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This was our fourth trip to bbs. Each time we return the owners have made something better. A warm welcomevwhen we arrived, vanessa handed us our breakfast order form and gave us info on boat trips etc. The site is small with 3 toilets and 2 showers, plenty for the 14 or so pitches. The showers take 20p a go but last a long time and are hot and fast! The cafe has an amazing range of drinks and cakes etc and is open to campers from 8. 30ish am although you can have coffee and croissant delivered to your tent. Lovely friendly campsite in good location with lots to do locally, boat trips, , kayakes, walks, pub and camber/rye 20 mins away.
Lovely little site, however when full the facilities just don’t/can’t cope. We had 1 fully working toilet over our stay and not a huge amount of room for the kids to play ball or cycle. The owners are set to revamp over winter/next year but for now it’s basic. There is a road close by which can be heard throughout the night (didn’t bother me) and the garden place next door start up at 7am. If you want peace it’s not ideal but do visit for the boats. Owners were very friendly and helpful.
The owners refer to this site as their little bit of paradise and I don't blame them. It is in a lovely location, ideally suited for sightseeing in the area or lovely riverside walks or just peace and quiet. You can always find fault but I think the measure of whether you liked a site or not is to answer to the question, would I return. Well I certainly would, I wanted somewhere which had a few things to do but I was there for a relaxing few days (3). The owners could not have been more pleasant, the level site has only 15 pitches about 50 % with electric hook up. There is on ' site ' facilities of loos & showers and have been referred to as basic, well they may I be basic but were clean and did what they were designed to do. I personally don't care for coin operated showers but these I understand are to be upgraded. There was also fresh water and a loo empty pit. The site is only a few hundred yards from the village where there in an interesting small church and across the road a lovely friendly pub.
The site also boasts boat rides, kayak and row boat hire ( I even saw some hardy souls swimming, )and an outside area were you can get some teas and cakes.
A nice touch is that if you order before 5 pm you can have croissants and eggs & hot drinks with a newspaper delivered to your pitch the next morning, now how good is that!
The A28 is close by but I was not bothered by the road and the lorries next door were ion operation fairly early in the morning but again not an inconvenience to me. A great site
I arranged a 30th birthday party stay for two nights for my wife and a group of friends during the middle of July. The checklist for the ideal location to host this was extremely high and to be honest I did not think I would find it. A stunning location, plenty of things to do during the day, a warm welcome, a pub close by and a camp side fire. Bodiam Boating Station ticked every single box and more.
The owners were absolutely fantastic right from when I made contact. They were understanding in accommodating a large group of people, they offered advice on what to do during our stay and provided a warm welcome throughout. I cannot recommend enough to stay here as there is something for everyone. A beautiful location over looking Sussex pastures, a stunning river that you can swim in with a picturesque bridge, a cottage cafe to visit first thing in the morning to sit and have a coffee and croissant, a steam train railway line within walking distance that stops right beside the castle, a great pub serving fine food, a wonderful well kept castle to visit and a sunset boat cruise to top it off. There is more than this to do but that’s all we could fit in over two days.
All our guests were raving about their stay and will all be coming back soon. I read one or two reviews prior to booking that mention the road among other things but can reassure anyone thinking of staying here that we did not hear it once and that every single one of our 20 guests had only positives things to say about their stay. I would thoroughly recommend the sunset boat cruise where the owner was the best host with plenty of history of the waterway and the surrounding countryside to inform us about as well allowing the party to let their hair down and celebrate. A swim in the river, The White Hart pub, Bodiam Castle, The Castle Inn pub, the steam railway, a camp side fire toasting marsh mellows, a coffee and ice cream from the cottage cafe and a boat cruise along the river. All recommended. Our weekend at Bodiam Boating Station will live long in the memory of all our guests and will ensure we visit time and again. There are already plans being hatched to visit the same time next year. You will be seeing us again very soon.
We arrived at the campsite to be met by the owner who told us that she had been trying to contact us to cancel as a motor home had got stuck in the mud the previous day and she was worried we may not get our trailer tent on the pitch. We went with her for a quick look at the ground and decided to risk it - and I am glad we did. She had cancelled all the other visitors due as most of them were in caravans or campers and she thought they would definitely get stuck - so our group of 2 tents had the site to ourselves for 2 days!
The site is lovely - yes it is near a road, but it is not hugely busy, and certainly over a weekend it didn't intrude too much. Yes - there is a landscape gardening business next door which involves lorries reversing (beep, beep, beep) at around 7. 30 in the morning - but again - this didn't bother me too much and it was quiet again by 10-30ish (the noise was in no way constant for 3 hours!) and it certainly would not be a deal-breaker to us returning to the site. From the site you can see (and hear) the steam trains on the nearby Kent & East Sussex railway which is really very lovely as they go chuffing past (I note that no-one comments on that noise!)
