To be honest camping was not our first holiday choice and if it hadn't been for the fact that our 4 year old son thought it would be a great idea we probably wouldn't have gone. It also didn't help that we were camping virgins so we left home kind of expecting the worst.

We were greeted at the entrance by friendly staff who explained that we could pitch where we liked so long as it was within the site boundaries.

We found an open pitch, setup the tent and did our cursory walk around the site (minding the cow and horse manure which our son thought was hilarious). We checked out the kitchen, laundry and shower/toilet blocks which were well stocked and clean and breathed a sigh of relief.

We did realise however that we had pitched too close to the main road and could hear the traffic despite being more than 300 yards away. (Never mind, lesson learned!). Our son loved the whole camping experience and slept better than he normally does at home so wasn’t affected.

We had a fantastic 6 days on site and were thinking of asking if there was an opportunity to stay longer but on the final night we returned late from a day out to find that several large tents had pitched together into a large huddle approx 4 feet from ours (there is a limit of 6 meters) and we had to endure screaming children (and adults) til at least midnight. Shortly after that we were woken by an argument (again between adults) which lasted at least another hour.

Our camping extension idea came to an abrupt halt that evening and we left the next morning with mixed feelings about our stay.

It was a shame that the campsite patrol team didn't notice either how close the group had pitched next to our tent or how disrespectful they were to other campers by making so much noise.

Our overall experience was fantastic and have taken away a few tips for making our next stay a better one - we will simply take more care in our pitch choice (and set a 6 meter land mine perimeter of course) or choose a site where large groups are not permitted.

We are already looking at a better quality tent and look forward to planning our next excursion.