Herston Caravan and Camping

Liked Very helpful staff. Good size well maintained pitches. Variety of locations of toilets and showers. Only a 20 mins walk to the town recommended as parking isn't cheapest. Lovely food and not over priced. Big thank you to Liz and Martin who were very helpful and made us feel welcome especially when our van needed to be recovered from the site they didn't pressure us to move on and did all they can to accommodate and assist us and that made a bad situation much less stressful. Thank you and we will return when back on the road

Disliked Nothing. This site will keep getting better in my opinion

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Liked Excellent stay, will be back

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Liked Great location. Walking distance ti Swanage sea front. Dece t camping fiend at the back.

Disliked The site, other than the rear two fields is a total mess. It looks like a nice site that has been abandoned. The permanent pitches are really scruffy, the old shop/ laundrette is a building site and photos of this in operation should be removed from the web as it is misleading. The toilets are pretty dirty and responsibility for cleaning is delegated to campers who have paid £50 per night to use the facilities. The cleaning materials are a filthy, half full bucket with stinking mop. Toilet paper ran out early in the day and wasn’t replaced until the following day. All loose had no paper. The staff are scruffy and so are the vehicles etc. it all feels grotty. The reception shed is messy and dirty too. I would not use this site again which is a shame, it could be great with a little effort as it is in a great location. I think that is why they are making zero effort, they don’t need to as it is in a great location but we won’t be back any time soon. Very poor value for money.

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Liked Great site, friendly staff kept the site clean as possible, as it was the summer holidays

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Liked Amazing views. Short walk or drive to Swanage. Staff were friendly and helpful. Some of the toilets were nice with large showers.

Disliked Pitch sizes were very small with hardly any space between them. Some toilets were very old with quite spongy floors. The Shepherd hut toilets and showers were much nicer but often ran out of toilet roll. It was very noisy and so isn’t really suitable if you have younger children. There were kids running around and screaming until late at night, but quiet hours are not until 11.30pm. Was surprised that the ban on fire pits was lifted after only a little amount of rain.

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Liked Nothing at all

Disliked The toilets were not clean spiders were on the ceiling and flies everywhere there was no tissue at all not any playground for kids very boring campsite no friendly stuff very rude and very impolite people of reception and shop which is wife and husband’s working place.Last year we booked here which was not bad however this year we decided to book here again.We were three families together we planned to have a barbecue there and we thought the government had banned the floor grill not the hot high grill as my English is not very good I did not understand this.We spent one night there and at the second night we started to do our grill we just started the fire and a lady came from the shop and started shouting and yelling at my husband to stop the fire then my husband said very politely ok that’s fine I will put water on it you don’t need to be so rude she didn’t let my husband to speak and she called him stupid because my husband took the grill to the tap it was behind our tent she said what is that stupid doing again my husband was so calm with her so fire had been stopped but she was still yelling and shouting at my husband and she blamed him for pushing her which was a big lie.She called to manager which her husband to come and took us out of there and she said pack up and leave the campsite right now and all the children were scared and they were crying of her bad attitude and shouting.Then they were keep telling us to leave and we were waiting for one of our family to come and pack up then the manager came with his family and other dangerous people and he drove really aggressively towards our tent to scare us he almost hit our kids and then he was worse than the other stuff we thought he is the manager maybe he at least had some respect because of this whole situation my children have been traumatised I suggest never to go to this terrible campsite my children still have very bad memories and keep crying. As they forced us to get out we did as our other family members came we did everything they said and packed and we left the pitch as tidy as possible however they kept dragging this whole situation again bare in mind this was at 11pm people at the campsite were sleeping and yet they were having a laugh and talking bad about us as well as calling us very very rude names and making fun of 2 autistic children who were suffering and could barely speak and this is how they treat their customers I suggest to anyone reading this to really reflect on what place they want to book as this is how they treated us, a family who they are familiar with as we came here last year too just imagine how they would treat people who have only came in here for the first time. Even after all of this chaos they refused to refund us our other nights we payed as they kicked us out on the second night when we booked for 4 nights this was the worst experience of my life. I recommend to anyone looking for campsites near Bournemouth beach or Dorset to go to wilksworth caravan and camping they have the most friendly staff and clean tidy pitches and toilets.

