John Fowler, St. Ives Holiday Village

Another absolutely stunning 2 weeks in this gorgeous haven. We book to come here every year for 2 weeks and it genuinely is our little piece of heaven on Earth. We stay in a platinum lodge and every morning love seeing and feeding our squirrel visitors. The staff are absolutely amazing from the friendly shop staff to the maintenance (especially the "chalet" gent, you know who you are) from the brilliant stripy team to the swimming staff, the bar staff to the cleaners. A HUGE thank you to the amazing manager who has always made us feel welcome and like friends returning and also to the fantastic gentleman who works in the pool area, I am not sure what his name is (he said he was from near Mexico), he was there when we did the Zorbs though and we spoke to him about our twins and he was so helpful!! There was also an older lady in the pool staff who was amazing, friendly and helpful who was there last year too so also a shout out to her!! Speaking of which our twin boys have autism and they have come along leaps and bounds here, starting with just staying in our beautiful lodge to now Ryder loving the pool and Hunter asking for the entertainment every night (were amazing and patient with him coming on stage so thank you to those of the stripy team who did that). Genuinely not a single negative to say about this amazing place. It is always so clean, they make amazing social media posts which are a huge help when it comes to children with additional needs who need to know the layout of places, go above and beyond to help. The lodge is absolutely stunning and has been since 3 years ago but the team have put new carpet and more in this year which made it even more stunning!!! The whole time we were there it was so lovely and peaceful at nights where we could here the birds including owls and woodpeckers and we loved seeing the squirrels and rabbits. They have a beautiful woodland walk with a park which he absolutely loved going to daily!! Love the fact that the boys could play in front of the lodge safely as there was so much green safe space for them to run around. This is a holiday where we don't care if it rains or shines as there is so much to do from parks to the pool and water activities to the entertainment, beautiful surrounding area and so much more although I did love lounging in the sun and reading on the decking while watching the squirrels!! This is the type of place that I really could talk about for hours but if you are looking for a beautiful family park filled with things to do, stunning accommodation, amazing staff and loads of things for the kids this is the place to go!! In regards to cost after doing plenty of research it beats the other big camps by far with one costing approx. £800 for a week in a silver caravan with more of a balcony to decking whereas we paid less than £1400 for 2 weeks in a stunning huge platinum lodge. This place is our home from home and we will keep coming every year, if we could come more we would but sadly with my eldest in secondary school now it just isn't possible. Thank you so much to the manager, the stripys, bar staff, shop staff, pool staff, cleaners and maintenance for a stunning holiday and we cannot wait to see you next year!!!

Positives

Amazing Value

Friendly and helpful staff

Gorgeous and peaceful location

Perfect for exploring

Full of nature

Very clean

Beautiful accommodations

Loads of adult and children entertainment

Pool activities

Amazing for anyone with additional needs

Great shop onsite

A perfect family holiday

Safe

Stunning

Negatives

Not a single one!!

Booked a gold swiss style chalet. Furnishings were nice however there were cobwebs all around, headboards not even attached to single beds. Banister had most of the paint missing/ worn away. Hand and finger prints all over the patio doors. Broken glass in the cupboard. Blockage in the shower revealed black hair clogging the drain. No wifi in this area of the park also. Complained and the receptionist apologized and moved us to a caravan with wifi which we were happy with.

Only able to have 45 mins per swim session which has to booked the night before. We went to check out the late disco but the place was empty. Decided to have a few games of pool and was told we had approx 3 mins to finish our game as they were closing. This was at 10.30 when the disco was meant to start and run till late.

The park just seems very outdated with little to do on site especially if you have teenagers. We even came back a day early.

I have just booked in to a platinum, caravan Lodge to find when putting my clothes away to find socks and pants belonging to the previous guests , I also found colouring pencils under the table in the front room. And the smell in the caravan lodge is unpleasant this has not been cleaned at all. There was lipstick on one of the glasses and the platinum caravan lodge is very tired.

Great for a base. Close to many great places. All driving distance. And there is a bus to take you to various places.

Not the best Park. Accommodation were minimum. (We didn't even have a spatular) there were holes in doors and walls.

No little touches (lamps, cushions etc) the WIFI didn't work, the decking was tiny and the large bench just didn't go. The decking was burnt.

The site location is great for exploring Cornwall. Staff are friendly but there is not "holiday park" vibe. We came in the last week of the summer holidays, staff looked like they didn't want to be here. The 'entertainment' were repetitive. The "children's entertainment was literally one person on stage making the kids run around and dance. Same everyday. The evening entertainment were mostly one of the staff singing. When offsite entertainment came they were ok.

In-between "entertainment ' the music was just repetitive. Same every night.

There were minimal staff, ques to the bar were long, check in was slow.

