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Right - let the bloodbath begin.
Some of you have asked why the Family Endecay upped sticks a refused to stay at the campsite at Swallows Rest, Wyke Regis, Portland. I will now list the reasons:
1) We found the site via UKcampsite.co.uk and the Camping and Caravanning Club. It's a Certified Site which should allow a max of 6 units. In May/June time my wife revisted the reviews section and found some negativity about the site, especially the shower block situation. My father-in-law phoned to ask about the showers and was verbally assured that it would be ready by the time we came to stay. On arrival (Monday) said shower block was not ready and we were told it would be by the Wednesday. STRIKE ONE
2) Us and my in-laws were due to arrive on Monday and needed hookups. The site has 6 in total and 5 were occupied with no indication of people leaving. On speaking to the owners and having hooked our unit up we were told that if in-laws have booked they will get a hook up and would be priority over someone else arriving after them i.e. we will somehow get EIGHT units onto SIX hook ups. This is breaking the CS rules apparently. Further conversation revealed that the reason for the shortage was that they had some friends show up and they'd let them onto the site. Pretty poor all round. STRIKE TWO
3) They intended to resolve the hook up problem by doubling up in some way I didn't grasp or understand but by the time we heard that we were packing and moving to the lovely site (see other thread). Our experience suggests that had they done that there would have been tripping out all over the place. Their handyman type bloke went so far as to suggest that as it was summer no-one would be using electrical appliances much - clearly not heard of kettles or fridges then! (I overheard this whilst wife was taking kids to the bog - not a great toilet as it happened but hey!) FOUL BALL
4)In the middle of their field was a horse (stallion judging by it's tackle
) surrounded by a fence. As it turned out (and had not occured to a busy endecay putting up a Dandy tent) an electrified one. Cue small 4 year old boy, fascincated by the lovely horsey touching said fence. To quote a teary son "The fence whipped my leg *sob*" - i.e. that's where the (admittedly mild) current exited him to ground itself. Our 2 year old daughter did not repeat the issue. A lesson for my son true but - an electric fence with a horse in it in the middle of the camping field FFS! STRIKE THREE 
(Owner did say they could turn the fence off as we were almost packed but still...)
So by now all three strikes and we are hitched and off to Lyme Regis. Thank heaven we had our CCC big sites book with us so we could move.
Lastly, and this is not the fault of the campsite - portland felt a bit like a police state and the Olympics hadn't even started. Not comfortable. However, what is the fault of the owners is the following:
We were quoted £15 a night with hook up for 6 nights (2 units) and £12 for the tents due to arrive on Wednesday to Sunday, again 2 units. In all a total of £276. I believe this would be the price we would pay. But on speaking to the owners on arrival he muttered something about it being £19 a night to his wife and then higher on the Saturday for the Olympics kick off. None of which was mentioned in advance. Like I said I think they would have had to accept the £276 as they had that written in the book but I do suspect they may have tried to move the goalposts.
So my recommendation - don't go there. When we got to Rural Retreat my in-laws had already arrived and had spoken with Esther. She said that she'd taken her Mum there and did not blame us for upping and departing - a fairly damning view from a fellow professional.
Some of you have asked why the Family Endecay upped sticks a refused to stay at the campsite at Swallows Rest, Wyke Regis, Portland. I will now list the reasons:
1) We found the site via UKcampsite.co.uk and the Camping and Caravanning Club. It's a Certified Site which should allow a max of 6 units. In May/June time my wife revisted the reviews section and found some negativity about the site, especially the shower block situation. My father-in-law phoned to ask about the showers and was verbally assured that it would be ready by the time we came to stay. On arrival (Monday) said shower block was not ready and we were told it would be by the Wednesday. STRIKE ONE
2) Us and my in-laws were due to arrive on Monday and needed hookups. The site has 6 in total and 5 were occupied with no indication of people leaving. On speaking to the owners and having hooked our unit up we were told that if in-laws have booked they will get a hook up and would be priority over someone else arriving after them i.e. we will somehow get EIGHT units onto SIX hook ups. This is breaking the CS rules apparently. Further conversation revealed that the reason for the shortage was that they had some friends show up and they'd let them onto the site. Pretty poor all round. STRIKE TWO
3) They intended to resolve the hook up problem by doubling up in some way I didn't grasp or understand but by the time we heard that we were packing and moving to the lovely site (see other thread). Our experience suggests that had they done that there would have been tripping out all over the place. Their handyman type bloke went so far as to suggest that as it was summer no-one would be using electrical appliances much - clearly not heard of kettles or fridges then! (I overheard this whilst wife was taking kids to the bog - not a great toilet as it happened but hey!) FOUL BALL
4)In the middle of their field was a horse (stallion judging by it's tackle
) surrounded by a fence. As it turned out (and had not occured to a busy endecay putting up a Dandy tent) an electrified one. Cue small 4 year old boy, fascincated by the lovely horsey touching said fence. To quote a teary son "The fence whipped my leg *sob*" - i.e. that's where the (admittedly mild) current exited him to ground itself. Our 2 year old daughter did not repeat the issue. A lesson for my son true but - an electric fence with a horse in it in the middle of the camping field FFS! STRIKE THREE (Owner did say they could turn the fence off as we were almost packed but still...)So by now all three strikes and we are hitched and off to Lyme Regis. Thank heaven we had our CCC big sites book with us so we could move.
Lastly, and this is not the fault of the campsite - portland felt a bit like a police state and the Olympics hadn't even started. Not comfortable. However, what is the fault of the owners is the following:
We were quoted £15 a night with hook up for 6 nights (2 units) and £12 for the tents due to arrive on Wednesday to Sunday, again 2 units. In all a total of £276. I believe this would be the price we would pay. But on speaking to the owners on arrival he muttered something about it being £19 a night to his wife and then higher on the Saturday for the Olympics kick off. None of which was mentioned in advance. Like I said I think they would have had to accept the £276 as they had that written in the book but I do suspect they may have tried to move the goalposts.
So my recommendation - don't go there. When we got to Rural Retreat my in-laws had already arrived and had spoken with Esther. She said that she'd taken her Mum there and did not blame us for upping and departing - a fairly damning view from a fellow professional.
