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Reviews of Challaborough Bay Holiday Park ( Parkdean Resorts )

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Challaborough Bay Holiday Park ( Parkdean Resorts )
Challaborough Beach
Bigbury On Sea
South Devon (Browse area)
TQ7 4HU
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Pitches: 154
Open: 22/03/2024 to 08/11/2024
22/03/2025 to 08/11/2025

Rating:

8/10 from 14 Reviews

Photos (8)

No Tents	No Caravans	No Motorhomes	No Campervans
No Glamping Units	Holiday Homes for Hire	Holiday Homes for Sale	No Seasonal Pitches
No Electric Hookups	No Hardstandings	No Fully Serviced Pitches	Show Full Facilities

Who's it for
Families Welcome	Not Members Only	No Rallies	Not Naturist Site
Dogs Welcome	No Dogs Allowed	Groups Welcome
Facilities
No Toilets	No Showers	No Washing Up Area	No Bathroom
Baby Changing Facilities	Laundry On Site	No Drinking Water	Disabled Friendly
No Chemical Disposal	No Battery Charging	No Gas Exchange	Recycling Facilities
Kitchen Facilities	Freezer / Fridge	No Motorhome Point	Wifi Access
Shop On Site	Bar On Site	Restaurant or Cafe or Takeaway On Site
Activities
Kids Playground	No TV Room	Games Room	Evening Entertainment
Fishing On Site	No Wild Swimming	Indoor Pool On Site	No Outdoor Pool
No Horse Riding	No Cycle Hire	No Golf	No Tennis
Beach On Site	Watersports On Site	No Boat Launch
Other Features
Sea Views	Not Working Farm	No Campfires Allowed
Coastside Pitches	Public Transport	Offroad Dog Walk On Site or Direct Access

Reviews: 14 in total, now showing 1 to 10 Previous 10 Next 10

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Date of Visit: October 2021 Confirmed Booking

Unit: Static

Nights stayed: 4

Travelling as: Mature couple

Reviewer: Ratty

323 reviews from this member

Another year and another stay at this site. Although this is statics only it is still one of my favourite sites to visit, mainly for the location and proximity to the beach.

Walking from the site is amazing and some of the best walks and views I have done. Plymouth, Salcombe, Dartmouth and so much more are all close by in a car, with a large Tesco and Morrisons 15 mins away in Kingsbridge.

The static was lovely, clean and well equipped. It had everything we needed for our stay.

We went for a few drinks in the pub overlooking the beach and chilled whilst watching the surfers do their thing. We did not use the pool, or go to the evening entertainment this time.

Small small on edge of site, not the cheapest, but sells pretty much everything you need.

We went to The Journeys End pub up the road this time, they stock a large choice of ales, and the food was delish, although the menu was a bit sparse without much choice

I will be back next year and will continue to return as I love the area and walking.

Date of Visit: August 2021 Confirmed Booking

Unit: Static

Nights stayed: 4

Travelling as: Family with young children

Reviewer: Safety

1 review from this member

Caravan and site and beach brilliant - Food horrendous and not many places to drive to get food from so need to bring provisions with you.

The beach is clean and lovely with lifeguards on watch. There is a fish and chip restaurant which is excellent but gets booked up quickly.

There are lovely walks to Burgh Island etc

Date of Visit: November 2019 Confirmed Booking

Unit: Static

Nights stayed: 4

Travelling as: Mature couple

Reviewer: Ratty

323 reviews from this member

We booked this through Sun Holidays and booking was simple and easy and we booked a basic caravan that was pet friendly.

When we arrived at reception we were told all about the park, given our keys and directed where to go. The guy on reception was very helpful and happy to help.

The park is very dark at night but we had no issues finding the caravan and let ourselves in. When we checked out the static it certainly was not a basic model, but a three bedroom, two bathroom static with washing machine, veranda, fully fitted kitchen, gas central heating and was pretty smart.

As mentioned fully fitted kitchen was provided with all we needed and a large fridge / freezer, good size oven and hobs, microwave and every utensil you could think of. There was also a large freeview tv.

The park is fab and I won't repeat what I have previously said about teh facilities, but in a nut shell there is a playground, pool, gym, entertainment complex, pub, chippy, wonderful beach for swimming and surfing and tons of walking on teh doorstep.

Around and about is Plymouth, Kinsgbridge, Salcombe, and so much more. We walked the cliffs again and came back via Burgh Island.

We also drove out to Hope Cove and had a wander around there, which is a lovely seaside place, but I bet it gets heaving in summer.

Phone reception is getting better and I managed to get 4G on Three in the static and around the park.

I love this site, the location, the walking and the place in general and will be back time and time again.

