Best points: friendly, spacious, great for dogs & local meat
Bad points: none (honest, I really can’t think of any!)
To book, I completed their online booking form. Within a matter of hours I had an email back confirming they had space. Amazingly the email even suggested booking a single larger pitch, rather than two smaller pitches to save money – the sceptic in me thought this was so they could squeeze as many people on as possible, but on arrival there were plenty of spaces, so they were being genuinely helpful!
Both times I rang Mena – firstly to confirm the booking and pay the deposit, and secondly to double check the pitch size (after buying a new tent) – the person on the other end of the phone was very friendly and helpful. This friendliness continued throughout our stay – the staff/owners were welcoming and always happy to chat whenever we popped into the shop.
In total the cost was £40 for two people, two tents and a dog (in high season).
The Site
The site is situated about 5 minutes from the A30, down a few narrow (but very quiet) lanes. However the position of the site means that you can’t hear any noise from the A30. The site has 15 acres of open space, with 25 pitches (some with electric hook up). The site is broadly made up of three areas – you have a landscaped and well maintained main camping / caravan area, which is predominately flat, on top of a hill with some nice views (including over to Helman Torr, a Neolithic hill fort site). There is then a larger field slopping down hill – paths have been mowed around and through the field for dog walkers, and it makes for an excellent early morning / late evening stroll. At the bottom of the hill is a fishing pond and wooded area – dogs are allowed to swim in the pond provided no one is fishing (fishing ticket costs £3 per day per rod). The pitches are a decent size and well spaced – there is a small play area in the middle of the site (with goal posts, basketball hoop etc.), with most of pitches around the edge.
Facilities
There are two toilet and shower blocks – both of which were clean and tidy throughout most of our stay. There was a bit of a queue for showers in the morning, but nothing too irksome, and they were hot, fairly powerful and free! One of the blocks also has laundry facilities (coin operated) and a freezer that is free to use for freezing ice blocks.
There is a small shop on site selling all the essentials – best of all the shop also sold local burgers, bacon and sausages. The sausages were extremely flavoursome and the bacon was the thickest I think I have ever seen. They also sell eggs from rescued battery hens – all the proceeds from the eggs goes on feed and on rescuing more!
Although we didn’t investigate, the site also has a large games barn with pool table and table tennis.
One other thing of note (for us geeks anyway) is that the site, being on a hill, receives excellent T-mobile 3.5g Mobile Broadband signal.
Local Area
The site is nice and close to Bodmin and Bodmin Moor. As the site is right next to the A30, in the centre of Cornwall, you have easy access to most main tourist destinations – the Eden Project is only 4 miles away, the National Trust’s Lanhydrock House & Gardens are 3 miles away, and the nearest Beach is 8 miles away.
Conclusion
Mena Caravan & Camping Park is a gem of a campsite and is highly recommended for anyone wanting to visit Cornwall.
Contact details:
Web: http://www.campsitesincornwall.co.uk/contact.php
Phone: 01208 831845
Email: mena@campsitesincornwall.co.uk
Reviewed by: Offa's Dyke 4 MS
RCW's NOTE: These chaps In 2010, these chaps will be walking the 177 mile Offa's Dyke path to raise money for The Multiple Sclerosis Society (MS) and The British Stammering Association. They kindly allowed us to 'borrow' this review from their own, very excellent website. For more info, visit them here or follow them on twitter here or here
small pitch without any expectation of properly plummed toilets/showers/sinks. However, I do think that the £27 a night is just too much to ask when there are so many other excellent campsites around and being unable to book a spot in the lower-priced field will certainly put me off going again and sadly prevents me from reccommending this site to anyone I like!