site staff to do all the hedge and landscape management, seems an impossible task - a site of this size needs more professional teams of landscape teams to keep on top of it, in order to get it into the shape it was in when first opened. This is in no way a criticism of the existing team who you could tell were doing their very best. On the plus side, swimming pool was great and children had a fantastic time. Lifeguards were lovely and we felt very safe enjoying the water. We enjoyed a few evenings at the entertainment and the entertainment team there worked hard to run things to a good standard. We didn't eat in the restaurant this time, but did feel the menu was quite basic and expensive for what it was (more gastro pub prices than what was being served). Having said that the restaurant was busy each evening but couldn't comment on the standard. Site is in an ideal location for the English Riviera and whilst overpriced is probably in line with everywhere else these days for staycationers. We will probably go back but mainly because of lack of choice for sites like this within the club with facilities, in spite of the issues raised.

0 replies

bddblunt

Caravanner from Buckinghamshire

Reviewed on 23/08/2021 19:31

7 reviews

2 Helpful notes

Report this reviewer

Rated 4 of 5

Rated 2 of 5

Peace and quiet

Rated 5 of 5

Facilities and cleanliness

Rated 5 of 5

Location

Rated 5 of 5

Good for families

Busy site

First time at Hillhead arrived in the rain to only find muddy pitches, No ones fault , The pitches that were available were small and tricky to get in to with out a mover. We moved following morning, A lot of members claiming a lot of space where it was available therefore making it difficult for others to get to their pitches and or get their unit out on leaving day. Got a lot going for it for families and I appreciate that it is a site geared for families, But witnessed a grandparent teaching his grandsons to ride a bike, Well away from his unit , The said child through lack of proper care by the grandparent went in to the side of someone’s unit causing damage. If staying there choose your pitch wisely or move as soon as you can, Wardens working pretty hard and could probably do with more help to keep on top of things. Will I use Hillhead again, Maybe but not at peak times. We were there with our Daughters and families,

0 replies

Photomike

from Clwyd

Reviewed on 20/08/2021 16:59

2 reviews

0 Helpful notes

Report this reviewer

Rated 4 of 5

Rated 3 of 5

Peace and quiet

Rated 4 of 5

Facilities and cleanliness

Rated 3 of 5

Location

Rated 4 of 5

Good for families

Disappointing

First came to this site 17 years ago and have been coming every year in the school holidays for the last 5 years we are disappointed to see how much it has changed. The biggest problem seems to be lack of guidance from the wardens. Pegs are being moved around to make some pitches bigger than they should be, others can’t get on the pitch as they have been made too small, wardens are moving pegs after you have pitched. Surely the distance should be checked early each morning before new arrivals are let in through the barriers. Grey waste water is being emptied in the drinking water areas again no guidance. There are a lot of new caravaners this year who probably would like some friendly advice. The games room is being shut permanently to extend the restaurant so that reduces activities for older kids. Very disappointing all round.

0 replies

StevieG10

Reviewed on 19/08/2021 19:53

2 reviews

1 Helpful note

Report this reviewer

Rated 4 of 5

Peace and quiet

Rated 5 of 5

Facilities and cleanliness

Rated 5 of 5

Location

Rated 5 of 5

Good for families

Quiet despite being full

We wouldn't normally come to a largish site during the school holidays but we were meeting friends locally. Despite being completely full we never felt crowded and the site was actually quite quiet - especially at night. Having 2 dogs and a husband who likes to sleep in, a good dog walk where I can let them both off the lead is very important to us and Hillhead has a lovely enclosed dog walk overlooking the bay. This is the first site that we have visited that has had a shop that was open and that was useful. Would definitely visit again but probably out of the school holidays next time - partly because we prefer to have more of a choice of pitch but probably more importantly so we can visit the beaches in the area when more of them are dog friendly.

0 replies

ScreenNameD1EEEEEAC0

Motorhomer

Reviewed on 08/08/2021 16:25

2 reviews

0 Helpful notes

Report this reviewer

Rated 4 of 5

Peace and quiet

Rated 5 of 5

Facilities and cleanliness

Rated 4 of 5

Location

Rated 4 of 5

Good for families

Pitch imperfect – Yoof - Nice site

This was our fifth time at Hillhead. The plus points of this site are seriously impressive. The views of the sea, including on three sides at the play area. The easy access to Brixham, Paignton and proximity of amenities. The excellent wardens who are courteous and working really hard to maintain the site. However. In the last few years this site has started to flag somewhat. As another commenter below notes, it is now the norm at this site for vans/motorhomes to turn up early in search of the best pitches. The wardens are forced to let them in otherwise they’d block the roads. That means those of us who obey the rules don’t get the level or seaview pitches we’d like. This was described to me quite openly by one of the wardens who advised me to move my van in the morning to a better pitch to beat the early rush. There has to be a easy fix for this. The pitches that are left are generally the ones you need some serious levelling equipment for, and are on grass. I saw several people unprepared for this with lots of stress involved. During our stay this time it was also quite noticeable that for the first time there were large (20-30 strong) groups of teenagers on the site. On the whole they behaved well so this isn’t a Victor Meldrew style gripe – it’s great to see teenagers with their families. However on several occasions they had clearly been drinking which resulted in some cringeworthy behaviour on the dancefloor, resulting in many other families quietly leaving the entertainment hall. It may be time to think about some kind of “quiet word” where needs be. Lastly – and this isn’t an issue unique to Hillhead – there were quite clearly a lot of caravanners and motohomers who had very little experience and were in some cases potentially dangerous. This included one rented motorhome which had to be towed off a downward sloping muddy pitch he'd charged on to, stopping just in time to avoid the hedge at the end and another caravanner driving at speed the wrong way down an access hill, in search of a pitch during the Morning Mad Pitch Scramble. I don’t really know what to do about this but it seems to be getting worse and on a site like Hillhead which has a lot of wandering young children around is clearly a risk. Better enforcement perhaps. So – I would suggest some overdue investment in this flagship site which is still a real jewel. And perhaps some thinking about how to manage what is a changing customer population, more similar to some of the large commercial sites. One other tip – if you stay at the end of the cul de sac (pitch 217 and the neighbouring ones) – expect a lot of traffic noise, and vibrations from heavy vehicles. It wasn’t too much of a bother to us but could be to others. Thanks to all of the team there – they were a credit to the CMC

