East Balthangie Caravan Park

Liked The landscape/ peace and tranquility

Disliked Facilities- OK, but old and worn

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From the manager: Ah, well, not everyone gets our 1950s traditional campsite feel. The facilities reflect that era, but with modern lighting, hairdryers, and power showers, of course. The lovely large antique sinks, old-style taps, wooden tongue-and-groove doors, etc., are on purpose!
Ref facilities/activities: Other than our World War 1 Pavilion facility, with TV, free book library, table football, pool table, table tennis table, etc, we reserve the outdoor areas for peace and tranquility. Indoors, we leave you to your own activities! Thank you for your honest and personal appraisal of our site and safe travels on-going Sally!

Liked Good location. Loved having the campers kitchen to wash up. The toilets and shower blocks were spotlessly clean, and cleaned regularly. Great quiet location. There is a borrow room full of things you might need on a camping trip. In my rush to leave I left my 2 camping chairs behind! So this was great to pinch two chairs. I was also supplied with some clean towels after I’d realised I left mine at home. John was very friendly and helpful. The place just had a really nice friendly vibe. I will definitely go back if I find myself in that location again.

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Liked Rezension: 10/10 – Ein perfekter Campingplatz für Ruhesuchende und Naturfreunde

Der Campingplatz punktet auf ganzer Linie – schon die Lage ist ein Traum: ruhig, naturnah und mit weitem Blick über grüne Hügel. Die große Wiese bietet reichlich Platz – ob für Zelte oder Caravans, hier steht niemand dicht gedrängt. Man hat wirklich Raum zum Durchatmen.
Die Sanitäranlagen sind außergewöhnlich sauber und mit viel Liebe zum Detail gestaltet. Hier merkt man, dass den Betreibern das Wohl ihrer Gäste am Herzen liegt. Besonders praktisch: der gemütliche Aufenthaltsraum, ideal bei schlechtem Wetter oder einfach zum Zusammensitzen am Abend.
Was den Aufenthalt rund macht, sind die Gastgeber: herzlich, aufmerksam und jederzeit hilfsbereit – ohne aufdringlich zu sein. Man fühlt sich vom ersten Moment an willkommen.
Ein Platz, den man am liebsten behalten würde, um ihn nicht mit zu vielen anderen teilen zu müssen. Klare Empfehlung.

Disliked WLAN leider sehr schwach

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Liked Having the games/tv/relaxation room. The shower was powerful and had lots of space to move around in, and lots of hooks for clothing too. Also, there was a hairdryer provided. The kitchen had a toaster, kettle and microwave which was great.

The host, Anna was extremely helpful and friendly, and the campsite has a lovely relaxed and friendly atmosphere. It was also great having the beautiful jewellery that Anna had made for sale.

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Liked The size of the pitch was very good.

The host gave a very warm welcome and explained everything in full on arrival regarding the site.

The leaflet provided had all the information needed for the site.

The view was great and the site was relatively quiet.

It does have a games room - we didn’t use it personally but it would appeal to families.

Disliked The host explained at the start that the enclosed dog area was safe however the grass is not maintained in this area and caused a lot of problems with our dogs resulting in us having the pick grass seeds out of their eyelids, ears, toes and when the host was contacted regarding this “safe” dog zone she said to monitor our dogs for sickness and vomiting but her dogs are usually fine. Not something I wanted to have to worry about on a holiday. This is not a dog friendly area. But it wouldn’t take much to fix. We have had to take our dog to the vet as a result.

The shower facilities are very tired, the lack of extraction has resulted over time in mould on the doors and tiles. It’s clear that a rustic vibe about the site is the look it’s going for and for some that’s fine but it just wasn’t for us. The shower area looks unclean. I am sure that it does get cleaned but when faced with a dirty mop it doesn’t help. Swapping to a squeegee like most other sites we have been to might help.

The great size of pitch was a welcomed bonus however when we went out for the day and came back someone had parked in our pitch. The only way markers are logs. Possibly changing to something a bit more visible for others would work. We tried to contact the host regarding this error but due to a technical issue our message was not received until the next day when we were heading home.

The access road is awaiting repair but you do have to drive through a farm to get to the site. It is very bumpy single track road. Take your time.

Overall I have tried to be honest so that others are informed. The site itself is a wee gem and it wouldn’t take much to make it amazing and fix the issues that we had. I hope the feedback is helpful for future users and hopefully taken onboard by the site owners who are clearly passionate about their site.