Date of Visit: March 2018

Unit: Static

Reviewer: Fitscorcher

1 review from this member

Caravan was lovely, great view of the beach, we were furthest away from the beach and on a steep hill, . The roads are tight country lanes where you're having to stop all the time to let on coming cars through. The condition of the roads are appalling, we arrived Saturday, late evening, went out for an hour and hit a pothole which caused a puncture. We only had a space saving spare tyre so couldn't used the car. Due to being Easter, we could get new tyre until Tuesday. I couldn't leave the caravan due to being disabled, I wouldn't be able to walk back up.

The town was a 25 minute drive away but very small, other than the supermarkets (which you need) there are very few shops and nothing really of interest. It was quite boring really. In fact many families on holiday in the caravans were just getting Tesco to deliver food so they could avoid driving through the lanes.

One more thing, anyone booking with Parkdean resorts, don't bother with holiday cancellation insurance, it's pretty much worthless unless you drop dead, in which case you won't need your refund! The insurance was added to the booking automatically, my husband didn't notice so didn't untick it. I didn't know what insurance we ended up with so after having car issues and being stuck in the caravan for 4 days because it wasn't possible to get it repaired over Easter. I decided when I got home I'd find out about what insurance we had added to our booking and whether we would be covered for anything. We book last minute so going by their policy, it was worthless to us. It's not much better for everyone else though, there is very little to it. Don't waste your money, make sure you untick the added insurance box so you don't end up paying for it and it's worth checking the terms and conditions before bothering with it. They will take you 2 minutes to read and less time to realise how useless they are.

Date of Visit: May 2016 Confirmed Booking

Unit: Static

Reviewer: Ratty

323 reviews from this member

I came here again for my annual visit
.

I booked a two bedroom caravan which they said slept six, however I would not put more than four people in there, yes you can all sleep, but it would be a squeeze during the day and at meals times, evening etc.

As usual the caravan had all the amenities you need and was clean and tidy on arrival. Reception staff were friendly when I checked in and the welcome was great.

Still no mobile reception, but you can get wifi if in the club house or pub. This is a good thing though as the beach is amazing and the walks are just stunning. I walked the S West coast path on a couple of occasions and walked to the River Erme along the path and back through the country. This was about 12 miles and a stunning walk. I also walked the other way, but you can't get very far as you need t get a ferry to cross the river and the timings of the ferry did not match my walks unfortunately.

Site has all the normal you expect from a holiday park, pub, restaurant, entertainment, pool, games room, beach etc. Good food in the pub and the prices are reasonable. We had chips one night from Fryer Tucks, and to be honest, they were not that good. It looked like they had already been cooked, left to sit there and then re-heated, but maybe it was just an off day as I ate there last year and they were awesome.

The location makes this site so special and is why I keep coming back year after year.

Date of Visit: May 2015 Confirmed Booking

Unit: Static

Reviewer: Ratty

323 reviews from this member

We returned to this site for the May Bank Holiday, but as the weather was so poor, the place was really quiet.

Check in was at bang on 4pm as per the paperwork and the reception staff were generally good as an overall team.

We stayed in a 4 berth Puffin caravan and this is a very basic van, but does the job. It has everything you would need for a self catering holiday. A few small niggles with the caravan which with a little care could be sorted easily. The toilet door, whilst having a lick fitted, did not actually work, it was too small for the door frame. The toilet leaked everytime it was flushed, but this was a seal that was not connected, I simply pushed this on, but if they were cleaning the bathrooms properly they would have seen this, so it makes me question the cleanliness. That aside the rest was good, TV, fridge / freezer, kettle, toaster, beds were comfy, but teh shower was poor, it worked but if you have long hair you may be in there a while.

The site itself has a pool and clubhouse and attached pub / restaurant. It has a take away with the usual chips, pizza, etc. And there is a chip shop that you can sit down in and eat whilst taking in the views of the bay.

The pool is quite large and has adult only swims in the morning and late afternoon and general swimming for the kids and families the rest of the time.

There is a Nisa open 7 days a week which sells all the essentials, it is not the cheapest but they are convenient.

Food in the pub was really good and they stocked a wide range of drinks. There is a pool table and quiz and fruit machines too.

Surrounding areas include loads of walking on cliff tops and out to Burgh Island, plus in the car you have Salcombe, Kinsbridge, Plymouth and so much more to fill your days.

There is a large Co Op in Modbury not too far away and a post office and other small shops too. Kinsgbridge has the larger shopping if required.

