Johnfowlerholidays Reviews 305

Worse stay I’ve ever had with Johnfowler (Sandy Glade Holiday Park) through Hoseasons. If you want to ruin your holidays go ahead with them. I booked Easter break (it happens to be my son’s birthday too). They call it Gold Chalet (2 bedroom dirtiest small apartment). The pics uploaded by Hoseasons are not what I was given by Johnfowler (Sandy Glade HP) receptionist. No hot water, no hygiene whatsoever. Toilets / bath / carpet full of dirty hair and I had to (check out) leave one day earlier. I’ll never recommend family holidays over there. I don’t have words to express my feelings here, but hey you (Hoseasons, Johnfowler, Sandy Glade) ruined my son birthday and our family holidays.

I took my 2yr old Grandson on the Tots Break at Sandy Glade recently. It was his first time at a caravan site and we both loved it.
The children’s entertainment which mainly catering for up to 5yr olds was good fun and the team was great.
The Reception staff were really helpful and friendly as with all the staff I had interacted with.
I’d booked a Platinum plus caravan which had decking and was lovely as the weather was good and my Grandson had the freedom of being able to go outside.
To summarise we had a lovely 4 night stay and would definitely consider going again.

Stayed at the Sandy Glade holiday park near Burnham-on-Sea 10 out of 10 for staff friendliness had a fabulous weekend and hats of to Jo George Sophie and Amy at the Chefs corner cafe on site 13 of us had a roast dinner and I have to say outstanding the food was absolutely delicious freshly made and melt in the mouth best I’ve tasted I will be back thank you from Liz C

LLANRHIDIAN HOLIDAY PARK/PURPLE BADGER avoid at all costs, they DO NOT clean the soft play, resulting in a baby getting hold of dirty food left in the soft play- ball pit, which adults cannot get into. The baby in question has a milk allergy and the food left had milk in it. When reported the site manger could not care, he was the rudest man I have ever met and definitely has short man syndrome. 2 follow up complaints have been ignored and told ‘I will not be dealing with this anymore’. AVOID AND DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY

We stayed in a lodge in Ruda. We did not receive a welcome pack or there wasn't a airfryer as listed.
The decking was rotten and the guttering leaking.
Also the doors inside wouldn't stay closed and none of the tv's in the bedrooms worked.
We stayed in number 13.

We stayed at Ruda Holiday Park in August 2025 and were extremely disappointed with both the condition of the accommodation and the way our complaint was handled.

On arrival, the first caravan allocated had a dangerously soft floor which was later confirmed by maintenance as unsafe. We were moved to a second caravan, where the boiler then failed, leaving us without hot water for over 24 hours. As a result, we cut our holiday short.

Issues were raised on site at the time and we then followed up formally after leaving. Despite doing so, we received no meaningful response or resolution from John Fowler Holidays. The lack of communication and ownership after the stay was particularly frustrating.

The location itself is excellent, which made the experience all the more disappointing. Unfortunately, the accommodation standards and the way complaints are handled fell well below what we would reasonably expect, and based on this experience we would be very hesitant to use John Fowler Holidays again.

Lundy Cottage (Ruda)
We have just returned after a nice quiet stay.
It looked liked the property had all new carpets and soft furnishings,lots of the kitchen appliances looked new.
We hope to return .

at Christmas we booked a holiday at what we thought was going to be the best price to brixham south bay .retired looking after my wife on dialysis need the best price....LESS THAN A FEW DAYS LATER THEY DROP THE PRICE . gave them a call explained the situation . NOTHING THEY CAN DO.DONT GET SUCKERED IN LIKE ME THINKING CHRISTMAS DEALS ARE THE BEST . SADLY FOR ME NOT THE CASE . IN MY EXPERIENCE JUST AS GOOD TO LEAVE AS LONG AS YOU DARE....... NOT HAPPY AT THERE LACK OF UNDERSTANDING AT THIS DIFFICULT TIME IN OUR LIFE

Beautiful place but absolutely horrendous accommodation. We had a two bed chalet. When we arrived it was clear it had not been cleaned in a while since it was last used. Thankfully we always bring cleaning supplies on holiday. We found many spider and bug carcasses all around the chalet even on the kitchen counters! The bathroom sealant was full of black mould, the bathroom suite and kitchen were very dated, needed a complete overhaul. The curtains and nets didn’t even fit or properly cover the windows and the nets were cut ragged without care! Worst place I have stayed and we travel around the uk! We will return to Coombe Martin as it’s a beautiful place but will never stay with John Fowler holidays again! We ended up leaving a day early.