Sadly the boat-trips weren't running over our weekend as the boat had broken, but we would definitely do it next time as the river is very scenic and the boat looked lovely.
We didn't use the cafe - but only because we are fairly self-sufficient when we camp and prefer a fry-up over the campfire to croissants!
Yes - the toilet facilities are basic, but they are clean and everything you need - the owners both explained that planning permission was being sought to upgrade them before next season. The showers were hot and 50p gave enough time to thoroughly wash! and there was a large bench to put clothing/towels etc on - not quite sure what the previous reviewer wants on a campsite really!
The owners are both lovely hosts - quick to offer advice on local places to eat in the evening and things to do locally and quick to sort out any minor issues you may have.
We celebrated my daughters birthday in the White Hart pub - a stones throw from the site - and I would recommend this as the food was good and plentiful.
Oona the puppy was lovely and entertained our group of 4 children everytime she arrived on the site - hopefully Gladys the Greyhound hasn't scarred her for life by bowling her over at 30 mph!
I really hope that the owners make a good go of this business - they are very hard-working and have some great ideas to bring the facilities up to date. They also offer something a little different to other sites - delivered coffee and pastries, the boat - one trip involved drinks on the boat followed by dinner at the White Hart which sounded lovely, the canoes for hire and the pretty tea-garden/cafe.
My only reservation would be that if the site was fully booked, with all 15 pitches filled, it may feel a tad crowded. But a minor niggle!
Set in 500 acres of beautiful, rolling Kent countryside. The Oast village on site is the World's largest Oast house collection and makes for a spectacular backdrop. Grass and hardstanding pitches for caravans, tents and motorhomes with electric option. Modern toilets and showers and multiple washing up facilities.
Small shop onsite and pub/restaurant at the entrance. The River Medway flows through the site, providing idyllic waterside pitches. Make the most of the location and try your hand at canoeing or fishing or simply sit back, unwind and enjoy wildlife spotting. Five minutes' drive from Paddock Wood station and trains to London Find out more here
We have just returned from a lovely weekend at Bodiam Boating Station Campsite. The owners could not do enough for us before or during the stay.
It is by a road but it isn't intrusive, the boat trips were great, my daughter has not stopped talked about the boat.
Breakfast and papers delivered to your door what more can you ask for. The site was safe, plenty of room for children to play and loads of space between tents so we all had our own space.
Bodiam Boating Station has a great website; it makes the campsite look fantastic - it highlights the cafe, boat trips and has some great photos.
Overall the website is a great PR job. The reality is a little different in my opinion.
We booked for a long weekend camping from Friday to Monday, but left on Sunday for several reasons.
Firstly the noise. The site is about 50 metres away from the A286. It's a fairly busy road and the traffic noise is very audible. There is also a business called Gardenscape literally next door, which opens Monday to Saturday. The noise from the heavy loaders and tractors was very loud and cannot be ignored. It starts around 7. 30 in the morning and goes on all day during the week and until around noon on Saturday.
The facilities on the camp site aren't great. There is only one toilet (not one block, but literally one toilet) for 15 pitches and only one shower each for male and female. Shower rooms were cleaned daily, but were not well equipped - nowhere to put your toiletries etc while you had a wash. You also don't get long in the shower for your 50p.
The cafe is not a cafe as such, but a kiosk that also doubles as reception. I feel cafe is overselling it a bit. The garden is nice, but there's no indoor seating if it rains.
There are few rules at the campsite, which is nice, and everyone there seemed to observe the request for quiet after 10. 30. Dogs are asked to but kept on a lead at all times and everyone obeyed this except the owner, who's dog ran around at will, drinking from other dog's bowls and was not generally well controlled. Surely the owners should stick to their own rules.
Having said that, the owner is very friendly and helpful and makes a genial host. However, I did find the other owner was offhand when we arrived to book in as she was going out and even the smallest request, like the number for a local taxi firm, was met grudgingly.
The site would benefit from making more tourist information available; that way people could find things out for themselves without having to ask the owners
There are some plus points:
The ferry ride to Bodiam is very pleasant and they run this well.
Fires are permitted in the fire bowls for hire, which makes for a pleasant evening sat around a fire.
The White Hart is a decent pub with good food and is only about 300m from the site.
The East Sussex and Kent railway is very near by, with the station at Northiam only being about 400 metres away.
Overall, I feel that the bad points outweigh the good by quite some margin. On paper it's a great site and a great idea, but the reality falls short.
Management response: Hi Marvin, I can’t tell you how upsetting it is to read your dreadful review. I realise you can’t please all of the people all of the time, but I feel compelled to respond and defend some of the myths in your statement.
