Hillhead Club Campsite

Just returned from 16 nights at this site which is our favourite on the network. The wardens work extremely hard to keep things running smoothly especially when the weather turns nasty. Another great stay a big thank you to Tina and Chris and all the staff - see you next year. Terry and Moyra (Pitch 117)

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Access to this site is straight forward, but be sure to follow the club's directions. Checkin was both friendly and super efficient.  The wardens know their site and will direct you to the most suitable pitches.  Note that most slope slightly and levelling blocks will be required. Some complain that pitches are small, we did not find this to be the case, we had ample space for our caravan with full size awning and annex with space to park two cars.  Some of the pitches are simply huge. Two facility block were of a very high standard and never seemed pushed even with a full site. Be warned, the site is high on a hill and therefore it can get windy so make sure you are well pegged and strapped down. The site is huge, but if you choose your pitch carefully it won't appear that way. There is a well stocked shop, club house and restaurant with nice outdoor seating areas and a heated outdoor swimming pool, as well as an arcade and games room. Outdoors there is plenty of room to site around units and a large children s play area and games field is provided adjacent to the large fenced in dog walk. The site is a credit to the hard working team of wardens and was immaculate a all times. Note to the reviewer below.  Sorry if you felt that you were invaded.  I didn’t realise there were rules about having 6 adults on a pitch (incidentally it was just us and our grown up sons with their girlfriends).  We were all accommodated on the massive pitch 80, which the wardens allocated to us.  We offered to park the second car in the visitor car park but again the warden said that pitch 80 was big enough to accommodate our van, awning, annex as well as the cars.  The wind breaks were erected to stop our tethered dogs bothering the other 3 pitches in our cul de sac. We did not break any rules, paid in full for everything and respected our neighbors. Shame you didn’t with your incessant pipe smoking which polluted the air all around!

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This site is clean and has good facilities. The pool, play park and evening entertainment mean you could just stay on the site with kids if you wanted to relax. Fresh rolls and croisants each morning in the shop made a lovely breakfast, but you have to be there at 8.30am. Only downside of the location was that you cannot walk or cycle to any of the local villages. Dartmouth, Brixham and Paignton are all close and accessible by bus or a short drive but there are no footpaths from the site and the hills to both Kingswear (Dartmouth) and Brixham are too steep to cycle comfortably. I found out the hard way and would not recommend the cycle up either hill to anyone! 

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Nice site, facilities clean. Good social club with varied turns on (I won the music quiz, check me out!) and a decent shop. The site is a bit exposed however and as it is on the top of the hill, the July low pressure systems really clagged in and we were beset with mizzle, wind and poor viz throughout our stay. Dartmouth and Brixham well within reach. The nearest beach - Scabbacombe Sands is a bit of a search/walk mind but is stunning. Staff very helpful and friendly. Shame about the weather! :)

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my wife and i have just returned from a 4 night break we have been to many caravan club sites and have always enjoyed them but this time we were very dissapointed firstly the pitches are too close together and when we were looking for a pitch quite a few had markers on saying they were taken but we realised later that its the wardens who put the markers on to stop you going on them why i dont know because they then take them off and someone arriving later gets the opportunity of a better pitch so we had no choice but to pitch at the top right by the play area which was very noisy sometimes untill after ten o clock at night but the worst thing was that the people next to us had no consideration for anyone they were obviously there with other family or friends and occupied at least three pitches by us and every night they all got together in the awning right by the side of our caravan the noise was awful screaming laughing playing games and playing music till nearly midnight it was awful we didnt bother trying to move as there wasnt anywhere else available and its a lot to take down your awning etc and re pitch i think the caravan club should advise people that they need to respect other people and that if they dont it wont be tolerated its a nice site but i think there are a few things that need addressing needless to say we wont be returning to this site which is a shame as the location is very good some wardens didnt seem friendly but the lady with blonde hair was very helpful and friendly this is the first time i have left a review of this kind but i just want to make other people aware of the issues so hopefully they wont have the experience that we have

