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Ilfracombe Holiday Park – reviews, photos

Marlborough Rd, Ilfracombe EX34 8PF, England (Formerly John Fowler Ilfracombe Holiday Park)
Hotel amenities
Ilfracombe Holiday Park
2.0 of 5 stars 219 Reviews
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219 reviews from our community

What travellers say about this Speciality lodging
  • Club house(9)
  • Very poor(6)
  • Swimming pool(6)
  • Clean and tidy(5)
  • Sofa bed(4)
  • High standard(4)
  • Would not recommend(3)
  • Staff were friendly(3)
  • Seating area(3)
  • Combe martin(3)
Traveller rating
    9
    36
    33
    27
    114
Only show reviews for Family (127) | Couples (52) | Business (0)
Date Rating
London, United Kingdom
Senior Reviewer
6 reviews 6 reviews
Reviews in 5 cities Reviews in 5 cities
11 helpful votes 11 helpful votes
“Sun holiday segregation!!!”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 5 January 2012
3
people found this review helpful

We pre-booked a family holiday at this park through The Sun Holidays scheme last July. We timed the holiday as a little family break, but mainly for my daughter and her hubby as they had just had a baby at the time.
We asked for accommodation that was disabled friendly and that was as near to the main facilities (clubhouse/pool/shop) as possible, as my other daughter has difficulty walking and has to use crutches due to Lupus, but was told that the only places that were on one level were the gold apartments and these were only for 'Saturday to Saturday' bookings and were not available for 'Sun' customers, even though I offered to pay the additional costs.
Instead we were given a 3 bedroom house at the very top of the site and at the peak of a very steep hill, which meant driving up and down the site each time we wanted to use any facilities of the park.
In the accommodation we were allocated, there was a bedroom on the ground floor (which was covered in mould), but my daughter still had to negotiate the stairs to use the bathroom upstairs, so this was no help at all.
When my daughter with the baby went to move the single beds together for her husband and herself and to make room for the travel cot, she was confronted by rubbish from previous occupants and more mould.
When the maintenance men came out fix the electrics (as most of the lights went working) and attend to other repairs, they told us that they were embarrassed by the state of the state of the places and that the accommodation block we were staying in was being used for 'the Sun Customers' as these older houses and bungalows were due to be knocked down, due to the whole site being regenerated and that they were milking the last bit of money from them before they were demolished.
We were told that the new places were beautiful apartments with top of the range facilities including flat screen TV's, electric showers and dishwashers - whereas we had tiny portable TV with no reception, a shower over the bath and a washing up bowl!!!
I was really peeved at being told we has basically been segregated just because of being on a cheap Sun holiday deal. We have been on numerous Sun Holidays before and never been treated or made to feel anything other than a 'normal' full paying customer and have always had an acceptable level of accommodation - to be put in places that were uninhabitable and condemned was shocking.
My main concern was the health implications to my newborn grandson and daughters, so we put in a complaint about the state of the place on the first day, but was told the cleaners had gone home so it was to late to do anything that afternoon, but we at least got some of the repairs done.
We repeated our request to have the walls cleaned again the next day, as we all had breathing trouble overnight due to the mould spores and they sent someone round to have the mould cleaned off.
When other things started going wrong (like a leaky sewage pipe in the bathroom) we asked to be moved and they tried to send us 2 doors down from where we were staying to an identical place that was just as bad as what we were in, so we went back again and were finally offered one of the new apartments, but said it would cost us £60 for (the privilege) of staying there for the last 3 nights of our holiday.
I was pleased they were going to move us, but was annoyed that we had to pay for the upgrade when they knew the place we originally had been given wasn't fit for habitation.
I was also annoyed that I wasn't permitted to do the upgrade before we went on holiday which would have saved us going through all that stress and made our holiday more enjoyable one.
The new apartment was beautiful and was smack on the doorstep of all the facilities and was all on one level which was ideal for my daughter. The place was also damp free which was great for all our health and had all the amenities which were not luxuries but stuff that should come as standard to any paying customer whether they are on a deal or not!!!

