Parley Court Camping Reviews

Convenient camping

Staff were super helpful and lovely. Close distant to Bournemouth centre. Great fire pits to hire at a great price. Toilets blocked most days. Unless you don't care about noise from closer residents and the airport, then it would suit you. 6:30am and gone 10pm flights ✈️

Could be so much better with a little more effort

Simply a field adjoining the golf course. Flat and pitch where you like. Cars not allowed on field so have to carry tent and belongings from adjacent car park - quite a distance if at the other side of the field. However, there are a couple of trolleys that you can use, they're free - just don't arrive at the same time as someone else! Facilities are very basic and very dated - 3 showers, gents, ladies and a kitchen/room with two sinks. Toilets were not terrible but not the most sparkling either, ditto the basins. On site 4 days and didn't see them clean or cleaned once. There are quite a few nice "glamping" style bell tents on one side of the field, which seems to be at complete odds with the rest of the facilities. No electric socket anywhere on site - kitchen has 3 double sockets but they've been unhelpfully blanked off. So, nowhere to blow up your air bed or charge your phone. Take a battery or foot powered pump and battery packs for your phone. I had pump that plugged into car cigarette lighter, so that meant carrying them blown up across the field - quite a challenge given it was a windy day. Site is literally next door to Bournemouth airport. Flights start at 6:30 and end around 11'ish. I quite enjoyed seeing them take off but they are loud, so don't expect a lie in if you're not a heavy sleeper. Golf club had a decent bar that serves reasonably priced food. Basic menu - burgers, sarnies, jacket spuds. All this is a shame because the setting is quite nice, it just seems like it could be a lot nicer with a bit more effort and not a lot of expense. Good example would be to fit toilet roll holders to replace the broken ones and fit some shelves near the sinks so that there's somewhere to put your wash bag and hang you're towel. And, definitely, clean more often and much better.

Great place

Very friendly, great location, great host and onsite club house is great golf and fishing would come again.

Lovely campsite

Lovely campsite, everything we needed was supplied and the service provided by Kira was second to none. Anything we needed was accommodated for.

Okay for a budget site

For what you pay to camp here, I have no complaints about he facilities. They're basic, like it says on their information, but serviceable. There's showers, toilets, and a small washing up area. As long as you're not afraid of spiders and bugs, these serve their purpose well. There are various shops to stock up on supplies within a short drive as well. My only complaint about the site is that it places itself as family friendly and quiet after 10pm, but my experience is that this is not the case at all. After an influx of new arrivals on Saturday night, there was very loud shouting, laughing and music being played right across the campsite until well after midnight. Families with young children in site had absolutely no choice but to endure it, and there was seemingly not a single staff member on the site to deal with it or to enforce their policies. They shouldn't advertise themselves as a quiet campsite and family friendly until they can actually honour this, and with no staff on site, I don't know how they can.

It's okay

We got 2 tent pitches and a bell tent. The camp was not busy and the people running it where both helpful and also pretty chill. The campers where all behaving. The campsite grass is pretty good and tight, and there is no mud at all. There are taps sprinkled here and there so you don't need to cross the whole camping to get water. On the negative side there is the occasional strong smell from the water treatment plant which is pretty close. As per the listing, the airplanes are pretty loud but not that common (1 per hour maybe). The bell tent contained a bed with an air mattress and not an actual mattress. The toilets could definitely use some love and more cleaning, but they are all functional and there is warm water. The kitchen consists of a single sink but for the traffic, that was enough. I'm not sure if its the location (right on the river) but it was very very humid at night, you can't even see across the whole camping from the fog, which made everyone very, very cold. There is also nothing to do at the camping other than golfing maybe. Overall this is a good no-frills camping at a poor location. The bell tents are only worth it if you have enough people, for 2 people they are overpriced.