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From the manager: We would normally respond to a review by addressing the points raised and accepting fair criticism where it is due. However, given the seriousness of what occurred during your stay, we cannot allow your version of events to go unanswered.

In all our years operating Herston Caravan & Campsite, your group was among the most rude, disrespectful and confrontational we have ever had to deal with.

On arrival, you were specifically informed that, due to the exceptionally high fire risk, BBQs and fire pits were strictly prohibited. This was not an arbitrary campsite rule. Clear notices were displayed extensively around the site, and guests were given information explaining the restriction.

You also confirmed that you had received the national warning concerning the fire risk but told us that you did not believe it applied to Swanage. To be absolutely clear: it was a national warning. Swanage is, unsurprisingly, part of the nation.

You nevertheless continued to argue that you should be permitted to have a BBQ. You were told, clearly and unequivocally, that you could not.

What happened next is particularly concerning.

On the second evening of your stay, after apparently waiting until you had seen the male member of staff on duty finish work and drive away, your group decided to light a BBQ regardless. Other campers, who were quite rightly concerned, reported this to a female member of our staff.

She approached your group, explained again that BBQs were prohibited and asked you to extinguish it. Rather than simply complying with a safety rule that every other camper on the site was expected to follow, members of your group became argumentative and abusive.

When our staff member went to obtain water so that the BBQ could be extinguished, a male member of your party pushed her and subjected her to an extremely offensive four-letter insult. This incident was witnessed by other campers.

That behaviour is completely unacceptable.

No customer has the right to physically intimidate or abuse a member of staff simply because they have been asked to comply with a fire-safety instruction. Nor did your group have some special entitlement to light a BBQ while hundreds of other guests were respecting the restriction, despite many of them undoubtedly wishing they could enjoy a BBQ or campfire themselves.

You now suggest that a language barrier meant you did not understand the instructions. That explanation is extremely difficult to reconcile with the facts.

The restriction was explained verbally on arrival. Written information was provided. Fire-safety notices were displayed at the entrance, toilets, showers and throughout the campsite. You had received the national warning on your phones. You had also specifically argued with staff about whether the restriction applied to you.

It therefore stretches credibility beyond breaking point to suggest that you were simply unaware of the rule.

It is also rather remarkable that the language difficulties you say prevented you from understanding repeated, simple instructions such as “NO BBQs” have not prevented you from subsequently producing a lengthy and detailed review.

Perhaps the clearest indication of how your behaviour was perceived does not come from us at all, but from your fellow campers.

When your group eventually left the site, the campers surrounding you applauded your departure.

We did not organise that. We did not encourage it. That was the spontaneous reaction of other paying guests who had witnessed your behaviour.

We welcome constructive criticism and will always investigate genuine complaints. What we will not do is apologise for enforcing a fire restriction intended to protect our guests, staff, animals, property and the surrounding countryside.

And we certainly will not apologise for a member of our staff challenging somebody who deliberately ignored that restriction.

There are many things on which reasonable people can disagree when reviewing a campsite. Fire safety and the physical or verbal abuse of staff are not among them.

Liked cost and location was good

Disliked dog poo around ,mens toilets constantly out of paper , BBQ restriction but no email informing us so no time to change cooking plans . When asked said only knew that morning but solid signs put up Hard to get between 8am and 2pm plus story changed when pushed .

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Liked Location and good resources.

Disliked Needs a bit of a revamp,especially at the entrance

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Liked Great location
Relaxed friendly campsite, the facilities were clean, good showers.

Disliked Shame there was no shop, building new club house etc so will be greatly improved but hopefully will stay with the same vibe.

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Liked we like the campsite in general and the bathroom/shower facilities are great

Disliked there was no Club house? we have been going over the years to your campsite and very much enjoy the Club house

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