Hi,
Have just seen your question on the site.
We go to Cornwall every year in the summer and stay at Hayle which is about 6 miles from St. Ives.
I`ve not actually stayed at the John Fowler place but got talking to some people that were staying there last year and they mentioned that the accommodation they were staying in was very small.So you may want to check that out.
The site itself is quite a way from St. Ives itself, I think you would need to drive there as it would be quite a way to walk but St Ives is a lovely place.
Hope that is of some help to you.
Tracy.

Luckily we're one of those family's that dont put too much emphasis on the accomadation - as long as it has a kettle and a bed we're happy.

I was more interested in the site itself. Are we likely to be surrounded by chav types a'la Skegvegas?!

Hi,
No, I think you would be fine there.
If you were going to the Haven site at Hayle - that would be a different matter !! I won`t go into details but I`m sure you get the picture !!
Regards,
Tracy.

I've stayed there twice - 3 & 4 years ago.

Its a nice site, very much in the countryside, well set-out & well kept.

There are a few wooden chalets that look like little garden sheds dotted around the place. They were all together in one location. They tended to be the cheaper accomodation. But they were all detatched.

We stayed both times in the trevacroft accomodation which were granite & timber buildings. They were very nice. Two separate bedrooms, bathroom, lounge area & kitchen. All pine & granite inside, decorated nicely. They say they sleep 6 but we were only 4 & that was enough in them.

There are larger house type accomodation there which looked very nice, but didnt see inside one.

The camp is too far out to walk into St Ives but if you dont drive you'll still get around easily enough as the service bus calls into the site. Both times we were there were before I passed my driving test so we had to use the bus but we went & saw plenty of places. Buy a 4 day pass it works out much cheaper. St ives is a pretty place in itself but also a good base to explore from.

There was a camp shop, a restaurant which offered quite nice meals & a club in the evenings. The entertainment was usual holiday camp stuff. fine if you like that sort of thing... If you fancied a drink or meal in the evening & wanted to leave the car behind there was a very nice country pub about 10 mins walk up the road, children's playground too.

I have stayed in a few Haven camps & other John Fowler sites but this is definately the best. If you have a dog they can go too Ours loved it, plenty of walks & squirrels & rabbits to chase
Our kids are older now & we go abroad but I still say I wouldn't mind going back there - I cant say fairer than that
Any questions pm me or send to my email address....

Thats great - thanks very much

I love this holiday park. I first went there with my Mum and Dad on a family holiday before it was a John Fowler site and I've got some wonderful memories of the place. We normally go towards the end of the season when it's a bit quieter. As Del says, there is now a bus service operating at the park entrance, so you're not stranded if you've no car. If you enjoy walking (like I do) you can walk to Carbis Bay and do nothing more than look in rock pools, or walk in the other direction and go to St Erth station and catch the train to St Ives.
There's a club for you to use at night with entertainment included. There's a nice pool and a golf course and to top it this site is excellent value for money.

Hope you enjoy
Sharon

Hi, there are four of us booked in for the last week-end in April, one of those Sun Holidays.
I went on the John Fowler web site, and ordered a holiday book from them, we have never been, but it looks lovely, lovely inside swiming pool.
St Ives its self is lovely, and there are nice places to go out from there.
Massive big Car Boot on Sunday Morning in Hayle ( I think)
Hope this helps.

I am writing regarding John Fowler Holidays. We haven't stayed in their accommodation in St Ives, but a number of years ago we stayed at one of their parks in Ilfracombe, it wasn't very good. The chalets were shabby, electric sockets hanging out of walls. The toilet cistern was over filling one night and it took them all day the next day to turn up to repair it. The beds were smelly. Very basic utensils. The whole place looked like it needed a good refurbishment, perhaps it has been since then, it certainly needed one.
Reading other reviews it sounds if this accommodation in St.Ives is better than the one we stayed in. Hope its ok

St Ives is a lovely place, have been a number of times, there are lovely beaches there. Number of nice little pubs and restaurants, and very nice art galleries. St. Ives is a great place.

Dawnie-Rob

Hi Dawnie-Rob, before i stayed in the St Ives park i too had stayed in Ilfracombe with John Fowler and had some doubts about going again with them. The difference was unbelievable. From my earlier post you can see how nice it was but i do agree the Ilfracombe park left a lot to be desired.

Hi
We went there with our four year old daughter last year. We'd booked with Hoseasons but were sent there. I have to say we weren't too happy with what we found but we didn't let it spoil our holiday. We went at the start of the season and were quite surprised to find the site so dirty. The indoor pool in particular had loads of yuk and old plasters all over the floor of the pool, it couldn't be cleaned regularly. The dirty laundry from the chalets was left out in the road for a few days and sadly there was the odd irresponsible dog owner that let their dog run wild not great when you have young children. The site wasn't well lit at night and we found ourselves often walking on a mixture of doggy do and slugs. We're not normally complainers but the entertainment was v.loud late at night also. This year we've found a fisherman's cottage cheaper. St Ives is lovely but alas John Fowler was a let down.

Oh dear Briana sorry to hear you didnt have a good time

It was 3 yrs ago that we were there last and obviously things have changed.

We took our dog but had to keep her on a lead around the park at all times and carry a pooper-scooper. The only place she was allowed to run off the lead was on the signed dog-walk trail. As this was through woodlands the poop-scoop rule wasnt in effect here! But this was the only place. (I have to admit to having a bit of an arguement with one woman who had chosen to go for a walk along the dog-walk and was complaining bitterly about having trodden in poo There were plenty of other places she could've gone walking without running the risk. Dogs have to go somewhere )

Everything was clean when we were there and we also found the staff to be incredibly helpful. One morning my husband had gone into St Ives to do some shopping while i stayed behind with the children. My daughter chose that time to have a pretty bad asthma attack I ran with her to the reception to find out where the nearest doctor or hospital was. Straight away the camp handyman offered to drive me to the local doctors. One of the receptionists went to the cottage to let my son know what was happening and stayed with him until my hubby got back from town. Although he was 13 they didn't want to leave him on his own. Reception also rang ahead to the surgery to let them know i was on my way. The handy-man drove me to the docs and waited while we were seen to either drive me back to the camp or to the hospital. Thankfully it was just back to the camp, although he took a detour to take me to the nearest chemist to get the prescription for steroids made up. Nothing was too much trouble for them, they were brilliant.

Its such a shame to hear that things have gone downhill a bit since then.