Reviews of Virginia Lake Caravan Park, St John's Fen End
Review by c johnson on 28th July, 2013
Add your review Date visited: 2o/7/2013
looking forward to this site by reading other reviews and what a shame found managers rude and not pleasant.we had barking dogs all night. couldn't walk round fishing lake it was cut off. and don't buy the ice cream unnamed brands they were £2.50 each.At night site is locked wasn't offerd a key for gate, opened at 8 in morning bad news if you need to get off site quick.And crammed in like sardines only thing site good for is if hubby likes fishing will not be going back...
Review by jo Dryland on 20th September, 2010
Add your review Date visited: 17.9.10
What a fantastic site. owners were very friendly and helpful.made us feel very welcome. toilets and showers all clean and clubhouse very nice and not too expensive like some places. have al;ready booked another weekend there and am planning on leavin van there in storage so we can visit all over the winter
Review by Robson on 1st September, 2010
Add your review Date visited: 27.08.2010
Just returned from a long weekend at Virginia Lakes, we found the owners rude and hostile. But the site itself was clean and good fishing. Shame.......( we wont be comming back.)
Review by the bryants on 21st August, 2010
Add your review Date visited: 16.08.10
we have just got back from a 3 night stay at Virginia lakes this was our first camping trip and everything about this site was absolutely brilliant. The toilets and shower blocks were spotless. The site is very secure with the gates being locked at night. The high light for us was the site having the fishing lake it was the first time for the kids and myself we all caught fish that day and its a good job my husband had been fishing before because our daughter caught a whopper. We loved the site and will definitely be going back.
Review by sue bullock on 23rd July, 2010
Add your review Date visited: 16th july 2010
i love this site we have now been many times and will be going for many more holidays there i have 6 yr old twins we go with my my sister and my brother in law my hubby goes fishing there so dont see him much or my brother in law andy and ted are very friendly at all times toilet and showers are always clean and lovely hot water at all times site is secure and u just enjoy bein there the club house is lovely and friendly my twins take there bikes and they love it they dont have a problem about there bein no play area they make there own fun all dogs a kept under control
Review by eugene weaver on 19th July, 2010
Add your review Date visited: 16. july 2010
we stayed at virginiab lakes site for 2 nights the site was clean tidy and the showers were cleaned threwout the day there is a club on site that holds bingo on sunday night there the food in the club is very good and priced right the pitches are of a good size and there are plenty of waste bins and water stand around the site the site shop bis well stocked with the main essentails as well as fishing tackle the lake is a good size think there is 32 pegs cant remember the owners and staff are very frendily and helpfull we enjoyed our stay and will return later this year all i can say is that the bad reviews did not reflect to the site we stayed on and we had our grandson with use and friend with 6yr old twins and all was good weve been to a few sites and this one is hard to beat we already booked for a week in september so cant wait
Review by Maureen Thornton - Dunning on 4th September, 2009
Add your review Date visited: 27.08.09 To 31.08.09
WE TRAVELLED A CONSIDERABLE DISTANCE FROM NORTH YORKS TO VISIT THIS SITE AND FOUND IT WONDERFUL. EVERYTHING IF NOT MARE THAN EXPECTED. WE HAVE CAMPED/CARAVANED FOR 30 YEARS ALL OVER THE CONTINENT AND WOULD STRUGGLE TO FIND A BETER MORE FRIENDLY SITE, AND WE BROUGHT OUR DOG ALONG. NO PROBLEMS THEIR. I ABSOLOUTLEY AGREE THAT THE OWNERS SHOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THERE PETS, WE ARE AND ENCOUNTERED NOTHING BUT HAPPY SMILING FACES. WILL DEFINATLEY USE AGAIN.
Review by louise - site owner on 5th July, 2009
Add your review Date visited: response to review by 'smith'
please put this comment on your web page:
Virginia lake is both a child and pet friendly site.
It is however, the responsibility of the parents to entertain and occupy their children - not the sites.
It is after all not so difficult to do, we manage to keep our children from being bored !
Likewise, it is expected that all dogs when visiting are controlled properly, kept on their leads and most importantly cleared up after. We will make no apologies for requesting that these three basic rules of responsible pet ownership are followed.
As dog owners ourselves, we feel that if we can manage to do these things, then so can others. If people refuse to do so, then instead of accusing us of being hostile to their dog, perhaps they should re-evaluate their responsibility of pet ownership.
Review by Smith on 28th May, 2009
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I have just returned from a short weekend away i have to say i would not return to this campsite, i found the owners rude and hostile.It is not a campsite for children mine were very bored and as for dogs if you own one the owners do not like them, they should really in my view not allow them.
Review by jack dray on 31st August, 2008
Add your review Date visited: 16/8/08
i have recently returned from a two week holiday at this site. i am 12 years old, this was my first camping trip i was disappointed of it.As it had no wer for kids to play and no ball games . The country walk was not more then a path round a few trees, also the park was small as was the lake. I felt ther was alot of false advertisment on the website.
Review by Kate Kellett on 7th May, 2007
Add your review Date visited: 04/05/07-07/05/07
We have just returned home from a long weekend stay at Virginia Lake and all i can say is that those people who have complained about the site must have been on a completely different site to us because it has got to be one of the most friendly camp sites i have been too. We were greeted by Andy (or Smurf as he is now known)who gave us a pick of pitches to choose from. All The staff there are extremely friendly and helpful. The club house is a great place to chill out and chat to new people including the locals and staff. We will most definately be returning in a couple of months or so. Thanks to smurf, Louise and the rest of the staff there for a great stay.
