http://www.rateyourcampsite.co.uk/ 11663-558 http://www.rateyourcampsite.co.uk/Wales-Campsites/snowdonia-park-campsite.html I found this campsite via its (quite impressive) website, and thought it would be ideal for a camping and walking holiday in Snowdonia. Straight off, I have to say that I was not impressed, but I need to say the positive things first. The campsite is easy to find, as it shares grounds with the Waunfawr station of the Welsh Highland Railway, just south of the village of Waunfawr on the main road between Caernarfon and Beddgelert, just before you enter Snowdonia itself. It's ideally suited to get to any number of attractions, not least the start of several routes up Snowdon itself, and as a relatively small campsite it was not too busy or noisy, even taking into account the proximity of the heritage railway. The problems started with the facilities. There are a total of eight toilets serving the entire campsite: three female, three male and two unisex with ramp access, although my feeling is that they're not really wheelchair-friendly. For a sizeable portion of our stay, the light didn't work in one of these, in this case rendering it unusable, and all we heard was that the electrician had been called. There were three showers for the ladies and three for the men, over an entire campsite. I was told that the ladies' showers were of good quality, with control for both heat and pressure, but the mens' were simple push-button affairs, and were never, when I used them, properly hot. Moreover, there were no proper washbasins, only small basins for washing hands after going to the toilet, and there were no shaver points, at least as far as we could see. Worse still, there was one sink for washing up and one for clothes washing. Over an entire campsite. The site itself was pleasant enough, but not well maintained. The grass was overly long, although I understand that an unusually wet July may have made mowing difficult, but we were also aware of newcomers crowded onto pitches which had obviously only recently been vacated, with very poor turf and ground conditions. I thought that there was nothing catering to children at all, barring one piece of wood tied to a treebranch. I was told later that the small playpark attached to the pub was open for their use, but it was quite distant from the campsite itself, and its availability was not made clear. All these things do not necessarily make a bad campsite; only a basic one. However, the prices do not reflect 'basic'. I realise it's a popular area, and that there must be some demand for camping areas, but for the prices we paid we would expect more than such a basic level of facilities, and some care to be taken over the site itself. To sum up, the feeling we got from this campsite was that it was only what the owners of the pub/restaurant (and 'microbrewery') did with the extra land they had at their disposal, something to get some extra profit out of, rather than a genuine endeavour to be taken seriously, and which could have pride taken in it. It might do for an overnighter, but a week was more than enough. We certainly won't be returning. ]]> Thu, 12 Aug 2010 19:51:24 +0100