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We've just come back from a week at Shamba, and all in all we had a really good holiday.
The camp site itself is one of the best we've been to. But I do have a couple of gripes with it which I'll come to later. First of all I'll cover the good points (which in fairness far outweigh the bad ones)
The Good -
The site is well run, there are resident wardens who look after the site and guests, they operate a strict no noise after 11pm policy which was adhered to while we were there. It's very clean and the facilities are well maintained.
The loos/showers are the best I've ever seen - heated floors, toasty warm, piped music. They've won awards for the shower facilities and it's plain to see why!
The swimming pool was nice - although unmanned it was fairly quiet, there were times when we had the pool to ourselves. It's heated and there's a retractable cover over it - it was only opened once while we were there though which is a shame as it's like a greenhouse in there when it's closed!
We didn't use the takeaway/bar meals facility so I can't comment on those - you're spoilt for choice with pubs which do fantastic meals close by, which were really cheap too - try the Woodman, which is a 15 minute leisurely stroll away (2 for 1 on all main meals) and the St Leonard's Hotel, 5 minutes away in the car - on Thursday they do a pie night - any pie (with chips or potatoes and veg) with a drink for £7. 45. Not any old pie either, they were fab!
The shop was OK but pricy. But handy for milk/newspapers etc
There is a good play park which is open from 8am to dusk, our pitch was very close to it, which on the one hand was handy for our 4 yr old, but it got a bit noisy at times too.
Entertainment wise, they do a Race Night for charity on Sunday nights which was fun, there was a young girl singing on Wednesday, she was very good, and they do a kids disco on Fridays which seemed to go down well (we didn't stay long as our little one was too tired, it doesn't start till 8pm which is a shame) I think there was a charity tombola one night too but we didn't go to that
And now for the bad -
The pitches are just too small and too cramped together. They have a strict tent/car/tent/car policy which makes sense as it means no one can pitch their tent too close to the side of yours, but it also means that whichever way you look all you can see is another tent, car, caravan or motorhome. The only direction you can look when sat outside your unit is at your own front door - face any other way and you're overlooking someone else's pitch. I like a pitch with a view, I like to sit and watch the comings and goings (without feeling like I'm spying on anyone!) so to be crammed in like this just didn't sit right with me. It also led to a lot of people cutting across your pitch to get water etc which I don't like.
The only other main gripe I have with Shamba is the queues. The facilities are fantastic, but there are too few of them for the capacity of the site. There are 6 showers for females on a 150 pitch site?? Some mornings we were waiting 30 minutes or more for a shower - it didn't matter what time of day you went, there were queues more often than not. And not just for the showers, but for the washing up area too. I can't remember exactly but I think there are only 7 or 8 sinks?
Also, all the taps are of the push button type. Now I know these are to save on water which can only ever be a good thing. But some of them only work for literally 5-6 seconds at a time which is a pain when you're trying to wash your hair! Also, in the main shower block there is no control for the temperature, sometimes it was cool, other times it was too hot, especially for children.
Oh and I didn't mention the noise from the boiler, if you're pitched close to the shower/pool complex, you may or may not notice it at night - it's on 24/7 and during the day you don't notice it, but it kept me awake the first couple of nights (although my husband and kids weren't bothered by it in the least!)
All in all we had a good holiday, the location is fantastic and you're literally minutes away from the New Forest (must see villages - Burley, Lyndhurst, Lymington, Brockenhurst), the sea (Bournemouth is lovely and the beaches are spotless), Longleat (70-80 minutes drive away), Stonehenge and Salisbury are relatively close by too and worth a day out.
One thing I haven't mentioned - there's no WiFi on site and the 3G signal (for o2 anyway) is virtually non existent.
Would I go back?? Probably not. Not in peak season anyway - I would imagine outside of the school holidays it's a lot quieter, but as we have a 4 year old about to start school we'll only be able to camp in school holidays from now on :o(
It was our first camping holiday as a family and we loved it. Our little girl couldn't get enough of the park. We were situated on plot 145 (near the park). Which was only a stones throw away from all amenities. All the staff were great and very helpful.
Now for the negatives.
Our little girl is 2 and all she wanted to do was either go in the park or go swimming.
The park didn't open till 8am (we woke up at 6:30)
The pool didn't open till 10am
We had to pay for the family bathroom (all it had was a bath and a toilet)
We visited as a family (2 adults, 2 children aged 5 and 2) for a couple of nights as friends of ours had booked in for a week with their caravan, and for it's location close to Paultons Park (Peppa Pig World) which we were visiting for our daughters 5th birthday.