They changed to "off peak" as we were there. TBH there were no difference other than the kids bingo was chargeable and they actually received prizes instead of a certificate. The kids bingo was the same every night.

Food was good but they often shut early, (the usual time was 9pm?) Yet they were shutting at 8-8.30.

Great base to explore Cornwall but definitely does not give a "holiday park vibe" ok if you just want somewhere to sleep and a pint on an evening.

The location was lovely but really outdated. The accommodation I stayed in was full of spiders and cobwebs in most of the rooms. The newly fitted bathroom was not fitted properly the toilet wobble and no coving around the pipes. the heaters was almost falling off the wall. No wi fi connection in the accommodationb i had to go up to the main reception. The swimming pool area very shabby. The woodland area was lovely the staff was lovely.

Just come back after 4 nights during half term....

Amazing... Lodge was super clean, tidy, modern... Location brilliant close to St Ives and in lovely woodland

Entertainment was great more then we expected with a daytime kids club the. Loads to do in the evenings, drinks reasonably priced at the bar... Food in the restaurant was superb we had pizza and burgers we saw the fish and chips from another table and it looked good... Big portions.

We had an awesome time and would definitely recommend and go back if we get the chance.

Awful place never stay here shocking accommodation and they are not fit for anyone to stay in , over crowded short staffed as all cleaners left 2 weeks ago General Manager at St Ives Holiday Village lied to us as we were promised a refund for our disgusting chalet and we never got it so she is a liar and can't be trusted ruined my child's holiday no memories created here just awful...If you like the smell of bleach and dog poo and the smell of smoke that's in the curtains and floor to the point it makes you physically sick

We had a weeks holiday booked at the John Fowler St Ives holiday park, and it was a nightmare from the moment we arrived. We were allocated chalet 299 which is apparently Gold standard....from the moment we opened the door our holiday went downhill. The place absolutely stank, the bedsheets were wet so we tried to dry them, to find the heating was broken. The kids mattresses had springs sticking out, we complained multiple times, and eventually had the mattresses replaced with mouldy ones (photos attached)

Then the bathroom sink leaked everywhere, so maintenance came out and said all the pipes have come off the wall, so they fixed that, we tried to locate the smell and found it was because at the back and said of the chalet/shed the earth and leaves had piled high and caused damp in the cladding, so they came and dug it all out. Great for a long term solution but for us the smell remained and was unbearable

Tried to book into the pool, it was closed everyday as no heating, tried to find another place to stay, but was impossible as no WiFi

Tried to stay in our room, but we all were covered in bites, and sick from the stench.

We left early to go home and were given a refund for the 2 days left on our holiday. No refund given for sticking us in a mouldy, damp, dirty shed. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!

if you are forced to stay in this hell hole, say hi to the man in the cookhouse, he was the only good thing about our stay, the cookhouse which is nothing to do with John Fowler is a pleasant and welcome restaurant and the staff are all fantastic

We arrived Friday night for a lovely weekend , than we were given our keys , shock horror at what we saw , never in my life have I seen anything so disgusting, the smell hit us as soon as we opened the door , it was filthy there were holes in the window and the door was rotten , what can I say about the funiture , there’s not words to describe it , reception staff not helpful they seem to think it’s a big joke , club house is tired and smells people were taping umbrellas to chairs cause roof is leaking , worst holiday I have ever been on , only words of advice I can give is DO NOT GO DISGUSTING

Stayed in silver rated chalet for four nights, thank god it was no more than that and thankfully weather was dry. It's beyond comprehension how this company can take people's money and let them stay in these rabbit hutches!! As soon as we arrived we could smell the dampness we had heater on in lounge not because it was cold but to try and eliminate the damp odour but this wasn't very successful ! The shower dripped out it did not flow I could not wash my hair I had to go to a family members home to do this ! Luckily we had that option, I didn't feel clean at all using the chalets shower. Also the hot water tank is in main bedroom the noise it made at night was awful woke us up several times, my husband turned it off in the morning and we had to boil kettle to wash up dishes. The television was the size of a laptop screen, ok you don't expect the largest tv but you do expect one that is a little larger than that !! I reported these problems to reception, the gentleman was friendly enough but I got the impression he had heard it all before and nothing would get done! Which it didn't !! We have stayed at many holiday parks over the years, we even went on budget holidays with the Sun years ago but they were all far more superior to this John Fowler site. These chalets need to be demolished as I would say they are unfit for humans to stay in even our dog was miserable and we weren't surprised, it wasn't fit for a dog !! The saving was the area is lovely, we go to Cornwall frequently during the year and stay with family and at other venues, we only stayed here as our family member was moving house. To say I am disappointed would be an understatement, but I wonder if John Fowler even take note of these reviews, I have my doubts as I've read reviews from last year which more or less say the same and yet they are still taking people's money and letting them stay in these awful decrepit places. Shame on you John a Fowler !!