Derbyshire
Matlock Alsop-le-Dale
Ashbourne
Derbyshire Campsites POI File for Garmin GPS
GPS Data has not been tested. Use at your own risk.
Darwin Forest Country Park,
Darley Moor,
Two Dales,
Nr Matlock,
Derbyshire.
Latitude: 53°10'56.10"N
Longitude: 1°33'0.83"W
GPS Data from Google earth and has not been verified. Use at your own risk.
Easy
to reach, off M1 Junction 29, onto A617 towards Chesterfield. Onto A619
and left onto A632. Follow that road for about 4 miles onto B5057. Site
is situated on the right about 5 miles further.
Individual hard standing pitches separated by trees set in a pine forest. Small swimming pool on site (chargeable) as well as a pub serving meals (although can't vouch for either because we didn't try them out) and small supermarket. Good dog walk although got a bit muddy at times and look out for the rabbits. Toilet block clean and plenty of loos available.
Pine
lodges also available to hire. Close to Bakewell but avoid the town
at weekends if possible, very bad for parking. Also close to Matlock
and Chesterfield.
overall view - quite expensive but I would go again, good level pitches and plenty of places nearby to visit
Sent in by Julie Bingham
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Rivendale Caravan and Leisure Park,
Buxton Road,
Alsop-le-Dale,
Ashbourne,
Derbyshire.
Latitude: 53° 6'22.25"N
Longitude: 1°45'36.15"W
GPS Data from Google earth and has not been verified. Use at your own risk.
Last Bank Holiday a group of us stayed at the Rivendale campsite in
Alsop-le-Dale, in the Peak District. The countryside is absoultely beautiful
and the campisite is well placed amongst quaint villages with lovely
little
pubs and brilliant walks. It's also excellent for mountain bikers too.
The site itself was very new, with new stone built facilities including
a great pub with a welcoming fireplace, a reception, a shop and a tearoom.
Which
unfortuantely happened to be closed when we needed it for elevensies.
What's more, there were no proper toilets for campers in the 'spare
field', and the pub loos which we could use shut at 11.30pm! We could
have had a key for the shower blocks for £5! - Not good. I'm sure this
is a temporary measure until they build the rest of the site. Though
things could have been better, Rivendale certainly has the potential
of a really great site.
Rivendale Caravan and Leisure Park
AUG 2003
Beautiful setting - maybe wonderful in a few years!
Toilet block still requires key at £5.
Pot washing was dirty and inadequate - wooden draining boards etc
Avoid overflow field - no facilities - 15min walk to toilets etc.
Shop remained closed til 9am and shut at 5pm .
Little info given by staff.
Very close to tissington trail tho.
Noisiest site I,ve been on.
Sent in by Louise
Callow Top Holiday Park,
Buxton Rd,
Sandybrook,
Ashbourne,
Derby,
DE6 2AQ
Tel: +44 (0)1335 344020
Latitude: 53° 1'35.70"N
Longitude: 1°44'47.39"W
GPS Data from Google earth and has not been verified. Use at your own risk.
This was a nice campsite with good facilities (especially the swimming
pool).
Unfortunately, our stay was ruined by the 'gentleman' who was in charge
of the campsite who took it upon himself to embarrass me, my wife, and
our four children by shouting at us in front of everyone at the poolside,
implying that we had let our dogs suffer in his precious little car
park - which was not the case at all. I was holding my baby daughter
at the time his tirade started and when I asked if he would wait a moment
while my wife got out of the pool, he just told me to give 'it' to someone
else so I could come and move the car (which incidentally had been parked
perfectly correctly with the permission of the owner of the site, in
the shade so that our two dogs would be OK).
I would heatily recommend this campsite to anyone with children, but
just watch out for the miserable old sod who runs the car park.
Sent in by Richard
Callow Top Holiday Park,
Buxton Rd,
Sandybrook,
Ashbourne,
Derby,
DE6 2AQ
Tel: +44 (0)1335 344020
Visited 25th May 2003
Latitude: 53° 1'35.70"N
Longitude: 1°44'47.39"W
GPS Data from Google earth and has not been verified. Use at your own risk.
This
was a nice and generally clean site. All the facilliteis where clean
and tidy, which is good considering the site was full during much of
our stay.
The site is split into 6 fields and a rally field. Field 1 is for static Vans, 2 , 3, 4, 5 and 6 for Tents and caravans. We camped on field 4. This seemed the best for us as it wasn't too crowded, the pitches around the outside of a big field with plenty of space in the middle for people to play.
We
had had lots of rain in the week before we arrived field 4 was OK, but
the entrance to and some of the pitches on field 6 looked a Wet and
Muddy, so if its wet avoid field 6 if you can ( this may be a bit unfair
as we had had a week of heavy rain, but thought it worth a mention)
The
play ground for the kids was good and it was always full. so if you
have children they wont have any problems finding friends to play with.
