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Rowan Park is situated just to the north of the seaside town of Bognor Regis. The site has 92 pitches in total with most being on level grass but there are 32 hardstanding pitches and a handful of tent pitches. Some of the grass pitches are available for seasonal use. There are some nice stands of trees which help to divide the landscape up. Given their closeness to the main road some pitches that back onto the road experience traffic noise. This seems more of a problem during the day rather than at night although some people have reported noise from the fast food outlet opposite but this won’t affect the whole site and we didn't notice this during our stay. Electric points are convenient to pitches. Terrestrial TV reception is rated as poor but each electrical bollard has a co-ax TV connections which can be used free of charge but you have to use your own cable. Satellite reception will require careful selection of your pitch owing to tree cover. The site has one centrally toilet block which is up to the usual Club standards. Services points are dotted around the site but inevitably some pitches require quite a walk away. The motorhome service point has good access but unfortunately still requires the lifting of heavy drain covers to facilitate the emptying of waste tanks. There is site wide Wi-Fi and time can be purchased online. I found the signal strength reasonable. One of the wardens was saying they are due to be connected to fibre broadband soon which should make it even better. For children there is a fairly small climbing frame. Reception sells a few essentials and next door is a small information room. The seafront and town centre at Bognor is about two miles from the site. Further afield are Chichester and Portsmouth in one direction and Littlehampton in the other. Inland you have Arundel, Tangmere and Fontwell are within easy travelling distance. For those who prefer not to use their own transport there is a bus service from near the campsite although services run at 90 minute intervals Monday to Saturday, details from reception. In the town the 700 Coastliner bus route runs between Brighton and Portsmouth with quite a frequent service. Just opposite the campsite is a small retail park with a Halfords and a Lidl which is the nearest for food shopping. Within about a mile of the site there is a large Sainsbury’s and a Tesco.
I'm rather reluctant to share this review - the site, the staff, the location, the "things to do locally" are all so nice I'd like to selfishly keep it to myself rather than encourage you to go there and maybe take up the last available pitch!! First, the bad things: there's some road noise for pitches 21 to 32 during commuting hours (see the site plan on this website). The remainder of the pitches don't suffer - that's it as regards "bad" points. Now the good things: what looks on Google Earth to be an industrial area opposite the site is misleading. Apart from lots of rubbish blowing about from MacDonalds, the Lidl, Halfords and fast food outlets immediately opposite, but far enough removed not to be a pain, are very convenient. Lidl 0800 to 2100 hours. (Sun 1000 to 1600). The road between the site and Lidl complex can be very busy at times for shortish periods, so crossing requires some care and a sense of adventure. Bus to Bognor stops opposite Lidl, but is a relatively infrequent service. Two miles away on the A259 at North Bersted are lots of parking possibilities in quiet, free, spacious residential roads, close to which Coastliner Bus 700 stops. Every 10 to 15 mins service west to Chichester, Havant and Portsmouth (Historic Dockyard, shopping, sea front at Southsea, Aquarium, etc) or go East on the same Bus 700 to all stops on the way to Littlehampton, Worthing and Brighton. The site information room is well stocked with bus timetables and brochures of area attractions. If you're interested going to (or avoiding) Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Goodwood Revival (Jun & Sep respectively I think) be sure to book Rowan Park early. My wife and I booked for 2 weeks in mid June but liked the site and local area so much we stayed on for the maximum 21 nights. The site itself was very well kept by a very cheerful, helpful and welcoming team who go about their daily chores unobtrusively and efficiently. The grass and hard-standing pitches are well spaced, level and the site has a sprinkling of trees which can easily be avoided if you wish, but do afford some shade if you want to sit under a kookaburra tree during a rare British Summer. WiFi coverage is slowish but reliable and covers pretty much all of the pitches as far as I can gather. That's about it. The rest of the info is on the site website. I hope I've managed to put you off sufficiently so that there are pitches available when I next decide to visit Rowan Park! I think Rowan is a much under utilised and unappreciated site. Not everybody's taste is the same of course, but I think it's probable that you would really enjoy a visit to Rowan Park. Hope that helps.
metermaid
Reviewed on 01/07/2015 21:44
