By Matthew Mulvale.
Bude is situated on the North coast of Cornwall, near the border with Devon. Widemouth Bay is a beautiful little area, just along the coast from there. The beaches are what people go there for initially, as along the small front itself there isn’t a great deal. There are a couple of shops, café’s, Fish & Chip Shop etc. However, the view and local scenery is absolutely breathtaking, and this is what draws people to the area, along with the gorgeous soft sandy acres of beach. There is a big surfing scene down there also, and we spotted loads of VW Campervans whilst on holiday back at Easter 2007.The town of Bude is about 10 minutes away by car and is a very pretty little town. Again the beach is lovely, but in Bude there is lots more to do, and many more shops adorn the little quaint streets. Bude is well worth a visit, and we’ll certainly be going there again. It would be difficult to spend a day there, as it isn’t that big, but if you’re planning to spend the day on the Beach, then Bude is ideal. It’s also very well situated for touring the North Cornish coast. Very close to Bude is Boscastle, Tintagel, Clovelly, and about 50 minutes away is Newquay. Widemouth Bay Holiday Park is owned and run by JOHN FOWLER HOLIDAYS. They’re normally associated with static caravan holidays, but a few of their sites do accept touring caravans and camping.
Firstly the view from the site is just perfect. Beautiful rolling hills with the sea in the middle. Where we were pitched, you could hear the waves crashing on the beach too. However the site is very hilly, and it could be difficult to find some flat ground on which to camp. Getting there early would be an advantage, as the flat pitches are taken up first. The site is very well laid out, and the pitches are very generously proportioned, which gives lots of space for your unit and vehicle. Electric hook up is available, but would need to be booked in peak periods.
The site is quite large, as it is home to many static homes too. There are 2 large toilet blocks, which house sinks / showers / washing up facilities etc. However, as we were holidaying at Easter, it was unbelievably busy, and we had to queue for showers and sinks. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem enough facilities there for the amount of people. Although if you camp outside of main season, this wouldn’t be a problem. The site also has an excellent shop (although closed between 1pm and 4pm – strangely !) a heated swimming pool (which wasn’t heated whilst we were there) a launderette; a games room, an excellent entertainment club, a ‘Take – Away and sit down eating area, and all the staff were all really helpful and friendly. However, we did have a few niggling problems whilst we were there. The club didn’t seem big enough for the amount of people that were staying, and was really smokey. For a non-smoker, this was really off putting, and annoying when trying to eat. Most nights we had to queue up for a seat, so in the end we stopped going ! The pool was icy cold too, and whilst we were in our Trailer Tent, the site electric went off three times in one night, (although to be fair, this wasn’t the parks fault). Also, on arrival, you are given 1 key per pitch, which allows you to get into the toilet / shower block. This was really annoying, as we kept forgetting it, and had to walk all the way back to the tent to retrieve it. Also, only one person could go to the toilet at one time, unless someone let them in. Just a small gripe really, but irritating just the same.
Other than that, we had a great time and would probably stay there again if we were down that way. However, I would prefer to camp outside of the main season. Getting to Widemouth Bay is quite simple. From the West Midlands, we took the M42, onto the M5 South to Junction 27, then follow the A39 which takes you all of the way there. I think it took us about 5 hours, but this will obviously vary, depending on where you’re driving from. The costs for camping will also vary depending on when you go. I think we paid £11 or £12 per night at Easter ‘07, which for what you get isn’t bad at all. We’ve been on sites with fewer facilities, and paid a lot more ! See the website for more details.
Details:-
Widemouth Bay Holiday Park
Near Bude – Cornwall.All details are on the website, including the e-mail address.
To book by telephone, or request a brochure; - 01271 866 766