The majority of the comments on here are accurate, but by far my biggest gripe was the pitch size, and available play space. Everything was so cramped in there was no ability to let your children play outside of the tent in any form. I am used to free camping pitches where the rules are pitch where you like as long as you are 5/6m from your neighbours. This usually allows everyone to pitch to the edges of the site giving a playing field for younger kids to play and socialise whilst you can keep an eye out from the comfort of the tent.
The dog walking/play field is huge but set away from the main site, and it seems to me it would be better to utilise this to spread out the pitches, and allow the furthest field (which was more than large enough) as a dog walking zone. This would have the added benefit of avoiding a ball playing area where there is risk of dog mess (I know most of you out there clear up, but there's always a few).
Other than that the site's amenities were great, with a well stocked shop, great bar area, take away (we didn't use so cannot comment), a good play area (although this was next to the main access road and where rubbish lorries turn) a clean and tidy unmanned pool.
The toilet/shower block were some of the best I have ever seen, clean, modern and free.
Staff are helpful and keep a tight ship on noise late at night (and we were pitched near the unruly nightmare family).
We did have a good time here, but more due to friends. It is unlikely that we would ever return due to the pitch sizing and layout.
3) Toilet block facilities were excellent. They have won ‘loo of the year’ for the past few years and you can see why. Showers were always hot and ample washing facilities (even though we were there in school holidays). Toilet block was always clean and smelled fresh. My little girl loved the fact there was a small toilet for her to use (the door had a cut out so even if she locked the door I could lean over an open it).
4)They have a family bathroom you can rent for £1 per half hour which was a godsend for us. My little girl won’t use the shower so this was a great bonus (not many places have baths). The family bathroom had a sink, toilet and roll-top (!) bath.
5) Small shop had the essentials but not great selection but not really an issue as Sainbury’s was only 5 mins down the road which was ideal.
6) Only used the take away for some chips but they were nice and quite quick.
7) We were there when Bournemouth had awful weather and the site seemed to cope ok with it. The roads were a little wet but nothing compared to the main roads around Bournemouth!
8) Talking about roads, you can hear the main road but it was background noise and not enough to trouble sleeping (even for our little girl).
Overall, I would highly recommend the site and would not hesitate to go back again – we had a great week exploring the area.
As experienced campers, we decided to try this site after reading so many good reviews here. Unusually for us, we had two children with us in the form of our two grandchildren as well as our two dogs.
Everything mentioned before by other reviewers proved to be absolutely correct. All of the facilities such as toilets, swimming pool, play area and cafe / bar are fantastic, catering really well for families. The children thoroughly enjoyed themselves as did we.
It is always important for us to have a good 'off the lead' dog exercise area as we have two feisty Boarder Collies. We were not disappointed; the exercise field / football pitch area is huge and neatly kept with plenty bins all around it.
I could not fault the excellent staff who really help to get you in the holiday spirit from the moment you arrive.
Now the not so good. As I have mentioned, we are very experienced campers and so were very alarmed at the tiny size of the pitches. They are ok if you have a small touring tent, but most modern campers have slightly larger units, ours being an Outwell Montana 6 with front extension.
This is by no means a massive tent in these modern times, and yet we only just managed to fit it on the pitch with the front edge almost at the track edge. There is a serious safety issue with this as although the site staff insist on the car-unit-car-unit layout, they have forgotten about the unit to the rear which in nearly all cases have, out of necessity had to overlap their guy ropes. The normally accepted fire safety distance between tents is six meters (around 18 feet).
I don't want this to detract too much from the fact that this is a really good site, but the owners should take a serious look at the pitch separation issue
We have just returned from a 12 day stay at Shamba and have had a really good break.
The facilities were immaculate, the showers were superb with a mixture of single units, showers with sinks and toilets, and even family shower rooms. They had family bathrooms and disabled bathrooms. And with a number of free hairdryers.
There were small toilet's, lowered sinks and hand driers for the kids.
The washup was inside but open fronted with the local radio station plying gently around all the facilities.
The play park was great, with equipment to suit all ages, fenced in and safe. The kids all enjoyed safely riding bikes and scooters along the top of the park.
The pool was fabulous, it was immaculate, warm and closed roof in the rain and open in the sun (could have been open more often!). Although no life guard was on duty, which didn't bother us as we are capable of watching our own children, there was often a member of staff checking in and ensuring the older kids were not playing too boisterous!
The staff couldn't be more helpful and camping with my disabled husband they offered to help all the way along, didn't rush me off the pitch when I was late leaving. Really great staff,
There is a club house, which we didn't really use, but a lot of other people did pop in for a beer and something to eat. We only went in when it was the kids disco and they made a real effort, again nice and clean as was the games room.
