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We stayed at Barn farm on August bank Holiday last year and also That incredibly sunny October weekend we had last year! We only stayed here at first because we went with first timers (family never camped before) and they wanted to stay somewhere closer to home) and we left it a little late so this site was all that was left in Derbyshire nearly! when we arrived the massive field was about 3/4 full and all the family ones were packed so we were told to pitch on big field. Sloped a little but nothing too bad. Then the site filled up by 7 ish that night! field was packed! not too closely though, there was plenty of room between tents. The only problem was then noise, the more tents the more noise, and if you have kids (we had 4 in our family party aged 6, 5, and 3, and 3) it was terrible at night! We were told that the site is patrolled and we saw some evidence of this but no where near enough for a bank holiday. It states no noise after 10. 30 but lots of people were being kept awake by what seemed to be a Karaoke tent. It had huge flag flying on it and people singing til 2. 30am when sis in law finally drifted off she said! I myself was awake til about 1am with the noise. Not good at all. We all know you're lucky to lie in til 8 if you camp so being kept awake that long made for a terrible day out next day, we were all tired!
The site has lots of toilets, showers, washing areas with being so big so this was quite good, not very long to wait at all to wash pots or have a shower. We found best toilets were across from the reception and along a bit, with wagon bench outside, seem to be warmer and better looked after. Showers BEHIND reception seem to be less known about and were great, me and daughter went in together plenty of room. The best thing about it in hubby and bro in laws eyes was the breakfast van and I have to say they were right! you could order a breakfast bap or plate and cuppa for a very good price and food was lovely.
The next time we stayed was quieter and we went back thinking it would be very different this time with it being October but not really :( we stayed in the family field this time which was MUCH nicer and quieter, slopes a lot but we stayed at top of slope and it was fine, no probs. The only problem was Horrible disgusting kids this time on the playground (aged about 12!) and they were shouting at my kids and throwing stones at other kids and generally being rude. And their parents were down right at the back of the big big field of course! about a 10 minute walk away! The problem with this site I think is that its in a beautiful location, great pubs near by (red lion is wonderful! ) but it hasn't got enough staff and security for the size of it. We went down to the office to complain about the boys on play area and guy on reception was useless. Needs a lot more man power for a site this big.
We chose Barn Farm as our campsite due to its location near Matlock and Bakewell. We were not disappointed as there was good access to both, including at Matlock, Sainsburys for supplies and the The Crown (Wetherspoons) pub for breakfast on the Sunday when we were leaving.
At the site the fields open during the week are mainly on the hill and most areas to pitch are therefore on quite a slope. Because there are no set out or marked pitches, plus pitches are allocated on a first come first served basis, it can be pot luck if a flatter area is available. We arrived on the Tuesday and had a few pitch choices but could not pitch right at the edge of the field due to the slope so kept the car ‘round the back’ so we could see the beautiful view the site has.
The ‘right-hand field’ with the children’s play area at the bottom has a footpath at the top and although the path runs up the side of the field there was some though traffic of walkers, runners etc. If you do not want this then don’t pitch at the top of the field.
The only problem we had all weekend was on the Friday night when a large group of campers arrived and seemed to swell with an extra car and tent every 20 minutes. We had to move our car to stop it from being blocked in, then again as they were pitching around it, despite the car being next to our tent. When the group then proceeded to pitch a tent RIGHT behind ours I decided to enquire at reception about the distance between tents.
Here I cannot fault the staff who immediately offered to speak to the group and went and asked them politely to move the offending tent and suggested alternative locations. Although the staff were happy to help enforce the 3m rule between different campers, this was not enforced within groups so people together can set up an ‘area’ which is positive (if they respect the surrounding campers!) The staff were also very good and speaking to groups playing music and being rowdy after 10. 30 (although we only observed this at weekends).
The ‘weekend’ camping field is flat and although empty when we arrived for the first few days we were surprised at just how full it became over the weekend. This did have an effect on the site, it was nosier and busier and there were then queues (although reasonably short) for the facilities.
Despite the numbers the staff kept the campsite clean and tidy at all times. The toilets even had Cushelle (new name for Charmin) loo roll which impressed me! The showers were always hot and had good pressure, they weren’t push button but have normal controls like ‘at home’ and the shower heads are not fixed. Although there was a queue at the ‘front’ showers on the weekends the showers round the back of reception (although older) were usually free and we preferred them as the pressure was even better.
