Review: Orchards Holiday Park on the Isle of Wight - Rural park with two pools

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​Orchards Isle of Wight

We enjoyed the rural setting of the Orchards Holiday Park

The Orchards Holiday Park is often one of the highest rated caravan sites on the Isle of Wight with customers. It gets an average of about 90% on review sites, while big chains achieve more like 75% to 80%. 

We wanted to see it for ourselves, so we paid it a visit in the autumn. 

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First impressions and location of Orchards Holiday Park

The Orchards Holiday Park can be found in the West Wight, a couple of miles inland. We found ourselves weaving around through country lanes as we made our way towards the site. 

We were lucky enough to have good weather during our visit. Of course, the Isle of Wight does have slightly better weather than the rest of the UK, but that's certainly not guaranteed in October.

As we arrived, we were greeted by a complex of buildings, which includes a takeaway for visitors as well as a shop and reception. I like to notice the little details, so I was pleased to see hanging baskets and could immediately tell this was a well-looked after site. 

The entrance to Orchards Holiday Park

These buildings include a takeaway and shop

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Accommodation at Orchards Holiday Park 

Off to the right of the Orchards Holiday Park we found a very smart looking row of accommodation, with caravans on the left hand side and larger lodges on the right hand side. These were on a gentle slope, as is most of the site, which means that you get a good view of the rolling green space that surrounds the site.

These newer caravans caught our eye

The caravans face these rather lovely lodges

Closer to the reception are more caravans, most of which I would say are 12 ft or 14 ft wide. These are surrounded by some nice mature trees, which add a bit of character and soften the landscape of the site. 

These smaller caravans can be found nearer to reception

As we explored further, we found the camping field. We were visiting outside of peak season so there weren't campers and tourers. However, we could see it's a large site with lovely views over the West Wight. You don't get a sea view but it's still a scenic outlook and the beach is only a short drive away. The land has been landscaped so that the pitches are nice and flat. There is plenty of hardstanding so you won't be struggling if you get a bit of rain. 

These caravans overlook the camping and touring area

There is plenty of hardstanding on the camping and touring area

There are views of the rolling hills from the touring area

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Facilities at Orchards Holiday Park

Perhaps the most impressive thing about the Orchards is that it has indoor and outdoor swimming pools. Lots of these independently run parks don't have either but having both is a real bonus. 

Both of the pools are quite straightforward, rather than resorts with lots of flumes and slides. They both looked very appealing, even though it was towards the end of the season. There is plenty of seating around the indoor pool and I can imagine that the outdoor pool would be very nice on a warmer week in summer! 

There are some other nice additions to the park including a games room and two playgrounds. 

The indoor pool at Orchards Holiday Park

The games room is a nice addition

We visited in autumn, so the outdoor pool wasn't in use

Visitors can use this shop at Orchards Holiday Park

There are a couple of playgrounds at Orchards Holiday Park

We got a slightly better picture of the second playground!

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Final thoughts on the Orchards Holiday Park

I often feel that it is very difficult for independent parks to compete with big name resorts. Most of the time independent parks tend to just provide accommodation and perhaps a small clubhouse or bar. However, we were really impressed that the Orchards offers quite a lot more than that. The two swimming pools are a real bonus and money has clearly been invested in lots of accommodation recently. 

The setting is lovely and whilst you don't get a sea view, you're only a short drive of about 10 minutes from some of the best beaches on the Isle of Wight. 

All in all we were very impressed and can see why the Orchards get such positive reviews from customers.