Shamba Holidays

Note: This review was left while under different management

Everything on this site is good and well planned. All amenities appear new, modern and very well maintained. The amenities are spotlessly clean and benefit throughout from under floor central heating. There is also a wash-up area and launderette complete with iron and board.

There is a small onsite shop and clubhouse, as my visit was at the end of the season the club was only open at the weekends, with beer, larger and cider at £3.00 per pint.

Free view terrestrial TV reception using only my caravans Status aerial was excellent re-tuning discovered 130 channels. Satellite reception with a small dish was also excellent.

Showers and toilets are roomy and first class. They have thought of most things on this site and in some detail. The shower areas have low volume piped music from a local radio station, which keep you informed and updated about local events.

The staff that we met; Anne, David and Terry were friendly and very helpful. It is a child and dog friendly site with a good, safe and fenced play area, containing the usual swings; slides, seesaw, exercise rings, and climbing frames. For the older children the club house contains a large screen TV and games room, complete with pool table and computer games.

The site has an excellent free admission heated 40ft indoor/outdoor swimming pool suitable for children and adults. The shallow end is only about two feet deep and the deep end about five feet deep. Housed within the same enclosure is a separate small paddling pool suitable for very small children and babies.

The pool’s enclosure provides the best of both indoor and outdoor enjoyment as its enclosure is convertible and has the ability to retract the glass exterior walls and roof. Making the pool facility a pleasant environment whatever the time of year and whatever the weather.

The pool is open from 10am until 7pm. The water is very warm and when the enclosure is in the closed position the air temperature inside the enclosure is heated to about 30 degrees. This comes as a pleasant surprise and makes for a very enjoyable environment. There are huge private family changing rooms all equipped with their own shower, toilet and baby facilities. Plastic baskets are provided to enable guests to take their personal belongings with them to the poolside.

In one corner of the site is an access gate which leads to six well maintained fields, which make for excellent dog walks where you can let your pooch of the lead. One of the fields is setup as a football pitch and is complete with a proper goal at each end.

Opposite the entrance is an equestrian center with horse riding and lessons for children from four years old up to adults.

Security is good. No commercial vehicles are allowed on site and the site’s vehicular access is secured by locked gates after 10:30pm until 07:30am.

A perfect site by our book, we will be returning.

Note: This review was left while under different management

It was a hot sunny weekend and upon arrival at the site it was apparent that everybody had the same idea, to go camping that weekend. Our first reaction was how cramed in everybody was. The very helpful and friendly staff duely showed us to our pitch, right beside the shop and club house, not our idea of ideal. However on enquiring whether there was another pitch available we were kindly shown to an alternate pitch, still very close to all our neighbours but at least further away from afore mentioned. A rather flat
and undivided field with not much appeal was my first reaction. I must praise the clean and modern toilet and shower facilities, however I feel definitely not enough showers for in the height of season, given that more fields are given over to tents in the main summer school holidays. This site I feel is suitable for families of young children and not for those seeking peace and tranquility. The staff are extremely helpful, but prices seem a little steep compared to other sites.

Note: This review was left while under different management

Just got back from shamba, this is our 4th visit and last. The site seems to have been taken over by children on bikes and scooters. Some as young as 4 who have not much control when going in between pitches. Our new car has a scratch on the front wing. We have 3 small children and went to bed approx 9pm. On two occasions the wardens told us to be quiet even though it was just my husband and i talking (Our children were asleep). I think the 6 weeks school holidays were taking their toll.

We would never go back. the good thing is there are plenty of camp sites around that area. My husband and i just bought the tent for my daughter and she would never go back to shamba either.

Note: This review was left while under different management

We booked Shamba for ourselves and 3 friends.
We have a 12 year old son who we had to pay adults price for him,and there was also a daily fee for our dog. This apart we still went ahead and booked. A couple of weeks prior to our holiday our friends rang the site to see if they could possibly cancel the first night as something had cropped up at home, but they were told that it wasn't their policy to refund money, so after managing to sort things out at home they rang back and said that they would be arriving on the Saturday after all.
After a 7 hour journey they went to check in only to be told that as they weren't going to arrive until the Sunday somebody else was on the pitch, despite the fact that even if they weren't going to arrive till Sunday they had already paid for that night.When we arrived and put our van onto the plot next door we saw that it was a tiny pup tent in their place, so they were told they could put their van at the far side so that they didn't have far to move it next day. Well our van is 22ft and theirs is 26ft so you can imagine what it was like for the little tent in the middle.
Once we had got past the initial problems we could then appreciate the first class facilities. The cleanliness is second to none and it's obviuos that alot of money has been invested.
BUT BE WARNED do not even breathe loudly after 11 pm or the very over zealous wardens will be knocking .
It seems such a shame that a beautifully presented site is being spoilt by over zealous management ,yes they are keeping up the standards with regards to the upkeep of the site but they seem to forget that people go on holiday to chill out and unwind not to be told to go to bed at 11pm or else.
We wouldn't go back to this site but we will be back to the area as we had a great time despite the very dodgy weather.
Shamba Holidays, New Forest, Hampshire

Note: This review was left while under different management

I needed to visit Poole in the second week in June 2008, on business and having just bought Camping Cheques for my Gold Card I thought that Shamba near Ringwood would be ideal for my trip, as they are one of the few sites in the UK who accept Camping Cheques. We could give our new Compass Rallye a good run out, so killing two birds with one stone so to speak. When we arrived we entered the reception and the lady behind the counter was speaking to a potential camper on the phone, we were approached by the camp manager who asked if he could help, we explained that we were booked in for five nights and he confirmed that from the computer. He said follow me, and then led us to our assigned pitch, stood on the pitch and guided me to a perfect reverse. The pitch was level and well marked, the electric hookup was coveniently at the back, with water stand pipe within 20 feet. Once set up I returned to the office to make payment. was given the 3 digit code for the keypad entry to the toilets, showers and washroom. They were immaculate and it is understandable why they win awards for their facilities, in fact I have never in 25 years of caravanning been in more pleasant washrooms. The waste disposal are equally impressive, bottle bank for three different colour glass, a container for newspapers and a large container for landfill waste. The wardens wear uniform shirts and blouses with the site logo on the chest and are both helpful and cheerful. The site has a children's play park and there is a large heated swimming pool, a small shop and a bar, The Shamba Club. With glorious sunshine for our stay and very pleasant staff and a lovely well organised site, we were well pleased, and yes the new van was delight too.