Budle Bay Campsite Reviews

Excellent

Clean and tidy staff helpful and friendly. Nice and quite very peaceful just have time to chill out and relax.

Fab little site.

My only gripe is we had a pitch for van and awning. The grass on our pitch had Astro turf on it so made pegging the awning out a little harder. Great toilets and shower facilities clean quiet friendly camp site will definitely be back. Hot food to take away.

Great wee site, lovely wee break

We had a terrific time. Great pitch beside the river. Facilities are a bit tired but that didn’t detract from our experience.

A lovely campsite and area to explore.

Everything was very good, except for our initial visit in the reception area on arrival. I had asked specifically for a pitch near to the facilities, but the young lady, whom I later found out had only been working with you for a week, said that there were no pitches available nearer the toilets etc. We were on pitch 90. So all im saying to aid your help with visitors, is that perhaps she should have consulted a more senior person with regard to my request as there were pitches available as I would have preferred. But overall a lovely place to visit, and I hope to come again, maybe in one of your “huts” next time in October.

Site's response

Sorry about that Helen. We can do better.

Our stay

The site for the money was very basic, the cafe and bar only opened when they felt like it. The money they are making should be spent on updating a very tired site 😞

Easy going, stress free

All very easy. The few questions I had were specific to me, and dealt with by good, engaged staff.

Site's response

Glad we were able to be of help. Thanks for coming.

Great wee site - highly recommend

Lovely, clean and well equipped site well located for both A1 and local beauty spots/town. Staff were lovely and very helpful. We had a freshly made pizza from the site for dinner and it was delicious - little lemon hand wipes included as nice wee added touch!

Lovely place

Stayed 2 nights. All amenities there, food from café very tasty. Pizzas to die for. Seahouses only 10 min drive. Just frustrated dogs supposed be kept on leash, yet a few times, the same camper let dogs just runabout 🐶❤️

Great thanks!

Would stay again. Ideal location on windy day also as well sheltered.

Great location

Great location for exploring Northumberlands coast. Campsite is nice but its busy so if you want space book a bigger pitch. Staff are very friendly and helpful. Cafe onsite is good and nice place to meet other people.

Overall a lovely campsite

Overall a lovely campsite, toilets and shower block a little dated but functional. Plenty space for washing up and a small fridge and freezer available. Staff very pleasant and lovely walks close by. A lovely campsite, wonderful location for a base to go out walking. Facilities a little dated, but functional. Site became busy from the Friday and although pitch sizes are ample, it did start to feel a little cramped. A great little café selling breakfast, pizza's ice cream and the staff very friendly and helpful. A 10 min walk from the campsite to Budle Bay, then an amazing walk along the coastal route to Bamburgh beach and castle, passing through the golf course and lighthouse, with some lovely little stop points to take in the most spectacular views and coastline. Approx 4 hours gentle walk in total, there and back, with a couple of dogs, couple of tea stops, absolutely beautiful.

Loved it

It was an amazing stay. Unfortunately, my camping stove broke when we got there, but they were so kind to let us use the hut facilities to cook our meal and breakfast in the morning. Also, there is a pizza van behind the campsite using local ingredients that is a must have! Our stay was thoroughly enjoyable, with clean facilities and plentiful space between campers. I would recommend visiting Budle Bay campsite!

Nice people, shame facilities not as expected

Peaceful site within a couple of miles of Bamburgh. The site is large but some pitches look a little cramped. We booked an XL which was decently spaced but as we didn't have many neighbours, it probably helped. The riverside pitches don't seem to have much of a river view, due to being overgrown. The facilities are ok but tired and the overall site could do with some smarter landscaping. Some old machinery left around and loads of gravel areas needed tidying up. Felt it was overpriced for what was to offer. Paid nearly £60 per night, which is the most I have paid and would have expected a much smarter site for that money. The campsite cafe was closed on Sunday and breakfast was pre order only early week due to few site bookings. Only found out at 6pm on Sunday when spotted the place closed. We weren't pre advised when checking in on Saturday. The adjacent Northumberland Artisan Pizza Co (just off site) is fantastic, however, need to pre order as they get really busy and close at 7. On a plus, it was a good location all in all for exploring the area by vehicle. No access close by to the beach as Budle Bay is a nature reserve. There is a coast walk from the site to Bamburgh but not an easy one for less able as there are no paths for the first half mile as it's on a country lane. No shop close by, so make sure you go stocked up. Bamburgh is beautiful with some nice pubs and eateries. Parking is easy for campers and motorhomes, next to the church, and is £6 all day. Free parking available roadside in pull in areas up to Seahouses, with access to the fantastic beach. Didn't read the site reviews before I booked, foolishly, but would check out other sites next time as would definitely go back to the area again. Can't recommend purely on being overpriced.

