Away Resorts Reviews 

Just back from Clumber lodges, had a perfect stay.
Lodge was as described, clean, well presented in great location. Lodge kitchen was well equipped and also clean. Site is very well maintained and tidy, with good walks and activities locally. Staff (especially Millie and Mathew) went above and beyond to help us look round the site to choose our next lodge for next break in a few weeks, now booked in and looking forward to our next trip.

Unfortunately I have tried to contact Sandy Balls and Away Resorts multiple times now and no response. So disappointed in the customer service team so here is my review….

We decided to take the whole family to Sandy Balls to celebrate my father in law turning 70. At the time of booking, we specifically requested that our two caravans be located next to each other due to the needs of our party, which included elderly relatives and very young children. We were reassured that this arrangement would be guaranteed. However, upon arrival and check-in, we were informed that this was not the case. The caravans were situated in completely different areas of the site, which was both inconvenient and extremely disappointing.
To make matters worse, one of our caravans was located adjacent to what appeared to be a hen party occupying approximately six neighbouring caravans. We find it difficult to understand why this group booking appeared to have been prioritised over our family request, which had been clearly highlighted at the time of booking due to the needs of both young children and elderly relatives. The excessive noise throughout the stay was unacceptable, particularly for a resort that markets itself as family-friendly.
Unfortunately, the issues continued throughout our stay. In one caravan, both toilets stopped working. Following the instructions provided at check-in, we reported the issue using the telephone number supplied. We left the caravan and later returned to find that only one toilet had been repaired. We attempted to contact the number several times that evening, but no one answered.
The following day, we visited reception to report the issue again and were assured that someone would attend to it. However, no one came. We returned to reception once more before the issue was finally resolved on Sunday evening — the night before our departure.
In the second caravan included in our booking, the dishwasher was also not functioning. This issue was similarly reported, yet no one attended to repair it during our stay.
During our visit, we spoke with the duty manager (who I believed was called Kayleigh), at reception regarding all of the above concerns. She listened to our complaints and reassured us that she would contact us to discuss compensation. Regrettably, despite several follow-up phone calls and messages left with different members of staff requesting a return call from Kayleigh we have still received no communication. Since then I have tried to contact HQ multiple times and no one has bothered to respond.
I am extremely disappointed by both the experience during our stay and the complete lack of follow-up afterwards. This trip was intended to celebrate a significant family milestone, yet it was overshadowed by stress, disruption, and poor customer service. Our elderly parents were particularly upset and distressed by the ongoing toilet issues, which affected the enjoyment of the entire weekend. Additionally, the noise levels from the neighbouring group made it difficult for our children to sleep.
The lack of communication, care, and responsiveness from both the on-site management and maintenance teams has been wholly unacceptable. Do not waste your money coming here.

Stayed at St Helens on the IOW before and doesn’t disappoint!
Nikki and her team make you feel so welcome 🤗 Immaculate grounds and accommodation was spot on!
Cannot fault the professional hospitality and enjoyed every minute will definitely be returning! Thank you 🙏

We booked a stay for just over £200 only to check back shortly after to see that it was then £150. when we raised this with them the staff were defensive and unhelpful, disappointing not so much the price change but how it was handled. Staff were just a little rude and abrupt. There were slightly better caravans available empty and were in line with the price we paid, I didn't think that was too much to ask.

this review is for Paige who works in hertfordshire and picked up the call to the central line, I asked to be connected to guest services in Mill Rythe as there was no direct number, she asked what the call was about and I had explained that we were delayed with check in as the accomodation was not cleaned when we arrived. She was adamant not to connect me through and said better if I walk to the guest services myself, I had kids with me so if i could speak via phone instead of wasting time walking there , in addition to the inconvenience we were put in. I asked Paige can you tell them then if they can call us if we can head back and check in, and she said they will
be ready at 4pm. I said our check in time was 2:30pm. she said yes but it does not matter if the park is busy. very unhelpful Paige. you should maybe do another training with the resort how to handle customer service

We stayed at Barmouth Bay following our wedding and the staff went above and beyond, upgrading our accommodation for free and leaving a card and champagne for us to enjoy on arrival, which was a late check in and easy to do.
Accommodation was beautiful and our request to have a caravan close to beach access was noted, meaning it was only a minute walk to get there. Highly recommend and already booked our next stay there!

