Dearden Wood

Liked: Fabulous location - views and countryside. Friendly and accommodating hosts. Quiet park with good clean facilities

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Liked: This camp site is very endearing it’s got lovely tables and chairs dotted around made from logs and the view from the green by the shower and loo cabin is beautiful. Little hideaway in the woods. Second stay here, will definitely be back again.

Disliked: Not really a dislike as such but the lane to get to the site is very narrow and bumpy, just something to be aware of if your in a larger camper

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Liked: Great welcome the Friday pizza was great. A really great concept with volunteers running the camp for the benefit of local children. Nothing too much trouble. A short walk into the village and walks around the camp. Me and my son had a great time. We will definitely return to support such a great initiative.

Disliked: Nothing

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Liked: Great facilities and very organised.

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Liked: The site itself is very cosy and it’s great to be in the woods whilst also being within walking distance to shops for supplies. There’s some excellent walks nearby too. We visited the nearby waterfall which wasn’t all too great however, if you continue past that and follow the stream it’s very nice. The guy that runs the site was very polite and let us know what’s around the area for food and drinks etc.

Disliked: There’s only 1 shower for the entire site. There’s also nowhere to get changed afterwards as the shower room doubles as a toilet with limited space. I believe the adjoining wash-up area is quite large and space could have been allocated for an additional shower room. We ordered pizzas on the Friday night from the site. We ordered them for 1830 so turned up at 1825. We then went to the counter after 10 mins to ask if we just wait for our name to be called as we preordered however, you have to let them know you’re there before they start. I understand this process as people may be late arriving due to traffic etc. Maybe just let people know on the initial text you send out. The issue was that the pizzas were 50 minutes late. Again, completely understandable if they’re busy but they were all drinking alcohol and one member of staff taking/serving orders and preparing food seemed to have had a bit too much. For us and I’m assuming for many, this is the first example of service you receive when you arrive which I don’t think is very professional. The pizza was okay but if I knew it was going to take so long and be such faff on, we would have just went to the pub rather than wait around.

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From the manager: Hi Wow, thank you for your review. Not sure where to start. Waterfall. The waterfall in the valley is the old wool fulling mill waterfall that runs along side the mill water wheel pit. For some unknown reason, during COVID, some people decided to make it something more than it actually is. We have had some impressive enhanced coloured and slow motion images taken of the waterfall which we feel do not represent the waterfall itself, however, as always on social media, people tend to hype up what is normal. We don't make a big thing of the waterfall ourselves, but guests, like yourselves, ask about it and we direct you to it. Nice for a dip on a warm day though.....😊 Shower and wash up area. We are mainly a charitable organisation looking after SEN children, Scouts, Guides, Schools and disabilities. We take public camping out of the season for these groups and this helps us fund the charitable work we do with the children and youth groups we work with. Our facilities work very well for these groups and we have had no complaints from them or our public guests. We do get many complements about our clean facilities though, which we are very proud of. We have considered increasing our shower facilities and we may put in one or two additional showers on site but when funds permit. The current shower has a duck board supplied to which most of our public guests seem to feel is clean and has ample space to change on. Pizzas. We are not a restaurant and try to have a relaxed family vibe around our pizza orders. We are not booking people in by the minute to eat but provide an approximate time for our guests to enjoy themselves and eat pizza. This helps us plan the amount of fresh pizza bases we make. We feel that there is sufficient pressure on people around work and life in general. We tend to like people on pizza night to chill, talk with other guests, have time with the family and relax. It seems to work for most people, however in future, if you visit us again and require a more "on the minute" pizza delivery, you only need to ask us and we would be happy to oblige. 🍕 On the subject of drunk staff. The lady you refer to was due to get married (hence the rather bonky wedding dress she was wearing). She is a very bubbly, valuable and helpful member of our team and whilst she may come over to you as "having had too much", she is tee total and would be rather upset to hear that it was assumed she was drunk. We have no issue with any of our team being happy and hopefully this will continue to rub off on our past and future guests and continue to be part of our service for years to come. 😃 Most of our staff are volunteers and we appreciate their time and commitment to the youth and community project we run. We very much look forward to welcoming you again in the future, however, please be fully aware that we are a relaxed, fun and charitable team that try not to take life too seriously. We were all delighted to celebrate the forthcoming wedding of our very sober and boisterous team member on Friday and wish her the very best in her future relationship (let's hope it's always fun for them too). 👍

Liked: Camping with forest floor feel as not muddy even after lots of rain. Covered area for a fire when it’s raining.

Disliked: The code on the toilet area as not great for needing the bathroom at night/early morning.

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From the manager: Please see response to previous review.

Liked: The communal area where we shared a BBQ also the roundhouse area for undercover fires if the weather wasn’t kind. Really liked the wood chip covering for pitching our tent as it didn’t get muddy. Enjoyed the pizza on Friday night.

Disliked: The code on the toilets, as was hard in the mornings to punch it in when you really needed a wee - not good for children (9 year old so not talking super young) or for me after 3 children. Very crammed in for such a small site, parking had to be ‘just so’ felt a bit boxed in and not free.

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From the manager: Hi. Thank you for your review and sorry that you seemed a little unhappy with your stay. We are, however, delighted that the wood chip bays were ideal during your stay, you enjoyed our Friday night pizza event and from the odd chats we had with the gentlemen in the party, they seemed to be enjoying their time with us. The roundhouse fire area has been a great addition for guests, particularly when the weather is poor, as it was during your stay with us. We installed the code lock on the toilet facilities so that our campsite guests did not meet any uninvited visitors using our facilities (not that we have had any), particularly at night or early in the morning. I am sure that you would agree, safeguarding children on site is significantly more important than the minor inconvenience of pushing 5 buttons to access a safe area. Over the time that the facilities lock has been in place, we have had many hundreds of guests on site from all four corners of the world and UK and from memory I can recall only one other person who mentioned the lock. (They had forgotten the code we gave them and needed access at 4am for a number two!!!!). We try to advertise to all future guests looking to book tent pitches that their is a maximum size of tent recommended for our bays. We are not an open field and each camping bay is in place to try and provide sufficient private space and views from each pitch to enjoy. Having a very large tent will of course reduce the space available for outside leisure and enjoyment. Each pitch has a car parking space allocated to it and we simply ask guests to use the space allocated rather than parking where it may prevent other guests accessing their pitch. Thank you again for staying with us and supporting our children's project. Regards Mark

Liked: Excellent campsite. Showers and toilets kept clean, super quiet, lovely wood next to it which gives it more of that true camping feel and the owner was helpful on arrival. Thanks for a great stay

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Liked: Nice range of facilities without losing the feel of a camping break - clean well-maintained kitchen, toilet and shower. Communal covered sitting areas and lawns but plenty of space on our pitch to do our own thing.

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Liked: Nice and peaceful site, good facilities available. Beautiful woodland walk nearby and a 10 Minute walk into edenfield with a few pubs and cafe

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