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Me and my family stayed at Hillhead in July 2014 for a 2 week holiday and we have booked to stay there again in a weeks time again for 2 weeks. We were hoping that the pitch allocation had improved, but reading other peoples comments, it looks as though it is exactly the same, so we are now thinking of cancelling this and book a different site. I notice the staff at Hillhead have not comented on as to how some of the pitches are reserved by the wardens. When we arrive at the site, we are asked to park up, look around for a pitch and put a marker on their to show it will be taken by someone. Bikes and scooters should be banned from this site, as last year there was a very nasty accident, and a couple of other accidents as people did go to fast. Drivers also need to slow down. The club is nice but the entertainment is not that good and a nice pool which does get busy. Some of the staff are rude but there are a few helpful and friendly ones. I agree with the other comments about the wardens on their buggies going too fast and the wrong way at times. You would of thought that with so so many negative comments about the pitches and the pitch allocation, something would be done about it.

Comment from The Club:

Further to your review the wardens wanted to advise how the pitch allocation is operated. On arrival at Hillhead everyone is given a site map indicating the best possible way to choose a pitch relevant to the booking. There are four different pitch types at Hillhead all in different areas with lots of cul de sacs.

 Service pitches are in close proximity to the office and have three ways to access them. Members are asked to leave their vehicle at reception and walk to choose their desired pitch, place a marker on it to claim it and upon return to the office, the check in can be completed and the member is advised on the best way to access the pitch and also how to pitch due to different dimensions of pitches and adhering to the fire regulations.

Standard pitches are situated around the site and there are a lot of them, there are also lots of cul de sacs. Members on arrival are given a site map indicating the areas in which to find a suitable pitch, they are then asked to drive to a large area near the middle of the site and go by foot to choose their desired pitch, place a marker on it to claim it (this needs to be done as there are at times lots of people looking for pitches at the same time). Once they get their van onto the pitch they are asked to return to reception where the check in can be completed and any questions regarding their pitching can be addressed.

At HillHead we also have Standard non awning pitches and also Tent pitches.

Traffic management plays a big part in our system for choosing a pitch.

All pitching is checked regularly and guidance and assistance is always available.

Due to the site being continuously full from mid-June to September we do have to forward plan any special requirements i.e Lengths of vehicles and also Disabled pitches. This does take a considerable amount of time but we would like to think that members appreciate the fact that we accommodate every vehicle arriving on site.

We do have "Allocated by Warden" signs and these are purely for managing the site and not for "just saving pitches", we also do not take bribes. We like to treat everyone fairly.

Our system we have when checking in is to help members choose a pitch and get pitched as quickly as possible in the safest manner and also make it as stress free as possible for all concerned.

This system has been in place for the last 3 years and we have found it to be the best way to prevent members getting stuck in cul de sacs.

We do our upmost best to be efficient, polite and give everyone the best start to their holiday. We are also very approachable and here to help.

It would also help ourselves and departing members if arrivals could arrive after 12 noon as stated when booking. Many thanks everyone and we hope this helps explain in more detail.

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Spent two weeks here think it was the same time the last review was there. They are so right we would never visit this site again. Pitches much too close that there was lof noise from other outfits. As this guy says getting a pitch on arrival was a nightmare. So degrading .The toilets were great but pity visitors don't respect the wardens who have to clean them ,the lower ladies block was frequently left in a disgusting state I was ashamed of my own sex. Wouldnt want to describe. Then to top it all we were invaded an oufit arrived opposite 24 ft double axle with massive awning 6 adults 2 dogs 2 cars and wind break all sited sideways on. . We were due to leave in two days but brought our departure forward a day. Never been so glad to leave a caravan club site. It could be a great location but needs sorting.

Comment from The Club:

Many thanks for taking the time to leave a review. We would just like to advise that there have been no additional pitches added at Hillhead and we have actually over the years made the pitches bigger and improved the road network on the site. This has included installing new hardstanding pitches and grass pitches by moving the tent camping area and as mentioned these improvements have not meant an increase to the total number of pitches available. If you do ever have any concerns about the state of the toilet blocks or any other issues, please speak to the wardens who always do their utmost to help. I hope this helps address your concerns and thank you again for leaving a review. 

