The Hop Farm

Liked Easy to find, very helpful lady on checkin.

Disliked Arrived on a Sunday, the toilet/shower block was in a state... Strong smell of urine and dirty. It was cleaned the next morning and fine after that. The electric hookup pitches for tents was very cramped and everyone on top of each other. The pitch next to us had a caravan on it with an abandoned car parked next to it...

The key is to book a non electric pitch as there was loads of open fields and space. Of we stay there again that's what we would do. That would be a more positive experience.

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Liked It’s a big site if you’re off grid camping

Disliked This place promises a lot, but delivers very little. We’ve stayed at many sites across the country and unfortunately, this was probably one of the worst we’ve stayed experienced

First impressions weren’t great. Reception was dowdy, the welcome completely lacking in personality, and the so-called shop was barely worthy of the description. Sadly, things didn’t improve from there.

The river was one of the main things that attracted us, particularly as the site is advertised as having a river running through it. Technically it may do, but the main field is so far away that you realistically needed to drive to it. Definitely not the riverside camping experience the description suggests.

The shower facilities were another low point. The cubicles were postage-stamp sized, with nowhere sensible to get changed privately. You were effectively expected to shower in the tiny cubicle and then dry and get dressed in a communal changing area. Not something I’d expect from a campsite of this size.

The whole place felt sprawling, unloved, dowdy, with very little to no atmosphere.

If you’re off grid, the one positive is its sheer size. If you want to disappear into a field away from everyone, you could probably find a very isolated position and be perfectly happy, but you’d need to drive to use the facilities. We walked around the perimeter one day and found a few feasible human turds!

For us, it promised considerably more than it delivered. We left wondering how somewhere that sounded so good on paper could feel quite so disappointing in reality. No farm, no shop, no restaurant (closing down). We certainly wouldn’t return.

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Liked Nothing to dislike friendly staff lots of room clean facilities

Disliked Nothing

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From the manager: Thank you for choosing to stay with us and leaving a lovely review.
We look forward to welcoming you again.

Liked How huge the site is, pub/restaurant in walking distance.

Disliked Weeds needed cutting in field/ toilets need more fresh air and cleaned more
Often.

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From the manager: Thank you for choosing to stay with us and sharing your photos.
One of the fields has not been cut recently and due to the extreme dry conditions if cut with the tractor it would cause too much of a dust cloud.
The toilets and showers had 3 daily cleans, however in-between cleans the facilities can become messy, we do ask guests to tidy up after themselves unfortunately not everyone does this.
We look forward to welcoming you again.

Liked Location is very good, great for walks

Disliked The condition of the pitches , size of the pitches and demarcation of each pitch. Nothing better than a farmers field

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From the manager: The electric pitches are small compared to non-electric and close together, as you were on non-electric you had a lot of space.
You are the first to say we are nothing better than a farmers field however you will recommend us and visit again.
We look forward to your next visit where you can enjoy the country and river walks and the Chinese restaurant located next to the exit barrier will be open.

Liked Very nice place

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Liked Great spot right next to the river, just what we wanted so we booked again, friendly guy on reception.👍

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From the manager: Thank you for choosing to stay with us and sharing your photos.
We look forward to seeing you again.

Liked Huge site with plenty of space. Lots of room for kids to run around safely. Easy friendly check in,secure site with entry barrier. Small shop with a few essentials and sweets / ice cream.
No need to cook if you don’t want to as local takeaways deliver to the site.
The toilets, showers and washing up area were kept clean.
The main draw for us is the access to the river as we have an inflatable boat. There are wooden steps down into the water which were great for the kids. Nice shallow area by the steps which the grandchildren loved.

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From the manager: Thank you for choosing to stay with us over the weekend of the 14th August and leaving a lovely review.
We look forward to welcoming you all again.

Liked The lake

Disliked Toilets and showers absolutely horrendous some of the worst I’ve ever stayed in

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From the manager: In-between cleans the facilities can become messy, we do ask guests to tidy up after themselves unfortunately not everyone does this. The weekend you stayed we had lots of both verbal and written comments on how clean the facilities were, you must have used them each time just before being cleaned or just after some messy campers.
You must have liked the river as there are no lakes on the campsite.

Liked Lots of space, not crowded
Can launch on to the river

Disliked Cars moving at high speed through fields, all day, as for some the one toilet/shower block was a long way away - kicking up a lot of dust and grit and very worrying when there are lots of kids playing and exploring, it didn’t feel safe for them
Some noise at night, from crowds of campers
No shade in the fields
Not overall friendly or welcoming staff in reception on arrival

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: We checked in around 100 pitches the day you arrived and there is a lot of important information needing to be given especially as there is a fire and barbecue ban, this has to be explained to everyone along with hand outs being given out, if there are several pitches waiting to be checked in at the same time it is not possible to spend time with everyone engaging in conversations or friendly banter.
Guests on non-electric like yourselves choose where to stay, many fields have shade and some of these had hardly anyone camping in them the whole weekend.
When I am driving around the campsite I do stop drivers who are speeding and if they continue to drive this way showing no signs of being considerate or slowing down I do ban them for returning.
During our 10pm rounds there was no music being played and there were a couple of large groups sitting together outside talking and laughing, we went over to these asking them to keep the noise level low. Many guests had already gone to sleep for the night.
As there has been no rain for over 2 months there is a of dust on the campsite and when windy it gets blown around.