The Blue Ship

Liked Ones agine very good stay. And the food was very good 👍 .I've stayed twice and will stay again.

Disliked None

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From the manager: Thank you for visiting and we are delighted that you enjoyed your stay with us.
We hope to welcome you again soon.

Best Wishes
Sophie.

Liked Location to Gatwick for outbound flights

Disliked Washing up facilities a ground based soiled butlers sink with tired house pipe. Toilets adequate. In flight path to Gatwick so only a 5-6 hour quiet window

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From the manager: I’m most confused by your review, you liked that we are in a good location to Gatwick (about a 30-40 minute drive for those reading this) and yet disliked that you have planes heading to Gatwick?!?! A total contradiction….?

For clarity for those reading this, any plane heading to Gatwick is at a considerable height due to our distance from the airport, I’m not even sure this has been mentioned in a review of our campsite before that is how insignificant it is!

Yes our washing up area is a large butler sink, nothing less, nothing more.
Our facilities overall are exactly as we claim them to be, we are a basic rural campsite and I simply can’t emphasise enough that if anyone is looking for considerably more facilities than we offer here then please don’t book to stay at our campsite as we could not be clearer about our offerings.
For those that want a basic rural camping weekend in a beautiful location, they love it as you’ll see from our many many reviews on here and other sites.

As for our “over rated pub grub” having won on award this year for one of the top ten pubs in West Sussex, there are many who would very much disagree with you. Everything is locally sourced and freshly prepared to order. Likewise all of our beers and ciders are local too.

Having read your other reviews too, I may suggest that perhaps camping is not for you and a hotel may be better suited as it appears you are yet to find a campsite you actually like.

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 - Location
- Good value for money
- Relaxed friendly atmosphere
- Clean, modern toilets
- Nice pub next to campsite

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Liked Quiet , welcoming and clean , great food and drinks at the pub !

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Liked Clean tidy toilets

Disliked No hot water to wash hands, no soap, no fire pits (too dry) lighting in toilets went off in 20 seconds so in pitch black, pub is over priced, no washing up facilities

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From the manager: Our listing is exactly as stated, a basic rural campsite, no more no less.
We have toilets, cold water sinks (with soap so not sure how you missed the large blue bottles!) and a large butler sink for washing up. The toilets have lights that come on with movement sensors, they do not only stay on for 20 seconds but the rest of the campsite is not lit as we are in a rural location and it is in our listing and our welcome letter that a torch will be required, which I would have thought was common sense when camping but it would appear not.

As for fire pits...yes it is too dry, have you missed the weather, the news with wildfires around the country and the fact that the grass is literally brown and dry.
There was a wildfire only a few miles from us on Sunday just gone with fire crews in attendance for over 12 hours, I can share the link with you if you wish as perhaps this will educate you as to why we have taken the sensible decision not to permit firepits currently. We put guest safety and the protection of our home, our business and our beautiful surrounding countryside before moronic comments like yours and stand by that decision 100%. Furthermore, every single guest is made aware of this in advance by email and text message and it also states in out listing that firepits may not be allowed if weather conditions are not suitable.

As for pub being overpriced, astounding how you can comment on this given that you did not dine at the pub.....seems you are just being vindictive with a 1/10 score and inaccurate comments.

Liked A fantastic set up, simple and yet ideal. The toilets were well maintained and clean, the field is minimal but has plenty of space for the children to play and to have a wander around with the dog.

The blue ship pub is incredible and an absolute must for those staying on site. Fresh, home cooked food that was delicious. The service was wonderful, felt like a real home from home. They were clued up on allergies (I’m coeliac) and even went out of their way to cook a pudding from scratch for me to enjoy.

It’s a brilliant base point for exploring West Sussex. For our first camping trip it didn’t disappoint and we would most definitely return in future.

Disliked Not a dislike as such, but I’d have loved to have been able to pop into the blue ship for breakfast some mornings.

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

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.

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

We hope to welcome you again.

Best wishes
Sophie

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

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From the manager: Thank you for visiting and we are delighted you enjoyed your stay in the campsite and your meal in our little pub.

We hope to welcome you again.

Best wishes
Sophie