Haven Holidays, Doniford Bay

We like haven doniford bay the entertainment staff are fantastic with the children and make us feel welcome plenty to do around the area including things close enough using the car. The chip shop on site could do with improvement need more staff as was a slow service

This weekend my husband and I, my daughter, her husband and our grandson went to Doniford bay for a long weekend booked through the Sun newspaper holidays. We were all a bit wary of what we might find as we had read previous reviews which seemed to be quite negative. On arrival we were pleasantly surprised. The site was very clean and tidy. The booking in staff very friendly and helpful. Myself and my husband had a lovely 3-bed caravan and our daughter, husband and our grandson had a really bright and cheerful 2-bed caravan. Both caravans were spotless and in a good location for the amenities on site. During the whole stay the staff were extremely friendly and especially with the children who all seemed to enjoy themselves. We had one meal in the cafe bar which was on our last evening and this was very nice and good sized portions, we were very pleasantly surprised with the cost and thought £38 for 4 adults and one child meal was very good value. We all agreed that we would definitely come back to this site.

I recently stayed at Doniford Bay with my wife and our 2 year old daughter. The caravan we stayed in was clean,tidy and did the job. The park itself is on the small side but we found this to be really useful as no where was really uncomfortably busy as larger parks are. It was easy to access the amenities. The pool was a little small and water slides were outside were not open (despite the glorious weather) but my 2 year old loved it. As it is a small site there are obviously less things to do, but I think for younger children it is fine as with larger parks the older children tend to get a bit boistrous and the younger kids get a bit overlooked. The food in the complex was fine, they do special theme nights where they do curry nights, tex mex nights etc...entertainment early evening was fine again for younger kids, my little one loving the tots disco each night. Staff were generally helpful. The beach is not really accessible and is not really suited for anything other than a nice setting (the park and beer garden overlook the sea). The park is a bit remote so a car is essential, but is a very peaceful and tranquil park and even with a 2 year old can be a relaxing one at times! The shop on site is small but caters for the essentials. There is a Co Op 2 miles away in nearby Williton and a Morrisons or Tesco in Minehead 9 miles away. There are some great things to do nearby, visit the Steam Railway and the Tropicariam (a sort of zoo, aquariam, adventure playground), also some stunning small villages Watchet, Blue Anchor, Washford. Overall great for younger kid (2-6), not so great for older children(7 plus). Friendly staff, decent food on site, clean accomodation.

We hired a private van that was very nice & clean. Now the bad bit... We only stayed for 4 out of the 7 nights, on reporting to reception we were made to feel a bit 2nd class as we hadnt booked direct. We paid over £65 for 'fun works' passes that were only asked for once - when we went to the old dirty swimming pool. The bar wasnt much better, tables were very sticky, possibly used the same cleaning cloth as on the toilet doors as they were sticky too. Restaurant staff were dozy, couldnt take orders correctly and there was a stale smell coming from the corner of the room. Our caravan was situated near the 'dog walking area', so swarms of people with their little pooches walked in the one direction for only one thing - to let their dog have a poo rite in front of our caravan. The beach, if you can call it a beach is really a stoney mud pitt, awful. I would advise anyone not to go to this site, we went to Devon Cliffs in march and it was a million times better than Doniford. We really feel like weve wasted alot of money! Needless to say, we wont be going back to dirty doniford.

Doniford Bay offers a view which can best be described as an old military camp with chalets that are more like old battered MOD accommodation - they are from the sixties, patched holes in the outside walls with dirty pink paint work (fit for demolition only) park is very tired. The dirty/smelly rock/stone area is what they consider as their beach!

The manager of the park is more interested in smoking than customer service. When carrying-out paperwork - this is something which they are unable to complete without repeated errors every time.Items missing from your itinerary - which when challenged your asked for more money, even though they are listed as part of your original agreement/purchase, and when you complain - your instantly told your NOT welcome at the park or any other of their Haven Holiday locations around the country either!

Bourne Leisure Group (who have Haven Holidays as part of their group of company's) prefer discrimination over deliberation.

I recommend you run - run in the opposite direction to Doniford Bay Holiday Park, unless of course you like dustbins!

If raining then forget this camp nothing at all to do. Firstly i booked this as read was a lot bigger than the 1 in Burnham but apart from the pool nothing included in price. Even then if you want to do water activities more money and with 2 children that's £12 a shot. They have water slides but outside so weather bad not open.

There's a crazy golf and yes more money but was water logged no1 was looking after it. There was a pool table (only 5 of each colour and baize ripped) a dart board but no darts they lost sets so won't buy any more!!??

The evening entertainment for the money we paid was awful. 3 live acts in 7 days the rest were the funstars singing and they couldn't sing! For the money you spend i would like to have thought it was being put towards entertainment but obviously wasn't.

The bar manager and entertainment manager (well i assume they are as were wearing black tea shirts) were really rude.

Small kids i guess would have fun but i have a 13 and 10 year old and nothing for them to do.

No i wouldn't recomend this camp at all.

Just returned from a holiday at Doniford Bay and the following comments are what i personally found.

The site was kept very clean

Staff were all very pleasant

Very quiet site and nothing much for adults.

I didnt think they had very good entertainment at all and the club room was half empty every night.

I found the location of the site awful a car is definately required as there is not much around at all.

I personally would not go to this site again, i like a bit more activity and like easier access to a nice beach and shops etc.

I asked the staff where the nearest supermarket was and the reply was 9 miles.

I would rather go back to Burnham on Sea, much nicer site

Having given Haven an absolute tatering for the state of Hafn Y Mor a few years ago, I must say Doniford Bay was a pleasant surprise. Nice park, usual Haven stuff, although pool a bit on the small side.

Stayed in privately owned, reasonably new caravan. Clean, tidy and good value.

Just got back from a 4 night stay in doniford bay. We stayed in a Standard Plus caravan for 6 people.3 adults. 1. Four year old, 1. Ten year old and my disabled deaf mother plus one assistants dog. On arrival we meet the man at the gate who let us in told us were to find reception. We got our keys and gate code went to the caravan which had been cleaned excellently. So over all very pleased with the staff and the hygiene of the park and caravan.

AS for days out we walked down the road for a mile to the west somerset railway to get to dunster where there's a beautiful estate. We also drove to wookey hole which is a whole day event which was fantastic and brean sands and lynmouth beautiful waterfall sites, Cheddar gorge Even the camp site had loads things to do like rock climbing, swimming, crazy golf the walk down the beach. There so much you can do in somerset you got to come back. Ate in the restaurant was clean and welcoming the staff entertainment were funny and happy. They were all very good with my mother and her assistant dog. The sites shop had all we needed it was home from home.

Even our caravan neighbour's were good people understanding we had children that went to bed early. :)

Just got back from Doniford bay, even though when I phoned I was told my holiday had been cancelled? due to the fact I hadnt confirmed I wanted entertainment passes, so at that point they re-booked my holiday and charged me £10.00 extra, because the site was fully booked? got there and it was extreamly quiet and not really anyone staying at the park, my accomodation was lovely but we were lucky to have a privatly owned caravan, there wasnt much for the children to do apart from swimming and the pool was warm but you have to pay extra for certain activities they hold in the pool, entertainment was ok for the children, but we left the nightclub around 10.30pm overall, good, but not that entertaining, would look for a park with a bit more going on next time