Having taken caravans to this site for over 20 years I have to say that the view never fails to impress and delight me.  Apart from Tynemouth there is little of note in and around Whitley Bay worth looking at.  The town has been dying for years due to lack of investment.  The same can be said of the Old Hartley site.  Many of the pitches are sloping and require a large number of wooden blocks to level the caravan.  When it is wet most of the pitches require parking on the grass which often becomes muddy through continual coming and goings of cars and motor homes.  The toilet block needs to be overhauled.  Everything works, but it could all do with being replaced by new toilets, wash basins and showers.  It could also do with being enlarged.  The site wardens work very hard to keep on top of things, but really the whole site should be looked at to ensure all parking is on hard standing as is the ingress/egress for each pitch. Despite all this, the view makes it worth returning year after year.