Site manager is a star

Excellent stay, the site manager was a star, helped me out a lot because of timings with work. Overall, it was a great spot for the Bournemouth Air Festival as we got a sneak peak at some of the aircraft. The only thing not giving this 5/5 is that I was awoken by some other rude camper who decided to have an argument at 5am. So maybe having a member of staff or security during these peak periods may be ideal, as this woke me and my 4 year old son up. Other than that, the actual stay was very enjoyable, easy to find, has everything you need and shops near by. I really look forward to staying again next year!

Really lovely campsite

Really lovely site. Only booked 2 nights but extended for another. Well kept grounds and clean facilities. Site staff really friendly and helpful.

Great little campsite!

We found Parley to be a great little campsite. We're a family of adults (so didn't have any young kids) but there were young families camping. We pitched our own tents. The site was very clean and tidy, well maintained, facilities are pretty good for a basic site. Showers and toilets are decent, plus a room for washing up. Fire-pit hire was useful, they also have log burners and cookers available. There's a little camping shop where you can get your, gas, burners, logs, kindling, etc. There is also a bar where you can order food and stay dry! Obviously the site is right next to an airport so you do have to accept the inevitable aircraft noise but it's quite exciting to see the 737s take off (if you like that sort of thing). Only a handful of flights throughout the day so it's not too bad tbh. Earliest flight was around 6:30am, latest around 11:pm. Location is great, a number of restaurants, shops, etc just a few minutes away by car. A trip to the beach is only a little further and then of course you've got the New Forest to play in. No activities on-site to speak of (unless of course you like golf!) so you need to provide your own fun!

Nice campsite

Not too big, but quite nice campsite.

Very friendly, calm, clean and homely

Good and friendly supervisors, clean, good observation of children whilst on site. Sufficient space for activities; access to water and toilets and shower rooms etc.; great for barbeque; nearby bar and small shop, as well as golf course. Some occasional noise from the nearby airport - but was not too much of a problem, as the airport is small and the noise was not often. Kids actually loved watching planes in preparation for the major airplane event. Also enjoyed nature walks and seeing sheep and horses nearby.

Family & friends

We’ve been camping a few times. This is one our favourites. Very welcoming and friendly place. We will definitely be returning!

Perfect place for families

Nice with clean access to drinking water. Lots of space, kids and dogs loved it. We had a great time.

Great

We loved it here. It was very warm and welcoming from the beginning. A lovely bloke who worked here was very helpful when we were struggling to use the car pump as it was not fitting the air bed properly. He helped us carry the bed and showed us to a pump we could use. He had a great sense of humour and was just very pleasant and welcoming. Unfortunately, this didn't last long as another staff member decided to have a go at our children for playing with water balloons and they actually took them off them and said not to play with them anymore. They then came over to us with an awful attitude and was rude. All 8 of us parents were around to pick the balloons up when they had finished. She then continued to stare at everything we did for the rest of our first day, making us and the kids feel very uneasy. Other than that it was fab, fab, fab! We loved it and hope to make it our local spot. Showers are very clean. Toilets, however, are not as clean but still at a average standards. They worked and there were plenty of them. Families we met also loved it here. The kids and adults loved the driving range. There is a nice little bar and café with lovely food available. Great location, although, if you don't like planes, I don't suggest this place for you as the airport was next to us and many planes throughout the day flew over head. However, the kids loved that as they got to see the planes take off! Drinking water taps are all over the site and dog friendly. It was nice to have the bin area always cleared and clean. We can't wait to go back!

Will be back

Would come back, nice and quiet. Staff were helpful, even from the golf course.

Great stay

Parley was a perfect location. Quiet with great amenities. Would definitely recommend.

Short stay

Park was ok but wasn't expecting it to be so close to the airport! Very noisy in the morning and evenings. Ability to park car near tent would also be a plus! Saw two camper vans there all set up and I am unsure as to why were we not allowed to have our van there. Camp was friendly though and near the theme park which was great!