Review by Hannah Craven on 21st March, 2007
Add your review Date visited: July 06
I have to say that I think the other 'reviewers' of this campsite must have been staying in an altogether different place! My boyfriend and I had the best time at the campsite last summer. We have never fished before(or not for a number of years) and Andi could not be more helpful. We were given help and guidance on what bait to use from Colin who frequents the site and were lent a net instead of being made to buy one. All areas of the campsite including the lake were accessible and we were made to feel very much welcome right from the word go. Our pitch was ample and the use of the central BBQ was lovely and meant that you got to meet other people from all over the country. The toilets/showers were always immaculate and the water always steaming hot which is rare for a campsite. The bar was ideal, fab selection of beers etc, we had fun and again met local people who were very friendly. With Tesco just down the road and a post office around the corner you cant go wrong. I will shortly be booking again for this summer and fully expect it to be as good if not better than last year.
Review by Paul Wrightson on 18th September, 2006
Add your review Date visited: 16/09/06 to 18/09/06
Having "just called" here on our way back from Kent with our newly acquired caravan we (me the wife and 2 of our boys) were instantly struck by how friendly the owners and staff were, NOTHING was too much trouble for them, in fact they were so helpful you were lucky if you could talk to one of them for more than 10 minutes before some one else needed them and off they would trundle.
The showers, toilets etc are so clean (at any time of the day or night) you could eat in them, which in my experience of 30 years of camping is a rarity.
This site is so good we've left the caravan there and booked for the next 6 months on a permanent pitch.
Keep up the brilliant work gang and we'll see you on Friday.
Review by tanya witham on 19th August, 2006
Add your review Date visited: 50 08 06
i visitied this camp site with my family for a week . I did not find the owners very friendly towards children in that they did not even allow them to play a small ball on the grass and there was not much the children could do as there was not a lot of facillities for children . the campsite is basically just for fishing and the fisherman but in saying that the owner is very strict with the lake too as my son was threatend with being thrown in for not taking a fish out proply and allso was chased by the security man at night with a dog for a stone being thrown at night when it was another child in a white top after a heated discusstion with the security it calmed down . on the up side the toilet and bathing facillities are excellent and the bar is ok with good bingo on thursday night apart from that there is nothing in the area for about 6 mile s and i would not go back again or reccomend this camp site to families with children as the children are not really made welcome good luck if you do go
********OWNER RESPONSE********
The Witham family did indeed visit our holiday park. They arrived on Monday 7th August 2006 and not on the date your site lists. Likewise they booked for five nights and not a whole week like is claimed.
Unfortunately they arrived with the expectation to find a site that is in the heart of the Fen countryside and advertises itself with the offer of ‘peace and tranquillity in the Fens’ to have the same facilities that they are perhaps used to in Harlow, Essex.
The only facilities available to children on site (again as advertised) are the children’s play area with its swings, slide, tree house and climbing frames and the pool table and televisions in the clubhouse.
Being situated in the countryside offers many benefits and a slower pace of life.
It is also to be expected that travel may be required to visit certain type of other places whilst you are here.
Six miles travelling distance to reach any one of three towns (Wisbech, King’s Lynn and Downham Market) is far from being an excessive distance to travel.
These local towns offer full facilities to the visitor including amongst others shops, museums, swimming pools and other sport facilities, cinemas and theatres.
There are also plenty of tourist’s attractions locally (promotional leaflets of which are displayed in the clubhouse and the reception area). Which are local to the campsite The Butterfly Park, Caithness crystal, Peckover House to name just a few.
The facilities available in the immediate vicinity are excellent for a village.
Within in a 2 mile radius of the campsite is a selection of village shops, post offices, a doctor’s surgery, two playing fields, a roller skating rink, river fishing and horse riding.
In addition to all of the above there was also the weekly bingo and Saturday night entertainment that is provided throughout the summer season.
For a small campsite in the middle of the Fens there is plenty of things to do if you really want to.
The children of the Witham family were unsupervised for much of their stay.
On two occasions they were indeed reprimanded by management. Once for the handling of a fish that was being caught when a comment was made in the presence of a parent, which stated ‘how would you like to be thrown into the lake like that?’- The comment referred directly to the bad treatment of the fish.
It is not an unreasonable request to ask for respectful and careful handling of livestock.
The second occasion was when the children were in a large group with other camper’s children and large stones were being thrown at the tree house in the play area from across the site and roadway.
A site manager approached the group of children and asked them to stop throwing the stones.
All of the children denied the incident, which was witnessed by other independent visitors to the site and ran to tell their respective parents. Following a heated discussion, during which we were accused and still are being, of having ‘a security man with a big scary dog’ – we do not have a security man as claimed.
The man in question as previously stated was a site manager and the dog was not a guard dog but in fact a 14-week-old Labrador puppy.
Anyway the matter was left there with blame proportioned equally amongst all of the children.
The following day it was brought to our attention by another person staying on site that the Man (I assume his name is Mr Witham) had wanted to resolve the matter by thumping the site manager.
Physical aggression is never appropriate or legal behaviour.
Children are very welcome at our campsite – we have children ourselves.
All we ask is that they are supervised and looked after by their parents.
Unfortunately some children appear to be left to their own devices and seem to be dumped on arrival and not looked for again until it is time to leave.
This behaviour results in bored children, makes for unhappy stays and is potentially dangerous to the children’s welfares as there are roads, cars, acres of very deep water and strangers on site.
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