Mixed bag at Piran Meadows Cornwall
Stayed at Piran Meadows Cornwall for the 5th time and have been disappointed in several areas. the caravan was missing vital items such as grill pan , curtain to cover the door , teapot , no toiletries supplied unlike previous years ,freezer completely iced up draws unable to open - all in all the caravan was tired . We did not complain at the time as who wants to wait in for these concerns to be addressed when on holiday they should have been addressed before our arrival after a thorough inspection. On a brighter note the dvd lead on the tv was not working and on request the tv was replaced promptly The pool used to have adult only swimming for 30 minutes each day which for some reason had been cancelled. Piran Meadows is in an excellent position and the park is tastefully maintained and kept in a pristine condition.The staff are friendly and helpful. Would not seriously consider another visit until the tired caravans are replaced,updated and properly inspected. Come on Darwin Escapes you can do much better

Thanet Well Lodge Retreat
Lovely area however the site at Thanet Well Lodge Retreat is dirty and falling to bits. Would not recommend try someone else

5 Star
I cannot praise the Darwin Lodges Keswick Reach site enough. We had some issues on arrival and during our stay but these were very swiftly resolved by friendly and professional staff. The quality of the site and our lodge was excellent but be aware the bedrooms have no drawers at all so whatever you normally put in them will have to stay in your suitcase and provide a trip hazard - especially at night. The bar area is dog friendly and the food excellent, but it is essential to book in advance - in March, so doubly so in high season. WE shall definitely return

Stayed at Woodside Bay Retreat
Stayed at Woodside Bay Retreat. Wrong lodge given, I questioned at the time but was told the one allocated was bigger. Yes bigger but not the same spec and cheaper, no refund offered. Ran out of GAS; lodge freezing, unable to cook, wash or use the hot tub. Reception never made contact to keep guests informed, we went to reception or called many times. Left to huddle in duvets. This was a 60th birthday celebration totally ruined and they couldn’t care less that we had been left with no basic facilities. No compensation was offered apart from an electric heater !!!! We contacted Red Funnel to leave early at extra cost to ourselves they were absolutely amazing and accommodating. Thank you Red Funnel. DARWIN ESCAPES NEVER AGAIN.

Faulty boilers & no apologies
We have stayed at Woodside Bay Lodge retreat for 5 years now & for the past 4 times we’ve been here the boiler hasn’t worked, the first time it took 48hours before they gave up trying to repair it & moved us to another lodge with only one day left of our holiday. The second time it took 3 maintenance men to fix the boiler for it to go & break the following day and we just had to ‘deal’ with it! With a newborn baby! The third time we were moved again! And this time (we are here now) we’ve been without gas for 24hrs until they finally fixed it, and the light switches don’t work in the living room…..after all this stress and wasted money, the best they could offer us was a late checkout of 2 hrs! It’s disgraceful! You have lost our custom. And thousands of pounds of our money!

Darwin actually did escape refund for ruined holiday!
The lodges are reasonable quality with contemporary (as in, dark and stark) design features, including absurdly uncomfortable chairs. The site itself is bare and bleak, no onsite bar, bistro or spa. Two miles from Stratford and all its Shakespearean attractions of course but that’s about it. Unfortunately we had a major drainage issue right from the beginning of the holiday which couldn’t be resolved. Nobody’s fault but you’d expect the company to take responsibility for a ruined holiday. The on-site maintenance and reception staff are all cheerful, friendly, helpful and sympathetic, tried all they could to help, for which we are very grateful, unlike head office staff from Darwin Escapes, who dodged every concern we raised. After two days of stress and worry (not to mention the foul stench) a small amount of compensation was eventually offered, very grudgingly, along with non-equivalent alternative accommodation. The only other offer, after intervention and mediation from the booking company, was a 75% refund if we just gave up and went home. Or we could take our chances and appeal to arbitration for a full refund, but we were strongly warned this was highly unlikely. Which just shows the fallacy of the much publicised “hassle-free refunds”…. We felt we’d been backed into a corner, and after 48 hours of worry, constant phone calls, constant maintenance visits, inconvenience, lack of any sort of holiday, we’d had a basinful, so felt we had to accept the lesser of many evils. Result: a loss of money, a completely ruined holiday from the very beginning, zero concern from Darwin Escapes and even professional mediation from the booking company didn’t get us the full refund we not only expected, but deserved. I hope your holiday really is hassle free but be warned, if there is any sort of problem or issue, you are likely to pay very dearly.