1 reply

underwoodchris

Caravanner

Reviewed on 06/08/2021 16:28

4 reviews

0 Helpful notes

Report this reviewer

Rated 4 of 5

Rated 5 of 5

Peace and quiet

Rated 5 of 5

Facilities and cleanliness

Rated 5 of 5

Location

Rated 5 of 5

Good for families

Fabulous Find

Only our 2nd choice of sites to stay as we are new to Motor Home Hols and what a fabulous choice we made. Friendly staff, clean site, very good facilities and the Shop/Clubhouse made it even better. We only had 2 nights but wish it had been longer - we will be back.

1 reply

ScreenName12371D30E9

Caravanner

Reviewed on 04/08/2021 17:12

4 reviews

0 Helpful notes

Report this reviewer

Rated 4 of 5

Rated 3 of 5

Peace and quiet

Rated 3 of 5

Facilities and cleanliness

Rated 5 of 5

Location

Rated 5 of 5

Good for families

Booking system

After reading numerous reviews about this site there seems to be one major problem ,the outdated booking process. People complaining about members arriving early, during our stay the majority arrived early. THE REASON FOR THIS IS TO GET A DECENT PITCH.this problem could be solved by updating the system. Book your stay choose your pitch. Simple.if like us you book a year in advance you should be able to pick a decent pitch. My suggestions are BOOK YOUR STAY AND CHOOSE YOUR PITCH SUITABLE FOR YOUR UNIT.BIGGER PITCHES SHOULD BE BOOKED BY BIGGER UNITS. IF THIS OPTION WAS ADDED TO THE BOOKING SYSTEM YOU COULD GET A TEXT MESSAGE SAYING YOUR PITCH IS READY SO TURN UP PAY THEN DRIVE TO YOUR PITCH.This would stop the mad scramble for the pitches. The wardens would have time to prepare pitches eg cut grass and hedges. And it would cut out the need for everyone to do several laps of the site to find a pitch.other brief points. Number plate recognition barriers.more wardens during peak season. Stricter rules on breathable ground sheets as some pitches were terrible. And personally I think the site needs upgrading. FLAGSHIP SITE IS FLAGGING.

0 replies

ianbfc

Reviewed on 02/08/2021 21:52

4 reviews

1 Helpful note

Report this reviewer

Rated 4 of 5

Peace and quiet

Rated 5 of 5

Facilities and cleanliness

Rated 5 of 5

Location

Rated 5 of 5

Good for families

Not a site I normally visit

I normally head for the quieter sites, but I had my 2 grandsons with me and they were attracted by the thought of going swimming in a heated pool. Staff in reception were excellent, but on leaving reception and looking for a pitch, I found young children all over the road with no adults in sight which was a bit worrying. We found a pitch down a cul-de-sac which was near the toilets which was just fine for our 3 night stay. No problem with kids running about, as some have seemed to experienced. We did have problems with some dogs however. My dog was attacked several times with dogs off the lead whilst walking on the site. Buses stop directly outside the site, the Grandsons enjoyed the pool, was nice to have a bar & restaurant on site which we used every day and the youngsters running the show were a credit to the club. Would I stay again? Probably, if my Grandsons were with me, certainly not in a school break if it was just the dog & I for a walking weekend. Thats no reflection on the site or staff who I thought were brilliant, its just let down by some of the clientele.

0 replies

Barry Matthews

Motorhomer

Reviewed on 02/08/2021 13:34

4 reviews

0 Helpful notes

Report this reviewer

Rated 4 of 5

Rated 3 of 5

Peace and quiet

Rated 5 of 5

Facilities and cleanliness

Rated 5 of 5

Location

Rated 5 of 5

Good for families

Excellent

Stayed on this site for the first time would definitely return staff couldn’t be more helpful from reception to shop and bar staff and all maintenance staff some pitches our a bit tight to get on to our pitch was quite a large one and we had 2 cars totally enjoyed our stay added bonus the pool good dog walking area with a lovely sea view only downside was when the site is busy ;(kids off school) you’ll find quite a few on scooters playing on the roads so drivers be aware wasn’t accompanied with adults but overall a very good site

0 replies

EthelN

Caravanner

Reviewed on 02/08/2021 12:01

3 reviews

0 Helpful notes

Report this reviewer