Our stay at Hillhead Caravan Club site, Devon
I’m very excited to get back to blogging after what seems like a lifetime away. However, I’ve come back totally refreshed and with soooo much to share. Here’s the first instalment in my holiday round up posts – a bit of a write up about what we thought of the caravan site we stayed at in the first week of our hols.
Back in 2014 I won a competition for a seven night stay in a brand new Bailey Unicorn Cartagena at the Hillhead Caravan Club site in Devon.
Back in 2014 I won a competition for a seven night stay in a brand new Bailey Unicorn Cartagena at the Hillhead Caravan Club site in Devon.
The site is just down the road from one of our favourite places – Dartmouth – so we were very excited. It was going to be a bit strange turning up without our trusty Tin Box but we were interested to find out what the Cartagena was like. I’ll be reviewing that separately.
So, with our car rammed full of all the things we’d usually be towing behind us, we set off for Devon.
A bit about the site
Hillhead is a former commercial site that has been given new life by the Caravan Club. It has 256 pitches, toilet blocks and an entertainment complex with outdoor heated swimming pool. Add to that a wonderful location on the English Riviera and it has everything a holidaying family could possibly need – a part from guaranteed good weather, as we found out.
The site is open to members and non-members, and allows tents as well as caravans.
We had a friendly welcome from the site wardens and were given a quick tour of the caravan, which was already sited for us (oh, the luxury) not far from the pool and entertainment complex.
Pitches
Throughout the site there are a variety of different sized and shaped, grass and gravel pitches. Some would only be suitable for a smaller caravan or motorhome because of the position of the hedges and access from the roadway. However, there were some large outfits on site.
Our pitch was on a cul-de-sac so there were very few cars driving by and it felt safe to let Tin Box Tot step outside the van on her own.
We had hoped for a sea view but very few of the pitches were elevated enough to be able to see the coast and ours was sheltered by hedges.
Facilities
The site’s toilet blocks had plenty of loos and showers. There was also a laundry with washing machines, sinks and tumble dryers, family shower rooms and a dish washing area. We didn’t visit these a lot as we used the facilities in the caravan but it was clear that they were well used by other campers and did look a bit messy by the end of the day.
The social media addict in me was delighted to find out that onsite Wifi was just £10 for the week. However, coverage was limited. It worked fine at the complex but dropped out back at the caravan. Even when connected I wasn’t able to upload pictures to Instagram and Facebook.
Fun stuff for kids
Hillhead is certainly the most family-orientated Club site we have been to with nightly kids entertainment and dedicated inflatable times at the pool.
The arcade, with 2p machines, game machines and a pool table, was packed out on rainy days. When the weather picked up Tin Box Tot loved splashing about in the kids’ and main pool.
She also enjoyed the playground which had equipment suitable for toddlers right through to teens.
With two under three-year-olds whose bedtime is usually 7pm we only made it to children’s hour one evening. Tin Box Tot enjoyed watching the older children playing the party games and eventually joined in herself. After children’s hour there’s bingo or a quiz and then a different variety act each night.
Dog-friendly
Tin Box Dog had lots of sniffs around the site’s dedicated dog walk which overlooks the coastline towards Brixham. A lot of people were commenting on how picturesque it was.
The shop
The onsite shop has groceries, caravan accessories, newspapers and magazines, as well as beach and pool toys. The prices are reasonable as well. We picked up some ham for sandwiches, a cherry pie, custard, magazine for me (forgot my Kindle) and a large bottle of cola for under £10.
The bar and restaurant
The bar and restaurant were also reasonably priced. We usually barbecue when we are away in the caravan but as a treat we ate out at the restaurant one night. The menu has everything you would expect in a pub. Mr TB had a chicken tikka masala with all the trimmings, I had a huge prawn salad and TBT had a child’s spaghetti bolognese that I could have happily eaten.
Things to do in the area
The first few days of our stay in Devon were quite wet and windy so the beach days we had planned had to be put on the back burner. However, we weren’t short of things to do. Brixham is the closest town and has plenty of small attractions like the Golden Hind. We visited the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth, the Riveria International Centre wave pool in Torquay, the Mid-Devon Show in Tiverton, and picturesque Dartmouth.
Luckily the weather did pick up towards the end of our week and so we were able to make the most of being on the South Devon coast. We reached Man Sands – the closest beach – in a five minute car journey and 15 minute walk downhill from the car park.
There are more accessible beaches on the other side of Dartmouth in the south and to the north at Torquay.
Overall verdict
Hillhead is a great Club site for families with plenty to do in the local area and onsite. Have you ever visited there?
Disclosure: while we stayed at Hillhead for free after winning a competition I was not asked to write a review and all views are my own.
Disclosure: while we stayed at Hillhead for free after winning a competition I was not asked to write a review and all views are my own.
I love hearing what people think about my blog so feel free to leave a comment below and browse around. You can also find me on Bloglovin’, or follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Ha! They are family holiday essentials 🙂
Looks beautiful! But you had me at swimming pool and a nice looking playground haha.
#TriedTested
Thanks! We did have such a lovely time. I wish we could holiday all year round! X
Phew for the sun towards the end of out week. This site is definitely good for families. It's something that the Caravan Club has become much more switched on to in recent years. Thanks for holding the #MondayEscapes fort 🙂
We did a flying visit to Brixham as we have been there before. There's lots of lovely places to eat though and plenty of boat trips along the coast. If you're looking for other things to do I can definitely recommend the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth. I've got a review of that coming up later in the week. Enjoy your visit!
Such a great read! What great photos and even better memories being made, sounds like you all had a blast! Thanks for sharing! Suz x Beauisblue.com
What a lovely place to stay – glad the sun came out, especially with the site so close to the beach. I haven't camped for a long time so I hadn't realised there was quite so much laid on for kids! Thanks for linking up to #mondayescapes
This looks lovely; we're off to South Devon later this month and I haven't been down here before but I've heard amazing things about Brixham and its fish. Lovely photos
#TriedTested
Yes, I've been under the radar for a few weeks while we've been away. It was partly because I was too disorganised to schedule in some posts and partly because I knew I'd have a really poor internet connection. Anyway, it was good to have a break and I was jotting down notes the whole time. I'm back to avangence! 🙂 x
Devon is so family friendly so well worth planning a visit. We haven't stayed in a static caravan for years so they have come on a bit and can be quite luxurious. There's nothing like a bit of glamping 🙂
Ah, if only I'd known we could have met up in the poultry marquee 😉 I've got a post in the works about the show. I'll probably get to it in about December. There's so much to share from our hols x
The weather was a bit depressing to start with but really picked up. I'm kind of glad it forced us to get out and do different things though. It's a great part of the country.
Our stays overlapped by a day! And the Meeks were there too – I had no idea. I wonder if the wardens realised they were in the presence of such a fine collection of caravanning royalty? 😉
Oh I wondered where you'd had got to and there it is, you're holidaying! Looks like a lovely trip 🙂 Mim x
I've not been down to Devon before but it's on my to do list. We had our first caravan holiday this year (renting a static in France) so we might well look at more now.
Thanks for sharing your review with us on #TriedTested this week x
Ahh you came to the Mid Devon Show! We live in Tiverton and we were there too 🙂
Devon is a lovely area, I am a big fan of Brixham. The site looks lovely, and very family friendly. Thanks for linking up with #TriedTested
It sounds like you had the kind of weather on holiday that we often have on ours. Although you certainly made the most of it! We used to live in south Devon so I always enjoy reading posts about the area, really must visit again soon. #mondayescapes
We stayed at Hillhead last month. Very good site.