Independent Campsite Reviews

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Note from Webmaster: There are numerous reviews for this site with basically a single complaint: that the management vigorously enforce their rules about being quiet, and generally respecting other campers. There are also numerous reviews praising these same qualities. Please read the statement by the management team below, and consider what it means for you before you book

We like this camping park !!

Very clean - in fact, exceptionally clean, which is always good to know. We visited the wife, kids and me mother in law. She likes to go to bed early of a night, so this is why we picked The Star as it says they operate an all quiet after 11pm. Our smallest is only 18 months old, and being in a tent, can be hard getting him washed and ready for bed. The Star has a Parent and Child bathroom, that was really lovely to use, with stool, bath/shower etc.

We went on a two day ticket to Alton Towers, thats only 5 minutes away from the site. The site manager gave us some buy one get one free vouchers, that saved us about £72.00.

If I have one criticism about the park, is they only have a limited range of goods on sale at the office. They sell the basics, plus choclates/pop/crisps etc for the kids, so if you need more you have to go to the local town (Cheadle) thats about 3 miles or so away. all in all a very nice park to stay for families, and very clean modern facilities. We are back Easter 2009 to go to the new Sea Life Centre at Alton Towers. Hope that this info is useful??????

The site operator has it dead right.

The site is quiet, clean, has excellent facilities and is pretty central for lots of attractions.

All in all this does just what it says on the can and all people have to do is read the site's terms and conditions which are designed to inform visitors before they book and make a peaceful environment for all customers and that can't be a bad thing.

I stayed there with my family this year and will be most happy to stay there again.

If you think the rules on noise are too severe then don't make a noise, or if you want to make a lot of noise, go somewhere else.

I can only echo the comments from Matt. This only relates to camping. The campsite is clean, safe and professional. I have no doubt that it has achieved 5 star status for good reasons, however...

On arrival you are met with a list (circa 19 rules) of rules, together with strict instructions not to site your tent within 20 meteres of your neighbour. They say that they will check and make you move it if you fail to comply; believe me they do and physically take a measureing tape to your tent. Kids can enjoy themselves provided that it is in the pen surrounded by barbed wire. The daughter of our friends cut her leg chasing a ball, when discussed with the staff we were told ' well she should not have been near the fence'. The night time (11pm) curfew is brilliant to witness. Like clock work, the staff set about 'telling' people to go to bed, not kids, but adults, fee paying adults at that.

I can almost understand the rules, but their manner and ability to communicate makes George Bush sound like Mother Theresa! They clearly have no business sense or people skills, anyone with half a brain would simply split the camping area into a quiet area and a family friendly area, they would double their money and have happy campers rather than miserable guests in a rush to leave. The same applies for the disposable BBQ's. Again I can see the logic, but how about asking guests to keep the BBQ up from the grass; not difficult. The staff are rude and arrogant, any challenge to their authority was dealt with by a hierarchical structure akin to school, where the challenger was sign posted to the 'Boss' who was described as a 'big guy that won't be messed with' (umm). They even confiscated a ball belonging to some other (very funny) adult guests to their horror. I could go on. The shame is that the site is near Alton Towers, provides a cheaper option than the hotel. Camping is a family event, children do not understand the rules, the camp has massive potential, but the staff are dreadful, the rules are tragic and what you have read is so true. This is not a complaint, just simply alerting customers to this campsite; it is just our subjective view.

On first arrival the site looks great. Nice pitching area despite the slight slope and good views.

The showers and toilets are not as up to scratch as many other sites across the country and was a bit disappointed with lack of showers and clean facilities.

A good enough site if you’re only using it for Alton towers, only 2 mins down the road.

BUT God forbid if the night watchmen is the one we had - who incidently happened to be the camp site owner.

One of the rudest men we have ever met, from the momment he cam on at 10:30pm he spoke down to us like children and treated us like rubbish (thats putting it politely) I have never been talked to so rudely by an employ especially of a camp site in all my life.

When other reviews say the rules are strict, don’t take them lightly, they most definitely are.

No noise by 11pm means no talking or slight noises at all by 11pm sharp.

If you don’t adhere to the rules then you will as we were and some other campsite users were; be told to move your tent nearer the security camera's so they can "keep an eye on you youngsters" may I add we are all professionals in our 20's.

Ultimately if you want a strict curfew like your parents used to give and don’t want to do the traditional camping thing of staying up chatting with friends playing the odd card game then feel free to come here. The one man who owned the place spoiled our weekend and we packed up that morning and asked for a refund. We were not happy to stay there and let it spoil the weekend any longer.

If you’re in your twenties and want to relax = don’t go!

I have been travelling down to this site for over 20 years with tents when I was younger and caravans for the last 10 years.

