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We camped for 4 nights at Sandy Balls over Easter, from Easter Monday. Booking was easy with very friendly and helpful staff. Had torrential rain the first time but brightened up after that.
Didn’t know what to expect but we had a fantastic time. We were in Northfield, so a little away from the centre, but it was a pleasant walk. Toilets and showers were clean. Activities for our 5 year old were great – I was particularly impressed by the staff who were doing the activities.
We spent a day out at Bealieu (as wanted to see the the Bond cars!) but the rest of the time on site it was so nice. It didn’t feel too busy but would imagine this might change in the summer when they open the Cornfield area for camping.
It was far from cheap but, in my mind, it was just about worth it for the activities on site (lovely pool with a great band system to limit numbers) and general standard. Good playground and nice walks from site. I’ve heard bad reports on the pizza restaurant but we didn’t use it – however we found the main ‘village’ hub nicely laid out.
All in all highly recommended and really hope we can return next year – but not go over Easter as it was VERY cold at night!
Booking was a cinch with a very slick online process. Received the confirmation via email shortly.
Arriving at the site and checking in was also very quick, they have a small building where you run in - and give your name and they have a welcome pack ready for you with a map already labelled up with directions. Good so far.
The pitches are all Super Pitches as far as I can tell. Everyone having a hard standing area for 'Van and Awning as well as a Grey Waste point on the nearside of the 'van and a dedicated fresh water point. They also had a tv point but I did not test this. The toilet blocks however were decent but probably not as good as Caravan Club standard.
The site itself is excellent, it has all the trappings of somewhere like Centre Parks - very large but thin trees, and everything kept in good condition. We stayed Friday - Monday - and Fri/Sat where very busy but there were no problems with noise at all.
The site itself was excellent, there are some superb facilities - and the customer service was good. The kids kept themselves occupied with the multiple play areas - all of which where of a very high standard (much better than your average park).
There was a soft play area too for the younger kids but there was no monitoring and despite (poorly displayed) signs stating no over 6's - there were plenty of bigger kids playing rough. I can only imagine in the summer this is magnified.
There are some great places to eat nearby, the Fighting Cocks pub is 5 minutes drive and pricey but good. The Sura Inn Indian Restaurant is a good place too and a 10 minute drive. Eating at the on site pub was disappointing if truth be told - you cant argue with the variety but not a patch on a proper pub like Fighting Cocks.
The site is probably the most expensive site possible, but if you time it right you can get a real bargain. There club seems good too, 2 weeks touring (set periods) and 10% off everything for £35 seems good value.
In summary it is a very high quality site - and not one that is likely to disappoint.
We took an out of season low price offer, as it is quite expensive in high season. We were greeted by friendly staff and allocated a fully serviced pitch. How our TV point got hijacked by our neighbours, as ours didn't work.
Great facilities, and lovely pub with attentive staff.
We got the impression that all the staff there were genuinely interested in our welfare and enjoyment.
Plenty to do and see on-site and beyond. The walk down to the River Avon was enjoyable but the return climb was challenging!
As always a great stay, winter in the lodges and spring and summer on the touring site is our usual plan and this year will be the same. Great lodge, really clean and lovely and warm even in the snow! Shop has all you need, pizza & pasta restaurant is good value as always and the staff are very pleasant and the food in the Woodside inn was also great value. Have been to the site many times and still love it, especially the spa! but the pool area and changing rooms are now getting very tired and could do with a good bit of TLC but other than that still great and will continue to return
Having just returned from this site I have mixed thoughts about it.
The check in process was faultless - they came out to the car with a map with pitch location already indicated and best route drawn on it.
First look at the site facilities - we thought wow - however deeper inspections revealed a few deficiencies.
The bar was totally undersized for the site - only got a seat one night in four - the food in the bar was only passable both in quantity and quality.
The on site pizza restaurant was also undersized - we could never get a table in there - despite half the tables being empty (they were all reserved apparently) - so had to resort to takeaway - all I can say is that I was glad I hadn't actually managed to get a table because the pizza was poor.
The on site shop had a very wide range of the basics so don't worry about forgetting anything - prices were quite reasonable given the fact it was on a site.
The swimming pool was reasonable enough although the changing rooms were a little dirty because people ignored the signs to take off foot wear before entering the changing rooms. The arm band system meant that access to the pool was controlled and you have to have the discipline to go to the pool and hour before you want to swim in order to get your colour coded arm band allowing access for one hour only.
There were nice sign-posted walks around the grounds - down to the river bank though some lovely woods past the sandy balls.
All in all a reasonable site but I doubt I'll go back - there's a lot of better sites to go to which have the same facilities but better sized and better quality.
