The Blue Ship

Liked The amount of space per pitch. We had dinner in the pub too which was fabulous. Very friendly, peaceful campsite with basic facilities

Disliked Liked everything.

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From the manager: Thank you for visiting and we are delighted you enjoyed your visit.

Lovely to read how spacious you thought it was given the ridiculous comments raised above by another guest! Hope to welcome you again soon.

Best wishes
Sophie

Liked It was cheap, but … (see later)
The field was literally behind the pub
It was a beautiful area

Disliked The big buts are that, despite being in a beautiful area and easy for the pub;
- the site was overcrowded. There were 20 pitches and in our view that site would take no more than 15. So you were too close to neighbours. Owner needs to be less greedy!
- there was one group of seven pitches who clearly knew each other and for that reason made a huge noise as they shouted to and fro. That was 14 adults, maybe 10 kids and similar noisy dogs barking and wining. Owner needs to manage groups.
- site is basic as it’s cheap - no problem, but really not even a soap dispenser at the cold tap in the toilets? No bins to save a few quid?
- pub was on the pricy side and food average.
This is an idyllic area - take fewer pitches and manage them.

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Our site is exactly as described, a rural campsite in a beautiful area. We offer toilets with a cold water sink (and soap!), a basic washing up area,
no showers, no waste disposal. All of this is stated in our listing so I never understand why people then sometimes mention this in reviews and say they’re not happy when you knew that before booking. If you want more facilities than we offer then my advice is very simple, don’t book to stay here, book somewhere more suited to your requirements….
To me It’s like booking a 3 star hotel and then saying you wanted the luxury of a 6 star hotel, then book a 6 star hotel.

We have permission for far more than the number of pitches we had and the field is 1.6 acres! We allow pitches around all four sides, we could fill the entire field in rows an earn far more but we choose not to do that so I can assure you greed does not come in to it, but naturally we do need to fill a certain number of pitches to sustain our small independent family run business. We keep the huge middle area clear as communal space which surely you must have noticed! (For others reading this, you’ll see lots of people mention how spacious it is) This area is for everyone to enjoy and that’s exactly what we witnessed people doing all weekend, why on earth would we want to restrict this or prevent people from having fun. This naturally attracts some noise but in our view, nice noise, children playing ball games and enjoying some freedom. At nighttime there was absolutely zero noise and this is something we do always “manage” if ever needed but this weekend it was all families so no one was up late. When I undertook my late night final check at around 11pm you could hear a pin drop in the area! Daytime noise in a campsite I do not see as an issue and perfectly normal. If you want silence maybe book a retreat.

The pitches that were very close together were groups of friends and families so naturally they will pitch together and we don’t feel this is something we need to “manage” as what could be nicer than people enjoying themselves together on a campsite. You also visited on the busiest weekend of the year being the August bank holiday so I would be very concerned if we weren’t busy on this weekend and I think you’d struggle to find a campsite in West Sussex that isn’t fully booked on the main bank holiday of the weekend especially when the sun is shining.

Not sure why you referred to the pub as average as you ate all of your meals, raised no concerns, it was an lovely atmosphere this weekend and we made you welcome as we do everyone that walks through our door.

I hope you find somewhere more suited to your requirements in the future to dine and to stay at.

Best wishes
Sophie

Liked Lovely quiet spot. Great food and a lovely old, English country pub. Level pitch, toilets clean. We’ll be back

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Liked A great little spot behind a fantastic pub. The facilities are pretty basic but everything is clean.
We ate in the pub & had great food & service. The landlady/esitress/barmaid was really lovely & friendly. I had a syrup pudding which was spot on.
We’ll. definitely return.

Disliked Nothing

Recommend to friends Visit again

Liked Lovely little campsite. I was with a friend who took his camper out for the first time and we had a blast!

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From the manager: Thank you for visiting, we are delighted you enjoyed your stay and hope to welcome you again.

Best Wishes
Sophie.

Liked We loved it. A chance to get away from everything and with a lovely pub on the doorstep. What’s not to like! Toilet block was nice and clean. Toilet roll & hand soap available.

Disliked Nothing to dislike. The only thing that would make it better would be if there were bins to leave your rubbish but not a massive deal if you’re heading straight home from there.

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From the manager: Thank you for visiting, we are delighted that you enjoyed your stay with us.
Unfortunately the cost of commercial waste disposal is so high now that we would have to increase our pitch rates to cover this which is why we don't provide bins. On a busy summer weekend we would end up with a monumental amount of waste which carries a high cost to dispose of.

We hope to welcome you again.

Best Wishes
Sophie.

Liked Rural,remote,quiet, basic. Flat site with hedging all round. Toilets clean Easy communication with the owners, straightforward booking and check in via email. Very relaxing weekend. The pub is a gem, friendly and great food, booking advisable.

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Thank you for visiting, we are delighted you enjoyed your stay and hope to welcome you again.

Best Wishes
Sophie.

Liked Quiet, basic, level field, no hook up, rural, friendly, behind a great pub.

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Thank you for visiting, we are delighted you enjoyed your stay and hope to welcome you again.

Best Wishes
Sophie.

Liked The campsite is in a lovely location, nice and flat, quiet (until a stag party arrived) toilet block was clean, drinking water available

Disliked No fault of the owners of the campsite but there was a stag party set up next to us and they were very loud. We were woken up about midnight by them getting told off for having a fire (understandable) but then kept awake until nearly 3am by them shouting and swearing and making a point.
Maybe stag /hen parties etc can not be allowed in the future

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From the manager: We are pleased you enjoyed your stay with us overall and can only genuinely apologise for any inconvenience caused to you by other guests.

For clarification, we do not allow stag or hen parties, this was not actually a stag party but a group of guys who booked three pitches for seven of them to stay. There simply is no way of policing this other than the fact that we reserve the right to ask anyone to leave our premises if they are a nuisance. Three pitches booked or a group of seven guys does not in itself raise a red flag and I do not like to be judgemental or dismissive of anyone unless I am given reason to be.
I dealt with the fire situation on Friday evening and advised them this would be their only warning. We did not hear any additional noise or issues that night and we do live on site plus I monitor CCTV. On Saturday they were told to turn music off, car engines off and to behave (this was at 10pm) and they adhered to my warning and caused no disturbance, had they have done so they would have been told to leave. They left early on Sunday morning and left the area clean and tidy with no issues. They have been flagged to Pitch Up and will not be permitted to stay with us again.

Liked Always a favourite - pub on hand next door, plenty of space to pitch and the kids to play - all you need for a night or two away to chill and have some family time 😊

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From the manager: Thank you for visiting and we are delighted that you enjoyed your stay with us.

Best Wishes
Sophie.