I had never booked in advance and I had never needed to. However, I arrived on 28th June to be treated very rudely by the man at reception who refused to let me and my 3 kids entry, (kids aged 15, 13 and 7). He told me the site had plenty of pitches, but I wasn't having one! He thereafter denied that I had ever been allowed access without an advanced booking before. He told me to go to another site! He then wouldn't let me even enter to turn my caravan. Anyone who knows the site entrance will appreciate it's off a busy main road. I had to get my 15 year old daughter to guide me back onto that road. She was crying with fear when she got back into the car. I was totally shocked by the whole thing and I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS SITE TO ANYONE EVER AGAIN. All very sad after 20 years of happy camping. It appears that as I choose to tow my unit with an L200 pick up I'm not welcome there. I only found that out when the site I did get booked into told me it happens all the time for numerous reasons. Commercial suicide in my opinion!

This campsite is run exactly as it says in their rules. Exactly! We checked in to pitch with electric hook up and were asked to produce our cable for inspection. It passed and then we were passed our list of rules. All 19 of them. No music, ball playing except where dogs are walked, no noise after 11pm (including talking in your tent), no entry in or out between 11pm-7.45am,no disposable bbq, no 3 or more same sex camping in one tent, no skate board, scooters or skates allowed and no visitors allowed. We witnessed the owner putting a young couple with 3 small children out for marking a patch of grass with their bbq. This was at 8am in morning. Left ourselves soon after. No atmosphere really and I feel the main aim of the campsite is to attract caravan owners and as Alton Towers is near make some money out of touring campers easily.

DONT GO!!!!!!!!

This campsite is like a BOOT CAMP.

We are not trouble makers or unruly. We are two normal families who tried to make the most of a rainy weekend. The rules were unbelievable and strictly enforced. Barbed wire around the fence and anti vandal paint on gates. No admittance by car after 10.30pm and certainly no chance for last orders at a very nice pub 200 meters away as no is allowed to enter the site (WALKING) after 10.50pm.

Save your money...its very expensive. I recommend the site at Wicksteed Park and Drayton Manor instead.

I found Details of The Star as i suspect most do on the net, I didnt however read any reviews UNFORTUNATELY. Well heres mine if it manages to save just one family from having a miserable time then it will have been well worth one finger typing this for them.. I booked over the phone approx 4 weeks prior to our planned visit to Alton Towers, I booked for two "B" sized tents and booked electric hookup pitches because i thought that i could borrow a hookup cable and then the Females of our group would be able to straighten there hair and stuff. Sorry.. our group consisted of myself, my wife our children ( 2 girls and a boy ) and my nephew. We arrived at approximately 2.30 after having driven up from Portsmouth, I pulled up in front of an electrically operated barrier and as directed went into reception to do any paperwork and pay the balance.

i was asked to present my hookup lead to site staff for inspection, After explaining that i hadnt managed to get one and that i just wouldnt be able to hook up ( Obviously )i followed some fellow to my car as he had picked up all my paperwork. He annoyed me straight away as he stuck his head right through the open drivers side window and proceeded to explain to my wife where to go etc. I was stood right behind him and after being ignored once when i suggested that he pull his head out and explain it to me as i was the driver, i felt that i must insist when he started sticking things to the inside of my windscreen that would clearly have obscured my view.I can only put his actions down to him being a letch and nothing else. When in his directions he stated for us to keep the electric pitches to our left and head up the field and find a space i reminded him that we were on electric pitches. His reply was OH NO YOUR NOT i had to refrain from smiling to myself and replying in PANTOMIME fashion OH YES I AM, I explained that i had paid for electric hookup to which he replied "but you havnt got a cable so you wont be having one. I went then into reception to try and explain that the fellow outside says i cant have an electric pitch as i havnt got a cable. They said this was right and when i asked if a had infact paid for electric they stated yes but i didnt need it. I felt at this point that i was in the twilight zone and maybe they were right and i was wrong in expecting what i had paid for, whether i was going to use the electric or not. I went back out to the car to have a moment.. to find the bloke who had his head in my car running up the drive like some demented WILLY WONKA shouting back at me " FOLLOW ME I GOT JUST THE PITCH FOR YOU" not wanting to be pitched in the middle of a cow's field i asked at this point to speak with the manager/owner as i didnt believe that everyone on this site could be rude and obnoxious and forgive me for saying STUPID. WRONG... The manager stated that i wouldnt be pitched on an electric hookup as these were at a premium ( I THOUGHT THAT I HAD PAID THE PREMIUM )But did say i could get my deposit back and go elsewhere if i wasnt happy, Funny how he was prepared to give me my deposit back but wouldnt take off the difference between electric and non electric... If i had known the area and thought that i wouldnt have struglled to get on another site with it being the school holidays i would definately have gone elsewgere. Anyway i could go on and on with things like the excessive DO'S AND DONT'S (the use of waterpistols being a dont) And family not even being able to stay for 5 minutes having driven from up north to drop off my nephew. But i will end on hopeing that the star will soon be known as supernova ( having burnt out and died ) i feel so strongly about it that if i had the money i would buy a couple of fields adjacent to theres and drum them out of business ( The star better hope and prey that i dont win the lottery ).........

