Ketsby Lake Country Retreat

Liked There is nothing liked about thus location

Disliked Overgtown field is all this is now clear places to park. Iver grown with nettles. I have a sprinter campervan. Could not turn into track. Had to go to A16 and turn around. No lighting at all not even near where the shower shacks are. Did not stay. Tried to contact owner. No response.

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Liked That we could pitch up next lake and the toilets and showers were lovely and really really clean

Disliked Nothing

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Liked Beautiful surroundings. Great view pitched up next to the lake. Amenities are good and clean. Will be going back again.

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Liked Excellent

Disliked None

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Liked The quietness, views over the fishing lake

Disliked composting toilets and idiots who camped across the path around the fishing lake

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Liked The best view of the night sky as there is no light pollution, the view of the lake was amazing, pub nearby was lovely!
Definitely will come back - our go to camping place going forward.

Disliked No complaints whatsoever!

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Liked Was as described

Disliked Not a fan of the compost toilets

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Liked We had a great time and made the best of our stay, I know camping is ment to be a little rough and ready but here are some thoughts & points around the site which can hopefully be used to improve.
Sorry I don’t usually complain! :(

(Based on around 30 full pitches on Saturday /Sunday night)

Composting toilets-
3 composting toilets for over 30 pitches (probs 100+ people!) isn’t enough even if cleaned daily, filled up to the top on numerous occasions. No sanitiser provided even though signs said ‘use sanitiser’ and no hot water in the sink.

Ground - cut down badly, lots of spikes sticking up, nettles everywhere!! Got nettled multiple times bwyeeen us putting the tent up. The ground has holes everywhere! Not good for putting tent on to walk over, nor going across in the dark or the day actually (even with a torch) could easily go over on your ankle, my heel fell down the holes a lot even with being careful.

Showers - initially the showers weren’t working, no water. Luckily a lady was on site at that time to ask how to fix, you have to turn on the water behind the shower block? If your a big person your not fitting down the gap to get to this! When we did have it working mine was hot hot hot! …to hot for my head going under. Glad I didn’t have a child with me as this would have been dangerous. We had to figure now to turn it down around the back again and then after 5 mins it was freezing cold. Shower tray didn’t drain so stood in 2inch of water trying to get try.
Had a shower on day 2 and the middle bit between the showers (the bit you have to go down to turn the shower on) was incredibly slippy with mud from water from the shower, then had to go back down it to run the shower off.. clean feet no more as crocs now covered in mud.

Washing facilities- 1 sink, No hot water!! One sink for 100 people to wash hands, clean teeth and wash pots? Surely that’s not right.
Provided washing up liquid and hand soap was empty after a few hours. But no sanitiser or hot water for hand washing after a wee.

Pitches - not marked out so a free for all. Ground off the main field is a huge slope so no one’s camping on that!
You can camp around the lake but people had literally parked and camped blocking the pathway! A nice wander around the lake ment walking through people sat outside their tents on camping chairs. It needs monitoring. And maybe only 1/2 man tents around the lake to not block the footpath.

Next to the washing facilities at night was extremely dark, you could easily of walked into the lake if you didn’t have a torch as the solar lights weren’t very bright. Again, if I had children I wouldn’t have been comfortable.

I know it’s only £20 a night and it is a new site so hopefully these niggles can be taken on board to improve the site. I understand it’s on an estate, so you would think the facilities would be 100% .
As I say we made the most of it, but unfortunately there are a lot nicer campsites close to this one we’ve stayed on the last few weeks for similar price.

Positively you can arrive and leave whenever you want to which means your not clock watching to be out for a certain time. Pub down the lane (longer than a 10 mins walk and a little hilly) it says cash only on the notice board around the lake, doesn’t say this on the campsite page.

Disliked Likes /dislikes /recommendations are above

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From the manager: Thank you for your detailed review – we really appreciate your review and recommendations!

We are delighted you enjoyed the site and saw the beauty of the area first hand.

I would however like to express my apologises for the teething issues you were subject to during your stay. You are correct, we are a very new campsite with each week bringing new improvements and systems to the site.

I appreciate your detailed recommendations, and we hope you will visit again to experience the sites transformation.

Liked Small with lovely lake area

Disliked Showers didn’t work on Saturday morning and by Saturday night all the toilets were blocked and unusable. Compost loos and drunk people tend not to blend well together … Sunday morning … well mmm … I was up very early and the toilet situation hadn’t changed. I left before everyone else woke up to find there was no were to pay a call. It was a bank holiday weekend though … I guess they didn’t realise how popular it would be. Lovely spot will definitely be returning regularly but not at busy times.

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From the manager: Thank you, Andrew, for your review - We really appreciate it!

We apologise for the issues around the shower facilities and composting toilets. We are improving the site week on week as we establish the campsite. We appreciate your recommendations and will be taking steps to improve the facilities.

We hope to welcome you to Ketsby campsite and lake very soon.

Liked I liked the site it was nice and very relaxed and was quite and nice night view of the sky

Disliked Toilets did get ruined quickly on first day but was sorted next day and stayed in a good condition this is due to people on site knowing how to use toilet correctly and then not sorting the mess they have caused

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