Stowford Farm Meadows Reviews 24

Sorry to say this is the last time I will visit this site , started off with reception as don't get there untill 4.30 due to problem at home then given a pitch in a far field next to a hedge , went back to reception to ask to be moved and told there was only 1 other pitch available and I had 10 mins to make my mind up as she was going home , got to pitch with 1 other caravan on a 14 pitch area , asked to go on a spec pitch and was told they don't use them anymore as statics were going there but the following week many vans were pitched there ( tourers )
Site work very close constantly with no consideration for anyone that might be having a relaxing holiday , decided to come home 4 days early as the noise of the lorry's wasn't very relaxing

Pros: lovely clean site, big pitches, nice playground and entertainment. Free showers, plenty of them too. Nice clean toilets. Dog friendly. Kid friendly. Shop had so much stuff in!

Cons: Wi-Fi was expensive and barely worked. Bathroom/showers were very dark during the day.

Paid £1000 for a weeks holiday, no WiFi even though paid £15 for 7 days and would not work, spoke to reception to be told nothing to do with them call this number!
Very run down on site, the bar and restaurant horrible smell as have carpets which is no good when people have dogs!
Swimming pool shocking times kept being changed!
The park for children terrible half the equipment out of use.
Staff look miserable
Shop is like something from the 80’s
Chip shop on site only open Friday to Sunday!
No cafe on site couldn’t even get a coffee in the morning whilst children played!
Definitely will not be returning and would not waste your money!!!

Stayed for a few days as an extension to our holiday, price was extremely reasonable pitches well looked after.

Really good site.

Camping pod what a disappointment paid for two nights stayed only one night.
To many things wrong, we have been often in the past, never again

Having been to Stowford many times over the past 7 years we were very disappointed with our last visit this weekend. The site since it’s been taken over is not the same at all. Areas not kept as well and clean as they always used to be. Touring fields now full of static caravans. Minimal staff on duty. Pool bookings difficult for the indoor pool. Entertainment only on during school holiday periods whereas previously they always had local bands or singers in. Just going down hill. Very disappointing and don’t think we will be returning there now after going there many times over the years.

We have been to this site a few times over the years and it had always been lovely.
However, under new management it now seems to be focusing on making money instead of making memories.
The good points: camping field 5 was spotless and all the facilities were good.
Unfortunately the camping field location was not suitable for my wife who has mobility problems and restricted her visiting the main area containing a shop, bar, and swimming pool.
The camping pitch was quite steep with no 4g.
We spoke to a large number of staff, non of which had been there for longer than 3 weeks. Most of those we met were vague about the functionality of the site. To be fair, a majority seemed helpful, but lacked any training to give them the tools to do their job.
We ate in the bar on two different evenings with different staff running it. Although the staff tried to be helpful.
, again they lacked the training to be effective. Our food came out cold on both evenings and undercooked on one of the evenings.Many diners around us had similar experiences.
We won’t be returning.

The sad face of the demise of the traditional camping and touring park and the rise of corporate facilities serving hedge fund corporate greed.
We have been coming to the site for many years but it's now a huge building site serving the construction staff installing chalets and glamping pods sold to investors. Only field 5 is set aside for tourers but if you are disabled they couldn't have selected a worse area. It's up a hill on undulating ground. We asked the reception staff what accessible facilities or assistance was available to disabled guests and the response from the highly trained and knowledgeable staff was, 'I don't know about that sort of thing'. The pub and cafe were not open so no hot meals are provided to purchase on site. Apart from one solitary packet of bacon the shop had no other meat or dairy food to purchase, so basically guests have to go without nutritious food, unless you want to live off crisps, pot noodles and sweets the entire stay. When asked, what are guests staying on site supposed to do for food, the reply was 'I don't usually work here I only know about reception'. You pay £6 per day for Internet wifi which can only muster 2 bars of strength. The tech help number provided by SMVAST isn't answered. Stowford distance themselves from any responsibility for the Internet service but are quite happy to have their corporate logo on the internet paperwork. The noise of construction work and vehicles is constant all day, so not the idyllic quiet getaway you think you are paying for. I can't see this being an attractive proposition for any likely investors and has nothing to offer campers and tourers.

We have come back from here very disappointed. This site is way too big and commercialised. After going to our designated pitch and seeing that the previous people didn't clear their rubbish away including a full dog poo bag, I went back to reception to ask to change pitches and they were happy to accommodate that and told us a few pitches that were free so we could go and have a look. Every pitch we looked at were on a slope, rubbish on them and had a smell! After a 4 and half hour drive this was not an ideal start. The toilet and shower facilities were clean enough but the showers had hardly any pressure. After reading on their website that there was free WIFI we discovered we had to pay for it, when I went to reception to query this the lady just said it was introduced last week and they didn't know it was happening so tough basically! The signal for 4g is almost non existent. There was a bar which we a had a drink at a few times and that was nice. There was also entertainment and DJ's on which we didn't go to but with this added with the bar there were quite a few drunken arguments very late at night. Overall I would not recommend this campsite. The surrounding area is lovely and worth a visit though!

Booking is awful!! Customer service at reception is awful and rude. They are not interested in booking touring caravans any more. In fact I am at a loss as to what they are interested in.
Tried to book, but kept telling me not available when it was online and in the winter season, so I know it was available.
Not like when the family owned the site.
Have given up trying, as they are not worth the hassle. Hopefully Royale Resorts will sell the site soon and pass it onto people who can actually run a caravan site, because they can’t.

