Family Camping at River Dart Country Park

We paid for this trip ourselves. The tent was gifted to us by Millets for an earlier blog post which you can read here.

River Dart Country Park is an award-winning camping and caravanning holiday park in Devon. Perfect families with its array of activities such as high ropes, water zorbs, zip wires, rock climbing, canoeing and lots more!

Last week we spent four nights at River Dart Country Park. It was our first family camping trip and we had a wonderful time. We’re hoping for many more family camping trips over the next few years!

We arrived at River Dart Country Park around 1pm. There was a small hut on the road where a lady greeted us and directed us towards reception to check in. We drove over a small concrete bridge and past the Picnic Meadow on the left hand side. The Picnic Meadow is where we would be staying.

There are seven areas on site that you can stay:

1. Picnic Meadow
2. Walled Garden
3. Meadows
4. Village Green
5. Woodlands
6. Riverside
7. Lower Riverside

As you can see from the map above, it’s a pretty big site. With that said, everything is within walking distance.

We arrived at Reception and were greeted by a friendly lady who gave us a tag to hang on our tent and one to go in the car. She also gave us a free ticket each for our girls to have a go on the new bounce zone which is a new addition this year. The receptionist also gave us a map and a bin bag to use during our stay and showed us where our pitch was on the map.

We drove back down to the Picnic Meadow and found our pitch with ease.

We opted for a pitch with EHU (electric hookup). My husband and I put the tent up together in around 30 minutes. Not bad considering it was only our second time ever pitching it!

Behind our pitch was a small river which was very pleasant!

The Picnic Meadow was pretty busy when we arrived. I don’t think there was an empty pitch, but there was still plenty of room for our girls to kick a ball about and run around!

I took a photo of the Picnic Meadow on day two after quite a few people had left. As you can see below there’s plenty of room.

After a quick cup of coffee we headed off to explore! We quickly discovered a shower and toilet block in the Picnic Meadow which also had a washing machine, freezer and sinks outside to wash your dishes in. I was pleased to see that the shower block was cleaned daily.

We ventured across the road and came across the high ropes, zip wire and water zorbs. These activities all cost extra, but it was very reasonably priced at just £5 for the water zorbs, £6 for the zip wire and £17 for the high ropes.

We then came across the canoe lake which was also very reasonably priced at £6 for 30 minutes. You can buy tokens for these activities at the token huts, shop or at reception.

After walking a little further afield we came across the bounce zone so our girls went in and had a go. It’s usually £5 for 20 minutes. I only took two photos of the bounce zone as it was pretty busy, but there were four bouncy slides/castles etc and an inflatable football goal.

We then came across the lake which is what we were all really looking forward to the most! It’s a pretty big lake with an over water obstacle course hanging over it, a pirate ship you can board and desert island.

The water was pretty cold, as was to be expected, so it’s recommended children wear wet suits. We bought some with us, but they’re also available to buy on site.

We then came to an area which had lots of slides, rope swings, tree houses, obstacles, a zip wire, swings and lots more!

Overall our first impressions were very good! On site there’s also a cafe bar called The Old Sawmill. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as milkshakes and snacks. We ate there on two nights. One was during pizza and pasta night and the other was Chinese night, which was so good!

There’s also a pool table outside, a TV inside and a park opposite, along with a marquee which showed a different movie each night for free, along with a silent disco one night which was £3.50 per person.

You can also hire bikes on site. I’m not sure how much this was as we didn’t hire bikes, but there is a bike trail, free ride area and pump track on site. I think next time we visit we’ll invest in a bike rack so our girls can bring their bikes along. We had their fold up scooters with us, but everywhere you looked there were children and adults on bikes! I would have also liked a go on the bike track myself!

After an ice cream, we headed back to our tent for dinner. As it was our first time camping we needed to figure out how to use our double gas stove before we could start cooking. The idea of cooking on a small gas stove with a gas canister outdoors was slightly terrifying, but it was a lot easier than I thought it would be!

Our first night was really enjoyable. We played football and tennis with our girls, sat under the stars and watched the bats flying overhead! We all slept very well! There’s an 11pm noise curfew on site and it was very quiet indeed!

The following day was pretty action packed. After cooking up some bacon, beans and toast for breakfast we headed off to take part in some activities.

First up was water zorbs, followed by canoeing and playing in the many parks on site. We all had a well deserved ice cream before heading over to the pony ride area. The ponies are on site once a week and cost just £3 a go. You can also buy a rosette for £1 which one of our girls now treasures!

It was so much fun watching our girls enjoying themselves playing outdoors, and even my husband and I got involved in having a go on the zip wire, climbing and crawling over obstacles etc much to our girls delight!

After lunch our girls donned their wetsuits and we made our way over to the lake. We found a nice shady spot and then braved ourselves for the coldness of the water!

Our girls went on the over-water obstacle course, in the pirate ship and even walked the plank! It was fair to say by the time dinner time came around we were all exhausted! However, after dinner we did manage to find enough energy to toast some marshmallows!

Day three saw me feeling rather brave and having a go on the zip wire. It was so much fun and over far too quickly!

We then wandered over to the side of the site that we hadn’t yet explored. As you follow the road up to the shop, on the right hand side, you’ll see what looks like a small hut.

This is actually where you’ll come out if you climb the steps and go down the anaconda snake slide! Carry on further up the steps and you’ll come to the low ropes. These are great for children who aren’t quite ready for the high ropes and they’re also free of charge.

Here you’ll also find the spider web which is great fun for all ages. Just be careful you don’t lose a shoe like I did! Don’t worry! I did manage to retrieve it!

You’ll also find a Tower in this area which is perfect for bird spotting.

After exploring this area we walked through the secret valley and up to Mount Sinai. On the way we saw berries and what looked like some sort of animal home. Our girls loved exploring the outdoors!

After lunch and yet more ice cream we spent the remainder of the day at the lake. There’s a small man-made beach to the side of the lake which also has a small paddling area for younger children.

Our final day arrived and we knew there was rain due. We’d been very lucky with the weather up until this point, so we decided to head over to the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth. Keep an eye on the blog next week for our full review.

We saw sharks, manta rays, crabs, turtles and lots of other amazing sea creatures! It was a fantastic day out that we all thoroughly enjoyed!

Overall, I think it’s fair to say that our first family camping trip was a success! The whole family had a brilliant time and we’ve certainly learnt a lot for our next few trips – that’s a whole other blog post!

River Dart Country Park really is a fantastic family campsite. I highly recommend it and we’ll certainly be returning next year!

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