High Lodge Farm

A aimé Really sweet campsite. Loads of space. So quiet and peaceful. Away from the road so kids were safe to go free. Really sweet touches like a kids climbing wall, football, badminton, building blocks and hay bales to climb on, all free to use.
Loved being able to hire out a fire pit.
Staff were helpful and friendly, easy to get hold of.
Pitches are all marked off and very large. Making it very easy when you arrive.

N'a pas aimé The facilities could be better. No hot water for washing up (hot showers at an extra charge), toilets were very basic portaloos.
It was all fine and well maintained but wouldn't be ideal for a longer stay.
It was slightly tricky to find, but they were quick on the phone to offer directions. My mum used the what three words that were sent with our booking and found that easy to follow.

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A aimé Campsite has an amazing setting and views, we particularly enjoyed the sunset over Abingdon in the evenings.

The pitches are surrounded by mature woods, with a fantastic play area in the middle with hay bales, mini climbing walls and building blocks. This was great for the kids to play in view, and make friends with kids from other families too.

The facilities are basic as would be expected, but the portaloos were kept clean and well stocked with loo roll. Best of all there was a proper sink outside with hand soap!

N'a pas aimé Nothing!

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Réponse du gestionnaire : Thank you so much for picking our campsite for your break and for taking the time to leave a review - this is much appreciated.

A aimé Group camping trip, adults and children,Lovely quiet spacious site ,a back to basics ,had 6 portaloos which I was pretty worried about after reading reviews, however was pleasantly surprised they were clean & only a slight smell which is to be expected with portaloos, they had showers free if cold ,£1 for 3mins if hot, fire pit hire £5 available to purchase between 5-7pm ,wood is also available to purchase but we bought are own,you will not see anyone after these times. We will definitely return.

N'a pas aimé N/A only suggestion is you use Wheely bins for rubbish/ recycling as only 3 small tin bins and the landfill one was overflowing by the morning

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Réponse du gestionnaire : Thank you for coming to stay - your photos look wonderful. We very much appreciate you taking the time to review our campsite and we've taken on board your comments about the bins. Many thanks again.

A aimé Plenty of places to walk and enjoy the view over Abingdon, the hay bales and the two climbing walls were really nice to have.
Firepit rental and on site info was just enough. The pitch size was more than enough.

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A aimé It was quite location, some road noise but not to much

N'a pas aimé You have to pay for a shower, it says to ring on arrival, i rand both numbers and never got an answer

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Réponse du gestionnaire : Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We've recently changed our check-in system and I think you received the old information before we changed it. Apologies. We hope you visit us again one day.

A aimé Clean, peaceful, relaxed, beautiful sunset

N'a pas aimé n/a (less than full scored for wifi as I don't believe there was any, but 5G signal was good

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Réponse du gestionnaire : Thank you very much for your top score and kind words. We're delighted you enjoyed our campsite!

A aimé Lovely site. We like the low key back to nature sites. Very spacious pitches. Very flat. There's an area in the middle of the field thats a little play area for kids. We saw some red kites swooping. Toilets are clean and the outdoor showers great. Would come back.

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Réponse du gestionnaire : Thank you for your wonderful review - we really, really do appreciate it and we're delighted you enjoyed our farm.

A aimé Such an amazing place. My 5 year old son absolutely loved the play area. Great atmosphere and a well organised wild campsite. We will be definitely coming back!

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Réponse du gestionnaire : Thank you! Sometimes, it's best to keep things simple. We're delighted you enjoyed our farm and we'd love to welcome you back next year.

A aimé The moment we left.

N'a pas aimé This campsite falsely advertises on Pitchup.com.

The proximity to the Thames Path is prominently mentioned multiple times in the advert, which was the main reason we booked three nights. Only after we had paid and could no longer cancel were we informed, buried on page 4 of an email attachment (well hidden!), that there was currently no access to the path.