To start with a positive; thank you for complimenting our website; I have very little experience of web design and have thoroughly enjoyed creating a forum for communicating our business and all that it has to offer. The website, we feel, is transparent and does nothing to mask the reality of our premises or mislead potential customers. However, after your comments, I will add more photos to enhance this transparency.
You have a point about our cafe not being a cafe; it doesn’t have four walls and a roof and meals are prepared in the cottage kitchen and the only covered seating is under a veranda. We have branded it a ‘cafe’ as we have plans to start building a permanent indoor cafe with seating this winter. For now though, we are producing a full menu including a lunch with a wine list, so I don’t think ‘kiosk’ quite ticks the box either.
We moved here 5 months ago and had to open the business immediately. The project is a working progress and whilst we have made lots of little improvements, we have been unable to tackle improvements requiring planning permission. We agree that one WC plus additional one in tea garden is not ideal (though lots of campers compliment simplistic facilities). We are awaiting approval to build three wet rooms this winter.
We are in a conservation area and the coin operated showers encourage people to save water; each 50p lasts 3.5mins and the 6’ bench should provide sufficient space for toiletries/clothes.
We ask people to keep their dogs on leads when on site, so that they don’t scare children or deposit faeces. It is not practical (or humane) to keep a dog that lives here, on a lead. Yes, our little Oona is a nightmare – but for us! She’s just 5 months old and this is the first negative comment about her. Most campers threaten to take her home, many ask to walk her and I’m yet to come charging over to the campsite to chase her around for the umpteenth time that day and NOT see people smiling and laughing because I can’t catch her. She is tiny and despite our best efforts to dog proof the garden, she still continues to escape. Naturally she thinks that if she can get to the campsite, she’ll chance across a sausage or two! What I will do, after your comments, is put up a notice to ask campers NOT to feed her, so that her escapades become futile and she’ll eventually give up.
I’m glad you found Alex to be friendly and helpful; like me, he strives to surpass customers’ expectations in service. I am truly sorry that you felt I was offhand. I remember you arriving and yes, I was on my way out; we have two small children and I had to get them to an appointment. This was one of only two days that I left the site over the whole school summer holidays! In my absence, I had ensured that enough staff members were available to look after customers in the way we expect. I simply pointed you in the direction of one of them, gave you their name and told you they’d look after you, which I believe they did. If you remember, when you asked for a taxi number, I berated myself for not knowing the answer to a seemingly simple question. I offered to find you a number, but as there was a huge queue of people wanting boats/food/ferry tickets, I asked if it was urgent or if I could find it a bit later. When you said you needed the information straight away, I left everything going on outside, logged onto our very slow PC, found a number and offered to lend you a phone – it wasn’t grudgingly; but without a doubt I was trying to be quick. Since your visit, I have sourced a local taxi driver and have a stack of his cards to hand out.
We pride ourselves on being as flexible as possible and going the extra mile – I have washed a guest’s clothes after they’d got muddy at a festival, let a guy pitch a tent the night before arrival (without charge). A few weeks ago, a lady fell in the river and I gave up our family bathroom so that she could have a shower while I dried her clothes. I even complimented you and your partner on being the best dressed campers we’ve ever had!
I find some of your comments grossly unfair and slanderous. Such comments can be hugely damaging to a business, particularly such a new one and I hope after reading this, you will decide to retract some of these comments. I also hope that you will see that we are a young family starting a new venture; the business is nowhere near where we want it to be yet, but we cannot have it all over night and are working as hard as possible to make the right steps to achieve our end goal. I invite you to visit again in the future to see for yourself the progress we will make
Lovely little gem of a campsite, located in the Sussex countryside right next to a river. I have stayed twice recently and imagine I will be returning frequently. The new owners are very welcoming and enthusiastic, as well as running the campsite, they also have a beautiful garden cafe (really good coffee!), run boat trips and hire out row boats and kayaks. When we arrived, we were shown to our pitch and given a menu of breakfast goodies that they will deliver to you in the morning fresh from the oven.
The campsite itself is a flat level field with 15 pitches, I think at least 3 with hook up. There are two showers m/f and one toilet, all of which are kept very clean. I think they may be in the process of building a washing up area. There is a water tap and a chemical waste disposal area as well as a general rubbish bin and one for bottle recycling.
This is a family friendly and dog friendly (as long as they are well behaved and kept on leads) site and a real bonus to me is that you can take your dog straight out of the campsite to a
Lovely walk along the river.
It gets even better as there is a very good pub just a few
Minutes walk, the food is delicious! A kebab place even closer and an Indian restaurant a very short drive ( or slightly longer walk in the opposite direction).