The freezer and fridge in the games room was a welcome freebie. The games room itself was well equipped, and although largely empty mid-week was busy over the weekend. A few people used the room to charge their phones from the extension cables. A point to note is the the washing machines only accept liquid not powder. Although the camp shop looked closed mid-week, reception was always open and we were told to ask there or ring the bell outside the shop for it to be opened up.
The local village with two pubs was easily walkable and we didn’t even need a torch on the walk back as everything was well lit. We ate at the Druids Inn as the Red Lion seemed to be a bit rowdier with LOTS of people drinking outside. We were happier to walk a tiny bit further for a slightly more calm atmosphere. The food was very good but about £12 a main and drinks good but not cheap £10 for a Pimms pitcher, £4. 45 for G&T and £2. 80ish for most spirits minus mixer. The staff were attentive and friendly.
We enjoyed our time at the campsite and would visit again
P. S. Don't go down Birchover Lane if your SatNav directs you to - it's narrow, bumpy and steep. Not ideal with a car full! Continue to the junction turn right and then in under a mile turn right into the village with signs to the campsite.
When I arrived on a Thursday evening, with a DofE group, I was very impressed with every aspect of this site - booking in for 3 nights.
Upon returning from a day off site on the Friday, the site had metamorphosed into an ocean of tents in every available field - it seemed that every junior school from Sheffield and surroundings had moved in! This was not the problem, but the limited number of showers/toilets now became an issue (especially as they were closed at 8am for cleaning!) as did the fact that although the site staff were friendly and welcoming, it appeared that no control was imposed about pitching tents far too close to each other - more like 6' than 6M between some units.
Positively, Birchover is a lovely, unspoilt example of a Derbyshire village with two busy pubs. The Red Lion offering excellent 'real ales' from local breweries. Unfortunately, the village shop is now closed down so residents of Barn Farm must bring in the majority of their provisions. The small campsite shop is great for emergencies but lacks the range of goods which makes for a really good one.
There is a small food van which opens for breakfast - this would do great trade if it opened for longer.
A recently added children's playground with safe play equipment is sympathetically positioned in the corner of one field. Perhaps the owners might consider a second facility so that children from the other three camping fields don't have to continuously run through the whole site in order to access the playground?
What a great site. It's huge, and the only downside is. It's huge. But we'll come to that later.
We are a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 children under 4), and it cost us £7. 50 per adult per night and £3. 50 per child (under 3s are free).
There are plenty of fields to pitch in, and we chose the family field, which is nearest the large outside play area, up the hill. Now this field is not flat, and all the flatish areas get taken pretty quick. The other fields we much flatter, but still pretty busy. OK, very busy.
And this brings us to the negative. The services are brilliantly clean, but there are just not enough of them. Toilets - in the mens there are 4 toilets, a urinal trough 5 sinks and a 'school' style shared shower room. I can not comment on the ladies. As I'm a man. On top of this there are individual shower rooms. I had to queue for everything (on 1 occasion for 15 mins for a toilet). But they were very clean.
Other services include a shop (brill for milk and other perishables), a play room for the kids (containing pool and other indoor sports), a hot food van. Perfect for a bacon cob and a coffee, and quite reasonable too. The reception has plenty of leaflets of good days out, and takeaways which will deliver to the site, should you not want to cook.
This is also the only site I've been to which has marked security patrols, which enforce the 10. 30pm quiet down policy. Top notch.
All in all an excellent site, which everyone now seems to have cottoned on to. Hence why its so busy.
However, I'm not letting everyone else have the fun, so we will be going back
Have stayed at this campsite a number of times and can only say how impressed I have been every time.
The site is relatively large, but still has a friendly atmosphere to it. The Wardens who were there when I was were friendly and provided me with a nice chat and an introduction to where facilities are, what the departure procedures are and as I was taking Teenagers, the boundaries which they should adhere to. There are peacocks around the site which adds a real sense of peacefulness.
Has a large field to the left of the toilets, which is good for large groups but also a smaller field for individuals/smaller groups. Toilets etc are all really nice and kept clean.
Will return back next year without a doubt. Have fun and enjoy!
My wife, 2 kids (4&6) and me stayed here for two nights in May. It's a good clean site.
The kids loved the Peacocks that roam around the barn area and they found the play area really good too.
Facilities are ample and in with the price.
Could do with the taps being easier to use for children in the main toilet block though (my young son couldn't use them) - they are the push type ones that are really hard to use and spray you with water at force.
A good thing about this site is that you can phone and book without paying a deposit so if the weather does get unbearable or somebody can't make it then you don't loose out. Or if you want to pay as you go per night they are ok with this too. The people here are pretty easy going which is right up our street.