We came for the so-called "Walkers' paradise" listed as a feature in the advert. In reality, not only is the Thames Path inaccessible, but there are no public footpaths anywhere near the campsite. There was a map of a walk drawn the information board, supposedly signposted, but there were no signs, and either it was an extremely poor map or the route simply doesn’t exist.

We arrived as backpackers, also listed as a target group on the site, so we did not come by car. We took the train and then walked 45 minutes along a busy, noisy road ("Walkers' paradise" indeed!). When we tried to get around, we discovered there’s no bus service at weekends and no trains on Sundays. So we didn’t get around much.

The campsite itself was also quite bad.

The portable festival toilets make it feel more like "farm that wants to make more money during summer" than "camping". The grass was also almost impenetrable with our tent pegs. There is a spot to wash your dishes, though the sink water with all its cleaning chemicals is dumped straight into nature ("Wildlife haven", also a feature!).

Reception is only open from 4 to 7 PM, and that’s also where the campsite’s only electrical outlets are hidden, which were, to our delight, not working during our stay.

The "PYO sunflower field" listed in the advert was also nowhere to be found.

Would not recommend.

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Réponse du gestionnaire : Thank you for taking the time to leave a review and I'm sorry that you felt the need to rate us 1/10. For your benefit, and the benefit of everyone reading your review, we'd like to clarify a few details, particularly the claim about 'false advertising'.

The Thames Path does border High Lodge Farm, but it's not safe to direct people to the path from the farm. At no point in our listing do we state the Thames Path is accessible directly from the farm. It's quite clear from looking at the map and reading the information we supply that access is via Abingdon Bridge or Culham Lock (15 minute walk). You're the first people in four years to have raised this as an issue.

With regards to the walk, there is a beautiful dog-friendly circular loop which is laid out on the huge map by the reception hut. We find most of our customers take a photo of this and follow the well-trodden path. Again, there are beautiful walks along the Thames Path (see above).

We are a family-run pop-up campsite open for six weeks during the summer - not a year-round established campsite. You're right, the income from this campsite helps to supplement the unpredictable income generated from farming, a challenging industry to say the least.

We clearly state there is no electric hook-up at this campsite. It's a back-to-basics campsite. There's no electricity in the reception hut - it's not connected because it's not needed.

I'm sorry that you found it hard to bang in your tent pegs. There's been a lot of dry weather this year, which is why the ground is dry. Most campers find that a decent mallet usually sorts this problem out.

Our PYO Sunflower Field was just a short walk from your tent pitch - approx five minutes. We didn't advertise it to the public this year because due to the extremely dry May, June and July we've had (see point about tent pegs above) the field wasn't the blooming lovely site it usually is. That's farming - some years you get a bad crop. However, you would have been extremely welcome to enjoy it and pick some flowers, had you visited.

I'm sorry that we didn't advise you to bring a car. We're not and can't be responsible for the local bus timetables or for your decision about whether to travel by car or not. There are plenty of buses available in Abingdon Town Centre to Oxford, Didcot and beyond and taxis locally.

A aimé I liked that the pitch up field was nicely mowed, had set out organised pitches and we had the option of pitching up next to the untouched field that was adjacent to the pitch up field. There was access to very basic outdoor, yet covered hot showers, but my daughter and I opted for the cold shower to wake us up and funnily enough, there wasn’t a queue for the cold shower. I also liked the option to hire a fire pit. Very well organised campsite, looking forward to returning. Also a mini park for younger kids. Good reception on O2.

N'a pas aimé Marked out pitches were a little too close to each other meaning you could literally hear people snoring in the next pitch. Ground was especially hard and full of stones which ruined a good amount of tent pegs.

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Réponse du gestionnaire : Thank you for your review, Stephanie. We're delighted you enjoyed your stay. Duly noted about the pitches. The ground is very hard this year due to the amount of dry weather we've had. It's a bit of an issue for all campsites.