This blog post is about my stay at the Parkdean Holidays Caravan Park / site on Hayling Island.
Recently I was on Hayling Island on the south coast of England. The island is a great holiday destination for those who enjoy sea views, beach walks and a relaxed break.
My girlfriend and I decided to book a caravan for four nights with Parkdean and this blog post focuses on the caravan, not the island. I will shortly blog about Hayling Island, so please use the search facility to read that post.
Note: We stayed in the standard caravan supplied via a Sun newspaper deal, and we did not buy any upgrades. I think we were quite lucky with the caravan we were given, and I don’t know if others who used the Sun deal, are all given the same type of caravan and features.
Travelling to the caravan park.
We were not travelling by car, but instead caught a train from Portsmouth Harbour station to Havant, which is a short journey. Then a few minutes walk from Havant station is the small bus station and approx twenty-five minutes later we hopped off the bus on Manor Road, outside of the caravan park which would be hard to miss.
The arrival
We arrived too early with two heavy backpacks and a large shopping bag, and didn’t want to go exploring with all this in tow. We let the friendly reception staff employee know we were here. Next we sat down and enjoyed a drink outside the cafe area, and then popped into the small food and drink shop, which was open on a bank holiday Monday. Afterwards we sat at a bench, read and chatted.
We then ventured back to the reception area just before 4pm, picked up our key and strolled to the caravan. It must be noted, they were incredibly busy at reception, but still friendly and helpful.
The staff
I must mention that all Parkdean staff that I met, whether cafe, maintenance, reception or shop employees were friendly and helpful.
The caravan
We were quite lucky as the caravan was situated at the front, with no caravans behind us and it appears one to our side wasn’t occupied. The downside was that we could hear occasional traffic from the road when in the back bedroom, but we didn’t mind.
Upon arrival we discovered an ant problem in the kitchen area, and called maintenance. However the problem was resolved by us temporarily placing a couple of pieces of tissue (removed when we left) in the corner of the kitchen window!
Whilst on the whole, the place was reasonably clean, we did feel it necessary to wipe the kitchen surfaces, and whilst we were at it, we also cleaned the tables, sink and side units.
A toilet roll and bin bag were already on the table, as well as two bin liners in the kitchen bins (one inside the cabinet under the sink). So we suggest like us, you come prepared or pop into a shop to pick up cleaning supplies and other items. i.e. surface cleaner an cloths, oven mitts, tea towel, toilet rolls, washing up liquid etc.
The kitchen
A spacious kitchen with enough kitchen surface to easily allow us to prepare our food. There was a good sized fridge and freezer, and a microwave. The cooker was good, but there was no oven tray or wooden spoon, but we were able to make do with what they supplied. They don’t supply tea towels or oven mitts, so make sure you come prepared.
As expected there was a kettle and toaster, and more than enough cups, glasses, mugs, plates and cutlery for us.
The dining area.
Across from the kitchen was the dining area, which four could comfortably use, and for the two of us was more than enough space to enjoy our meals.
The lounge.
Comfy seats and a freeview TV which also had an inbuilt DVD player. There were no problems with the signal, but the remote control batteries were clearly almost out of power. Unfortunately someone had snapped off the end of the radio aerial, but I didn’t mind and listened to the radio via Freeview on the TV.
Even though there was central heating throughout our caravan, the electric fireplace in the lounge was a nice touch.
The bathroom.
The toilet was too close the the outside wall, but other than that, a good sized bathroom with a good shower. In the hallway there was a switch for the bathroom extractor fan.
The bedrooms.
We only stored our backpacks in the small bedroom. 
The larger bedroom was okay, but it was difficult to move around the outside of the bed and the mattress was soft, but for the price, I’m not complaining!
There was a massive closet, and the the rest of the storage was more than enough for us.
Food and drink shopping.
With a small shop on-site, which sold food at reasonable prices, we didn’t need to look further afield for bread, cheese, milk, crisps and many other items.
If you walk in the direction of beachlands for fifteen minutes, you will discover a small Tesco, pharmacy and some other shops. Elsewhere on the island we found a Co-op, Sainsburys and a fruit and veg shop.
We could of eaten on-site at their cafe / restaurant, but decided not to as we preferred to self-cater or eat off-site, so have no opinion on the meals.
Conclusion
Whilst the main building has a cafe, pool table, some arcade machines and swimming pool, and there is an outdoor children’s play area we didn’t bother to use these facilities, other than to grab a coffee upon arrival. There was also a laundrette, but again we didn’t use it.
We were mainly interested in the cheap accommodation, and given the price we paid, it was very good value for money.
A post box can be found two roads before the site, back in the direction of the bridge. It is located about five minutes away by foot.
During early May, we found the site to be busy, but quiet. The location is great for bus connections, and within twenty to twenty-five minutes you can walk to the main seafront area.
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