My only gripe would be the pitch size, it wasn't the biggest and they were very regimented, I know we have a big tent but as we walked out our tent we practically walked into the next door neighbours car! and it was all on a big flat field, a odd bush would have been nice, there was no where to dispose of grey waste on site, so you had to carry it all up to the disposal point.
We were told if our car wouldn't fit on our pitch we would have to put it in the compound behind the campsite.
In all we had a great time, the kids all had time away and found dens etc, and for that we all had a lovely time. I probably wouldn't go back, but I often don't for our main trips.
Would I recommend it? - only if you understood the pitch size.
We have just spent a week in Shamba with our 7 year old son.
We were lucky enough to have had fantastic weather and overall were happy with our holiday.
I would say that most of the previous comments about the site are accurate. The staff were helpful and mostly friendly, the pool was wonderfully warm, hardly ever too crowded and the location is a great base for exploring the New Forest, Bournemouth, Poole etc. There is a lot do do in the area which is fantastic for a family holiday.
The downsides that we found were that the site is quite small, and the pitches are very close together. They are a good size (ours, no 38 was approx 100 sq m) and certainly big enough for our large tent and car.
However, there's absolutely no privacy, with your neighbours on all four sides being very close. We used two windbreaks and were fine but did find that people constantly cut right across our pitch to get to the shop/pool etc. Very rude and thoughtless. I think a little effort with some fencing or hedging wouldn't go amiss.
Also, although we had fantastic weather - 30 celcius one day - with absolutely no shade on the pitches we had to leave the site for most of the day until it was bearable.
The site is right next to the busy A31 so you do need to drive everywhere (and you can hear the road noise). We visited the Moors Valley Country Park nearby - amazing forest trail and adventure playgrounds, Wonderland Adventure Park - great for little ones but no white knuckle rides, Bournemouth beach, Poole, and also did a boat trip to Brownsea Island from Poole which was lovely. Also took several drives into the New Forest and explored, which was cool and shady (unlike our pitch!)
Nothing more to say about the loos etc that others haven't said, very, very good facilities, best I've ever seen. Proper hairdryers!
We used the bar a few times. They had a club singer one night which we tried to avoid, but being near the bar area was impossible really! There's not much real entertainment for kids, but had a family disco which we didn't go to, and a charity race night which was fun.
Only used the take-away once, was average. Used the pizza takeaway up the road by Sainsbury's once and they deliver to site, but it did take an hour and a half to arrive.
There were a lot of young children and all had bikes or scooters. The wardens kept them mostly under control. The staff do run a tight ship, with quite a few rules but they are for the benefit of all. The 11 o'clock quiet rule was well observed with wardens patrolling to make sure.
I think if you have young children, don't mind being cosy with your neighbours or driving to get anywhere, this is a good site. For anyone who prefers wide open spaces and picturesque views, definitely not for you!
I have just returned from our first family camping holiday at this site.
My wife is new to camping and is very particular about the cleanliness of the toilets and showers. I had booked this site after reading previous reviews about how clean the facilities were.
We were not disappointed, the toilet block is 7 years old however it could quite easily have been finished last year as it was very well maintained and very clean.
The site was very busy however I rarely had to wait with the kids to shower, although this may have been due to my children's early wake up times. There are around 5 or so showers and a few more toilets in the gents side. There are also family rooms that you can get a key for from reception.
The site was excellent for my two children 5yrs and 2yrs. The play park is well maintained and enough equipment to keep the kids happy. There is a football field connected to the site over the back which is big enough for even the most active children.
The pool was clean and also well maintained with two handy family changing rooms in it. If taking children we found Adventure Wonderland about 30 minutes drive excellent for my children.
I was planning on taking them to Paultons Park but discovered that if you have younger children they only have a limited amount of rides they can go on and its very expensive, whereas Adventure wonderland seems to cater for the younger children.
The site itself very clean, pitches have electric and water at the rear of each pitch which was handy. Staff are friendly and helpful and strict with noise after 11pm which was helpful.
We have visited this campsite a number of times over the past year with our caravan as it's central hub to get to lots of local attractions. We've found it very family friendly and the staff helpful, along with very clean facilities throughout.
The small clubhouse is welcoming and generally has kids disco on a Friday and charity race night on a sunday - all very civilised. That is why I chose this site when I decided to take the caravan and 2 children away on my own.
Needless to say being a lady on her own with 2 small children I was nervous on pitching and setting up for the very first time but the staff couldn't be more helpful to me and yet again, they were accommodating when my husband arrived the following day and needed to park his vehicle in a secure place, etc.