The site is also a bit of away from the coast and the attractions of the area - fine if you want to stay on site but if you wish to do some sightseeing then its a bit too far from the likes of Christchurch, Lymington, Beaulieu etc.
First trip to Sandy Balls. Has been highly recommended by many people and we stayed in the Northfield which is some way from the shops, children's play areas and pool.
Absolutely essential that if planning a camping trip here you take rock pegs and thick groundsheets as the gravel pitches are sharp and even with three groundsheets the stones were still uncomfortable. I was told that you could hire matting here but I never worked out from where.
The toilet blocks are reasonably clean and the showers are ok with enough hot water. If staying in the Northfield you will be very close to the Adventure Playground which was excellent for the children and very well equipped.
The piazza where the shops are contains the lesuire facilities, children's soft play area (godsend in the bad weather that plagued our visit) and the pool. My eldest is 6 and he struggled to touch the shallow end of the pool and it was quite deep (122cm shallow end) I felt.
There are two small children's triangular pools but they are only about 6ft wide and about 12ft long so not great if your kids are too small for the actual pool but too big for the kids ones.
The actual leisure facilities are very good with an outside pool if the weather permits, but in order to access the pool you will have to queue an hour before you want to swim in order to pick up a token to control the amount of people using it.
The shop is well stocked however it is expensive, I found a short trip to the co op in Fordingbridge was the answer.
Another excellent discovery was the amount of activities that the children could be booked into we opted for tie dying, fabric painting, card making and the like. It was all well run and the children were entertained which was important considering it rained for the majority of the time we were there.
Have a look on the website for a full list of the activities available.
On the good weather days there are events laid on for the children, Punch and Judy shows, magic, circus like acts etc, these were good and run all day at scheduled times.
On the site there is a pub that serves food and a pizza place however we didn't use these.
The surrounding area is beautiful, if you head out towards the new forest (opposite way to Fordingbridge along the Roger Penny Way) there are amazing walks across the countryside where the horses and freely roaming. The paths across the areas are obvious and there are no fears re getting lost.
There is a pub nearby called the The Fighting Cocks which serves excellent food on your return trip to the site. Reasonably priced and loads of it.
In all the site is run so that you don't really need to leave for anything unless you want to. The downsides are that during bad weather you have about a 8 minute walk to get to anything and I found I got a little stir crazy and just had to get out into the country side which is right on your door step. I would visit again but probably earlier in the season as the weather was poor and it was very busy at the time we went.
The pitches are of a good size with hedges forming a barrier at one side of them although staff don't seem to check where you are pitching so we did have some space issues where people had spread out too much. Water and electric are at the rear of each pitch.
I would go again but its not the cleanest or best run site I've been to. It does however have excellent facilities and entertainment on site and works like a Butlins for campers.
I have just returned from my first trip to Sandy Balls. We were staying in a very large tent with three small children.
Pitch: The pitch was huge with plenty of space, which was excellent for our big tent and car. We still has space for a windbreak and eating table etc. The pitches are hard standing and on gravel. This was no problem, but in a tent you do need to hire the mats to go under the tent. Some of the stones are big and sharp and will end up coming through your groundsheet.
The mats are available at the Cycle Hire shop for an extra £20 (for two). Also, the ground is solid! You need 8 inch rock pegs and and a big heavy hammer. The ground was so hard I was even bending some of my rock pegs! On the plus side, once pitched your tent will not budge an inch
Site: The site is very big and busy, with lots of people, children and traffic (bikes and cars), but this didn’t spoil to too much. We did go in mid-summer holidays, which must be the busiest time! There is lots for children to do and see.
The restaurant had good food. We ate there twice at £50 a time for 2 adults and 3 children, including drinks and desserts. Everything is expensive on the site, but Fordingbidge town is a few minutes down the road.
There is a large Co-Op store (with car park) and a Tesco express both in the high street, so we stocked up using them. The river walk was really nice and the kids can potter about with nets on the banks for hours. All the showers were good and hot all the time, although not very clean due to the sheer amount of people using them.
There is a room with a bath, which is a real bonus with small children. We found all the staff really friendly and helpful. The swimming pools were ok, but very busy peak season. We had to wait over an hour to get in and were only allowed in for an hour on a rota basis.
Summary: Sandy Balls is very well set up and great for families with young children. If you can put up with the hustle and bustle during busy times, you will have a great time. You will need pleny of spending money, but by being careful and travelling just a few miles down the road you can save a packet on food and drink items.
We stayed in the cornfield area with no services, there was temporary toilets and showers although these look quite permanent, there was a warden in the field all day about 9-4ish I think.