Could improve on Cleanliness
We had a weeks holiday last week 15th -22nd @ Piran Meadows Spa & Resort Nr Newquay The Caravan Wadebridge 2 pet friendly was of a good size fairly clean but Kitchen let it down rather dirty in places lucky we brought anti bac cleaners and wipes Cuttlery had to be washed still had dried food on some of it as did the utensils kitchen drawers had dirt and grime in them worktops seemed sticky we washed all crockery before we felt comfortable using them , The Large sofa had seen better days springs coming up thru the cushions and very uncomfortable to sit on , but 2 chairs was ok the other issue we had if you are coming for a quiet stay dont book nr Caravans with Hot Tubs a few nights there were loud partys from what seemed to be stag or hen partys but it did stop at 11pm on a positive note the Beds and location was good sad the Resturant was closed due to staff shortages . The other point that is if you have disability problems The caravans all have steps up to the Door to enter and looking around the site i would say almost all caravans have steps up to the entrance doors i am waiting for a hip replacement and felt it a bit difficult to get up and down, do you not offer Ramps for disabled Guests?

Recently sold my caravan back to the…
Recently sold my caravan back to the Aberconwy site for a low amount, with not a lot of choice. Unfortunately left an expensive Dyson hoover, and fan heater behind, by accident in a compartment under the seats. When I enquired to come and collect it they informed me that whatever you leave behind belongs to them. After much discussion they looked for it informing me that it wasn’t there, concluding one of there staff or cleaners have stolen it, as the new owners haven’t even looked underneath the seats. Concluding that they couldn’t care less about anybody unless you are spending money. I would recommend to anybody don’t buy from this site as it’s like a graveyard, facilities are poor, not even a proper lounge to have a drink and meet other people.

Cleanliness leaves a lot to be desired
Just returned from a short break at the Darwin Escapes Sandymouth holiday park and I felt the need to post an honest review of our experience for other holiday makers to see before booking . On arrival at any holiday accommodation my first priority is always to inspect inside of the oven as this is very important to us after all your going to cook your food in it , you would not like to eat your food off of a dirty plate so why would you like to cook your food in a filthy oven . We stayed in property number 48 on initial entry the accommodation looked reasonably clean however on inspection of the cooking facilities it was shock horror down right filthy is the only word that I can use to describe the state of the oven . This was a repeat of our first visit Sandymouth where on inspection we found the oven to be also in a filthy state to me unusable without a thorough clean of which took me over 2 hours of hard graft to make this acceptable to cook in . Because of our previous experience I thought on this second visit I would take some insurance by way of taking my air fryer and I’m so glad I did saved a major cleaning exercise on my part needless to say we did not use the oven . I did of course report both incidents above to the reception who said they would pass this on to higher management but in truth this is just lip service . Forgot to also mention on this visit when we stripped down the bedding on leaving we were also horrified to find pee stains all over the mattress protector this is just not acceptable I await the managements reply .

NOT SAFE FOR FAMILIES DO NOT BOOK HERE!
“WOODSIDE BAY RETREAT” Utterly disgusted with my booking, the customer service from all aspects was shocking. We arrived and all seemed well, When I went into the bathroom I was shocked at how dirty it was so I then went to assess the full place; and it was thick with dust; my husband assured me that it would be fine and we can pick up cleaning stuff, I didn’t want to let that ruin my full holiday, I knew the place was full so was pointless in asking for a swap ( or so I thought) Second day in I was playing hide & seek with my 4 year old and I was disgusted to find her with sleeping tablets she had found under the bed. I was furious I marched down to reception to try talk to the manager it took me 2 days to eventually get hold of her and she returned my call the night before we left. I got offered a measly bottle of wine to which I declined I discussed that I wanted to take this further and that I was annoyed that the place was NOT SAFE For families. She agreed that she would escalate this further, I had booked with HOSEASONS, so I got intouch with them also. When I returned I had heard nothing back so decided to phone again to check up on this. The manager proceeded to tell me that the matter was closed. I was shocked because when I spoke to a member of staff they had agreed that the situation was horrendous and that she would react the same. I then spoke to Catherine dingle from customer experiences to which was very rude & unhelpful, I had requested a partial refund as I felt cheated we spent £1250 on 5 night stay as it was a “Diamond resort” and it would of been cleaner in a premier inn. It’s not what I expected and to be honest big companies shouldn’t be able to rob people of this. People want some where better than their house and I was shocked the panels in the kitchen kept falling, thus injuring myself & my family numerous times. No one has returned any of my emails after I declined a £200 refund. I think you need to reassess your staff as a company as the customer service was appalling and the stay was filthy. I wish I had read the reviews as I wouldn’t recommend this company ever to anyone it’s not a name you should trust at all. And it’s not suitable for families it’s highly dangerous to be honest. NOT SAFE FOR FAMILES DO NOT BOOK!