Site's response

Hi Richard, thanks for taking the time to review us. Sorry the takeaway was only open for pre orders due to the campsite being quiet. Did you not want to order during the day and it being ready when you wanted it? The takeaway is open weekends and will be open most of the day when the season gets into full swim. It extremely popular and has received fantastic reviews for the quality of the food at a reasonable price. You mentioned landscaping and not being able to see the river due to the growth of wild plants on the banks but I think you have missed the point of our campsite if you are criticising our site for that. We will not be changing what we do in that regard as we are trying to balance our use of the campsite and leave space for insects and animals. If readers of this want a manicured campsite, then we are not for you. I apologise that our machinery was in view when you were here. It was because we were installing new batteries in our storage area to take the electricity generated from our latest batch of solar panels. The machinery will go back into their sheds in a few days when that work is completed. You mention the price but you chose one of our most expensive pitches plus had 2 dogs. A pitch for your sized vehicle would have started at a base price of £26. We are on the Coastal Path, the Bay is 10 minutes away along a short dirt path, a gravel road and a quiet tarmac road. I am sorry you had mobility issues but as you say, all is easily accessible by car. Take care. Budle Bay.

Lovely campsite

Lovely campsite great pitches and location. Toilets showers and washing up areas clean. Cafe/bar shack was great the pizzas and burgers were lovely. Staff were amazing we stayed an extra night to what we had booked and it was no problem. Walks around the area are great country walks and walks along the beach as far as Banbury Castle. Would definitely recommend this place and return if in the area.

Nice site

Nice site. Good location. Clean facilities. Easy to find. Not near to shop/pub. Bit cramped.

Well Managed Site

A reasonably good campsite with decent facilities. Electric hook up at £7.50 is, however, extortionate to charge a small campervan. It would appear that most sites are now charging excessively for EHU. We are now rely on batteries. A charge for electricity usage would be fairer.

Site's response

Thanks for your review. I thought it important to try and explain our electricity charge. First of all, we would love to have a way of charging only for what you use but to do, that you would have to purchase a special hook up box that has a meter and a card reader built into it, They cost several hundreds of pounds each and we would need to replace every one of the 150 odd EHU points that we have here. We would have to buy special cards and the machine to load the cards with money when a customer wants electricity which have % charges attached to the topping up company. You can tell we looked into it, but it's all an impossible ask for a small family run campsite. Next, you need to understand what a campsite like our is charged for electric, which bears no relationship to what you pay in your home, especially when you add the fixed charges imposed on businesses. Finally, you may only be running some lights etc but the guy next door may have a 2kwh electric fire running all evening and through the night in his tent. We have to cover ourselves against our costs and all types of usage. We decided the best approach was to separate the EHU from the pitch price, so the cost was transparent and customers could then choose not to have it if it was too much for you to want to pay. We also made sure that, even when the price of EHU was included in the price of the pitch, we were still very contemplatively priced compared to local rivals. We have also invested heavily in solar panels and battery storage so that we can reduce our overhead costs and thus not increase our charges for EHU going forward. I hoped that helped you understand the issues and to see that it is not straightforward at all.

Idiotic setting

We enjoyed our stay, it ticked all the boxes. While the uk was in a heatwave we had lower temperatures and a restful stay, very quiet location with beautiful clear night skies. Awesome onsite pizzas and cafe/food. Clean amenities, helpful staff 👌

Lovely site ideally situated

we had a lovely walk to Bamburgh Castle & village. Nice on site cafe

Remote basic and quiet site

Quiet (after kids left site) clean and basic campsite. Pitch sheltered from wind (276 so windy on NE coast)! Good hard standing pitch. Annoying kids speeding on electric bikes - parents not respectful of other campers. Not a site issue but should have done something about it. Nice to be near coast but nothing else around unless you have a car.

Good campsite but expensive for what it is

Well presented campsite with good spaced flat pitches and facilities. Food outlet very reasonable for basic burgers, pizza chips etc. However, compared to other campsites, it is expensive with the electric hook up being extra and even wind breaks (which we did not use) incurring a charge if you do! I suspect at full capacity, the facilities may struggle? Good position and easy cycle on B road to Bamburgh Castle. Good road access to other attractions also.

Great stay

Great stay - fantastic place for walking & exploring. Onsite shop & hot food including pizza's. Everyone was very friendly & it was quiet.

Weekend trip

Great location for exploring the coast

Our stay at Budle Bay.

We enjoyed staying there, the site was clean and plenty of room for the van and awning, the only thing that I can say that might be a good idea is to have a small shelf in the shower cubicles to put your soap or shower gel and washing things on while showering, other than that it was fine.

Great stay

Great stay - only there for an evening, but a good campsite, plenty of facilities. Aspen Lodge was all I needed!

Stay again and again

Our first adventure in our new Motorhome with our 5 year old granddaughter and Duke the Dachshund. Liked the small, friendly site with excellent support when we needed advice on filling up with drinking water. A great base area to explore an area we're not familiar with, so it is our intention to return again.