Date of Visit: April 2014

Unit: Static

Reviewer: Si-uk

19 reviews from this member

We stayed at Bigbury-on-sea's, Park Dean Challaborough Bay site towards the end of April 2014 through the Sun Holiday, but with an upgraded Heron caravan. To get here we had to drive through some horrible single lane with passing places roller coaster roads. Challaborough Bay was not signposted much whatsoever and if it was not for a small sign and a sat nav, then we would never have found it.

Our first impressions when actually arriving was wow what a lovely beach, it was even possible to park real close. Due to it being bank holiday Monday and taking a few excursions, mainly avoiding the bank holiday traffic we had arrived 2 hours after check in.

We were greeted by the pleasant, and welcoming security staff. Our given caravan was number 33 on Sea shore. When getting to this caravan our first impressions were that we thought we had the wrong caravan. It was poorly sign posted and found this caravan by luck.

From the outside this caravan was old and rusted in places, and looked nothing like the caravan that was advertised or bigged up over the phone. Never the less there had been some bad storms that had hit the area in the past so looks can be deceiving as it was the inside that matters. Perhaps with people that theory works, but with caravans, no it doesn't.

The caravan had not been properly cleaned, if not at all, and this included the toilets, and to make matters worse the maintenance had not been maintained very well either. This holiday had started to be a complete let down. After complaining to security they suggested coming back in the morning when the main staff were on, and when I returned they were very nice and a member of staff went to see the caravan for himself and he agreed it was not up to standard. After going out on a day trip for a few hours we came back to a cleaned caravan and maintenance had done some partial repairs and returned the next day to finish. The caravan was still horrible but a more pleasant horrible than before, and to make things easier on Park Deans side they offered a big partial refund that was acceptable.

The only real other negative was the drainage outside, even with a shower of rain created floods, so imagine how it got with heavy rainfall.

It was not all that bad, as I mentioned earlier, the beach was lovely, apart from the odd pebbles. The coastal walks are well worth doing and they offer some brilliant views, especially when the sun sets.

The staff seemed dedicated, and looked like they enjoyed working for company and most of all they were friendly and could not really fault them, I know some people had complained previous but these could be different staff.

The entertainment was mainly child based with a touch of adult after a certain time. In general the Troopers were enjoyable to watch but with certain songs they did go out of tune some what, but the dancing was ok.

Some people mentioned the chips from a chip shop, but there are two, one part of the main complex and another around the corner, the chips from the main complex were ok, a bit dry but fairly decent and a must would be to have a pizza.

All in all and overall if Parkdean - Challaborough Bay Holiday Park were to improve on cleaning, and maintenance, sort out the drainage and add an update here and there then this site has got the potential to be something really special. I can only go from our own experiences and maybe our caravan was a one off.

I would still give this a 9 out of 10, mainly because of the staff, the site being child and dog friendly plus there is a lovely beach.

Date of Visit: September 2013 Confirmed Booking

Unit: Static

Reviewer: Ratty

323 reviews from this member

We stayed here for a long weekend, for a wedding in the area, in one of their basic three bedroom static caravans. The cost was reasonable and split between the five of us was not a lot each at all.

The site is pretty easy to find, however it is in the middle of nowhere with just two roads in, one of which is very narrow with few passing places, however we did not get stuck, but in summer it could be worse.

Once the site has been found, you will instantly notice the fantastic setting that it holds, it is across the road from the beach with cliff paths leading off each side of the beach offering miles and miles of fantastic walks and some stunning views. The beach is great and when the tide is out stretches for a long way.

Due to the location and remoteness there was absolutely no mobile coverage on either Three, Orange / T-Mobile and Vodafone. There is free wifi in the pub, but does not extend across the park.

On site facilities include an indoor swimming pool, entertainment room with the usual bingo, dancing bears, etc. , a gym, adventure play area and of course the main draw for me, the direct beach access.

There is also a pub on site called The Waterfront and we ate in there one evening and the meals were reasonably priced, service was quick and the 5 meals we had were all very nice. They offer a breakfast menu too which we had and for just a few pounds you get a decent fry up, although healthier options were available too.

The reception staff were friendly when I had to deal with them and all the staff I came across were cheerful, helpful and smiling.

The caravan we stayed in was clean and well maintained and had all you would expect when hiring one of these, full of crockery, cutlery, cooking utensils, etc. The only thing not supplied were towels, so bring your own. Some of the statics were also dog friendly.

This is purely a static caravan park and the caravans go on and on up the hill and to me looks pretty tacky, but each to their own and this site served it purpose well.

Nearby delights are in abundance with some beautiful villages and hamlets, thatched cottages, delightful country pubs and larger towns for those venturing that bit further. We walked along the cliff path to Burgh Island and wandered across the sand (low water only) and enjoyed a nice pint in the Pilchard Arms. We also went into Kingsbridge which is a great town with all your mainstream shops, and a lovely river. We took advantage of the river and went on a river cruise and took in the delights of the creeks and towns along the river.

