Park Holidays UK - Ranked 1st to 45th! Which gets the best and worst reviews?

Park Holidays UK is a big player in the caravan park market.

They’ve now got about 50 caravan holiday parks across England, Wales and Scotland after buying up a couple of smaller chains and bumping up their numbers in the last couple of years. 

I would suggest that Park Holidays UK probably aren't as well-known as Haven, Butlins, Center Parcs and Parkdean Resorts but lots of their parks are very highly rated by visitors in the know.

Park Holidays UK has a particularly big concentration around parts of:

• East Anglia (mostly Essex and Suffolk)
• South East England (mostly Kent and Sussex)
• South West England (mostly Cornwall and Devon)

However, they also have parks in Scotland, Hampshire, Dorset, Herefordshire, Cumbria and Wales.

As with all holiday park brands, the quality of Park Holidays UK varies from site to site.

Mrs Guru and I took on the task of digging out review scores for every park owned by Park Holidays UK and putting them into a ranking from highest-rated to lowest-rated.

We used scores on TripAdvisor and Google Reviews to calculate an average. We didn't include ownership only holiday parks - just the ones where you can book a holiday.

Let's start with those that scored more than 90%:

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1. ​Tarka Holiday Park, Devon – 94%

Highest ranked overall

Tarka Holiday Park in Devon holds the crown as the best Park Holidays UK resorts - according to customers. The score is approaching perfection and is about as good as it gets for caravan parks in the UK.

However, it's certainly not for everyone.

Tarka Holiday Park doesn't have a swimming pool or a restaurant. It doesn't have evening entertainment with bingo and entertainers in shiny jackets. And it certainly doesn't have the high ropes, archery and NERF arenas that you get at some of the biggest Haven resorts.

In fact, the only entertainment at Tarka Holiday Park is a small playground for children and an exercise area for dogs. It's not even walking distance to the beach - you need to drive for 15 minutes.

So, why's it ranked as the best Park Holidays UK resort in the UK - ahead of dozens of others?

Part of the reason is that it is conveniently located for the Tarka Trail, which is a 180 mile cycling and walking loop covering a big chunk of North Devon.

A big factor though is that simple and quiet holiday parks often rank highly with guests. My theory is that there is more to complain about when you visit a large holiday park ("The swimming pool was cold! The chips in the restaurant were burnt! The outdoor cinema was cancelled!"). Guests visiting a quiet and simple holiday park - such as Tarka Holiday Park - know what they are getting and are mostly just rating the accommodation and location.

Clearly, they are doing a very good job at Tarka Holiday Park of keeping guests happy - so congratulations are in order.

See our guide to the 10 best holiday parks in Devon to see how Tarka Holiday Park compares to the competition.

Tarka Holiday Park is a quiet holiday park, about 15 minutes from Devon's coast

It's conveniently located for the Tarka Trail, which is a popular cycling and walking route

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= 2nd. Bodmin Holiday Park, Cornwall – 90%

Highest rated in Cornwall

Park Holidays UK bought Bodmin Holiday Park in 2022. At the time it was called Waterside Cornwall but they gave it a new name. The reviews are a mix of the park under its new and old names.

It's a very different resort to Tarka Holiday Park (mentioned above). You get an indoor swimming pool, as well as a gym and tennis court. There's a large clubhouse as well as fishing lakes.

The accommodation is a mix of bungalows, lodges and villas - including the rather unusual triangular 'villas' in the photo below. 

Despite being in Cornwall, it's about 20 minutes drive to the nearest beach from Bodmin Holiday Park. On the plus side, you can reach several beaches within half an hour, rather than just visiting the same one all week!

See our guide to the 10 best holiday parks in Cornwall for more suggestions.

Lots of the holiday homes at Bodmin Holiday Park are these 'villas'

The indoor swimming pool at Bodmin Holiday Park is the simple variety rather than one with flumes

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= 2nd. Bowland Fell Holiday Park, Yorkshire – 90%

Highest rated in Yorkshire

Bowland Fell Holiday Park is another high scorer with customers. It's not far from Skipton and is a popular one with walkers.

You get an indoor pool (nothing fancy, but good for wasting an hour on a wet day) as well as an onsite restaurant and a playground.

See our main guide to the 10 best holiday parks in Yorkshire.

Bowland Fell Holiday Park is one of Park Holiday UK's highest rated resorts

Most customers praise the quality of the accommodation at Bowland Fell Holiday Park

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= 2nd. Malvern View Holiday Park, Herefordshire – 90%

Malvern View is another holiday park that was bought up by Park Holidays UK in 2022. They bought several parks from a company called Park Leisure.

It's an unusual holiday park, as it's nowhere near the sea. The vast majority of the UK's holiday parks have a beach within a short drive, but Malvern View is around the Worcestershire/Herefordshire border.

You do get the rather lovely hills of Malvern and plenty of walking routes. Onsite, there are fishing lakes, a restaurant and a playground - but there isn't a swimming pool.

Malvern View Holiday Park has rolling hills rather than coastal scenery

There are fishing lakes and plenty of nice walks in the area

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It's worth mentioning at this point that a score of more than 90% is exceptionally good for holiday parks in the UK! You might like to see our ranking of Parkdean Resorts' 66 holiday parks, and you'll see that only a handful get such a high score.