The wether was really good so the kids made full use of a really good
outdoor pool.
The Pub on site serves food, cooked to order, we had a steak that was good. They also brew there own bitter wich was really good.
You need 20p for the showers, that lasts about 4 mins. They were clean and depending how early you had one quite hot.
Facillites include.
- Pub, which served bitter they brew themselves
- Pool
- tea shop / pool room
- pot washing sinks
- toilets and wash basins
- showers
- Chemical disposal
The Site is handy for a gate way to the rest of derbyshire, the tissington trail runs along the bottom of the campsite and dove dale is within walking distance if your feeling adventerous, or 10 mins in the car if not :-)
Sent in by Webmaster
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Highfield’s Farm Caravan and Camping Site
Fenny Bentley
Near Ashbourne
South Derbyshire
Latitude: 53° 3'19.94"N
Longitude: 1°44'53.22"W
GPS Data from Google earth and has not been verified. Use at your own risk.
As with every site they have their ups and downs; perhaps the standards are so high we become to expect.
The site itself is fine, but I question the ethics of the site owners Geoff & Irene Redfern, and their son Mark and their daughter in-law Melissa and their children Lauren & Shaun.
Like any campsite they need rules because of visitors abusing the easy availability. For example hot water for washing pots… you need 20p for the privilege.
Just a querky little niggle but enough for you to open your eyes to other rules they have in place. They have a beautiful swimming pool and the owner duly reminds the queue that there is no jumping or diving. The moment the doors open the owner trundles back to the office. Any subsequent swimmer isn’t given the rules of no jumping or diving so they start to do these very things. “Daddy, why are those children jumping into the pool?” How can you answer to your kids when the rules aren’t policed properly.
By the way NO BALL GAMES… Or so the signs say. How can you have a large field and not expect adults and children to start playing games with footballs and cricket balls etc? “Daddy the staff have just told me off for playing with a ball,” said my child. As the camp filled everyone was playing and more to the point with football nets! Why suddenly was their rule not policed again?
Hey I’m all for rules but please police them so everyone is told the same story.
July 9th and 10th 2005 – the hottest days of the year so far. Our children helped with a little ingenuity (hot tent peg through the screw in top of a cola bottle) chose to start squirting water to cool down. Give it half an hour I thought and the game would wear thin and they’d be off to find something else to do. But the keen staff were all too evident to say to the children I’m sorry you can’t use the water for that game. Kiljoys or what?
Do you know the ticket they give you to put on your tent or car interior mirror? Well there are a few more rules. “Anyone who uses a ground sheet must lift it up everyday to avoid the grass turning yellow!” …No joke... Well in all my years!
I did notice that on another web address they refused any comments about the site… it states… “No reviewsSorry , the management of this site have requested no reviews are published.“ Proof I may add that they are little hitler’s, thinking that their way is right1
By the way we got over the water problem by filling up our water containers a few times. Makes you feel like a naughty school boy breaking the rules.
40p for showers; apparently they don’t want the hot water to be abused; as does every other campsite that charges 20p. The money isn’t the niggle it’s the excessive stage they take the rule too.
When I complained as I left the site they pointed to a TV monitor that surveys all the activities in the swimming pool. “You see we can see if anyone is splashing,” they owner said. “So you’re suggesting that I’m lying?” said I.
Too pompous site owner and siblings… Site good.
Sent in By Phil Booker
Highfield’s Farm Caravan and Camping Site
Fenny Bentley
Near Ashbourne
South Derbyshire
Latitude: 53° 3'19.94"N
Longitude: 1°44'53.22"W
GPS Data from Google earth and has not been verified. Use at your own risk.
Firstly the site is situated in a lovely area of the Derbyshire Peak District, within easy reach of Ashbourne and picturesque Dovedale with its pretty river and circular walks. The site itself is lovely, nice play area for the kids, a shop, takeaway cafe, swimming pool and easy access to the Tissington Trail.
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We stayed last weekend, 13-15th July 2006 and our booking consisted of 9 tents and a motor home. The majority of our party included at least one child and to begin with things seemed ok, even though they seemed very strict about where the tents could be put - we even had to move one after it was erected because it was a couple of feet outside it's allotted area, even though we were all together and we didn't mind. Friday night started with a barbie and a few drinks, card games outside in the sunshine then later by torchlight. At 11pm the rules ask people to keep noise to a minimum. Admittedly we had a small stereo on, at quite a low volume and we were asked rather aggressively to turn it down, which we did. 20 minutes later the 'security' came back and told us off like naughty children once again. Despite it being a lovely warm evening and the children being happy to sit outside with us playing and chatting we thought it was best to go to bed. Some of our party retired to one of the tents and were quite surprised to see 'Crocodile Dundee' as we named him opening the tent and walking straight in and telling them "That's it you've won the jackpot now, you're all being thrown off in the morning". If we were a group of rowdy teenagers or causing a nuisance then it would be understandable but to treat a group of families with an average age of around 38 like juvenile delinquents was totally unacceptable and unnecessary, not to mention the security man walking into somebody's tent unannounced or uninvited!
