How not to run a campsite

Having enjoyed three lovely August bank holiday weekend camping trips at Newhaven Camping and Caravan Park in the Peak District in recent years, a crowd of us (head count 27 this year) once again decided to head off with our kids and dogs for a weekend of fun.
Now the first year we had been located at the top of a very steep slope but a recce of the site revealed an excellent looking narrow area suitable for groups, apparently known as the Long Stretch. So, for the past two years, we have booked this area and enjoyed a great time at the site which is perfect for the hoards of young boys we have in our party, surrounded as it is by narrow woods ideally suited to den building and 'off-road' bike adventures.
After last year's visit we once again reserved the Long Stretch back towards the end of last year. All was set for another fun weekend this August.
As in previous years, our family made the reservation and then other families were told to ring and book as part of our party. The numbers were building and all was good.
However a phone call from an extremely rude woman about a month ago should have given me some indication that things were changing at Newhaven - and certainly not for the better.
This woman rang me one Friday afternoon demanding to know exactly how many tents were booked in our party. I explained that while I had a rough idea I could not confirm exact numbers without ringing round. Not good enough it seemed. She needed to know exact numbers NOW!
I gently explained that we had all made our bookings as requested and that perhaps she should then have a record of who was booked in as part of our party. I pointed out that the fact that she did not have this record was, for me, rather worrying and asked if I could speak with the owner/manager - a lovely, friendly, gentle older man who had never been anything but courteous and kind to us in prevous years.
'There's not point," she declared. "He's hardly ever here. He's practically retired."
At this point I suggested that perhaps she was being rather rude to me as a regular customer. Somewhat incredibly, the words "Yeah well whatever!" followed, much to my disgust. I put the phone down shaking!
Fortunately I did manage to then speak to the owner and explain how rude his member of staff had been to me. He was nothing but apologetic.
And so it came that we were the first family to arrive at Newhaven on Friday afternoon. My husband dropped me off to check in while he and the kids drove down to the Long Stretch to bag the best pitch. Two minutes later he had returned to check in to say there were two other tents pitched in our reserved spot! It had not been roped off it seems.
The sweet (but rather harrassed looking) elderly owner explained that cones had indeed been placed to reserve the area for us but clearly someone had moved these and taken their choice of pitch after all. We decided to drive back down and see what was what. As we drove over the coned area an obnoxious man came running over screaming "Get off my grass, these cones are here for a reason!". Now we did try to point out that that reason was us but he was having none of it. "I'm the campsite manager," he screamed furiously. "Yes and we've just been told that the coned off area is reserved for us," explained my husband. "What's more, there are two other tents already pitched on an area we've had reserved for months. What's going on?"
"I'm not moving those tents for no-one," screamed Mr Grumpy. "Get off my site and don't ever come back!"
With seven other families en route we were clearly in a difficult situation. Personally, with the weather already bad, we would have been quite happy to head home at this point but felt we couldn't leave all our friends in the lurch.
Shaking once more we headed back to reception to find the poor owner. Somehow he managed to placate us, apologise unreservedly for his manager's behaviour and offer us a discount on our booking. All we could think was poor man.
And so our weekend began. As our friends arrived and we all started pitching the heavens opened once more. The Long Stretch was starting to resemble a mud bath.
The next couple of days more or less passed without incident - apart from lots of filthy, muddy little boys falling out every five minutes that is. Alas, getting clean was a chore since the usually warm showers appeared to be freezing cold this year. The atmosphere on site was not improved by the siting of a large burger van next to the shower block - a new addition and in my opinion one which was neither welcome or indeed needed.
Gritting our teeth we all decided to make the most of a fairly bad situation. By Sunday afternoon the rain was incessant and all of us were practically skating around the Long Stretch. But two gazebos, a large tarpaulin and a couple of wallpaper paste tables covered in Scooby Doo plastic table cloths ensured we all had a communal area for eating and drinking under and we tried our best to enjoy our last night and celebrate young Jack's 10th birthday at the same time.
We all collased into bed shortly before midnight. And then the revving started. For some unexplicable reason a large lorry appeared to have arrived to remove what we thought was a caravan from the site - at midnight! The revving and banging continued for several hours as the lorry proceeded to get stuck in the mud.
We all finally got to sleep around 3am. Only to be rudely awaken again by two very large crashes a short time later. Large branches had fallen from the trees surrounding the Long Stretch, narrowly missing our tent (dread to think what would have happened if they had!) but instead landing on our car.
Packing up in a mud bath the next day was possibly the lowest point of all. And then my 10 year old came off his bike hurting his knee. He'd already done a spectacular vomit in the middle of the previous night meaning that on top of everything else I'd had to try and clear up oceans of sick with the small remains of a pack of baby wipes.
Now normally I claim to love camping. And indeed I do. But this experience has to be the worst ever and if it had just been down to poor weather I could have accepted that. But right now I feel I never want to camp again. Certainly all of us agreed that our days of visiting Newhaven Camping and Caravan Park are well and truly over..
We can only imagine that, as he looks forward to retirement, the owner has made a very bad error of judgment in employing the people he has to manage his site. It's such a terrible shame. It has been and could still be a lovely place. But with the attitudes of 'management' currently on display and the arrival of the burger van we fear it will be downhill all the way.