We spent the Easter weekend here, with my Tent, 3 children under 9 and dog. Very busy weekend, very enjoyable. Great campsite very good facilities.
Good points.
Huge site, off main road, ideal for children Clean site Play area Free clean showers Great staff and security Catering van on weekends Lovely surrounding areas.
Bad points. Not enough showers No hand dryers or paper towels on toilets No shop, this site needs a shop for Milk and bread etc, the village shop has closed down.
Probably one of the best campsites we have visited.
Decided to take the family camping for the first time over the Easter bank holiday weekend - Barn Farm was the only place free so initially I was a little apprehensive about how overcrowded it would be. Several reviews mention a festival atmosphere and I had visions of spending a noisy night in a sloppy uncomfortable field surrounded by noisy trucks and drums! I needn't have worried and we had a wonderful time!
We were greeted by a member of staff who explained where everything was, including showers, toilets & small shop. Parts of the site are uneven but there is more than ample flat ground. We pitched up near the kids play area and apart from tweeting birds and the odd squawk from a peacock we we didn't have any issues with noise.
The toilets are immaculate, with ample loo roll and despite the busy bank holiday I never queued for the loo once! My partners highlight of the weekend will no doubt be the 'bring a plate; £5 full English breakfast served up by the on-site catering van! The kids loved the play area and small games room and I enjoyed the friendly people on site!
For anyone nor familiar with the area, go to Matlock bath and get the seaside feeling inland! With it's amusement arcades and quaint shops it's a great day out for everyone! Every bank holiday and Sunday bikers decent on the place and add to the quirky atmosphere, great fun!
This was my 1st visit to Barn Farm, I stayed at this site for 3 nights in a tent and enjoyed it very much!
There is always a staff member around, there are plenty of toilets which where always clean and stocked up with toilet roll. The showers are clean and free.
There is a games room for the teenagers and a park for the younger children. The views from the campsite are lovely, bakewell and matlock are only a car ride away.
I would definitely recommend this site and I hope to return to Barn Farm at some point this year.
We have been using this site for a number of years now and as always, found the facilities to be very good. The toilets and showers were clean and warm despite sub-zero temperatures outside. We arrived in the late afternoon with two motorhomes un-booked because of the Arctic type weather (site advised) Security visited us to make sure we were settled in and made us feel welcome. Excellent views across open countryside. The village has two good pubs, both do excellent food. The Red Lion which is the closer had a good range of beers and excellent food. For 2011 improvements are underway to include an extra undercover pot washing area and a small shop. Plenty of nice walks in the area. Nine Ladies Stone circle makes a nice amble. The site also has a number of barns for accommodation of various group numbers, ranging from very basic to comfortable. We look forward to our next trip to Barn Farm.
Just returned from this site after five days over the bank holiday. We found this site very well organized for caravans, the tents were told to find some grass and set up. There were two toilet blocks one which was unisex. There was always plenty of toilet roll in all the toilets and they were always clean. Two washing up areas one under cover. The showers were clean and loads of free hot water.
As it was bank holiday weekend they even brought another set of toilets on which were towed away everyday to be emptied and cleaned.The games room came in very handy the days it rained. The burger van did lovely butties at a reasonable price.
Overall really lovely site will go back.The only downfall is the sat nav took us in from wrong direction so we didn't see sign till we were past and it was a very narrow road and very sharp bends so approach from bakewell.
Beautiful Site, lovely view. It was everything I wanted for a family of 4.
The facilities were good with plenty of toilets and showers. Never ran out of toilet paper. Hairdryer in main toilets very handy.
Play park is coming next year but the one in the village is lovely and only a short walk away.
The village of Birchover is great. Great local shop, 2 lovely pubs serving lovely meals (book at the druid on a weekend). Fantastic walks right off the campsite.
Advice - Get there early as some of the pitches are on a slope.
We were on the very back field - best views of matlock and surrounding area.
Set in beautiful Derbyshire countryside, ideally placed to visit Matlock and Bakewell etc, Barn farm must have been a working farm at some point and has now been converted to a dedicated campsite.
It consists of 3 fields - 2 'normal' sized and one massive one - seriously, huge. The biggest one is only open during peak seasons and weekends. The fields are well kept, with good drainage but they do slope! In fact, on both of the smaller fields, you'll have a job finding a spot without any slope. It's a shame because it spoils an otherwise almost perfect campsite!
The toilets and showers are very well kept, indeed the newer separate shower block has shower rooms like your bathroom at home, big enough for the whole family to shower together. There are odd toilet blocks and older shower rooms dotted about the site and even a 'rugby' style communal shower room in the toilet blocks themselves (which is normally empty when everything else is busy and you can have it to yourself!).
