Brightlingsea Touring Park

View prices & book 9 534 reviews
Visitor image of the campers and sunset
Aerial view of site
Visitor image of the view to the boating lake
Around the site

  • Well-maintained site in Brightlingsea, on the Essex Sunshine Coast
  • Howlands Marsh 25 minutes’ drive; Colchester Castle half an hour
  • Electric and water hookups and launderette; well-behaved dogs welcome
The family-oriented attractions of the Essex Sunshine Coast are easily within your grasp at Brightlingsea Touring Park, a well-maintained lakeside site on the outskirts of the town of the same name. At this dog-friendly site, spacious hardstanding pitches come with electric and water hookups, and guests also benefit from a toilet/shower block and a launderette. Brightlingsea’s high street, with its traditional pubs and global restaurants, is a five-minute walk from the site, as are the colourful huts of sandy Brightlingsea beach, overlooked by the late 19th-century Batemans Tower. Here you can have a swim and try out all sorts of watersports, from canoeing to jet-skiing. If you’d rather stay dry, you might want to take a leisurely stroll along the promenade and join the nature trail that follows the River Colne all the way to Alresford Creek. A 10-minute walk in the opposite direction leads to Brightlingsea Harbour, where you can board a barge for a sailing tour among the moored pleasure boats and around Cindery Island. Don’t forget your binoculars: this area is a birdwatcher’s paradise. Those who want to explore more of the local landscape (and delve deeper into the local birdlife) can head to Howlands Marsh (25 minutes’ drive), an area of wetlands inhabited by geese, skylarks and curlews – not to mention the occasional raptor. Faced with a day of inclement weather and the kids getting restless? No problem: the Brightlingsea Museum, in town, has lots of interactive exhibits and kids' activities.

Site type

Lodges, cabins, pods or huts 20
Travel trailer sites 49
RV sites 49
Tent sites 49
Open now
Opens March 1
Please note
  • Group bookings of 5 or more units (e.g. tent, caravan, RV or accommodation hire) traveling together are not permitted via Pitchup.com.
  • No bachelor/bachelorette parties permitted via Pitchup.com.
  • The park caters for families (immediate members) and couples only - bookings from all other forms of groups are not accepted.
  • At least one of the party members must be aged 21 or over.
  • Guests are advised to bring a good quality flashlight with them as parts of the park are unlit.
  • If reception is closed on arrival: please contact the number provided on your booking confirmation.

Languages spoken

English

Open from Sat, Mar 1 to

This site is a member of Countrywide Park Homes group.

AA Holiday Centre
View all Countrywide Park Homes parks.

Pitch types & availability

Reviews

92%

would recommend this site to a friend

91%

would stay here again

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Only showing reviews for the last 30 months.

Nice location, well kept site. Good communication.…

Overall 10/10
Location 10
Value for money 8
Accommodation 8
Facilities / Activities 8
Customer service 10
Child friendliness 10
Cleanliness 8
Wifi No rating
Lorrie G. The reviewer booked through Pitchup.com

Powered cement/asphalt and grass campsite

Liked: Nice location, well kept site. Good communication.

Disliked: Nothing

Recommend to friends Visit again

Close to the beach…

Overall 8/10
Location 10
Value for money 8
Accommodation 10
Facilities / Activities 6
Customer service No rating
Child friendliness No rating
Cleanliness No rating
Wifi No rating
Sandy H. The reviewer booked through Pitchup.com

Powered cement/asphalt and grass campsite

Liked: Close to the beach

Recommend to friends Visit again

A nice site in a lovely location needing a bit of TLC.

Overall 8/10
Location 10
Value for money 8
Accommodation No rating
Facilities / Activities 8
Customer service 10
Child friendliness No rating
Cleanliness 8
Wifi No rating
Anonymous The reviewer booked through Pitchup.com

Powered cement/asphalt and grass campsite (lake view)

Liked: Location! Water at pitch. Free washing machine.

Disliked: Nicki is trying hard to improve a site previously lacking in love. Two key areas to improve are the showers and security (it is not really acceptable that anyone can wander around the site day or night). A drive-over gray water disposal point would also be nice.

Recommend to friends Visit again

Great site ,friendly staff will definitely go back.

Overall 10/10
Location 10
Value for money 10
Accommodation 10
Facilities / Activities No rating
Customer service No rating
Child friendliness 10
Cleanliness 10
Wifi No rating
Rosemary k. The reviewer booked through Pitchup.com

Powered cement/asphalt and grass campsite

Liked: Only stayed two nights weather not great , but site was clean and quiet at nighttime grass was nice and short .Nikki was really nice and moved us as didn’t want to be backing on to road .
Brightlingsea was just lovely .will definitely go again for sure .