Was able to arrive early as accommodation had been cleaned and was ready for us. Very spacious with modern kitchen and three very good sized bedrooms, one full sized bathroom with dual ended bathtub and a smaller shower room with toilet and basin. On arrival I unpacked some food items and went to dispose of the packaging in the bins - rubbish and recycling. On opening the rubbish bin a very pungent smell of old cigarettes emitted from the bin. Phoned housekeeping and they came and replaced the bin. There were blinds up at all windows but the front door, which was fully glazed with clear glass, had the blinds removed due to previous damage. Had to request something to hang on the pole which was above the door. They bought a curtain later and hung it, it covered 75% of the door height. On unpacking our suitcases we found one of the bedside cabinet drawers had a previous guests underwear in them. Beds were comfortable. Staff were friendly. Being the holder of a Blue Badge I was able to use one of the four disabled parking bays opposite the accommodation. Two are for the bungalows adjacent to the parking bays and the other for anyone with a blue badge. They were not always empty. Further disabled parking bays close to the accommodations would be useful. Stayed here many times over the years and would come back again.

Static Caravan at Combe Martin Beach Holiday Park was disgusting. On arrival it smelt horrible. Inside was very unclean. Double bed was uncomfortable and after a couple of nights, i had pulled back the sheets to find a damp large urine stain. Mattress should of been disposed of. Lack of heating, we had to try to heat the caravan with putting the oven on. Mould in most rooms. if i could place the photos on here i would. i have how ever sent an email to the holiday park as well as the governing body for the holiday park for Health & Safety. Now awaiting for the holiday park to complete a 28 day investigation.

I would give less if i could. Stayed at Smugglers Cottage Cardigan Bay. Had 2 children under 2 with no hot water, a wasp nest in the garden, dirty hot tub, shower(cold) leaked all over the floor, toilet didnt flush, Snails crawling up the door frame inside the cottage, dirty placemats. Constant droning noise outside all night couldnt sleep so left after 2 days. a round trip of 9 hours wasted. AVOID AVOID AVOID. wish i had read the reviews beforehand.

Zoe on reception was always helpful and stripey Nathan doing the entertainment,he is always full of fun and friendly . The bar staff were lovely and the food from the takeaway was always hot with plenty of choice

So, booking process great, email communication great. Now the park.

First, 95% of the staff were great, welcoming, friendly and helpful.

Second, our "plus" caravan was very old, dated, need some tlc but was clean enough (the wood floor was dirty) I expected better to be honest.

Third, the pool complex was closed, we were offered the pool at another park 1.5 miles away, you couldn't pre book and it had a maximum capacity of 50. You can't walk as there are no paths and parking had to be paid for.
We asked for a drink from the bar as good will but John Fowler customer services refused.

Beach location is amazing.

The site just needs investment, the bars are tired, the show lounge is tired, the arcade is tired and the caravan stock is tired.
It's a shame, as the place could be amazing, will have to see what John Fowler Holidays invest in the park.

At night you could hear rodents scurrying around under the cabin. Keeping you awake at night. I did not see any bait boxes around. There was a lose floorboard and one of my guests dining chair nearly went down. Poor maintenance as kitchen doors etc weren't aligned. A knob came off one of the bedroom draws, curtain poles weren't straight. There was a stain on the ceiling around the flu, obviously there was or had been a leak. There was a screw not aligned with the door edgeing strip, luckily no one caught their feet on it. The fridge was constantly flowing with water even though it was on 3.5. We had to constantly wipe it out.
I know you get what you pay for, but a happy experience makes you want to return but I dont think so. A lick of paint and some maintenance during the two month's its closed wouldn't go a miss.

