Willow Caravan Park Reviews

Good

Great site, easy to get on the bus into York just by the entrance to the caravan park. Great cafe on site for breakfast and lunch and cake! Just toilets need a little attention.

2/5

If you're staying in a caravan or camper, it will be fine. The field for the tents was okay, a bit boggy and flooded but we stayed in mid October so that can't be avoided, but the portaloo beside it was clogged and clearly hadn't been serviced in many days, and the main amenities were a good 5 minute walk away. As for service, there was none. No one was there the entire time we stayed. I tried to call the service number to ask some questions and no one picked up. Nice and close to the main town but that was really the only upside.

Good stay overall

Overall, was a good stay. Site itself is clean, facilities are clean but a few spiders in there. Our main issue was how far away the shower and toilet block is away from the tent pitches. They're at the end where the caravans are, which seems odd as a lot of caravans had their own facilities. There was a portaloo situated next to the tent pitches, which was a god send in the morning and night. Café on site was great, lovely breakfast, highly recommend! Great to have all shops near (5 min drive) the site if needed for refreshments (Tesco, B&M, restaurants). Overall, would probably stay again if we were in area.

Lovely site but needs more toilets/showers for the tent pitches.

The site is perfectly located for access to York by bus with a stop right outside. Lovely maintained clean site & the toilets/showers were clean & spacious. There is a village with shops & pubs that do food in walking distance, approx 1.5 miles. The problem is that there are only 4 showers/toilets & 2 single toilets for the whole site & they are situated at the top of the site. The site has recently upgraded to 14 electric tent pitches, in addition to approx 15 motorhome/caravan pitches & some non-electric tent pitches. The toilet & shower & wash up facilities, which are needed more by the tents, are at the opposite end of the site & a good 5-8 minute walk away. One portaloo is provided at the tent end in summer but this is not enough for the number of possible tents. In nice weather, this is not too much of a problem, but in bad weather and at night, could spoil your stay. That said, we enjoyed our stay next to the pond with the sound of the rushes & the moorhens pottering about.

Lovely, clean, quiet site

Very quiet site. We there were midweek and there were a lot of caravans which were empty but may get busy at weekends? Very convenient for visiting York - we did the park and ride but probably could have just as easily used local bus. It was a very short visit for us but great location for eating out - recommend The Parvin restaurant in Haxby. Site was clean, tidy and toilet / wash facilities were great, if a bit of a trek for tents. Wasn't sure where to pitch, despite comprehensive email guidance, but that was more my brain. Rang the number provided and lady was really helpful. Good that there was a portaloo to use near the tents but it was a little smelly! Didn't get to the on-site café but it seemed very popular. Overall, a great little site and would definitely recommend and revisit. Thank you.

Camping stay

Two night stay at Willow Park. Very quiet, everybody friendly, which is refreshing today! We had an electric pitch near the pond which was very peaceful also. No fuss at arrival time, just organise yourself where you need to be, it does what is says on the tin. Shower blocks and cafe, we didnt use the cafe, close to York, where we spent a day, either catch a bus from outside the site or easy drive as we did. Local retail park, Tesco supermarket & Wetherby Whaler a mile away. A lovely stay, adults only, which we always look for, and we will definitely return! Thank you

Our stay and what we thought

Beautiful grounds and very clean onsite café and shop, very nice, food was lovely. The gift shop sold some lovely gifts. The campsite was very compact with other campers on your doorstep and campers pitching there tent anywhere not on situated pitches The portaloo was out off order for 2 days which meant a long walk for me up to the site toilets. Need to take a torch as it's very dark at night, not very well lit up. The toilet block and showers were very nice and clean. The sink to wash your dishes was always clean. Loved it being an adult only site nice and peaceful no rowdy neighbours. Would we go again? yes we probably would.

Really enjoyed

Stayed for a couple of nights for a trip into York. Excellent location, great idea to have wet rooms for showers.

Peaceful

A beautiful and peaceful site. Well kept and very tidy. Facilities were good with lovely spacious shower rooms and places for your clothes and toiletries. Showers were warm but the flow was only slow. Pitches were flat and well maintained. We would definitely recommend the site.

Spacious and quiet

Lovely and spacious campsite, beautifully arranged and nice facilities. Only downside was other campers pitching fairly close to us, so much so we could hear them snoring all night, but I suppose that's a sign they were having a good night's sleep! Love that it was adult only - a definite plus. Would stay again.