Lovely Site. Spotless excellent facilities. Great Pool area. Clubhouse was only open Friday Saturday and Wednesday which we were not told on arrival so were a bit disappointed when we went for something to eat Sunday night. Friendly staff.
The only draw back is that you need a car to get anywhere from there you couldn't just walk or cycle.
We did part of the castleman trailway is a lovely cycle ride froom Ringwood to Poole on a disused railway track so great for kids.
It was hard to find the start in Ringwood but once we did it was easy to follow.
Just returned from one of the best camping weekends we have had.WOW what a site, immaculately clean. Very warm welcome, great pitch for our Corado 8 (pitch104)very child friendly which was great.Jake 9 liked the swimming pool and games room, Jessca 5 just liked it all. Underfloor heating and music in the spotless shower area, really can't fault the site in any way shape or form. Booked to leave at 13.00 we packed up and still used the pool & they let us leave the cars on our pitch. Well stocked shop & a great bar too 10 / 10 Shamba. Definitely go back here!
We just stayed at the park and had a really lovely break, the children had so much fun and were constantly occupied. My children are 7 - 11 & 13 and all were happy and had a good laugh. The site is extremely clean and the facilities were 5 star and could not of been any better. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful. The parks rules keep it a safe and happy place for families with young children.
This site is for families and couples who want a relaxing break, the park settles down at 10pm till 8am and the no noise policy keeps the site nice for everyone over the night, there is a warden who patrols the park at night, this makes you feel very safe. During the day the wardens are there to help with anything you need, the children can ride around the site on there bikes but must keep off other peoples pitches, the kids park is for under 11's and is kept clean at all time.
We will be returning soon. Thank you for a lovely time.
On arrival we were shown to our pitch by friendly and very helpful staff. The Pitch was spacious enough. The facilities toilets, pool shop bar etc all very clean and tidy.
Good playpark for the children, dog walking area and plenty of space for ball games on a separate playing field. Bar did good pub grub with two main course for £13 and good variety of choice.
On the doorstep were Moors Valley which was accessible by bike or car, excellent place to go for family cycling, dog walking or generally enjoying the forest and nature this will be a great day out, but if participating in Go Ape highwires book in advance, also nearby New Forest Waterpark, excellent fun for the over 11's to adult we did Banana Boat and Ringos fantastic.
New Forest all very close by and Salisbury also not far.
Supermarkets Lidls, Sainsburys all not far away, Ringwqood 10 mins in car.
Would definitely go back there again and recommend to anyone. Unless you are very noisy as they are very stict on noise after 11pm, which we respect totally.
Toilets spotless, water not always hot. Very busy when campsite full cant imagine it in summer season
Swimming pool lovely
Down a lane with no views (except another caravan or tent) or walks from doorstep and busy road noise can be heard clearly. Close to New Forest and Dorset coast which is useful
Unless in front field pitches cramped together
Condition of grass and road is not great in fact run down and same as 18 years ago
Very strict on noise at night
Staff were not helpful or friendly on check in and we were disappointed. Campers also not as friendly as some sites we have been to
A small kids park
Pub and pub food were good
Ok for campers but not if you have a caravan as it is to busy in season with campers
Cannot fault this site, welcoming staff, outstandingly clean, hot showers and brilliant facilities, lovely kids play area and pool, excellent base to explore the area. If I had to push myself to find a negative it would be that it is up a lane of a main road so not an abundance of local walking to be done from the site which means you are always tied to the car. But if you are planning day trips to local areas of interest or are happy to relax on site soaking up the laid back atmosphere you will want for nothing. Will be back again soon.
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Common Questions
Is Shamba Holiday Park child friendly? YES, it accepts children & has a playground View all facilities
Does Shamba Holiday Park have a swimming pool? YES, there is a pool on site View all facilities
Where is the nearest shop to Shamba Holiday Park? 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 
Hardstanding Pitches 
No Fully Serviced Pitches 
Families Welcome 
Not Members Only 
Rallies Welcome 
Not Naturist Site 
Dogs Welcome 
No Dogs Allowed 
Groups Welcome 
Toilet Facilities 
Hot Showers 
Washing Up 
Bathroom 
Baby Changing Facilities 
Laundry On Site 
Drinking Water 
Disabled Friendly 
Chemical Disposal 
No Battery Charging 
No Gas Exchange 
Recycling Facilities 
No Kitchen Facilities 
No Freezer / Fridge 
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 <1 mile 
No Wild Swimming 
Indoor Pool On Site 
Outdoor Pool On Site 
Horse Riding <1 mile 
Cycle Hire <5 miles 
Golf <1 mile 
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
Offroad Dog Walk On Site or Direct Access 
We've just come back from a week at Shamba, and all in all we had a really good holiday. 