Have been staying at Ruda holiday park for over 40 years. We will forget the shambles parkdean left it in. This week beginning 15th of September we arrived to celebrate hubby's 60th birthday. Last orders 10 pm !! What a joke.Was told not many people in!! So you would rather we go back to caravan and drink our own beer!! OK will do!!!

Visited Southbay holiday park in Brixham and booked the premium plus caravan . Trust me this is no where premium plus !! It’s a bog standard caravan and extremely Small. Two bedrooms were tiny all rooms were tiny. I think John fowler is under the impression that if they give you a gift box with bits in and a tea towel with a dishwasher tablet ( no dishwasher though) that this makes it premium plus. It does not. I have had two previous premium plus caravans at waterside holiday parks and they were beautiful. This caravan was for 4 people but only 3 balcony chairs provided and no table. Lady on reception couldn’t care less and just said someone must have taken them and nothing she could do about it. Caravan had small side balcony no French doors. They really need to down grade to standard caravan. Overall a pleasant stay, bus to Brixham from site was handy but walked down most of the time as bus only every hour. Taxi back was easy and cost on average £7 so you are free to have a beer in the harbour. Would stay on site again due to close proximity to harbour but would book a cheaper caravan as premium plus a waste of money

Stayed at John Fowler Holidays - Ruda Holiday Park, Croyde Devon, with family. Stayed in a caravan which cost over £200 per night. The issues with the accommodation ranged from all round dirty, to broken stools, drawers. Tried addressing the issues at the park and following our visit, unfortunately the response was very disappointing. They blame Parkdean holidays, as they bought the site from them 6 months prior. However, inspections should be done by John Fowler to ensure the accommodation is fit for purpose and paying guests! The confirmed to me they had done inspections so by that they are aware of the condition of these caravans. A summary of the issues are as follows: -
Outside
• On arrival the key to the caravan did not work. There was wet tissues on the deck, outdoor chair with bird mess and bird mess down the window of the patio doors (inside & out). The door handle and door were in poor condition.
Kitchen
• Yellow stains to the ceiling
• Broken drawer
• Dirty utensil drawer, cooker, floor
• Fridge – dirt, hair in the fridge
• Broken footstool/stool
Lounge
• Curtains that don’t hang properly – the Accommodation Manager and ourselves tried fixing them but they would just come undone. They would not close properly
• Dirty mirror
• Settee in very bad condition and was very uncomfortable to sit on. There was hard board directly under a single cushion.
Shower Room
• We did not get an en-suite (as advertised)
• The shower room was mouldy, broken surround to shower controls and generally dirty
Bedroom/hallway & throughout
• Mould on skirting and walls
It was a very uncomfortable stay and spoilt our week away. I would never go on a holiday with John Fowler Holidays again! Total waste of money. Got loads of photos to share but unfortunately no facility on here to share them.

I was really disappointed this year we stayed with john fowler perran View. A couple of years ago. With our grandson. He rally liked cornwall. Perranporth in particular. Then this year decided to go back again as a family. Only from Monday to fri. But on the Tues we had some really suspicious Asian looking blokes 2 infact. In the chalet next to us always outside on there phone curtains kept closed. But on the Fri morn at 4.30am. There was alot of running up and down stairs, banging doors,ect next door and lots of different voices. when I looked out of the window there was a mini van with at least 12 males that I could see. All with a carrier bag of clothes. And your management tried to say they knew nothing about it when my husband commented on it. 12 men in a 2 bed chalet. And they apparently knwe nothing about it. That is the last time I will ever go to john fowler again and I will definitely not recommend especially for families 😢

Haven't even gone on the holiday yet but already experiencing poor customer service / just found out through Jen investigation the pool is closed all weekend - that being the reason we book ruda - not contacted by John fowler at all and not responding to e mails - avoid