Norden farm - BH20 5DS

Stayed at Norden last weekend for 3 nights, as it was summer holidays the site was very busy, infact I saw a sign that said they we're fully booked.

The site has 3 fields (4 including the over flow field where we were sited which has no EHU points). 2 toilet/shower blocks (one in the main field near the reception and another in the pond field.) A laundry, 2 washing up areas, chemical disposal point, plenty of drinking water points, a pooch parlour (doggy shower), play park with basic equipment which seemed to be popular with the children on site, fishing pond, shop (which sales everything including sweets, meat, camping equipment, pet supplies, toys, souvenirs, etc), garden centre, pets corner, food van which does breakfasts and hot drinks from 0730 and opens again in the evening for food. Also as its a working farm theres the usual cows, sheep, pigs chickens, etc as well as donkeys and I believe I saw some deer in the field.

The toilets and showers were reasonably clean except for some wet muddy footprints left in the cubicles but it is a farm and it was quite wet over the weekend (the area had flooding the night before we arrived) so thats probably to be expected.

The staff were all friendly and helpful throughout our stay.

Although the site was full there was no or very little queues to use the facilities that I saw (although I did see about 10 people queuing to wash up in the rain on sunday morning!).

As I said the play area was basic but seemed very popular with the children.

The pets corner with the pigs, goats, ducks, turkeys and peacock/peahens was nice, popular with the kids and the animals were obviously well cared for (There is a sign out that says pretty much that they're not a tourist attraction but feel free to look just dont expect it to be the standard of a commercial pets corner).

The pooch parlour looked nice but my two were too scared to use it. But it is a very nice idea to have one on site.

Site is next door to Corfe castle, and up the road from model village, some nice pubs (the greyhound has great views of the castle and does lovely food), steam railway, animal sanctuary, etc. also close by (by car) is weymouth, poole, bournmouth, swanage, blandford, wareham also monkey world and the tank museum.

Good value for money. you pay separate for tent, people and extras such as gazebo, awning, boat etc

Sleep quality was ok, the site has an 11pm curfew on noise and this was pretty much kept to by most. The 1st night one of our neighbours kept the whole field awake shouting at her small child, the 2nd night the site was silent (apart from the sheep baaing off and on) the 3rd night one the tents were noisy for a while but once they had given up yelling everything was quiet again. ofcourse none of that was the fault of Norden farm and I'm sure the warden would of dealt with it if they had been called out!!

One note, take a good torch by 8.30 - 9pm the fields are pitch black and navigating the road to the toilet and showers ready for bed can be a little tricky as ofcourse with it being a field in a farm there are the odd pot hole and patch of mud to contend with. The darkness of the field does make it nice for stargazing on a clear night.