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some of the wordens were very unhelpfull and rude to people who arrived early they don't seem to understand some people like myself have traveld hundreds of miles the only person I found very helpful was the blond lady.

Comment from The Club:

Many thanks for leaving a review. The situation at Hillhead Caravan Club Site is that it is a very popular site and people often arrive before the advised arrival time of after 12 noon. The wardens work incredibly hard to ensure the site is maintained to a very high standard and that they are as helpful to people as they possibly can be. They have a constant problem trying to allow people to get on site as early as possible whilst giving others enough reasonable time to depart. This causes a real issue with pitch availability. We hope this helps explain for future reference why we ask people to arrive at 12 noon, which is particularly an issue for very popular sites such as Hillhead. Many thanks. 

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Having booked an all service pitch, on arrival there is usually a board with what pitches are free, but not here, the warden just said, walk around and find a pitch. There were about 4 or 5 pitches free but only one would accommodate our van at just over 7m by no means the longest around. Still the back of the van was in the hedge and the tow hitch was level with the road. The van next to us had to go side on which meant their awning opened up directly onto the road and the caravan backed up against the hedge and left them nowhere to sit outside. I have never seen a site with so many vans, nudging onto the road or on sideways. It got worse as the service pitches were on the exit road for the whole site so a constant stream of cars passing inches away from your tow hitch or awning, and the usual lack of respect for a speed limit, the worst culprits for speeding and going the wrong way were the wardens in there golf buggies. I did ask the wardens to slow down when they nearly ran me down as I came around a blind corner on foot but was just totally blanked! I will also point out that these are the most expensive pitches that you pay a premium for and turn out to be the smallest pitches on the site, I would happily pay even more per night for a service pitch if I was guaranteed my van, awning and a patch of space for a chair were available.  How many fire regulations were broken last week on this site is anyone’s guess, there was only just room to open car door without hitting the next van. The site is otherwise good, a good pool, good bar, and as others have said, Naff entertainment but it kept many people happy. On the last few days the kids broke up and suddenly the site changed character. Kids on scooters and bikes racing the wardens in their buggies the wrong way along the road, with inevitable consequences. This site has potential but needs the layout completely changing before someone gets seriously injured. I would not book an all service pitch here again, but would consider a hard a standard pitch, but remember, it is all up and down hill to get water and empty waste. The site is often in cloud, but don’t let that stop you visiting, a drive out a mile and you are generally in sunshine. Can anyone tell me why there are increasingly signs on the best pitches that say “Reserved by warden”? How do I get a pitch reserved? Do I have to bribe the warden or is there a formal procedure? It would certainly help to be able to reserve a service pitch that I know my outfit will fit on. How anyone with a twin axle van gets on any service pitch here I will never know. To end on the Wi-Fi, well it is appalling, despite having paid £50 for two devices, and having a signal of two bars on the pitch, it is always overloaded and so slow that it keeps dropping out, even in the bar area and 20 feet from the aerial on the pitch. Please get this site sorted as it is ideally placed for visiting a large part of Devon and there is a lot of untapped potential. A Shame

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Just back from 9 nights at this site. Fabulous facilities and very clean. Great pool area and bar area. If you love bingo, bingo and more bingo and are over 50 this is the place for you. Despite having kids entertainment advertised there was nothing and the arcade area closed a 9pm. Some kids in the UK are off on school holidays from the start of July, like ours. Our two kids seemed to be the only two there and therefore the only two in the pool with all the four in total +50 people constantly giving them dirty looks even though they were only playing. There is a pool lifeguard but you still have to supervise the kids, although at one stage I seemed to be supervising a child that wasn't mine. There are too many rules at this site eg no splashing, my goodness what do kids do in the pool, swim lengths? We did arrive late and moved to a great pitch the next morning but we witnessed at 12 o'clock people running in the gate and physically lying on the pitch to claim it. We are not party animals and are normally in bed for 10.30 with a good book. If this is the family friendly caravan club site, I despair. At this rate there won't be a caravan club in 20 years.

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