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Park Holidays UK resorts with a review score of 80%+

Let's move on the Park Holidays UK caravan sites that scored more than 80%. ​ Personally, I would be happy booking anywhere scoring more than 80%, which is the equivalent of 4/5 on TripAdvisor. 

In fact, you'll notice that lots of the Park Holidays UK resorts that score 80-89% are also featured in our top five and top ten guides to each county. This is because they often offer a good mix of price, entertainment and facilities, beachside locations and customer reviews. 

Also worth considering is my theory that bigger and more action-packed holiday parks tend to score lower than smaller and less well-equipped holiday parks. 

= 5th Sandhills Holiday Park, Dorset – 89% (Features in our top 10 Dorset guide)
= 5th Pentire Holiday Park, Cornwall – 89%

Pentire Holiday Park in Cornwall is a 10 minute drive from a terrific coastline

​= 5th Pevensey Bay Holiday Park, Sussex – 89% (Highest rated on the South East Coast, features in our top 5 Sussex guide)
= 8th Pakefield Holiday Park, Suffolk – 88% (Highest rated in East Anglia)
= 8th Ribble Valley Holiday Park, Lancashire – 88%

Ribble Valley Holiday Park is about an hour inland from Blackpool

= 10th Waterside Holiday Park, Devon – 87%
= 10th West Mersea Holiday Park, Essex – 87% (Touring caravans only, you can't hire a holiday home at this one)
= 10th Lossiemouth Holiday Park, Scotland – 87% (Highest rated in Scotland)

Lossiemouth Holiday Park is on the banks of a river, which may explain the high review scores

13th Hengar Manor Holiday Park, Cornwall – 86%
14th Brynteg Holiday Park, Wales – 85% 
= 15th Newhaven Holiday Park, Derbyshire – 84%
= 15th Trevella Holiday Park, Cornwall – 84%
= 15th Wood Farm Holiday Park, Dorset - 84% (features in our Dorset top 10)
= 15th Rye Harbour Holiday Park, Sussex – 84%
= 19th Golden Sands Holiday Park, Devon – 83%
= 19th Par Sands Holiday Park, Cornwall -83%
= 19th Ashbourne Heights Holiday Park, Derbyshire – 83% (Well located for the Peak District and Alton Towers)

Ashbourne Heights in Derbyshire is 25 minutes from Alton Towers and CBeebies Land

= 22nd Felixstowe Beach Holiday Park, Suffolk – 82% 
= 22nd Glendale Holiday Park, Cumbria – 82%
= 22nd Marlie Holiday Park, Kent – 82%
= 22nd Silver Sands Holiday Park, Scotland – 82% (features in our guide to Scotland's best holiday parks)
= 26th Dawlish Sands Holiday Park, Devon – 81%
= 26th Alberta Holiday Park, Kent - 81%
= 26th Birchington Vale Holiday Park, Kent – 81% (features in our guide to Kent's best holiday parks)
= 26th Broadland Sands Holiday Park, Suffolk – 81% (features in our guide to Suffolk's best holiday parks)
= 26th Carlton Meres Holiday Park, Suffolk – 81% (also features in our guide to Suffolk's best holiday parks)
= 26th Polperro Holiday Park, Cornwall – 81%

Polperro Holiday Park is a five minute drive from the beach

= 32nd Seaview Holiday Park, Kent – 80% (features in our guide to Kent's 5 best holiday parks)
= 32nd Coghurst Hall Holiday Park, Sussex – 80%
= 32nd Dovercourt Holiday Park, Essex – 80% (features in our guide to Essex's holiday parks)
= 32nd Solent Breezes Holiday Park, Hampshire – 80% (features in our Hampshire and New Forest top five - and it's convenient for Peppa Pig World)
= 32nd Suffolk Sands Holiday Park, Suffolk – 80%
= 32nd Winchelsea Sands Holiday Park, Sussex – 80%

Winchelsea Sands is one of five holiday parks in Sussex owned by Park Holidays UK

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Park Holiday UK resorts with a customer review score of 70 - 79%

Finally, we've got the Park Holiday UK caravan resorts that score less than 80%. Don't ignore these altogether - but have a read through recent reviews. In some cases you will find that review scores are being dragged down by older issues that have been resolved, or because people have a specific issue that won't bother you.

​For example, some people mark a holiday park down if they don't have adequate facilities for dogs. We aren't dog owners, so this wouldn't be a big deal for us, but it's understandably a notable issue if you are taking your dog on holiday.

= 38th Chicester Lakeside Holiday Park, Sussex – 79%
= 38th Hedley Wood Holiday Park, Devon – 79%
40th Harts Holiday Park, Kent – 78%
41st New Beach Holiday Park, Kent – 76%
= 42nd Sand le Mere Holiday Park, Yorkshire – 74%
= 42nd St Osyth Beach Holiday Park, Essex – 74%
44th Seawick Holiday Park, Essex – 73%
45th Steeple Bay Holiday Park, Essex – 71%