Very nearly a 5-star review

Site is 4 miles north of York city centre - but could be a world away. Camping is set way back from a major road, noise is not a problem. The site is extremely well landscaped, everything is tidy, the on-site cafe is a new building but built on a timber frame to look like an old barn and it's very nice. Sausage and egg butty could maybe have had 2 sausages rather than one, given the length of the bun, sausage itself was the same as any cafe anywhere. Nice overall but not a level above. There was a children's play area next to the cafe, no need to pay for this as far as I could tell, though I did not look closely. Toilet / shower block is nicely presented, again in a modern barn dressed to look old. The interior is a little tired but the owners know this and have put up a sign stating that they are building new facilities. I hope the new block is further into the site, as it's the complete opposite end from the tent spaces, you have to walk past all of the caravans (with their own kitchens and toilets and showers) and past all the glamping pods, then past the cafe, in order to get to the sanitary block. However, there is a porta-loo (singular) near the tent section, so that does relieve matters somewhat. The site operates on a self check-in basis. The directions are not bad, though the site would benefit from larger signs and more of them. I was travelling with a trailer tent, I got all the way to the lodge before I realised I had gone too far, so had to un-hitch to turn around. As it happens, that track then loops back around to where you need to set up tents anyway, so the owners could simply continue to lay the rubble they were laying anyway to make it possible to make it all the way, rather than blocking the way with a traffic cone. The instructions make mention of two ponds - but these are overgrown, so they are hard to spot unless you're looking in particular for reeds rather than water. It just needs a big pointy sign showing the way and it would be fine. Nit-picks aside, I would say that overall, the campsite was clean, tidy, generally very well looked after and I would happily go again if I'm in the York area again.

Beautiful site

Beautiful scenic site with fantastic pitches. Seeing all the wildlife round the pond was lovely. Facilities were great. Check in was nice and easy and I love how you get to choose your own pitch!

Very easy going

Close to a couple villages - Wiggington and Haxby, with various pubs. Easy to walk along with dogs from the back of the site and a nice little woodland area for off lead. Portaloo by the tents, toilet shower block a max 5 minute walk and immaculate with hot water. Washing up station tidy. Nice cafe and gift shop. Didn't receive welcome email so a little uncertain where to go when we got there, but a phone call sorted us out and was told could pitch anywhere. Very laid back and had a good group of campers on site. Can hear trains in the distance but didn't bother us. In fact, have booked an extra night and am still here!

2 night staycation

Great location. Good clean shower and toilet blocks. Great cafe serving good coffee, good cakes and food. Only negative there that there is no reception, so you don't really know where you should be going and pitching up, so went to where we needed to be and asked people already set up. They just said pitch anywhere - a bit bizarre really but had a nice relaxing time. Do recommend.

Brambles overnight stay

Lovely site with plenty of room between pitches. Great location, close to bus route and easy to find. Hope to visit again soon 👏👏👏

Bird song was beautiful

Stayed two nights then booked another night as we did not want to leave. Grass pitch for tent next to a pond with rushes, moorhens and ducks. Picturesque, quiet and birdsong. Very chirpy, happy hoots of owls at night. Loo and shower block was one of the best I have used. Room to shower, unlimited time, chair provided, big enough wet room to dress in a dry area. Brilliant and very clean.

Convenient and clean

Good location and easy access to the pitch. Facilities were basic but clean. The only downsides were that there was no security (reception/gates) and the road to and from facilities was pretty muddy and messy due to the rain. Would still recommend.

Quiet location

The site is very quiet, it was unfortunate that the shop/café wasn't open. We understand that it was between Xmas and over the New Year period, but we were not told it would be shut. Also, we had to mop out the showers before and after use, which we didn't think was great.

Camping

Really lovely campsite. So clean, nice and quiet and also great toilet/ shower facilities.

Site's response

Thank you so much for you review, happy to hear you enjoyed your stay with us! We look forward to welcoming you back soon!

No complaints

Stayed 2 nights. Took loads of BBQ and snack so never tried the café but others who we spoke to recommended it. Buses are a max rate £2 into York, taxi back was £11 at 8pm, so all was cheap. Campsite was quiet, plenty of room between tents. Toilets and showers were clean.

Site's response

Thank you so much for your review, we are glad to hear you enjoyed your stay at our site! We look forward to welcoming you back! - Anja

Lovely peaceful site on outskirts of the city

This is such a great location for a camp site, only just off the ring road, so within easy reach of the Park 'n' Ride and York City Centre. The tent area is at the end of the site and is very peaceful and quiet; the lovely ponds were full of wildlife - including a family of friendly moorhens. It was a long way from the toilet and shower block though. A single portaloo was provided for campers, though unfortunately, the people camping on the electric hook-up pitches seemed to think it was for their sole use, with one family pitching their tent right up against it and claiming it for their own! This made it very awkward and embarrassing if we wanted to use it. Likewise caravanners and those on the hard standing areas hogged all the water points so we were forced to walk all the way to the main shower block to get water. The 'real' campers seem to be an afterthought - priority is given to the caravan and large tent pitches. However, the site is still good value for money, and we enjoyed the peace and quiet, walking to the nearest village pub and foraging for sloes, wild damson, hazelnuts and crab apples in the hedgerows.

