Chapel Lane Caravan Club Site--- Second report below
Chapel Lane
Wythall
Birmingham
West Midlands
B47 6JX

Tel: 01564 826 483

To find site:-
Leave M42 at junction 3 and take A435 towards Birmingham. In about 2kms turn left at roundabout into Middle Lane signed for Headley Heath and Alvechurch. In about 150m turn left into Chapel Lane and just before church turn right and right again. The site is well signed with ’Caravan Site’ signs.

This open all year site has 119 pitches, some of which are seasonal. The is also a storage compound. There is a mixture of hardstanding, gravel and tarmac, as well as grass pitches. The site has two toilet blocks which are up to the usual CC standards. Each electric bollard has a TV connection which is free to use but you must provide your own co-ax cable.
The site accepts non members but not tents.

I found this an interesting site in peaceful surrounds with easy access to Birmingham. The church at the entrance has a massive bell tower which can be seen for some way from the site. Next door is a transport museum. At the junction with the A435 is Beckets Farm Shop and Carvery. The food in the shop looks lovely, however I was a bit disappointed with the Carvery.
This site is very convenient for those attractions to the south of Birmingham. It would make a good stop-over for visitors to the NEC or an overnight stop between Scotland and Dover. Solihull is only a few miles away with its recently opened Touchwood Shopping Centre for the shopaholics amongst you.

Date of visit October 2001

David Klyne. CLIC. October 2001
For images of this site, and other reports, go to Caravantravels

Chapel Lane CC Site
Chapel Lane
Wythall
Birmingham
West Midlands
B47 6JX

Tel: 01564 826 483

Visited Feb 2007

Nicely set out site with very large, mostly hardstanding, pitches. rubbish/watering pint-- site view

Good heated facilities block. (We had a free sauna thrown in when we washed up the dishes due to a rather over-enthusiastic heater in the dish-washing area, which was a bit small and cramped for the size of site - only 2 sinks. With 2 couples in there washing up there was hardly room to move)

Separate disabled facilities room. Also one toilet and one shower in the standard facilities had additional grab rails to assist walking disabled - great idea but somewhat spoilt by the fact they had positioned the loo roll holder in such a way that you couldn’t actually use one of the grab rails in the loo - who designs these things?????

Farm shop and restaurant about 10 mins walk away but be warned the stuff in the farm shop looks lovely and you could find your wallet a few pounds lighter - we came away with half a lamb, 3 pounds of sausages and 4 lumps of cheese! Farm shop has meat, eggs, cheese, bakery, preserves, sweets, fruit and veg.

The restaurant do a carvery Friday & Saturday evenings and Sunday lunchtime. Meat was delicious and good sized portion, veg were OK but portions on the small side although they were happy to give you extra if you asked. In the morning they do a variety of breakfasts, but don’t expect to need lunch if you indulge!!! Lunch time they have sandwiches, jacket potatoes, salads and main meals available.

Bus stop outside site to go to Birmingham (day time only - in the evening you have to walk to/from the farm shop for the nearest bus stop, I believe). Nearest supermarket is apparently 3 miles. I gather there are pubs within reasonable distance but I didn’t investigate that.

Wardens friendly and helpful, quite happy to let us stay until 3pm instead of leaving by noon. Would we go again, yes certainly, if we are heading that way again (and especially if they can lay on weather as good - you don’t expect to be wandering round in t-shirts in Feb!!!)

Myra Sears. CLIC. February 2007

Kingsbury Water Park C & CC Site--- Second report below
Bodymoor Heath Lane
Bodymoor Heath
Sutton Coldfield
West Midlands
B76 0DY

Wardens. Richard & Christine Bedford

Tel 01827 874 101

Ordnance Survey Map 139 GR 202968

Kingsbury Water Park is a C&CC site of 120 pitches that accepts non members.

I have used the site before and we are going there again at the end of August. Facilities are not modern but very adequate.

There is a decent pub that does get busy but does good meals if you want to eat out within walking distance. There’s also plenty of good walking around about the site.

M42 road noise is apparent but I did not find it intrusive, but then I live next to the A3. If you live in a quiet village you may think it noisy though.

Birmingham 15 miles, Tamworth 6 miles.

Tony Wise. CLIC February. 1999

Kingsbury Water Park C & CC Site--- Third report below
Bodymoor Heath Lane
Bodymoor Heath
Sutton Coldfield
West Midlands
B76 0DY

Wardens. Richard & Christine Bedford

Tel 01827 874 101

Ordnance Survey Map 139 GR 202968

Two words sum up this place in my opinion...’Oh dear!’