We have stayed at this campsite many times before and have always enjoyed ourselves. However, we came home after only one night as it’s gotten way too big and commercialised, having to pay extra for almost everything. They have taken on way too many pitches, with not enough facilities to accommodate. The pitches themselves are on a slope , despite using our ramps it still made sleeping difficult,
It used to be a quiet relaxing experience with friendly, helpful staff who always greeted you and showed you to your pitch, this does not happen anymore and the amount of screaming kids and drunken groups absolutely spoils the atmosphere of relaxing camping. And the WIFI was shocking, almost none existent. So we packed up and left after only one night. We won’t be returning

Nothing good about this site

- wifi is dreadful and didn’t reach my tent anyway!

- no phone signal

- whole camps downhill

- staff are rude

- nothings inclusive so you have to pay for literally everything (which isn’t even worth paying for)

- entertainment is half arsed and on a constant loop (even the kids noticed)

- toilets are shut between 12-2 (peak times!!) one day they were shut from 10am-2pm!

This place was a disappointment from the start, I wanted to go home on my 2nd day here.

Worst camp site I’ve ever been to, this is borderline fraudulent for what they charge. Absolute joke

Just returned from a week at Stowford Farm near Illfracombe and will certainly return.
Good facilities and did not feel busy or crowded despite been a very large park during the main school holidays.
We liked the fact there were 2 options of bars as do not usually use a club onsite due to loud music but the Stable bar provided a more traditional Pub type evening where we could enjoy a drink and conversation without struggling to hear what was been said.
The shower blocks were clean and close by as there are plenty of blocks spread around the different fields, they shower cubicles could be better as there was no separation to dress and poor hooks for hanging clothes to keep them dry but this was a minor issue which if resolved would make it a 5 star rating for me.
We tried the food from the chip shop, the burger van and the pizza truck, the pizza was dissapointing but the chip shop and burger van were both excellent.
I had read reviews complaining about slipping pitches and whilst our pitch did slope from back to front I was able to level our twin axle easily though the front legs were fully extended, for a grass pitch I found it perfectly acceptable, the weather was poor all week with loads of rain but we did not have any problem with mud as the fields appear to have excellent drainage.
I would recommend this site.

We have holidayed at this site for over 30 years. Recently the site has been taken over by Royal Resorts. I have to say that everything seems to have improved, although it was good to begin with. We have enjoyed the site so much we now store our caravan at Stowford and visit several times a year. The staff are friendly and helpful and the facilities are super clean. The bars and restaurants are great too, perfect for families.

Just returned from stowford farm
Well firstly Told level pitch on booking but very sloping pitch for my tent felt like I was permanently drunk climbing up it
Had the neighbours from hell screaming children all day and throughout the night finally got to sleep at three thirty then awaken at six crying again very loud drunken family from ten in the morning no phone signal rude staff in the pub came home early has I couldn’t cope felt exhausted

The site was very well maintained but the pitches weren't level meaning my campervan had to be on ramps with a load of wooden blocks to and still wasn't level.
You have to pay extra for swimming and the petting farm.
No phone signal at all so you can't book anything and no WiFi.
Dog walks were steep not suitable for small children or disabled.

Beautiful clean site with good amenities for everyone. Staff very friendly and helpful. Great to have caravan workshop on-site where we were able to book our caravan in for brake service prior to travelling home. Good location for getting out and about. Enjoyed so, much we've booked in for next year.

Really disappointed with this site. Has the potential to be nice but everything is closed, there's no WiFi or signal to be able to book tables etc so there is nowhere to sit or even try the facilities. Nothing is open on Monday or Tuesday. Treated really poorly in the bar, managed to get a table that wasn't reserved, text family to join me as they were waiting to hear if there was space, it was pouring with rain to then be told the table was booked and I would have to leave. Ended up having to return to the caravan for the night back through the rain. Massively disappointed, there is not enough facilities for the amount of guests!!!!

Stayed a few times at Stowford and I can't fault it. Its always clean and there are tonnes of things for the kids to do to keep themselves busy. Theres plentiful space for dogs too and a beautiful walk straight from the site. The pitches are big enough that we haven't felt cramped - even when we visited on the late May bank holiday which was fully booked. Highly recommend for families with kids.

We stayed the weekend before COVID restrictions were due to be lifted. We expected the shower blocks to be closed but was expecting simple facilities such as toilets and dish washing to be available.

We booked our stay around 3 days prior to arriving. The confirmation email stated that further information would be provided prior to our arrival. No such information was provided.

We arrived at the site after a long drive at around 6:30pm. We were surprised to find that reception was closed and there was nobody around. Luckily we had phoned to ask for two pitches next to each other as we were travelling as two parties. We were given the pitch numbers over the phone so were able to drive around the site and eventually find our pitches.

We were disappointed to find that no facilities were open. The bar was closed, the takeaway was about to close and there was nothing to do on site. We were even more disappointed to find that the toilets were closed along with dish washing facilities and anything that was inside. Having stayed in many campsites over the past few weeks, there is absolutely no reason this should have been the case. The only government restrictions in place were for showers to remain closed.

We paid £29 for one night in a campervan. Most sites we stay at around Devon and Cornwall charge half of this and have better facilities, even with COVID restrictions in place.

I did contact the park to share my experience and received a fairly corporate reply. They stated that the bar is open until 10pm but this was not the case for us. They also said that a screen is outside of reception showing pitch details for late arrivals but we saw no such screen.

I appreciate that these are difficult times for hospitality but a bit more customer service and maybe even a gesture of goodwill would have gone a long way.

The park did hope that my next stay would be more enjoyable but needless to say I will not be spending another £29 to find out.