There is plenty to do around here, Rye, camber, Tenterden all short drives away, Bodium Castle, steam railway, I could go on, but you need to check it out for yourself!
This was our first visit to a c&c certified site so we did not know what to expect but we were pleasantly suprised. The site is under new management and the couple who run the campsite, cafe & boat trips are very helpful and friendly. The site is located on the A28/A268 and easy to find. When we arrived we were greeted by the owners who showed us to our pitch and where to find the facilities, although it had rained non stop for a month the field was not boggy. The toilet & showers are very clean and CDP easy to use.
Newspapers, tea, coffee & freshly baked pastries can be ordered and will be delivered to your caravan in the morning. Our 4 days stay was very pleasing and hope to return very soon.
What a gem, lovely little site in great location on the Kent/ Sussex border.
Nice welcome from the owners and they were always around if you needed them for anything.
You are located along the riverside (hence the name) and from site there are boat trips up to Bodiam Castle. You can also walk up to Northiam and the steam railway, a small spar shop and there's a nice fish and chip shop in Northiam too rather than driving back into Hawkhurst where there are more local shops and some small supermarkets.
Camping field is flat and nice surface with tree's around sides (some established some not long planted) and although not far from the road there wasn't too much noise.
Great pub and beer garden over the bridge serving good and reasonably priced food, we ate there a few times.
We stayed over the Easter Weekend and will be returning next year as just have to say one of the best CL's we have stayed on.
Theres a new unit with male and female showers (need 50p per shower)a loo sited in a shed and good chemical loo point as well as water all in the corner of the camping field. Theres plenty of room to get your own space in the camping field too so your not all on top of one another and room for the kids to play if you have them with you. At night the site is closed up with a barrier so if your late back you have to leave your car the other side and walk into site from there so your nice and secure as well.
Cant fault this site at all and good for local exploring. You have many local castles and national trust properties in the area, the steam railway and boat trips on doorstep, a short drive into Rye, Hastings or Ashford where there's plenty of shopping and leisure facilities as well as attractions.
If you have dogs you can walk them along the river banks which are on the doorstep and plenty of other footpaths around a short walk or drive away.
Dont want to rave too much about this lovely little site as we may not get booked back in there when want to go next! Would we return? yes and we cant wait!
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Common Questions
Is Bodiam Boating Station child friendly? YES, it accepts children View all facilities
Where is the nearest shop to Bodiam Boating Station? There is a shop on site View all facilities
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
All reviews and comments are the personal opinion of the review author only , and as such do not represent the view of the UK Camp Site.co.uk.
The facilities shown on this website are a guide only, and you should check with the campsite direct before making any booking. The UKCampsite.co.uk will not be held responsible for any errors or omissions
Tent Pitches 
Caravan Pitches 
Motorhome Pitches 
Small Campervans 
No Glamping Units 
No Statics for Hire 
No Statics for Sale 
No Seasonal Pitches 
Electric Hookups 
No Hardstandings 
Fully Serviced Pitches 
Families Welcome 
Not Members Only 
No Rallies 
Not Naturist Site 
Dogs Welcome 
No Dogs Allowed 
Groups Welcome 
Motorbikers Welcome 
Toilet Facilities 
Hot Showers 
Washing Up 
No Bathroom 
Baby Changing Facilities 
No Laundry 
Drinking Water 
Disabled Friendly 
Chemical Disposal 
No Battery Charging 
No Gas Exchange 
Recycling Facilities 
No Kitchen Facilities 
Freezer / Fridge 
No Motorhome Point 
Wifi Access 
Shop On Site 
Bar On Site 
Restaurant or Cafe or Takeaway On Site 
No Playground 
No TV Room 
No Games Room 
Evening Entertainment 
Fishing On Site 
Wild Swimming On Site 
No Indoor Pool 
No Outdoor Pool 
No Horse Riding 
Cycle Hire <1 mile 
No Golf 
Tennis <1 mile 
Beach <10 miles 
Watersports On Site 
Boat Launch / Mooring On Site 
No Sea Views 
Not Working Farm 
Campfires Allowed 
Riverside Pitches 
Public Transport <1 mile
Offroad Dog Walk On Site or Direct Access 
This was our fourth trip to bbs. Each time we return the owners have made something better. A warm welcomevwhen we arrived, vanessa handed us our breakfast order form and gave us info on boat trips etc. The site is small with 3 toilets and 2 showers, plenty for the 14 or so pitches. The showers take 20p a go but last a long time and are hot and fast! The cafe has an amazing range of drinks and cakes etc and is open to campers from 8. 30ish am although you can have coffee and croissant delivered to your tent. Lovely friendly campsite in good location with lots to do locally, boat trips, , kayakes, walks, pub and camber/rye 20 mins away. 