The site itself is in a beautiful countryside setting with great views of the sea.
The reception area is very clean and presentable, but is a bit dated with remnants of 60's decor (eg wood cladding and dodgy carpet), they have tried to update things with some modern leather settees for an informal feel, but they look a little out of place.
There do have wi-fi, but this is limited to the lobby area, which wasn't ideal as it was a busy area, the signal kept dropping and it was hard using a laptop on a low coffee table.
The little shop on-site has your basics but is a bit pricey, so better to go to the local Tesco's across the road (2mins in car 5/10 walking).
The pool and pool area is immaculately clean with a nice little sauna which is free to use. There is an interesting harbour town (Ilfracombe itself) that has a curious mix of shops from different eras which was nice, but a little hard to negotiate - we found Barnstaple has a more varied mix of shops and a great market selling home produce, crafts, plants, books, etc (there is a great bakers opposite the market place too)

Room Tip: Go for a gold apartments or your accommodation will be substandard
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  • Stayed July 2011, travelled with family
    • 1 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Location
    • 3 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 1 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 1 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 2 of 5 stars Service
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Ask sukura-sky about Ilfracombe Holiday Park
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Hull, East Yorkshire
Senior Reviewer
10 reviews 10 reviews
Reviews in 4 cities Reviews in 4 cities
5 helpful votes 5 helpful votes
“A great break”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 19 November 2011

We stayed there in may this year. We had gone to see family. Great rooms, very clean. Club house was very large and we saw some great shows. The animation team were great and very friendly. Hubby and children loved the swimming pool. Good location for the local shops (tesco). Restaurant food was fantastic and reasonably priced. Would book in here again next time we go down to Devon.

  • Stayed May 2011, travelled with family
    • 5 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 5 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 5 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 5 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
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Ask sammie71 about Ilfracombe Holiday Park
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
1 review
5 helpful votes 5 helpful votes
“Rather stay at Alchatraz”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 17 November 2011
5
people found this review helpful

Apon arriving at Ilfracombe John Fowler. It felt like arriving at a housing estate. With little or no aesthetic compliment. My accommodation had faulty heating which left us freezing cold. We waited until the following day to complain and instead of being help. A lady in a white shirt asked us to explain why we left it a day to mention it. We where told the park is full and we will have to stay there. Assuring us they would Send maintenance which never arrived. Even after making a
Further complaint to the resort manager. Mark Randell I believe was his name. They still didn't arrive. Entertainment was very poor and some night we had no act at all. I was discusted by the whole experience. I am frightened to be told this was there main park. Glad to say I won't be seeing the rest

  • Stayed September 2011
    • 1 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 1 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 1 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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Hampshire, UK
Senior Reviewer
8 reviews 8 reviews
Reviews in 7 cities Reviews in 7 cities
5 helpful votes 5 helpful votes
“Great Holiday park, great location, great size accomodation !”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed 13 November 2011

We stayed in one of the apartments in the manor house, there were 10 of us and it was massive, loads of room for all of us to eat, sleep and relax, it was in need of an update decor wise though. Just some new sofas, decor and new ensuite and kitchen cupboards and it would be perfect. Basically just needs a little make over as the size of it for a family is perfect.
In a good location right opposite the club house, pool etc and a short drive into town.
Dont eat at the cafe next to the club house the staff were rude and not enough of them so took forever to get our food, the other resaurant opposite was nice, food was good needs a bit of a make over inside but staff friendly and food good.
I think the other rental accomodations next to clubhouse were done up a bit more modern though but smaller for smaller families to stay in. For a cheap getaway (out of holiday times) i would recomend though and entertainment was good in the club house.
A basic holiday but all the amenities you need !

Room Tip: Look into all the rooms before booking if you want basic and a lot of you go for manor house but if...
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  • Stayed September 2011, travelled with family
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Location
    • 3 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 3 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 3 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 3 of 5 stars Service
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Ask honeymooner1234 about Ilfracombe Holiday Park
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Coalville
Reviewer
5 reviews 5 reviews
Reviews in 4 cities Reviews in 4 cities
5 helpful votes 5 helpful votes
“Good enough for our weekend away”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 31 October 2011

I am writing this review after reading some of the others that I have read on this site, which do not reflect my own experience. My mum, husband and I stayed here on that glorious weekend that began 30 September. I read some of the reviews after booking it, and so was dreading what I would find. We took our own bed linen, just in case, this was not necesary as the chalet was fairly clean, I say fairly as we did have a dirty bathroom floor, the kitchen, and bedrooms and living area were very clean.

The food we ate there was pleasant enough holiday fare, and the entertainment seemed to keep the children happy, as it was geared towards families, although not to our taste! Overall we had a basic, but acceptable base from which to explore the area, which is better than what we expected after reading other reviews.

Room Tip: We had a standard chalet which was adequate
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  • Stayed September 2011, travelled with family
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Location
    • 3 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 3 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 3 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 3 of 5 stars Service
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