The toilets were not the best I've seen and could do with a good mop the were cleaned daily and toilet roll etc. refilled but feel a bit more care and attention could make them better, I preferred to walk a little further to the north field block, it seemed better looked after I also found it never full whatever time of the morning evening I went, plenty of showers, sinks, 2 free hairdryers.
The site was good but very full but it is August, the access roads were busy with kids, bikes and cars,
we swam once I feel the park has outgrown the pool with very small baby pool and large deep main pool shallow end was 1. 2m deep so not good for younger kids.
The north field playpark was good and felt happy to let our kids go by themselves(aged 5-13).
Lots of activities to do and a good cycle centre, we enjoyed our stay and would definitely go back again, they also have discount tickets for most attractions in the area.
We stayed in Chamberlain campsite which was just a field with portaloos, and a 8 min walk away from the main site so was a bit disappointed considering they charged £25 a night!
the showers were in a portaloo type container to, although clean there was nowhere to get dressed once clean so had to walk across the field in just my towel.
There is a good large outdoor play area and a smallish indoor one. We ate at the pizza place on site and others on here said how difficult it was to get seated but at 7. 45 we managed to walk in and get a table straight away, prices the same as most places.
We weren't allowed to use the pool which I thought wasn't fair and for the price we paid I expected to be able to use it.
I checked out the other camping sites on site and they had proper toilets and shower blocks but all the tents and caravans seemed very close by to each other and it was very busy unlike our field.
You must pay Fordingbridge a visit, lovely play area by a stream that you can paddle in and feed the ducks, very pretty.
We've just got back from a 3 night stay at Sandy Balls and I honestly think it should receive an award for 'noisiest campsite in Britain'!
We went with a group of friends; 5 tents in all, 9 adults, 8 children and 1 baby.
My biggest issue with the place was noise and their lack of effort to suppress it after hours. According to their literature they have a 'no noise after 11pm' rule, but they do seem shockingly lax about enforcing it!
The site itself is quite nice, but it does feel rather crowded. Our pitches were on gravel (which you had to pitch your tent on) and grass (which became very boggy after it rained).
Our pitches had electric hook-ups and water taps / drains which was very useful. The showers & loos, washing up areas etc. Were nearby, but not too close, and were reasonably clean.
We used the swimming pool, which was nice (changing room floor was filthy though!) and benefited from the rather unusual 'band' system - you go and get a band in the hour before you want to swim (so 9-10 for a 10am swim), if you leave it to 5 minutes before the swim starts you run the risk of not getting a band - weird, but worked well as it ensured the swimming pool didn't get too crowded.
Note; the lockers don't use coins so you have to buy a padlock at £2, most people we noticed ignored that and just left their clothes in an unlocked locker.
Their on site store was good, some things were rather pricey, but they had everything you could possibly need.
The pub and the pizza place were also fine, very crowded and seemingly not enough staff, but the food was nice, albeit a little steep on cost - the joys of having a captive audience I suppose!
They had a really superb adventure playground which had equipment to suit all ages and wasn't far from us so we made good use of it.
We enjoyed a lovely walk in the surrounding countryside one afternoon, the route started and ended at the site, it was just long enough for the children and apparently they found plenty of fairies along the way! The site benefits from being on the edge of the New Forest which is a really beautiful area and has some truly stupendous landscapes.
We popped out on the Sunday for lunch at the High Corner Inn, about 15 mins drive from the site - they do a lovely carvery, but get there early it's heaving by 1pm!
All in all, I must say we probably won't go back, the cost of one of their pitches just isn't worth the facilities or the lack of sleep!
Lovely site. We have been coming every year for 3 years. Very child friendly. Lots of things for children to do on site. Lovely park, and soft play area. Swimming pool is lovely. Pizza restaurant is ok but a bit on the expensive side and food not that great.
Very clean and friendly site. Toilet blocks and showers are always clean and tidy. We have never had any issues while staying here. We have a young child who is in bed at 7. 30 and it's always quiet enough for him to sleep.
Recycle stations and bins are always emptied on a regular basis.
Would recommend this site to anyone who has small children.
Stayed here for one night at the end of July on our way home from Cornwall.
The welcome was friendly and given a map to find our pitch. The gravel pitch was large and had it's own water tap and electric.
The toilet and shower block was large but dated and not very clean at any time of the day. There is plenty for people to do on site if you don't mind paying for extras. The on site pub did a reasonable evening meal for a reasonable price, but if you are a vegetarian read the menu carefully because they have fish dishes marked as vegetarian!
My biggest problem with the site was the amount of noise with large groups of people hanging around and there is also lots of traffic with cars going round the site seemingly all the time. You never seemed to be able to find a time to enjoy peaceful moment.
