Bank House Farm - Hulme End

[MattBW]

We spent bank holiday weekend at this campsite. Our friends highly rate it and we wanted a weekend away. We don't usually go away during school holidays or on bank hols because we prefer a quieter experience but we were prepared and ready for a noisier experience.

The site is in a lovely location, beautiful rolling hills, the Manifold Inn within 1 minute walk for food, beer and a wifi signal (phones don't work here). It is very green and lush.

It was pretty affordable and reasonably priced (2 people and 2 dogs £66 for 3 nights).

We were on the meadow field (as all the hookups were gone) next to the river it was an undulating field surround by trees. The owner and staff were incredibly friendly and pleasant and although the booking experience was a little chaotic we got there without any issue.

There didn't seem to be any defined pitches, you just pitched up where you wanted, which unfortunately meant at one point we came back to find someone had started to put a tent up right behind our van. We asked them to move.

Our first impression was it was way over sold beyond its capacity, far too over crowded. Literally barely a space between vans and caravans on the main field and tents pitched too close on the meadow field. It was definitely not compliant with fire regs as some tents were literally touching. The wardens didn't seem to take any notice of where people pitched or direct them in any way on the meadow. I realise they need to make money but as the site allows above ground fires (which is great) any fire could have spread quickly amongst the tents.

The site also only had a couple of showers, washing up facilities and a couple of toilets, which were across the road in another location. We did at least have a water point on the field. The queues for the facilities were pretty big at times which lead to taking showers at weird times to ensure you got one. Having to walk a few minutes and cross a road in the dark to go the loo in the middle of the night wasn't good either. Add in children feet away screaming all weekend night and day and we were pretty tired.

Bins were over flowing most of the weekend and never seemed to be emptied.

There was a small shop along the road by our field which was brilliant, small but very well stocked with all local produce. The guy was very friendly and helpful, and did coffee too.

I can imagine this place is beautiful when its quiet but it felt really cramped and chaotic. You couldn't even walk to the toilet (across the road) without dodging kids playing cricket across the only path etc.

That said we had a great time with our friends, it had beautiful walks nearby and the pub was good and dog friendly. We would probably come back but only when it was quiet. We can see why our friends love it, but it just needs a little bit of organisation (and safety risk assessments) to be something really special. I think we will try it when its quiet to give it another chance because we accept the weekend was something exceptional (lots of large family gatherings).