Caravan rotten. Despite there being a delay in check in (after advertised check in time-not great after a long journey) apparently the delay was due to 'final checks' been done by housekeeping manager. Not sure what checks these were as caravan rotten.
Carpets filthy and feet ended up black after walking inside and dust everywhere. Wallpaper had been ripped off in twin room.
No towels for hot tub use.
Half bottle of wine left in fridge and microwave utensils/pots ect unclean. Can't eat in the caravan due to cleanliness of kitchen- so having to eat out daily which will cost a fortune. This was after paying for self catering and hoping to cook in caravan.
Bathroom moudy.
Fire doesn’t work
No parking by caravan either.
Tired caravan with damaged fittings. Rusty radiators and skirting rotten.
Limited activities bookable, only swimming. Dispute it being easter holidays.
Reported all issues via app during stay but no response. Shocking customer care. Will stick to parkdean or haven- at least then the caravan is clean and we can use the kitchen! And at least there would be stuff to do!

Our stay at Tattershall Lakes Country Park was really disappointing and not good value for money.
We paid £150 for passes, which essentially only give access to the bars, arcade, and restaurants—but almost everything else costs extra. The activities are basic and significantly overpriced. For example, the zip wire was £24 and very small for the price, and bike hire was £10 per hour. There are plenty of options for younger children, but very little to keep teenagers entertained.
The food was another letdown. Prices are high, but the quality doesn’t match. I paid £26 for a steak that was mostly fat and inedible, served with stale chips.
Overall, it felt like we were constantly being charged more for very little in return. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to expectations and we wouldn’t return.

We stopped in a caravan and found there wasn't enough room in the beds. They were only 18 in wide not enough room for adults to sleep in. Barely enough room for kids. No room between them to stand up and nowhere to get changed in the rooms, the doorways to get in and out of each of the rooms are very narrow and the bathroom had a bath and a shower in it with no room to walk alongside the bath. and once they got your email on the day that we left I've already had three emails from them you can't get more ridiculous than that

We’re due to stay at St Ives Bay next week (Monday to Friday), and a week before arrival we called to extend our booking to Saturday–Saturday — not to change it, just to add two nights before and one night after.

Their website clearly shows availability for the exact dates we requested, so this should have been a straightforward amendment. Instead, we were told this wasn’t possible. The only option offered was to cancel our existing booking (with a full cancellation charge) and then rebook the same stay at full price — effectively paying for the holiday twice.

This makes no practical or commercial sense. Availability exists, we’re willing to pay for the additional nights, and yet the system or policy prevents even a basic extension.

It’s incredibly frustrating, especially so close to our stay, and it gives the impression that customer flexibility and common-sense solutions aren’t a priority. At the very least, policies like this should be reviewed — because from a customer perspective, it feels like being penalised for trying to spend more with you.

Hoping the actual stay is better than the booking experience, but this has definitely left a poor first impression.

Super helpful staff, clean, comfortable and spacious caravan. Lovely surroundings. Lidl only 500m away

Not sure what is happening with this company. They advertise themselves as a premium holiday company with excellent entertainment but the reality is quite grim.

We recently stayed at Ratalick and encountered so many issues that we came home early. Our electric in the "premium" accommodation failed and wasn't fixed. There was absolutely zero entertainment l - despite it being half term and the app listing entertainment.

But honestly the worst thing was the pool. It was absolutely filthy. The changing rooms were left soaking wet for the whole 3 days that we were there. It was disgusting. Impossible to get changed into clean/dry clothes. Dirty water all over the floor. The pool itself was visible gross with hair and dirt floating over the top. And the smell was unbelievable - the changing rooms smelt like the most disgusting toilet accident - and not just a one off - the whole three days smelt like you were swimming/changing inside a dirty nappy.

It's such a shame because many things were nice. But the basics were absolutely gross and not compatible with having a good time.

My holiday was last week and my complaint has been completely ignored. I know it's been received since I phoned to check - but the lady told me that it will take time to receive a reply since "we get so many emails". One week later and they have not replied. Hence this review.

We have recently arrived home from a two night stay at Mersea, Colchester with Away Resorts and it was the most disgustingly caravan I have ever seen. On arrival the dust was thick underneath the dining table- in fact it looked like it hadn’t been hoovered in weeks. There was hair and other debris on the plastic trunking that separated the kitchen flooring and carpet. To add to this, there was a dirty tissue in one of the drawers in the main bedroom and a piece of hard pasta literally stuck to the side cabinet. The bed linen was stained throughout the caravan, so this made for an extremely uncomfortable and unpleasant stay. Needless to say, we will not be booking with them again. The cleaning standards are extremely poor for very basic, everyday tasks.

