Travelling to Herefordshire

[GillW]

Hi

We are travelling to Leominster area this Friday from Bradford and trying to decide between M1,M42 and M5 or M62,M6 and M5 as far as Worcester J7

Does anyone know of any roadworks on these routes which will make the decision easier

Thanks

 

[emmerson2]

Came to South Wales from Pickering on Friday. M1,A42,M42,M5.No problems,except the normal Friday pm traffic.Have a safe trip. Emmerson

 

[emmerson2]

Follow-up question - where are you pitching? I know the area quite well and can recomend a lovely CL near leominster. Emmerson

 

[GillW]

Emmerson

Hubby is a fisherman so we are going to the complex at Docklow Pools

First time in the area so any info on other sites appreciated

Gill

 

[Steve L]

Hi. I actually live in Leominster and have a sister who lives at Otley. We have found over the years of traveling between the two towns that, the M62, M6, M56 to A49 route is about the quickest and easiest to do with a van on. I work in Worcester and that place is a pig to get through and the ring road is single lane and a crawler at the best of times. The A44 from there to Leominster is very twisty and hilly with only three notable overtaking areas. The A49 starts at Warrington and ends at Hereford.

You'll love the black and white village trail through Eardisland and Pembridge. The Talbot hotel in Leominster does a good mid day roast for

 

[Steve L]

Hi. I actually live in Leominster and have a sister who lives at Otley. We have found over the years of traveling between the two towns that, the M62, M6, M56 to A49 route is about the quickest and easiest to do with a van on. I work in Worcester and that place is a pig to get through and the ring road is single lane and a crawler at the best of times. The A44 from there to Leominster is very twisty and hilly with only three notable overtaking areas. The A49 starts at Warrington and ends at Hereford.

You'll love the black and white village trail through Eardisland and Pembridge. The Talbot hotel in Leominster does a good mid day roast for

 

[GillW]

Just noticed you mention Docklow pools. Going the A49 route would put you in a safer position to turn into their entrance. Just pick up the A44 to Worcester at Leominster by-pass, and Docklow is about 4 miles from there, entrace is on the left.

Tight lines.

Thanks Steve thats reaqlly useful First time in the area and had no idea the A44 was as you say

We had not even thought of the route you say to use

Gill

 

[GillW]

Steve

Thanks for your route,just got back yesterday using your suggestion Hubby,our only driver had a much nicer time of it than endless boring motorways and no hold ups apart from the occasional tractor either direction unlike friends who came to join us,travelling solo,from the lakes,and hit problems both ways on the M6

Beautiful part of the country,would definitely like to visit again but under no circumstances could reccommend Docklow Pools

Thanks Gill

 

[emmerson2]

Gill, next time you come to leominster, try The Leen at Pembridge.It's in the Caravan Club book and there used to be fishing in site. What went wrong at Docklow? Emmerson

 

[GillW]

Emmerson

What wrong at Docklow,what didnt go wrong

We went primarily because my husband and his brother who went with us are keen fisherman but they couldnt fish all the lakes mentioned on the website,a lot of pegs were overgrown and not fishable,they were not allowed to buy afternoon tickets before 2 pm even though we were going off site for a few hours and were then told it was too hard work to sell him a ticket later

The site had 10 touring super pitches and 10 'sesonal',one toilet between all pitches which had no hot water or hand drying facility nor was it cleaned the 8 days we were there.The shower was in the same room as the toilet though the meter for the shower was 3 doors away!

The bins were emptied rarely so usually overflowing as they also had to cope with rubbish from 6 cottages as well,rats came round to feast and even when emptied the spillage was not cleared off the floor

To cap it all a branch fell from a tree onto my husband when he was fishing big enough to need 2 men to lift it off him and though reported to the bailiff did not notice any checks being made to see if the tree was safe for others and no-one from the site even bothered to ask if he was okay which luckily he was,it had missed doing him any real damage

Definitely not going there again

 

[Steve L]

Well what can I say, I'm so sorry you had a bad experience at Docklow.

For years my wife and I have been wanting to run a site and we certainly would not run it like that. I'll speak to our local tourist office in Leominster and also the environmental health dept at Herefordshire council.

My father in law and I are keen fishermen, we go to Fresh water lakes at Harford near Aberaeron which is about 60 miles further on for you. There it is presteigne and the camp site is well laid out. No noise and the toilet block is so clean you could eat your food off the floor. There's no restriction on the lakes and you get one peg free on the mixed coarse lake if you book a pitch on the site. telephone 01558 650788 post code for computer map location SA19 8DT. Malcolm and Shirley Bexon are the site owners and most welcoming.

 

[Steve L]

Gill.

I went to the tourist office in Leominster yesterday, they are well aware of Docklow but were unable to do much as Docklow is not accredited by them. However I had better luck at the Council offices. They are currently having a caravan site survey in progress across Herefordshire and were most interested, also the environmental health department will be following up on the information.

The person was quite agast at the print off of this chat page, and when I explained that it has world coverage and that many fellow caravanners are often guided by our chat, she soon got the wheels in motion.

 

[GillW]

Steve

Apologies,been off the PC a couple of days

Thank you so very much for your effort in contacting local officials I cant believe a total stranger would go to all that trouble

I was going to write to Docklow when I had calmed down enough but if you feel it would be of any use would gladly give my name and address to the council,I have no need to remain anonymous and if others could be prevented from having the same experience as we did then I'm all for it

What made it worse was that my sister-in-law had recently been a live organ donor to their son,this was the first break for them since then and their introduction to caravanning,not the best of examples

I know not all sites are as bad and while we where in the area we visited The Millpond at Little Tarrington,I checked the toilets,they were so spotless,i needed sunglasses for the shiny reflection and then 5 minutes later they were closed for cleaning!

Thanks again

Gill

 

[Steve L]

Well I've lived in Leominster since 1964 and feel leominster has a lot to offer tourisum.

I feel that if everyone did their bit, which was an hour of my time, then the whole country would be a better place to live in.

There's too much "I'm alright Jack" attitude and too many folks who want your money but not the customer care that goes with it.

If you forward your account of Docklow to:- info@herefordshire.gov.uk It will be forwarded to the right departments.