Worse site of the year, dangerous entry and not very clean
This is our fourth visit to Hillhead.
Check-in is at 1pm, this is clear, we received a text message before our stay and an e-mail stating this. We had the intention to pull into one of the laybys near the site, however found these were full with motorhomes and cars with caravans, it was manic, caravans stuck out into the road, people trying to park, totally crazy. This is Devon, the roads are not designed for large outfits. We have a ten metre long motorhome, and could not find a pull in. We therefore took the decision to pull into the site, this was at 12:51, we were greeted by one of the male wardens, who was stood blocking two large arrival bays. He promptly refused entry to the park and requested we exited, when asked where we should go, he said, not my issue turn left out of the site. We did not, by turning left this would have taken us to the Dartmouth Ferry the road to the ferry is very small, there are hardly any turning points and would have been very stressful, particularly if you had a caravan. I have no idea why on earth the staff member directed people this way! I felt that the site created unnecessary danger and stress for holiday makers. Outside of the site, caravans and motorhomes all over the place with people trying to find a safe way to stop, meanwhile the staff did not allow anyone to park on the two long new arrivals lanes at the site – is this not what they are designed for? We did not expect to enter the site before 1pm but would have expected to be able to park safely given our arrival time. This is not the welcome you expect and many other people we spoke to felt the same. I understand the sites need to follow some basic rules but this felt intentionally unhelpful. The warden advised that he had received many many complaints from people who were not able to use the arrivals lane – not surprising at all, it doesn’t make any sense!!
Throughout our weeks stay we found the shower blocks very dirty; they were cleaned between 10:30 and 12. They were not inspected at any other point, the toilets in the morning were disgusting, the showers were the same, floors, sinks absolutely filthy. It didn’t appear that the wardens were required to clean the site and they clearly did not check the cleanliness at all either.
The park is also littered with dog poo, mainly around the hedge outside of the reception and shower block. We noted that some of the poo was there on the Monday afternoon and was still there on the Saturday morning when we left. There was no excuse for this as the site has a really good dog walk and visitors should not allow their dogs to foul on the site, similarly this should be dealt with by site staff.
Throughout our stay the bins were often overflowing all over the park, it was hot and the smell from some of them was terrible.
Personally, I would say the Wardens need to be changed.