Absolute dump and the caravan is filthy dirty and disgusting.
We complained about the caravan and we were only offered a basic caravan with a bedroom less and without sea views, disgusting service. We’ve been coming here for over 25 years but won’t be coming back again. The caravan was disgustingly dirty with loads of damage and you can even see daylight through the door. NEVER AGAIN.

I had to cancel a holiday in Dec 25, but was persuaded to move the holiday date, which i did to this Yr.
However due to health problems, I decided to cancel altogether in good time so the chalet could be rebooked. Because of updating my booking, and now trying to cancel, plus being on the phone for ever, ive still had no refund, I cancelled early Feb, the holiday is for end of May, the holiday was pd for in full, less the deposits which they keep, im owed a substantial sum, promises of a phone call email are not forthcoming, nor will my deposit if they can get away with it. Don't be fooled by the ads, its certainly not all its cracked up to be, especially the disability chalets.
Fingers crossed I get my refund .

Just got back from mill rythe coastal village, nice break, but wanted to mention pool area, riddled with rust flooring covered in mould, flooring sticking up, definitely needs health and safety check up! It’s a shame as it’s a nice place too stay.

Just back from mill rythe, been here many times , overall nice site lovely bar, burst of blue caravan very very hard sofas, but our main concern was the pool area everywhere you looked there was rust and in large quantities, flooring all sticking up, it’s a accident waiting to happen, definitely need health and safety to check this out.

We had a pre Christmas weekend away booked at The Lakes Rookley Isle of Wight. Sadly the caravan was filthy dirty, mouldy, and smelt vile of wet dog.
The hot tub had an excessive amount of chemicals in it which stripped the colour from my children’s swimwear which meant we couldn’t use it! I wrote a polite email with feedback to guest services, had to wait nearly 2 weeks for a reply just to be offered a 20% discount on a future stay!! There’s absolutely no chance we’ll be staying again! Pretty disappointed by the whole experience! Would definitely not recommend.

We arrived at Sandy Balls Holiday Village in the New Forest for a family holiday, returning to a site I have visited regularly for over 40 years. Regrettably, the standard of our stay was far below expectations.

Upon arrival, we were informed that the swimming pool was closed. While not critical on its own, this information was not disclosed at the time of booking or before arrival. Our first evening meal at the Woodside restaurant revealed clear operational issues: one meal was sent back three times, with staff attributing the problem to a “new chef,” and another dish arrived missing advertised ingredients.

The following morning, the entire site experienced a power outage, resulting in the closure of all facilities, including the shop and arcades. No prior warning or explanation was provided.

Further issues occurred within our accommodation. A blocked toilet was dealt with using an unhygienic method that resulted in waste spilling onto the bathroom floor, which was not properly cleaned. After power was restored, we returned to find the dishwasher had flooded the floor and all sinks were blocked.

After decades of loyalty, it is extremely disappointing to see how far standards have declined under Away Resorts’ management. The site clearly requires urgent review of its maintenance procedures, staff training, and customer communication. We will not be returning and would advise others to consider alternative resorts.

New Year. What an absolute disgrace! Arrived 29.12 for 4 nights in a private caravan and paid an extra £150 for the use of facilities. I asked on the first day what was on, told there was a leaflet that i could take a photo of, not take a copy. Took a photo of each days' activities, some were just a name, no description of what they did/were. Come New Years Eve, we arrive at the door, only to be told we need wristbands (at extra cost) a family of 2 adults and 2 children were £105.00. We knew this by asking a couple who'd bought tickets, they'd decided to go home as the entertainment was so bad. I asked where had wristbands been advertised, turns out, as the staff told us, they hadn't been, we had to guess!!
The £150 passes we'd paid for just gave access to restaurants and an arcade, nothing else as nothing else was operating. So £150 to enter restaurants and an arcade then non-advertised extra payments for a New Year night of non-descript acts that was basically in an outside area? Ridiculous. I asked to speak to a manager, but there were "none available"...........of course.
Also, as far as the site goes, roads are dangerous, not wide enough for vehicles passing, barely any footpaths, no street lighting and signs are very misleading.
My advice would be to avoid the place and go somewhere else.
Our experience - Waste of money, over-priced, disorganised and very overrated.
First time at Tattershall Lakes and most likely, the last time.