Disliked: Nothing

Recommend to friends Visit again

Brilliant site, great facilities including washing machines. Everything kept clean. Staff friendly…

Overall 10/10
Location 10
Value for money 10
Accommodation 10
Facilities / Activities 10
Customer service 10
Child friendliness No rating
Cleanliness 10
Wifi 8
Paul H. The reviewer booked through Pitchup.com

Powered cement/asphalt and grass campsite

Liked: Brilliant site, great facilities including washing machines. Everything kept clean. Staff friendly and helpful.

Recommend to friends Visit again

Great location 👌

Overall 8/10
Location 10
Value for money 10
Accommodation 10
Facilities / Activities 8
Customer service 6
Child friendliness 10
Cleanliness 10
Wifi No rating
Paul C. The reviewer booked through Pitchup.com

Powered cement/asphalt and grass campsite

Liked: Close to sea front .. and harbour.. nice pub and a walk to tea hut .. peaceful area .. ideal for meeting family and friends..

Disliked: Nothing

Recommend to friends Visit again

Nice view if you are close to the lake!…

Overall 2/10
Location 2
Value for money 2
Accommodation 2
Facilities / Activities 2
Customer service 2
Child friendliness 2
Cleanliness 2
Wifi 2
Anonymous The reviewer booked through Pitchup.com

Powered cement/asphalt and grass campsite

Liked: Nice view if you are close to the lake!

Disliked: I’ve paid pitch with gravel and grass , we’ve got a small pitch just with gravel, when we started the arguments they tried to change with another pitch when someone else cancelled.
No staff present on arrival to show you where is your pitch, I’ve spoken over the phone with same one (Nikki) - very unprofessional and poorly raised!

Recommend to friends Visit again

First time since I brought my caravan we decided too not go…

Overall 10/10
Location 10
Value for money 10
Accommodation 10
Facilities / Activities 10
Customer service 10
Child friendliness 8
Cleanliness 10
Wifi 10
Anonymous The reviewer booked through Pitchup.com

Powered cement/asphalt and grass campsite

Liked: First time since I brought my caravan we decided too not go far very clean site toilet and shower was spotless and the manager Nicki was a lovely helpful lady will return soon

Recommend to friends Visit again

Not for tent camping - left as soon as we could

Overall 2/10
Location 2
Value for money 2
Accommodation 2
Facilities / Activities 4
Customer service 4
Child friendliness 2
Cleanliness 4
Wifi 4
Anonymous The reviewer booked through Pitchup.com

Powered cement/asphalt and grass campsite

Liked: We went with a tent because it was advertised on their website as a site suitable for camping. We expected a little green space and a little bit of privacy. You can also take an awning or gazebo but there’s no space for that.

It is however a caravan site, intended for caravans with an awning or tent. Those who came with caravans seemed happy enough.

The pitches are gravel, hard ground and a rectangle of grass. Check dimensions if you are pitching a tent. There is no privacy as you are squashed and extremely close to your neighbours.

We pitched one afternoon, even though we were booked for 4 nights, we were gone by 8am the next day and booked in to another site.

I’ve camped all my life but I’ve never experienced such horrible attitudes of people on a site. We were the only tent on site and got comments to our face, loudly as people passed and whilst we were pitching about how unwelcome we were as we were tent only. We were told we shouldn’t be there by other people holidaying to the point where we felt so uncomfortable to just sit outside. I’ve never experienced this before.

What with the uncomfortable closeness of pitches and being so unfriendly we left.

I will say this wasn’t management who were unfriendly, we didn’t talk to them much at all so have no complaints about them. However I don’t think they could’ve done anything to change our minds from leaving

Disliked: It looks like a car park, there is not much green space and pitches are squashed in uncomfortably close. There is a lake but barely any space. There’s no where for kids to run or play really.

Toilet blocks were clean but had no hot water, so there were no showers that could be used. Many others were in the toilet blocks having the same issue. For the price you would expect this not to be a problem.

Noise and music was so loud from pub or community centre across the street. It went on for most the evening in to the early hours.

Recommend to friends Visit again

Super little site close to amenities, would recommend

Overall 8/10
Location 8
Value for money 6
Accommodation 4
Facilities / Activities 6
Customer service 6
Child friendliness 6
Cleanliness 4
Wifi 6
Anonymous The reviewer booked through Pitchup.com

Powered cement/asphalt and grass campsite

Liked: Lovely slight, close to amenities would recommend

Disliked: Showers a little dates

Recommend to friends Visit again


Features

Leisure on park

Bar or club house Cycle hire Evening entertainment Fishing Fitness centre Indoor swimming pool Kids' club On-site restaurant/cafe Outdoor swimming pool Playground Recreation room/arcade TV room Takeout Tennis Watersports

Amenities on park

Bath available Car parking by site/unit Composting toilet Dog park Drying room Free wifi Grocery store Ice pack freezing Internet access Laundromat Parent & baby washroom Payphone Pick-up from public transport Portable toilet Pub toilets Restrooms Shower available Washing-up area Wifi