Considering the huge (excessive) price they charge here for a pitch I was disappointed, and pleased we were there for only one night. There are a lot of better, cleaner and quieter sites in better locations within the New Forest.
This was our first visit on recommendation and we weren't disappointed. All staff were exceptionally helpful and friendly. Including the wardens.
We pitched on gravel with our usual groundsheet as it was just for the weekend and it was OK. It was nice to have the hedge around the sides; it gave more cosiness and privacy. I wish more sites used hedges instead of trying to get more pitches for profit.
The facilities were good to great. The showers were clean and the laundrette was reasonably priced; I was able to wash and dry our two duvets before I packed them up again.
We ate at the on site pub and the evening meal was nice but the Sunday carvery was disappointing as they seemed understaffed and we had to ask for our sweet three times.
The cycle ride/ dog walk to the river was lovely and our pooch enjoyed a paddle when she got there. The dog excercise area was good and it's a shame that a couple of owners don't pick up. Perhaps the site could put a dummy camera up to encourage?
Well, what can I say. Some love Sandy Balls, some hate it. We are in the team that love it! One would look at this site and see that it is rather commercial, however, I would say yes it is a bit, but posh commercial!
For our three year old daughter, this place was fantastic! We did the bug hunt, ceramic plate painting and place mat making, all at reasonable prices. Also ggod play park facilities.
I tried out the fishing on the local river, but did not catch anything, a bit weedy and fast flowing.
Toilet facilities good but on a down side, there were no baby bathing facilities, so we have bought a portable travel bath for our next visit.
We had planned going there in Apr 11 for the first trip of the year but had our van stolen the night before we were due to go there.
Sandy Balls gave us credit vouchers to redeem on our next trip which will be Sept 11.
Another huge plus point is the swimming pool, which is great if the weather is poor. Not far from Paultons Park too.
Only downside, is that it is a bit pricey per night.
Just got back from spending 5 days on this site and to be honest I don't know what to make of it first off, I went to spend some time fishing, and the few places I went to that advertise in the leaflets don't allow 'non members', and the walk down to the river is about 3/4 of a mile which is way to far to carry all my tackle.
But in the end I found somewhere about 5 mile away that was very nice. Wifi is only available around the shops / bar area not the whole site, this means you have to carry your laptop down there just to get on line. It would be nice to be able to use the internet in the caravan of a night to keep the kids (teenagers) occupied as there was no entertainment for 4 nights out of the 5 I stay. In fact I gave up on the last night and went to the fighting cocks down the road!
the tv reception was poor, even plugged into there aerial points. But on the upside. The showers and toilets were always very clean, even at peak times, the area is beautiful, and the staff are very welcoming.
We had a gravel pitch that was brilliant, and the food in the pub was very good and there is loads to do around the area. Not sure if I will go again though
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Common Questions
Is Sandy Balls Holiday Village child friendly? YES, it accepts children & has a playground View all facilities
Does Sandy Balls Holiday Village have a swimming pool? YES, there is a pool on site View all facilities
Where is the nearest shop to Sandy Balls Holiday Village? 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 
Holiday Homes for Hire 
Holiday Homes for Sale 
No Seasonal Pitches 
No Electric Hookups 
No Hardstandings 
No Fully Serviced Pitches 
Families Welcome 
Not Members Only 
Rallies Welcome 
Not Naturist Site 
Dogs Welcome 
No Dogs Allowed 
Groups Welcome 
Motorbikers Welcome 
Toilet Facilities 
Hot Showers 
Washing Up 
Bathroom 
Baby Changing Facilities 
Laundry On Site 
Drinking Water 
Disabled Friendly 
No Chemical Disposal 
No Battery Charging 
No Gas Exchange 
No Recycling Facilities 
No Kitchen Facilities 
No Freezer / Fridge 
No Motorhome Point 
Wifi Access 
Shop On Site 
Bar On Site 
Restaurant or Cafe or Takeaway On Site 
Kids Playground 
No TV Room 
Games Room 
Evening Entertainment 
Fishing <10 miles 
No Wild Swimming 
Indoor Pool On Site 
Outdoor Pool On Site 
Horse Riding <1 mile 
Cycle Hire On Site 
Golf <5 miles 
No Tennis 
Beach <10 miles 
Watersports <10 miles 
No Boat Launch 
No Sea Views 
Not Working Farm 
No Campfires Allowed 
No Waterside Pitches 
Public Transport <1 mile
No Dog Walk 
We camped for 4 nights at Sandy Balls over Easter, from Easter Monday. Booking was easy with very friendly and helpful staff. Had torrential rain the first time but brightened up after that. 
