Sandylands Holiday Park

Location First of all a CHILDREN CENTRIC caravan park with the play park right next door to a stinking SLAUGHTERHOUSE!? Actually insane! The road also just to get there is a disaster. Between the slaughterhouse and the football ground with cars and large vehicles parked all along it so you can't see what's coming and massive lorries carrying animals into the slaughterhouse coming the other way just feels like a disaster waiting to happen. I know that's out of the caravan sites control but it was a big contributing factor to my thoughts on the whole holiday. Activities We thought surely some activities would be included in the price of the stay but no. Sure there's a few free ones IF you can book things out months in advance. We managed to wrangle the swimming but we were warned that because they are fully booked you should come in with your stuff for the slot, wait and see then either yes, go in or no, go back to the van. "Gold" quality We upgraded to Gold because we thought we would get Luxury. Instead the caravan (Murray Place) was mouldy in the bedrooms, the carpets were all ripped and damp underfoot, the pots and pans were dirty, the fridge stunk, the shower walls were flimsy and the front door didn't close properly with a massive gap at the top of it to let all the bugs and midges in. There wasn't even a dish rack to dry the dishes on. If that's what your "Gold" standard is like, I sincerely dread to think what the others are like. Sewage We were placed right at the back where works were being carried out to manage sewage right next to our caravan. Sure, things like that can happen and, as I said to the staff member, were out of your control but maybe a food voucher or a free activity for the child would have softened that blow but no. Asbo teens The teenagers smoking INSIDE the arcade getting "banned" then allowed back in shouting, swearing and being aggressive around the children was a horrendous experience too. Drunk teens were running around the site in a group shouting outside and throwing things at caravans. Where was this supposed security??? Disgusting Toilets Lastly the fly ridden toilets in the main building (arcade, shows, restaurant) 🤢 quite possibly the worst toilets I've ever seen and I've been to festivals. Pee all over the floor and used toilet roll everywhere. An hour after reporting it it was still there. Very disappointed. Don't think I'll be back here any time soon. I hope they fix the issues and strive to do better but judging by these reviews I sincerely doubt it.

· via Google

This park is the worst we have visited. Last month we stayed at tummel valley which was fantastic. Sandylands is built next to a meat processing plant along side a railway line with no bridge access to the beach. The park is run down, it had security on the clubhouse door Friday evening and it does not give a family friendly vibe at all. Our caravan was fine. We did give it a clean but compared to some of the stories it was ok. We stayed offsite as much as we could. For the prices Parkdean charge they need to do some serious reinvestment. On the whole my advice would be to look elsewhere.

· via Google

I booked over a year ago for a few days away before my sons 18th. When I booked i saw it had a veranda so booked that one because there was going to be a family of 8 and we enjoy sitting outside. Got here only to be told that they updated there website this year and you now have to add a veranda on as an extra even when I showed the one that I booked got told that's only if I went onto the new website and added it. (I BOOKED LAST JULY). I have been a few times and I enjoy it cause its less chaos than craig tara but least u get what u pay for there. This will be the LAST time here because it's just ruined the whole week so now we all have to leave the park so we can all sit in the sun together. You would think the fact I booked last July on a caravan with a veranda and they were changing there policy that they would let you know before you have arrived because I would have paid the extra

· via Google

We moved our booking which was originally at wemmys bay to sandylands last minute as we weren't aware of the steep incline/descent into the wemmys bay park and with a toddler it wasn't feasible. On transferring the booking we payed an additional £150 upgrade fee into what should have been a gold standard caravan, however, I wouldn't of put my dog in it. If the caravan we received is what parkdean class as gold standard it makes me dread to think what a bronze caravan would have been like if we had kept the original booking at wemmys bay. The "gold" caravan at sandylands smelt damp, the caravan door didn't pull to completely at the bottom even when it was locked, the lino in the hallway was ripped and in places didn't even sit in the floor trim, the master bedroom bedroom wardrobe was water damaged at the bottom which made it awkward to open and close without the fear of breaking anything, no instructions on how to actually operate the boiler to put the heating on so it was just guess work, the smoke alarm was constantly beeping the entire time we were there because the batteries hadn't been replaced, only some of the blinds throughout the caravan had the wall fixtures to prevent child strangulation, the rest had tags about strangulation safety on them to cover their arse and the kitchen cabinet coverings were peeling off so everytime you opened a drawer etc you again were scared youd damage something! The list goes on... The staff i cannot fault at sandylands, any staff we spoke to were polite and friendly. We didn't complain about the caravan as we were told at the time of transferring our booking that this was the last available caravan on site as they were then fully booked. We had a park dean holiday booked for Devon in August which when we got home we have immediately cancelled just from the experience at sandylands and what parkdeans view of a gold standard is. I won't look to book with parkdean again just based off this visit alone. We didn't expect the world, however, when advertised as a gold standard and paying for that you at least expect it to be in good order, well kept and somewhat higher quality. We ended up checking out day esrlier than planned as we didnt want to be there any longer. We voiced our issues when checking out but never got an apology or nothing which would have been somewhat appreciated!

· via Google