On Saturday morning we pretty much forgot about our impending eviction, the neighbours were all saying we'd done nothing wrong and hadn't disturbed anybody, even though they'd got 2 babies in their tent. We went out for the day and had a lovely time playing about in the river at Dovedale then returned for a barbie in the afternoon.
Saturday night we had a few drinks and one of our talented campers got the acoustic guitar out for a sing-along, other campers came over to join in with the lovely music until our enforced curfew. At 11pm on the dot the guitar was put away and we quietened down, the kids were happy playing and being allowed to stay up late. At 11.30pm the campsite owner came across and said we could stay out as late as we liked, providing we were quiet. Shortly afterwards he came running up accusing one of the twelve year old girls of "effing and jeffing." He said she had to leave the campsite, we are 100% sure it wasn't her swearing, there were loads of other kids knocking about. After her irate mother told him in no uncertain terms not to accuse her daughter he went away with his tail between his legs.
Sunday morning and at 08.30 the owner came across to one of the tents and said "I want you lot packed up and off the field by 9.30 or I'm calling the Police". I was the actual organiser of the trip but he didn't bother to tell me or explain his reasons (we were leaving that morning anyway so why bother?) We got up and started making breakfast etc. At 09.30 on the dot the owner walked onto the field accompanied by three police officers! We thought this was hilarious and totally over the top. I approached the owner and asked him what he thought he was playing at and whether it was necessary to waste the precious time of three Police officers. Then one of our other friends told the officers and owner in no uncertain terms where the problems of the weekend lay. The officers apologised for wasting our time and spoiling our weekend before they left with a very sheepish campsite owner! We packed up our tents leisurely and left at the time stipulated on our booking form, 12 noon.
The owners of this campsite aren't fit to work in the leisure industry, their people skills, common sense and tact leave a lot to be desired. They have also asked the UK Campsites website to hide reviews submitted about their campsite, I wonder why? Lovely site, but I'd advise anybody who doesn't like to go to bed when they're told to avoid it like the plague. They lost a lot of repeat business that weekend, not just from us but from a lot of other campers who were amazed at the way we were treated. The campsite was a picture as he walked on with the Police, talk about the whole world stopping to listen!
Sent in by Ian Grainger
Ashbourne Heights, formerly known as Highfields caravan park
Fenny Bentley
Near Ashbourne
South Derbyshire
Latitude: 53° 3'19.94"N
Longitude: 1°44'53.22"W
GPS Data from Google earth and has not been verified. Use at your own risk.
I have been a seasonal pitch holder at this site for the past 4 years. At the start of my caravanning days I loved it, so did my son. Working term time only I spend all school holidays and most weekends at the van. However I must state that during this season this site feels no longer a family friendly caravan park but a strict concentration camp. if you have kids this is not the site for you, staff are bossy, abrupt and rude (the manager is the only friendly one) to both adults and children. They have no time to explain to kids why rules are put into place as well as making their own rules up as they go along, like when and where you can ride a bike and having to be silent by 9pm. Also the ungodly fact that they feel that children should be in at 9pm, try telling that to a 8 year old and his mates who are all over the age of 8 during the height of the summer months! Please note that I am a responsible parent and closely supervise and monitor my son and his friends activities.
This season this site has gone really strict and the staff dont appear to enjoy their job and have real issues with customer relations, the only person who appears to be working towards customer satifaction is the manger himself. Since North Dales have taken over the site they promised to make many changes and improvments to the park, however a few bits of wood for fencing is all we have seen progress. Also on the internet they say they have a games room, this is not true the only things they have for kids is a park which you have to be off at 9.30pm or dusk which ever comes first and a swimming pool which has now been reduced to 45mins per session. It appears that campers are aloud to be as loud and unruly as they like. I am not the only person who feels like this there are many others, I along with others will be seeing our season out at this park however serious thought and concideration will be given to if we have another season here or move on to somewhere else.
Adults without children who come to this park should take into account that it is not an ADULT ONLY park, staff should also realise this!! If I were you I'd consider going to Callow Tops which is just up the road you and the kids will feel more relaxed and happy holidaying here instead of Ashbourne Heights Concentration Camp!!!
An unhappy camper!
Recieved August 2008