Skegness, Lincolnshire, England
Camping pod (pet friendly)
Liked We were really looking forward to staying here for three nights in one of the camping pods with my partner, our 7-year-old and our dog. The park itself is generally well maintained, and most of the staff we dealt with were genuinely lovely, friendly and helpful. The camping pod was also quite nice, with electricity and a lovely private, enclosed area around it with a large tree. Unfortunately, the experience as a whole was extremely disappointing.
After a relatively pleasant first night, a large group arrived on site. The second night quickly became a nightmare. The group became increasingly loud and disruptive, with shouting, singing and loud music continuing until around 4am. Getting any meaningful sleep was virtually impossible.
At around 4am, we contacted the out-of-hours security number. The gentleman we spoke to was very helpful and sympathetic, and told us that ours was the sixth complaint he had received about the same group. He also advised that the police had been called, although there was little he could do himself at that point.
Disliked The disruption had actually started much earlier. At around 1am, an ambulance arrived following complaints about the group. We were told there had apparently been some confusion and that the ambulance was expected to be the police. Unfortunately, because nobody was available to open the entrance barriers, the ambulance repeatedly sounded its siren at around 1am, waking what seemed like the entire campsite.
There is also a significant noise issue with the location of the pods themselves. Ours was less than 10 metres from the entrance barriers, meaning we could hear vehicles coming and going throughout the night. Combined with the behaviour of the group, this made getting any sleep extremely difficult.
By 4am we were exhausted and simply wanted the situation to be dealt with so that we could sleep. I had to work remotely from the restaurant the following day, which was incredibly difficult after getting virtually no sleep.
The following morning, I spoke to reception and was told that the people responsible for the disturbances would be removed from the site. Unfortunately, that did not appear to happen. While I was working from my laptop in the restaurant, the same group were back drinking and causing disruption, and two police officers subsequently arrived and spoke to members of the group.
By this point, my family and I were exhausted from the heat, lack of sleep and the ongoing disruption. We decided that we simply could not risk another night like the previous one and checked out a day early.
When checking out, we spoke to the manager, Martine. Unfortunately, this was another disappointing part of the experience. Given that she had apparently been involved in dealing with the situation the previous night and the police, we expected some understanding of what had happened. Instead, when explaining our experience, we felt that our account was repeatedly questioned, which was particularly frustrating given what we had already been told by both security and reception.
We were offered a refund for the final night which we did nto receive yet , which we appreciated as we had left early. However, we also felt that some consideration should have been given for the night we had spent dealing with the disturbance and the resulting lack of sleep. We were told that this was not possible and that the manager could not control who stayed at the park or the noise they caused.
We completely understand that a holiday park cannot control every guest or guarantee that every visitor will behave perfectly. However, what disappointed us most was the apparent lack of effective action once multiple complaints had been made. We were told that the group would be removed, yet they remained on site and the disruption continued.
Overall, this was easily the worst camping/holiday park experience we have ever had. What is marketed as a family-friendly holiday park felt, during our stay, more like a music festival. There was excessive noise, people running around late at night, people repeatedly urinating behind our pod, police attendance and very little opportunity to actually relax or sleep.
It's a real shame because the park itself is pleasant, the pod was nice and the majority of the staff were lovely. Unfortunately, the experience was completely ruined by the behaviour of other guests and, more importantly, how the situation was handled.
We would not return and, based on our experience, would struggle to recommend this park to families looking for a quiet and relaxing break.
Recommend to friends Visit again