Chester Fairoaks CAMC Site Review
August Bank Holiday and we decided to travel to Chester from our home which is just North of London. We went on the Friday and left at about 8 O’clock. We live quite near the M11 so in no time we were on the motorway heading towards the dreaded M25. Well, the M25 was fine and didn’t give us any problems at all. After this was the M1 followed by the M6.
We got as for as Salford before the troubles began, there was a minor accident which delayed us by almost an hour and there were some roadworks; “Building a smart motorway” which from what I could see involved opening up the hard shoulder for normal traffic, signs saying “Use the hard shoulder” and camera every 100 metres.
The journey for us was 220 miles, should have taken about 4 hours, it ended up taking 6 hours. We did actually stop three times, just for toilet breaks and once for a coffee. Here lies a mini short story.
At one point we stopped at Hilton Park on the M6 and after parking up I went in for a tea and a coffee. BTW parking here is good, but they are spaces that you need to drive into and therefore reverse out of. Anyway, I went in to order our drinks, it was a Costa Coffee. It got to my turn in the queue.
“Good morning, one small white Americano and one small white tea please.”
Seemed fairly straightforward to me, the only way it could have been easy was if I just ordered one drink.
“Certainly Sir, thats one Latte and a black Americano”
Came the barista’s reply. I couldn’t believe someone could get such a small order so wrong.
I repeated my order, politely.
“Ok, sorry Sir” and then got the order wrong again!
“Umm, no, small white Americano, small white tea”
“Do you want milk in the Latte?”
Let’s just pause here. I’m not a coffee connoisseur, anyone who says they are is lying. It really doesn’t take an expert to know latte is pretty much coffee and milk. You can’t get a black latte, why was he asking if I wanted milk anyway?
“I don’t want a Latte, one small white Americano and one small white tea”
This person was a native English speaker, I don’t have a particularly strong accent, although born near London, I’m not a cockney.
He smiled, explained it had been a long day (it was about 11:30am) and correctly repeated my order. I ended up with a small Americano and a large tea, I didn’t have the strength to correct him.
Anyway, back to the review. After 6 hours and about 220 miles we arrived. The weather was like April showers, it would bucket down for 5 minutes then the sun would come out. I likened it to having diarrhoea, one minute you’re feeling fine, then all of a sudden…It didn’t go down to well though.
Chester Fairoaks CAMC Site Review Site – Overview
We’d read reviews complaining about road noise. You can hear a road, but I wouldn’t say it was annoying. We are both comparatively light sleepers and we’ve been on sites where road noise was an issue, but this one didn’t bother us at all. It’s true the M53 is quite near though.
The site is small comprising of 96 pitches and 4 camping pitches. The majority of pitches are hard standing. The reception, although small, was very pretty with a good show of flowers and a really good information pack.
As mentioned earlier, it is a small site, but it is very well kept. Pitches are a good size, it’s rare on a site where there’s not really a bad pitch. The site feels somehow new and this is reflected in all facilities on site.
There is a dog walking area, not really big, but somewhere for your 4 legged friend to empty their bowels in privacy. Well, assuming they don’t mind the odd passing car as it is situation at the front of the site.
Chester Fairoaks CAMC Site Review – Toilet Blocks
One of the best, if not the best toilet blocks we’ve been to. Obviously newly refurbished they are absolutely great. Best of all, and I know not everyone likes this, but Radio Two is piped in so you can sing whilst you shower.
The only negative thing we’d say about the toilets is that they shut from 10:15 to 11:15. We thought that was a bit early to close them.
Site Access
This site is easily accessible from the motorway (M53) , being about 5 minutes away. Our sat nav took us directly there no issues at all.
Chester Fairoaks CAMC Site Review – Wardens
Wonderfully friendly, really could ask for any more. Unlike a lot of sites these days we were given an information pack, again top marks here. Explained the site layout very well. Always say hello when wondering around site.
Official Caravan and Motorhome Club Site Leaflets
Chester Fairoaks Site Plan
Chester Fairoaks Site Leaflet
Things To Do
The site it only 5 minutes from the following
Cheshire Oaks Designer OutletÂ
Blue Planet Aquairum
It’s also not far from Chester Zoo
Liverpool is a 30 minutes drive.
Conclusion
We really liked this site. Sometimes it’s hard to pin point exactly why you like a site, or indeed why you dislike a site. This one just had a really good feel about it. Maybe being a northern site, people are just a bit more friendly and willing to talk. I found at my last Brighton visit (another of our favourites) people were avoiding eye contact so as not to speak to you, even to say “Good morning”
The site is peaceful, the Wardens helpful and the site office sells many basic items including sausages, which we didn’t get a chance to try.
There is a small children’s play area, with a few things to keep them amused.
Location
[mappress mapid=”9″]
Leave a Reply