I have a large family so we booked the largest Valley Lodge 4 VIP we paid full rate for the lodge as it was mid August when we went. Described in the invoice as "One of Hoseasons carefully selected Lodges and Parks Properties"

We checked in collected the keys and went off to the lodge, what was not made clear was the terrible condition the steps were in to the property and how poorly lit they were, the steps have dropped severely due to subsidence in the land, as a result the steps are at different height and angles very dangerous especially given how poorly lit the area was. The tarmac path is broken up and at multiple angles and without a torch or good foot wear you would easily twist your ankles. The lodge was in a poor state outside and i have posted pictures above and on flickr and if you do a google search they will also come up. The Hot Tub was outside on some poorly maintained decking which was covered in a green algae which made stepping out of the hot tub onto it a dangerous game. This decking has clearly never ever been cleaned. Along with that we had a nice pile of muddy water to look at which as it rained proceeded to fill and create a lovely watering hole that would have made a elephant proud.

Due to a lack of grounds maintenance around the villas and a general lack of maintain ace, water had collected around the villa and had been there for some time and become stagnant, evidence is clear in the photos. In a poor effort to solve this they had built another poorly maintain decking piece outside the front door to the property again covered in a nice hazardous algae ready for you to slip on when wet.

Inside the place initial looked fine, then it hits you the damp smell and in our case damp smell combined with sewage, resolved by a trip back to reception to unblock the drains, (you would have thought this would have been done prior to arrival) however the damp smell didn't appear to go, mould was in ever bedroom in the corners on the floor and in some cases the ceiling as well. This was of huge concern as my daughter suffers from asthma and mould is a known cause of asthma attacks, so i had to leave my daughters window open and her radiator turned down in order to limit further mould growth and to allow the wind to take the mould spores out of the room, as a result i only had to administer her medication twice in 6 nights! The main bathroom smelt of sewers all the time and we had to leave the windows open. I have a photo that may reveal why as it was clear from the outside that there must be a break in the pipe under the lodge.

The balcony is a nice extra on these lodges its just a shame they hadn't cut some of the foliage back and this is turn had made the decking sloppy and dangerous when wet. The view and a daylight were none existent due to the lack of grounds maintenance.

Upstairs the lodge was comfortable with a well fitted kitchen and large table and living area. The toaster had no control knob on it, but had some how passed its PAT testing.

The site in general is set in a nice valley, some poetic license on behalf of Hoseasons and the site operators in how they describe the site. The pool is NOT how its pictured at all, its cold and in need of some TLC, the changing rooms are terrible, smelly and un kept, in fact the ivy is going in through the window in the mens! The shower will burn you if you don't test it first, it goes from super hot to super cold in a random fashion. The picture shows 2 pools and 2 sauna's. Theres only 1 pool and the 1 remaining sauna didn't work. The outside pool is more appealing and well set between the lodges and the main building, however there is only 1 life guard on duty who seems to move between pools.

The kids play area, forget it, its not maintained and the equipment was all piled up in the corner of a damp smelling room which no one appeared to use.

The gym is good, and appeared to be maintained. The main building was good and well maintained and the photos of the bar are accurate, there is also Wifi at the bar area as well, we had one meal at the restaurant and it was nice, but you may do better at some of the local bars and restaurants. The entertainment was good, and kids enjoyed running around and the magician etc was excellent.

You may read this thinking i am moaning about everything, far from it, this is an accurate description of our lodge and the site in general the lodge next to us was worse, and having spoken to the occupants before they left they explained why. They had no access to there lodge due to the poor maintenance of the paths as such they claimed the grass bank and had to go in and out of the lodge via there bedroom, with muddy feet.
You pay a deposit to secure against damages and loss while there, thats fine, but at least ensure that what is supposed to be there is in fact there! We found only a 1/4 of the items listed on the itinerary actual in the lodge!

Don't be duped by some of the comments here, as some of the lodges are privately owned and let out and they are in wonderful condition.

I fell over one night on the slippy decking outside, as the guttering was blocked causing all the rain water to cascade like a waterfall over the main door into the villa, i got very wet and pretty bruised, and i would have had a field day if had chosen to pursue a case of negligence on grounds of health and safety.

Also some of the mangers comments are laughable, the sheets ARE wafer thin, the mattress were in a terrible state, the damp smell is NOT due to towels being dryer or the hot tub, its simply poor maintain ace and poor housekeeping. When you pay such a huge amount of money we don't expect to arrive to complain about obvious blocked drains, and thin bed sheets you run the place and you should make sure they standards are high before people arrive thats what we pay you for.

To sum up :-

Sight in general looks nice, until you open the door to your villa or lodge, then the damp musty smell hits you.

A lack of basic health and safety on pathways and the outside areas of the lodge is evident, and walking around you can see the extends into almost 3/4s of the site, a no win no fee lawyer would love it here.

If you have a breathing condition then you may be best looking at one of the private lodges as these are in far superior condition. If your heavily pregnant don't come to this site.

The views when you get them are fantastic, and the outside pool is nicely set, the bar is nice and the entertainment was good.

I am a seasoned traveller and have stayed in some terrible but cheap places over that time from India, Nepal to Russia. This is the worst kept and most expensive site i have stopped in while on mainland UK.

I hope the people that stayed in the ledge next to us post some comments as they seemed to be worse of than us, but did pay far less for the same lodge for the same number of people and time.

I urge you to take note of what i have written and save yourself some heartache when you turn up and find something completely different to what your were expecting. There is no excuse for the standards that we were faced with and that of our neighbours.

Anyway the post will also go on my website and the photos on flickr.