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From the manager: Thank you for your review. We would take issue with several points, and in particular, would question why, if your dogs are susceptible to grass seeds, you let your dogs loose, and did not stick to the paths, or indeed, use the barley park walk for exercise.
Grass does turn to seed at this time of year, and the dog park, in addition to the mowed paths, is topped when the grass has set, towards the end of the Summer season, and when the wildflowers have finished flowering.
Reference the dog park being 'safe'. This is a reference to the fencing being secure, not whether you or your dogs are safe to be let loose or not.
The shower facilities you regard as 'very tired'. We aim to provide a 50's/ 60's look- not ultra modern- although the electric power shower units were replaced recently at a cost of £350 each, and there are extraction fans in both main shower areas.
You state the shower area 'appeared unclean'. It is not. We meticulously maintain the cleanliness of the toilet and shower blocks with a fastidious regularity.
Black mould does appear from time to time, as with all shower areas, whether home or commercial, and we do remove this when present, regrouting where necessary, and restoring the wooden doors, but always during periods of lighter use of our site. We cannot do this when the site is busy.
The shower mops are not dirty, and they are replaced with new mop heads regularly.
Reference someone partially parking on your pitch-could you have not spoken to them directly? Or, rather than texting (!) the one mobile, maybe you could have rung the mobile, or the other mobile, or the landline, or popped down to reception, or rang the alert bell by the entrance?
Reference the log pitch markers- we prefer the site to have a natural appeal, not that of a car park. We will not be changing to bright lights or yellow box markings anytime soon!
The access road does have potholes, and we are waiting for the contractors to repair the road, which is, in fact, a public road and should be repaired by the Council, but they choose not to. It is more than passable with care, but we wouldn't expect you to drive at 70 mph down it.
Overall, you claim to have been honest, which, in your mind, you have been, however hyperbolic that might be. For our part, we will continue to offer the best service and facilities we can, at an affordable price for our visitors.

Liked The place is super-nice. We greatly enjoyed the games room with free wi-fi access and loved the facilities, which were clean and well looked after. The shared kitchen had anything you might need and the landlady was kind and very helpful. We even purchased a pair of handmade earrings at the bargain price of 3 pounds. Highly recommended!

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From the manager: There's nothing we like better than hearing that you enjoyed your stay! Thank you for your lovely review and thank you for staying with us at Planet Balthangie :) J&A

Liked Everything was fine, neat and we felt like home
Thanks a lot for the great stay

Disliked Nothing

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From the manager: It's great to hear you enjoyed your stay, Julia! Thank you for a great review! Safe onward travels! All the best J&A

Liked A great space to come down. There is a fenced dog run. The toilets and showers are clean and cosy.
A place to feel good and come back to. Many thanks for a great stay!

Disliked Nothing to dislike

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From the manager: Thank you, Julia, for a lovely review! It's greatly appreciated, but more importantly, we're delighted that you and your family enjoyed your stay! Thank you! J&A

Liked Absolutely loved our stay here! Anna couldn't do enough for us!!! Honestly so helpful and always about to answer any questions. Campsite itself has very clean facilities and a bonus of a kitchen!! Lovely tranquil place! Will 100% be back.

Disliked Nothing.

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From the manager: Thank you, Rebekah, for leaving a great review! That is very kind of you! We'll see you next visit then :) J&A

Liked - The reception. The lady who welcomed us, Anna, looks devoted to her job and was really nice with me and my brother.
- SO calm. Not busy at all, we planted our tent quite far from any other so we wouldn't bother anyone and not be bothered.
- Really clean facilities. A big shower family room really nice to shower in (temperature controllable) and a camper's kitchen with a lot of appliances and cutlery and pans and everything.
- Very active owners, selling chicken and ducks eggs as well as home-made souvenirs.
- Nice view of the Scottish countryside because of the altitude.

Disliked We really didn't dislike anything much, but I suppose some things could be improved.
- Rural wifi connection
- Tufts of grass were scattered across the lawn because of its mowing.
- There could be more picnic tables

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From the manager: Hi Clement, thank you for your lovely review. Yes, we can add more picnic tables when funds allow! Grass cutting is challenging just now with the weather, but normally there would be no grass cuttings on the pitch areas.... Thank you for staying with us- safe onward travels! Our lovely Government keeps promising us better broadband, but it is not available to us yet! We currently use tp uplink through O2 mobile, which runs at 25 Mbps, and we have been quoted £290,000 to install fibre....so we have to wait for our lovely caring Government to help with this.... as they keep promising :) J&A

Liked Very peaceful site and friendly owners

Disliked Nothing

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From the manager: Thank you, Brenda, for your lovely review! We hope to see you again in the future! kind regards J&A