Groups welcome

Family friendly Motorcycle friendly Single-sex groups welcome Student groups welcome

Rules

Barbecue grills allowed Barbecue provided Campfires allowed Commercial vehicles allowed Dogs allowed Dogs allowed all year

Utilities

Charging facilities Dump station Electric car charging point(s) Propane/gas cylinders available Recycling available Renewable energy

Nearby amenities

Bar nearby Convenience store nearby Dog walk nearby Public transportation nearby

Type

Large (51-200 sites)

Nearby leisure

Cycling nearby Mountain biking nearby Restaurant nearby Sailing nearby Watersports nearby

Touring and motorhomes

Water hook-up points for caravans

Location

Brightlingsea Touring Park

Promenade Way

Brightlingsea

Colchester

Essex

England

CO7 0LW

Directions

Timezone

Europe/London +0100 (GMT+01:00)

GPS

51.80848°N
1.01934°W

Nearest transport

Coach
3.8 km Brightlingsea Road
3.8 km Brightlingsea Road
3.9 km Oaklands
Rail
5.3 km Alresford (Essex) Rail Station
5.8 km Great Bentley Rail Station
6.9 km Wivenhoe Rail Station
Ferry
0.5 km Brightlingsea Ferry Landing
0.7 km Point Clear Ferry Landing
22.4 km Harwich International Ferry Terminal
Airport
34.5 km London Southend Airport

Please note: All distances on this page are calculated "as the crow flies" - please check actual distance depending on your mode of travel using the Get directions button above.

Local attractions

Created in the 1960s, Beth Chatto's Plants & Gardens (15 minutes’ drive) is based on a simple but oft-ignored principle: right plant, right place. One of the highlights here is the Gravel Garden, famously never watered and home to drought-tolerant plants and shrubs. In contrast, the Water Garden spreads around a series of ponds and is dotted with colourful flowers. Reward your offspring for following you patiently around the gardens with a trip to Hasty’s Adventure Farm (20 minutes). In addition to a giant sandpit for younger children, there are oversized Lego constructions, an adventure course and grass slides. Not forgetting resident animals like Pipsqueak the pygmy goat and Mac the alpaca… Built in the 11th century over the ruins of an ancient Roman temple, the Norman Colchester Castle (half an hour) now houses a modern museum displaying items unearthed locally, such as the Fenwick Hoard, a collection of delicate jewellery and coins, and a vase decorated with images of fighting gladiators.

Water quality at nearby bathing waters

Name Distance Type 2020201920182017
Brightlingsea 0.7 km Estuary N/AExcellentExcellentExcellent
West Mersea 7.5 km Sea N/AGoodN/AN/A
Jaywick 7.6 km Sea N/AGoodGoodGood
Clacton Beach Martello Tower 8.9 km Sea N/AGoodGoodGood
Clacton 10.6 km Sea N/AExcellentExcellentExcellent

Data source: European Environment Agency

Must see

firstsite 12 km

Colchester Castle Museum 12.2 km

Colchester Zoo 14.1 km

East Anglian Railway Museum 22.2 km

Christchurch Mansion 29.5 km

National Trust

Bourne Mill 10.6 km

Flatford: Bridge Cottage 16.7 km

Thorington Hall 20.1 km

Coggeshall Grange Barn 23.9 km

Paycocke's 24.3 km

Cycle routes

Find local routes on the National Cycle Network - over 12,000 miles of cycling routes.

Other

Brightlingsea 0.2 km

Cudmore Country Park - East and West Mersea - Cudmore 1.9 km

Brightlingsea - Colne Estuary - Crab and Winkle Path 2.2 km

ST OSYTH'S PRIORY 3.7 km

Hollybush Hill - Brightlingsea - River Colne - Hollybush 3.8 km

Please note: All distances on this page are calculated "as the crow flies" - please check actual distance depending on your mode of travel using the Get directions button above.

Offers

Conditions apply - see pitch type section for details

Nearest sites

Unfortunately, we have no nearby bookable sites.

Want to know more about camping in Essex?

Frequently asked questions

  • Does Brightlingsea Touring Park have a swimming pool? No View all features
  • Is Brightlingsea Touring Park dog friendly? Yes View all features
  • What attractions are near Brightlingsea Touring Park? Created in the 1960s, Beth Chatto's Plants & Gardens (15 minutes’ drive) is based on a simple but oft-ignored principle: right plant, right place. One of the highlights here is the Gravel … Read more
  • When can I check in and check out of Brightlingsea Touring Park?
    RV, travel trailer and tent sites
    Arrive:  1 p.m. –  8 p.m.
    Depart by:  11 a.m.
    Read more
  • How much does it cost to stay at Brightlingsea Touring Park? From $46.39 (for 1 night, 2 adults) - prices may change depending on your dates and party.