There is plenty of washing up space and even a modest games room. Everything is kept clean and tidy - you really can't fault the facilities.
A family of peacocks wandering around completes the idyliic scenery over the hills.
There is a village shop within walking distance and two pubs. We ate twice at the one at the bottom of the road - very friendly and good food and beer!
Upon enquiring, we weren't offered the opportunity to book and were just told 'oh, there's always plenty of room!'. Now this was actually true when we arrived, and we managed to camp in the second of the smaller fields on flattish ground, but what we weren't told was that there was a Pagan festival going on a few days later. This meant that the big field slowly became packed, leading to the two smaller fields filling with everyone else.
Actually, it worked out fine for us. It made for a somewhat party atmosphere, especially when the drumming started in a barn in the evening, but it was all quiet by 10:30 and was actually quite fun. But it did hint at what the site might be like during a BH when it's busy - the facilities started straining with that many people using them and I'm amazed at the angles people were prepared to pitch their tents at!
To sum up, an almost perfect site, if the site is not too packed and you find a flat pitch. Unfortunately you can't book so this is going to be a bit of a lottery. Hint: Ask them if there are any festivals on at the time!
We picked this site due to the good reviews, we weren't disappointed, there were 19 of us in 6 tents, we arrived around 5.30pm on a Friday and were directed to the big field (open at weekends) We managed to pitch in one corner of the field with plenty of space. Up side was it was fairly flat, shortish walk to the toilets/showers, down side we were near the very noisy peacocks, ear plugs needed I think!
There are plenty of showers and toilets, the new block has the best showers. While we were there the wasn't any hot water for washing up. We were very lucky with the weather as it was the freaky hot weekend we choose, the kids all had great fun on the big field having a water fight, so as others have said, not a quiet site and it certainly was packed full on the Saturday with D of E kids, but the site still quetened down by 10-10.30pm.
The small catering van on site for breakfasts was popular with our group too. We are already planning to go back again next year, lovely site
Stopped for Friday and Saturday night at the end of July/beginning of August weekend.
Well managed site, plenty of staff around, very clean and as mentioned never at a loss for a loo roll. Showers were some of the best I've seen on a campsite.
Lovely views, a couple of the fields were quite hilly so you may have to do some searching for a level pitch. But there's always something you can roll up to make your table steady etc!
The site has a lively feel to it, while we were there we had entertainment in the form of Pagen's drumming and a live band outside one of the barns. Both nights curfew of 10.30pm was adhered to. Obviously this may not appeal to everyone but we enjoyed it.
We will go back !
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Common Questions
Is Barn Farm Camping child friendly? YES, it accepts children & has a playground View all facilities
Where is the nearest shop to Barn Farm Camping? 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 
No Bathroom 
Baby Changing Facilities 
Laundry On Site 
Drinking Water 
Disabled Friendly 
Chemical Disposal 
No Battery Charging 
Gas Exchange 
Recycling Facilities 
No Kitchen Facilities 
No Freezer / Fridge 
No Motorhome Point 
Wifi Access 
Shop On Site 
Bar <1 mile 
Restaurant or Cafe or Takeaway <1 mile 
Kids Playground 
TV Room 
Games Room 
No Evening Ents 
Fishing <10 miles 
No Wild Swimming 
Indoor Pool <5 miles 
No Outdoor Pool 
Horse Riding <5 miles 
Cycle Hire <5 miles 
Golf <5 miles 
No Tennis 
No Beach 
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 stayed at Barn farm on August bank Holiday last year and also That incredibly sunny October weekend we had last year! We only stayed here at first because we went with first timers (family never camped before) and they wanted to stay somewhere closer to home) and we left it a little late so this site was all that was left in Derbyshire nearly! when we arrived the massive field was about 3/4 full and all the family ones were packed so we were told to pitch on big field. Sloped a little but nothing too bad. Then the site filled up by 7 ish that night! field was packed! not too closely though, there was plenty of room between tents. The only problem was then noise, the more tents the more noise, and if you have kids (we had 4 in our family party aged 6, 5, and 3, and 3) it was terrible at night! We were told that the site is patrolled and we saw some evidence of this but no where near enough for a bank holiday. It states no noise after 10. 30 but lots of people were being kept awake by what seemed to be a Karaoke tent. It had huge flag flying on it and people singing til 2. 30am when sis in law finally drifted off she said! I myself was awake til about 1am with the noise. Not good at all. We all know you're lucky to lie in til 8 if you camp so being kept awake that long made for a terrible day out next day, we were all tired!
