Orchards Holiday Village

This is the second ive been to and i may have been spoiled with the first (Haven Devon Cliffs). Although Haven Orchards achieves what it sets out to, the holiday park is just a little more underwhelming than Devon Cliffs. The caravan we stayed in again, was okay... but seemed pretty dated. There was next to no phone signal or wifi, although that can have its benefits, its also a bit of a inconvenience. The location of the park is both okay and disappointing, youre a short drive to Clacton-on-Sea (make of that what you will) and Brightlingsea. But within walking distance outside of the park there isnt much going on, infact some areas including the walk down to the "beach" seemed a little ropey, I probably wouldn't do it in a rush. The amenities are fine, decent stocked shop, arcade is a little on the smaller side but decent enough, a few food outlets but we didnt use them so can't comment. Ive made it sound far more negative than it is. This is a perfectly acceptable Haven park, especially for the cheaper price we paid. Its not too far to drive to (for me). So if you can take the good with the bad, give it a go. But dont expect the Ritz. Also, paid for an ironing board and never received it.

Beware! Cleaners are thieves! Arrived at 4, our check in time was between 4 and 5. Our caravan wasn't ready went off and came back at 5 and still wasn't ready. Went back at 530 and the cleaners were in there and told us to come back at 6 when we were finally allowed in! Caravan was fine but wasn't cleaned very well. Floors were sticky and weren't not clean at all. Toilets had not been cleaned properly and there were cobwebs everywhere and spiders! Anyway apart from that we had a good time we travelled with friends so there were 4 families in total. As you can imagine the beds aren't the most comfortable so we decided to leave Sunday evening rather than stay just to get up and leave in the morning. We arrived home to me realising that my son had left his trainers there (he wore crocs home) so I tried to call but the reception doesn't open until 9am so I called then to be told I had to wait for the cleaners to go round and bring the stuff back they find so I waited. Didn't hear nothing back so called again the next afternoon to be told it hadn't been handed in so there wasn't nothing they could do! The trainers would have still be in the caravan when I called at 9am so had someone checked then it would have been fine. My friend had also left a bag there with her children's swimming stuff and her Dyson hairdryer. They had found the bag but unfortunately no hairdryer was in there just the children's stuff! Clearly there is an issue here with the cleaning staff so if you do travel here please double and triple check the caravan before you leave because if you leave anything of value they will take it!

Stayed in a Gold caravan which was lovely & clean. Coastal walks right behind caravan & along countryside. Beautiful views. Peaceful. Leisure & food facilities were excellent. Had great food at mash & barrel & staff were friendly, helpful & welcoming. Lots to do on site & off. Fab holiday.

We have stayed at the orchards as a family for the past few years, our recent stay was just what we needed. We stayed in a gold caravan over on the priory section of the park. It was quiet and the caravan itself was lovely with plenty of space for the kids to entertain themselves. When we arrived the caravan itself wasn't quite as clean as we would of liked however after calling reception with our concerns two lovely cleaners was sent out swiftly after the phone call was ended and the cleaning was then rectified. Whilst on the site we used the swimming pool, which was clean and not freezing cold so that was lovely. We also ate in the restaurant which unfortunately the food was okay, but a lot of it was only mildly warm. Having hungry children we just got on with it and didn't even mention it in the restaurant. We did also spend some time in the arcades which was very busy but the staff was lovely. There was a lot of machines malfunctioning and the two guys that was working was very much all over the place helping everyone. The kids had a fantastic time and got lots of prizes from the machines and the ticket shop to. Overall we had a lovely stay and will continue to return whenever we can.

We stayed for 3 nights at the end of July as a family of 5 and it was a disappointing unenjoyable experience. Arrived straight to the swimming pool to find the the whole area including changing rooms smelled of drains, the floor was dirty and bits of rubbish kept attaching themselves to the kids in the pool, a shoe lace and someone else’s photos to name a couple! Not forgetting the dirty orange sludge round the edge of the pool. Arrived to our silver caravan with balcony which in itself was a little older but actually fine for us. Not fine was the previous guests dirty bedding that lay on the path outside that we had to physically move ourself to get inside. That bedding, and dirty bedding outside all other caravans around us, stayed for almost a full day of our 3 day trip. The area around our steps was littered with rubbish, the seating areas for the takeaway restaurants were covered in rubbish, the arcade was dirty with rubbish on the floor (but the arcade staff were the only staff who appeared friendly and helpful throughout) and the children’s play park near the owners bar was covered in rubbish. Everything felt dirty and it was impossible to relax! Paid for pottery painting and the only things staff said to us were ‘’you can choose now’’ and ‘’you have 4 minutes left’’. Went back to collect our pottery after being in the kiln to find they had been put in touching/on top of each other so the animals the kids painted were chipped and the mug I painted was sharp and not water tight! And that summed up the whole experience, nobody cared about that site and or any of the guests who stayed. Will NEVER return and will now seriously question ever going to Haven again - where I have been going since I was a little girl. Did complain - £15 off another booking was the best that could be offered along with some feedback to the relevant teams!