Dunstan Hill

We came to the Dunstan Hill site to join friends to celebrate a 60th birthday. Consequently we'd hoped to camp close to each other, however, I understand and accept that its not possible to book certain pitches on the site as a first come first served system is used in the interest of fairness. On arrival, after an officious and surly greeting by camp stewards we asked if we could be positioned close to our friends (plot 52) and were told that our allocated plot (127) was the closest free pitch. We enquired about a pitch almost directly behind them (25) that was clearly vacant and were told it was too small for our 2 man tent. While we were erecting our tent a much larger tent was allocated this pitch; frustrating. Adding to our frustration was the poor location of our plot: adjacent to the stand pipe that unfortunately reeked of sulphur; beside that was the recycling centre, very noisy late and early hours; and we were directly in front of the playground, a handy pitch for a young family. We left that phase of life 10 years ago. The worst of it was that the majority of our interactions with camp staff were met with unfriendly and unhelpful responses.

• Location: Coastal
• Suitable For: Families
• Friendliness: 2
• Cleanliness: 4
• Facilities: 5

Had a lovely time, the Wardens were quite helpful and always available for advice. The site was much larger than we normally choose and had a hard standing pitch for our caravan. Most of the other folk using the site were very friendly and helpful and very quiet, but did notice at the weekend it became much noisier due to the families with kids. That is to be expected as it was time to have family joy and fun, but did go on a bit beyond 10pm. The location was very good indeed to visit the castles and beaches in the area, so many local walks too. The facilities were as usual, a high standard of cleanliness, and always a shower or "throne" was available. The ground was firm but easy to peg out, TV reception was not that good. Dog walkers paradise plenty of lovely walks. For shopping supermarkets etc Alnwich was within easy reach. Local pubs and garage very friendly service. Great base to explore the area, would certainly return but in the mid season, can be busy with kids and families enjoying themselves.

• Towing: Moderate
• Location: Coastal
• Suitable For: Families,Older couples,Groups,Younger couples
• Friendliness: 3
• Cleanliness: 4
• Facilities: 4

A poor welcome to this site, on arrival I parked according to the signs, one of the site team shouted at me to move in case a caravan needed to be in. His instructions were not clear so I pulled onto the grass verge. This was NOT ALLOWED, he instructed me to back up down the one way system. He was obviously stressed but not my fault. When I came out of arrivals my van was the only one in the area. However the facilities were good, the surroundings wonderful, there is a bus passes the gate once an hour each way, I enjoyed my stay. It is good value.

• Location: Country,Coastal
• Suitable For: Older couples,Active break
• Friendliness: 1
• Cleanliness: 5
• Facilities: 5

We stayed for one night at the weekend and had a great experience. This is a really lovely small site, with clean facilties and friendly staff. We found it much more peaceful than bigger sites we've stayed at in Northumberland. It's location is excellent. A really lovely 20 minute walk along a footpath to the most lovely beach overlooked by Dunstanburgh Castle, with footpaths also leading to nearby Craster and Embleton. We will definitely return.

• Location: Coastal
• Suitable For: Families,Older couples,Active break,Peaceful break
• Friendliness: 5
• Cleanliness: 5
• Facilities: 4