If in the area again I would search for a campsite first and take the tent, however this site was perfect for our needs for the weekend and was good value in a stunning location.

Date of Visit: July 2010

Unit: Static

Reviewer: MrsQ

8 reviews from this member

The site was booked through Hoseason's Parks and lodges brochure and the description in the brochure was accurate.

There was myself, DH and our 18mth old DD and we had booked a 'Heron' 4-6 berth static caravan. The site has direct access to the beach, which is excellent for sandcastle building and collecting pebbles! It's a blue flag beach which has lifeguards during the main season. There is also a short walk over the cliff top (not suitable for a pushchair) over to Bigbury Bay, but we decided it wasn't worth it, because the beach at the site, was more than suitable.

There is a costcutter shop on site with sells enough to 'get you by' and has a small frozen section. There is a large Tesco Extra 8 miles away though, so we just did one big shop to last us the week.

On site there is 20/25m swimming pool, with a toddler dip pool (think shallow jacuzzi style). The water was heavily chlorinated, but the water was clean. The changing facilities were poor, the floor was soaking wet and there was no changing table to change DD on, so we had to balance her on the bench. There were 2 family changing rooms. There were showers to wash before entering and on exit, but these weren't enclosed. There were only a few lockers also. The welcome pack paperwork said there was adult only swimming on every day (in the morning and evening), splish splash once a week, tots only swimming once a week and aqua aerobics 3 times in the week. These were all free with the pass.

The 'kids' club was on twice during the day (morning and afternoon) for each age group (0-4yrs, 4-10yrs). We tried the morning one (0-4yrs) 3 times and to be honest, it was just 'ok', but could be much much better. For example, there was story time, where the structure was having a story read then to draw a picture about the story, but they didn't turn the kiddies music off in the background so we had to contend with trying to listen to the story and ignoring the teletubbies theme tune. A very long story was chosen to be read with few pictures, so too long for tots, which was read with very little enthusiasm. So, in theory it should work well, but just needs tweaking. I think the older group worked better as I saw them 'duck racing' in the stream and having a sandcastle competition.

The soft play area was inside the arcade area and when we looked there was just a lot of older kids (5-7yrs approx) throwing balls about, but being watched by their parents.

We didn't go into the club on an evening, so I can't comment on that. Although the paper work we were given told you what activities were on and they had bingo every night and then a 'show' of some sort. We also didn't use the takeaway or the fish and chip shop on site, but we saw plenty of people use it.

Yes, the road to and from the site is a bit hairy if you follow the sat nav! - DON'T USE THE SAT NAV! It will take you down all the really narrow, windy lanes. To get to the site, just follow the B3392 from the Kingsbury/Modbury road, follow the road to St Anns Chapel, then down to Challaborough. You may have to pull over once or twice on this road, but it is more than manageable, unlike the others!

Overall, the caravan was clean and tidy and modern looking but we were told (when we went to get new pans because ours were rusty - dealt with very efficiently I might add!), that the caravan was an owners caravan which they rent back to the site.

Would we go back? - No, because its too out of the way for us, we had nowhere to walk on an evening i.E. Into a village or whatever, but if you want a caravan holiday on a perfectly suitable beach that has surfing and body boarding, then yes, it may be the site for you.

I just think we chose the wrong site for us, rather than the site being bad.

Date of Visit: August 2007

Unit: Static

Reviewer: Hillie46

3 reviews from this member

This is a lovely site if a little isolated. The caravan was well equipped and very clean. The staff at reception were friendly and helpful. The site is right on the small sheltered beach.

Basic indoor pool with sauna.

Our van was very close to the bar but we were never disturbed by noise. The take away had a limited menu and wasn't up to much. The bar food was pretty good and not too expensive.

We crossed the sand to the little island at Bigbury and hoped to get a pub meal at The Pilchard Inn but they don't prepare food every night so it's worth calling to check first.

We have stayed here twice and would recommend it for a good family beach holiday, especially with young children because it is vey safe.

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Common Questions

Is Challaborough Bay Holiday Park ( Parkdean Resorts ) child friendly?  YES, it accepts children & has a playground  View all facilities

Does Challaborough Bay Holiday Park ( Parkdean Resorts ) have a swimming pool?  YES, there is a pool on site  View all facilities

Where is the nearest shop to Challaborough Bay Holiday Park ( Parkdean Resorts )?  There is a shop on site  View all facilities

Is Challaborough Bay Holiday Park ( Parkdean Resorts ) dog friendly?  YES  View all facilities

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