Site's response

Hi and thanks for the review. We do advertise that we are next to the airport, and it does have a few flights early am and pm. There was indeed a campervan on site, which is there from May to October as I stay in it to oversee the site. The caravan is also there long term and is used by staff as and when required. We specifically chose not to allow vehicles on site as it reduces any chance of an accident and gives less noise from car doors banging. Access times would also be extremely limited due to an equestrian yard being the only route of vehicular access. Sorry if this was not explained to you while you were here.

Pleasant site with basic facilities

Spent just a couple of nights here, during really hot weather. Good stuff, lovely staff, very helpful. All facilities are basic, but cleaned regularly. Laid back attitude to pitches. Not too far from Bournemouth centre and nice having café bar on site. Bad stuff. Noisy when planes land and take off, but they stop overnight and are infrequent. Site is a little exposed, could do with a few small trees on the main ground to create shade. Not normally a problem, but maybe in the future. Luckily I snagged the one tree creating shade.

Enjoyable stay

Nice, small campsite. Ideal location, near to beach, shops and the forest. Kids loved watching the planes flying in daily. Very basic site, amenities on site, however not very clean. Small shop, with few essentials, but there are plenty of shops nearby to stock up. On site café/bar ideal for drinks and snacks and golf course to pass time. We walked to the 'farm' on site only a few animals, walk was enjoyable and there is a lake to walk around, we were unable to find the pathway for this though. Enjoyable stay.

Constructive comment

I liked this site. The staff were very accommodating and friendly. However, it's located next to Bournemouth airport so might be noisy for some. The facilities are basic and have small cubicles. Personally, I feel investment in a purpose built shower and toilet block is necessary to justify the price and of course, the standards for a modern facility.

Site's response

Thanks for the review, Norman. Your point re airport noise is quite correct, and we do try to make people aware. With regard to facilities, we intend to refit them this year and make them a little wider and more up to date. We won't be building anything purpose built anytime soon as we have only been operating since 2021, it's a little too soon to justify that level of investment but certainly worth considering in the long term.

Excellent

Basic, but clean and a good location if you're ok with being next to the airport.

Great family fun

We had a lovely few days with our 3 boys. The campsite was lovely and peaceful and our children had a great time making friends and playing. The ladies in the club house cafe were so lovely and welcoming and great with our children.

Glamping at Parley Court

We actually stayed with the glamping side of this camp site. Which was lovely, the tents were nice and clean, but the owner wasn't great. He turned up late. We had expected the tent to be ready for our arrival so we could get stuck in straight away, as the check in was late at 4pm. He went in and gave it a sweep and changed the bedding. I thought more should have gone into the cleaning process if I'm honest. Beds sprayed or cleaned and mopped. But no, a quick sweep and done. The glamping side rent land from the campsite and then let them down with the way they handled things on arrival. The campsite itself is ideal location, on a golf site, with a bar and shop which is handy! The staff are lovely, and so helpful especially Adrian. It was great to cool down in hot weather for a drink, and ice cream. Also they do a breakfast which is handy, and it's ok too. I've had better, but for £5.95 it's good. We camped in the New Forest previously with less facilities, but the facilities we had were spotless. At Parley Court, I feel like the only thing letting them down is the cleanliness. The toilets and showers were quite grubby, and yes having bits of grass in there is understandable but the cobwebs and dirt on toilets was just not nice. Luckily the golf club had a clean toilet, as that's what I used! It shuts at 9, and the walk is a bit further too. If they had someone that gave them more thorough clean, and throughout the day popped in for a clean, then I think the site would definitely be more appealing.

Site's response

I am sorry your experience was not what you had expected, Jade. Your points about cleanliness are noted. We do try and keep them clean but it appears during the busy period over the last few weeks may have not been as thorough as normal. Over the winter we are revamping toilets and showers to bring them up to date and on par with the golf course facilities which we have just completed. This should give them a fresh look and make them easier to keep clean. Adrian

Amazing camping site

The best camping site we've ever been to.

Lovely place

Lovely place for camping. We have stopped for just 2 nights now, but we are looking forward to booking a whole week very soon as we have enjoyed this place, with a pub and golf course just there. We have been to other places, but this is by far the best.