Site's response

Thank you for your review and glad to hear you enjoyed your stay. Lovely to know you enjoyed the wildlife ponds and saw the Moorhen family, they seem to like to see guests when staying! Each electric point does have a water point, there would've been one alongside the electric tent pitches, I apologise if this wasn't available when you needed this. We are working on improvements for the site and we will take this feedback on board and discuss with the team. We hope to see you back on site again - Anja

Wet week

Very wet, but not the site's fault. Pitches need to be marked out, and quite a hike to toilets. Asked for an electric hook up, but could not have one for all week but the ones by our tent were not used the whole time of our stay.

Site's response

Thank you for your review. We are looking into marked pitches, this is something we can't do while the campsite is open for this season. In regards to the electric pitches, I can see on your booking it is booked as a non electric pitch and due to being full on our system for electric bookings, we wouldn't have been able to accommodate you moving to an electric pitch. In regards to the campers not using electric, some do book this area as it is a more open space and may not always use the electrics for the full duration of their stay. Thank you for your feedback and hope you come back to the site again.

Lovely and peaceful place to stay

What a gorgeous place to stay, just a stones throw away from the centre of York. Amazingly peaceful, especially considering how close you are to the city. We got an Uber to and from York, which took a while to come and collect us from the site (it seemed the driver kept collecting extra trips within the city before coming out to get us which was frustrating, but a fault with Uber, not the camp site!), so would recommend either driving or getting the bus which we were told was very close by. The staff in the café were helpful too and gave us the card for a local taxi firm which probably would have been better too. The café and gift shop are really lovely, and we had a Kinder cookie pie which was absolutely delicious! Nice coffee too. We loved looking out the front of our tent and watching the baby coots by the pond. This was probably our favourite part of our stay - the peace and quiet and nature. The shower block is a fair walk from the tent part of the site, but that's just part of camping! It took us a while to figure out how to get the best pressure out of the shower, but when we did it was fine. Despite notices in the showers apologising for low pressure, we found no issue once we got the knack! We had a wonderful time and will definitely be back :) Thank you for a lovely stay!

Site's response

Thank you so much for your review and I am really glad to hear you enjoyed your stay with us! We are glad to see you went into the café and gift shop too, the cookie pies are amazing! We look forward to welcoming you back on site soon!

Beautiful campsite

Beautiful campsite, however ruined by teenagers. We pitched up our tent in a beautiful spot, the whole area of tent pitches is lovely and we loved you can pick where you camp. However, we went out for dinner in York to come back to the site being full of rowdy teenagers, which made the rest of the night very unpleasant.

Site's response

Thank you for your review, I am sorry to hear about 'teenagers' on the site, we are an adult-only site so there shouldn't have been any under the age of 18 booked in. We have someone on-site should there have been any issues. If you had called the number we would've sent someone down to check straight away. I hope you will come back to the site, as we would love to have you back. Thank you

Great location if visiting York

Great location. Good quiet site. Having a reception/human presence to ask questions of would have been helpful. We stayed in a tent but the tent-area is such a long way from the toilet and shower facilities. This didn't make sense to me really as it is the tent campers who need those services the most. It was clean though and a nice location :) Oh, other thing to be careful about, the showers seem to be on the same water circuit as the washing up sink outside. The shower got very very hot when someone ran cold water in the outside sink. Please be aware of that, particularly if you have little ones. Aside from that (which I hope they can fix) the showers were great, decent pressure, good heat and no extra charge. Thank you for the stay, I wish you well with your site and I hope the feedback is useful to you.

Site's response

Hi Kathrin, thank you for your review and glad to hear you enjoyed your stay! Thank you for your feedback regarding the toilets being far away, we understand they are a bit of a walk. We have only just started taking on camping bookings properly as of this April, we are looking into a lot of things to make this side of the site better for the future. In regards to the shower, we are aware of some issues and are trying to fix these the best we can, it can be a long process and a difficult one due to being in a field. Please note that no younger guests under 18 "little ones" will be using the showers or facilities as we are an adult only site. We appreciate your feedback and we look forward to welcoming you back! Anja.