We have stayed at this site twice now. Once when I was 18 (1999) with a group of ALL girls and once last year just me and the boyfriend.

Site is lovely, nice and clean, no complaints about the facilities at all. Best campsite I've been to.

Staff were very straight to the point and maybe a little intimidating.

The rules are supposed to be strict but last year when we were there, we ended up pitching our tent in the corner thinking we would keep out of everyone’s way and could just sit and chat in our tent. Then a guy and his teenage son pulled up, decided to blast music out their car while they put up the tent which was a lot closer than it was supposed to be!!! Then when it was lights out time (yes 11 is a bit early but we had a long drive) all we could hear was them talking, and not even quietly. For once I wish these supposedly strict people could have had a word with them. Maybe not as strict as people make out!

Booked for the Spring Bank Hol here with some trepidation but found this was one of the nicest camp sites I've ever been to. The camping field has wonderful views and it isn't difficult to find a pitch that is more or less level. Pitches at the top of the field are perfectly level and have the best views. The ball pitch is adjacent to this field so no problem with kids not being able to play footie by the tent. The toilets and showers are immaculately clean, even the prefab building is perfectly maintained. The main shower block is only a short distance away so why do people complain that it is miles? Who wants to sleep right next to a toilet block anyway? The park is superb with a great range of equipment and it is sensible that it closes at 9 when younger kids go to bed as otherwise there'd be complaints about rowdy teenagers frequenting it. We ate at The Star pub one night just five mins walk from the campsite and it was very acceptable so good if you don't want to drive. We didn't come here to go to Alton Towers ; don't think that is all that there is round here. Dovedale is only 15 mins drive. Visit the National Trust property at Ilam. There's loads to do within a few minutes' drive. The staff here were all very friendly, courteous and helpful. Is it too strict? If you don't know what to expect on arrival you may think so and it may not be the place to come in a largeish group if you like to stay up late. No-one came to tell us off at any time during our stay (except people in the next tent because four of us were talking quietly inside our tent at half past eleven) but then we kept quieter than we usually would and probably went to bed an hour or so earlier than our usual 2pm. I'd definitely come back here again.

Having spent one night at the Star camping site, I can see why they get so many bad reviews, and it is a real shame, as the park is kept very nice and in the end rules are rules so don't go if they are going to upset you.

On the other hand having travelled for 3 hours to reach the site to meet up with our friends that were already camping there and arriving at 9am we were told we could not go on the site even on foot to let them know we had arrived, we could not get a mobile signal so had no way of contacting our friends. The rules state no admissions before 12pm, OK but we were not arriving with a tent we were staying in our friends tent, all we wanted to do was drop a couple of things off at their tent and then get straight off to Alton Towers for the day returning that evening for a 1 night stay (in our friends tent) that we had booked and paid to do. (At no time of the booking were we told we could not even step foot on the site till after 12pm.) But no! The gentleman on the gate would not even listen to us, he just kept repeating "No admissions before 12" In the end we managed to get our friends attention through the tree's from the very busy road and off we went for a fantastic day, on arriving back at 8pm you would not have believed the difference in the gate keeper it was as if he was a different person, shame it's not a full day issue with him.

We understand rules and regulations as we camp quite a lot and have never had a problem, but surely occasionally in certain circumstances these can be relaxed a little if only for 10 minutes i would have thought. A real shame for the site!

We stayed at the Star originally for 4 nights at the end of July and enjoyed it so much booked another 2 nights. The site is lovely , well maintained with excellent parent and child facilities in the toilet block. Yes there are rules but none which had any effect whatsoever upon our enjoyment. In fact it was lovely to have such quiet surroundings.

We went with the intention of visiting both Alton Towers and Drayton Manor with our 2 and 7 year olds. We therefore wanted quiet nights as had early mornings so were not affected by the rules. We were grateful that the playground closed at 9pm as this ensured our children had to come in - no argument. The playground is excellent by the way.

Booking in was quick and easy. We did at first find leveling the caravan difficult due to the slope which most of the touring field has but were given bricks to aid this issue. The main problem was the long length of our van anyway. With regards to electric hook up we had no problem. We found however that our electric cable was not quite long enough to reach the hook up but the staff straight away gave us a longer cable. On both issues they could not have been more helpful.

The location is fantastic for visiting the local area with a visit to Matlock Bath most recommended. The only difficulty we found was the absence of a supermarket or even well stocked local store nearby. After a busy day it would have been nice to have this easy access but when you visit the area you will see it would not be that easy to find somewhere to locate such a store as the area is rural and very beautiful.

Our family would all recommend the Star.