As I have given this an ’Avoid’ rating (one I hope that I will not be using a lot), below you will find my reason for doing this. But first a run down of the site in general. This is a large site, close to the brilliant Drayton Manor theme park (well worth a visit!)There are toilets, showers, electric hookups for caravans, laundry (rather expensive we thought) and washing up facilities on site. There is even a small shop selling essentials. This coupled with the fact that it is next to an area of wetlands, would you think make it ideal...unfortunately not.

A short list follows of things that we did not like about the site:
1. As we are used to camping throughout the country, we found it rather unsettling when our first meeting with the manager was to order us where we were to park and where we were to pitch the tent. I half expected them to come around when we had finished with a tape measure just to check. For those of you unused to camping, there is a recognized rule called the ’twenty foot rule’, which basicly ensures that if there is a fire, your neighbors will not share your fate. But I found that marking the area out with pegs was taking this rule to the limit!

2. It soon became apparent that this was very much an ’us and them’ site, as I am loath to call them. All of the caravans were directed to one field, whilst all of the tents were directed to another. Yes I’m afraid that even in the camping world there is snobbery and this appeared to be being practiced by the managers of the site.

3. As twilight fell, it became apparent that the field where all the tents were put was also the field just the other side of the hedge from a pool...a pool with a lot of hungry residents, namely Mosquitoes. Thankfully our boys were un-scathed, but I was almost in hospital two days later as I was severely bitten.

4. Before returning home, my wife went to the office (I couldn’t walk due to a badly swollen foot from the bites) to ask them why they did not warn people of the hazards so that they could prepare before coming. The matriarchal woman manager snapped that ’The whole site has mosquitoes and it is an all year round problem’. This in her opinion summed up their views on the site.

5. The shop also ’rented out’ ice packs for your cool box..(although they did not sell anything to repel or cure mosquito bites!!) Before leaving, my wife pleaded with them to sell us one as the hospital had told me to keep one on my foot. She was refused even this and ended up having to buy a bag of frozen peas to try and help with my pain.

6. There is no warning whatsoever of the insect problems on the site, either from the staff or by sign. Whilst I understand that they may not wish to put people off the site, if somebody were to go into anaphylactic shock after one of these bites, they could die.

So to sum up, this site is not recommended for anyone with children, anyone who suffers from allergies or anyone who wishes to have a pain free holiday

Peter & Debbie Dean. CLIC. September 2001

Kingsbury Water Park C & CC Site--- Fourth report below
Bodymoor Heath Lane
Bodymoor Heath
Sutton Coldfield
West Midlands
B76 0DY

Wardens. Clive and Shirley. Note the change of wardens names.

Tel 01827 874 101

Ordnance Survey Map 139 GR 202968

I received an e-mail from Val, after she had read Peter & Debbies report (above), to let us know that there have been some changes at Kingsbury. (Ed)

"Fell over your site by accident.
Info is out of date, different wardens, 1 million pounds worth of investment.
Agree about mosis but avoid June to August or come prepared.
Different Wardens."

Val added.....

We are neighbours to the Kingsbury Water Park Site.

Our businesses are Broomey Croft Childrens Farm www.childrens-farm.com and the Granary tea rooms www.granarytearooms.com

The present wardens are called Clive and Shirley and they seem to keep the revamped site very clean and tidy and certainly they are kept busy with plenty of campers.

The site is now open all year and has modern toilet and washing facilities.

Regards Val Edgcombe
My thanks to Val for keeping us up to date :o) (Ed)

October 2003

Kingsbury Water Park C & C C Site--- Fifth report below
Bodymoor Heath Lane
Sutton Coldfield
West Midlands
B76 0DY

Tel: 01827 874 101

Web site: www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk

Open to non-members

The site is predominately open, with trees and bushes surrounding it. There are a small number of gravel hard standings, but about half of the site comprises grass hard standings, with mesh under the grass. During the winter half of the site is used, as he other part is grass without the reinforcement.
The entrance has a barrier, and you are given the code when you book in. Behind the office is the main facility block, which we were pleased to find was heated. There is a second block which is closed in the winter. (Motorhome service ppoint)
At the end of the site, away from the entrance, is a children’s play area.

There is noise from the M42 audible, but generally it is a steady ‘drone’ at night. The whole site is in good condition, and well run by pleasant Site Managers and assistants.

For anyone who likes fishing this is available in the water park, and a children’s zoo is next to the site.

The Dog & Doublet PH, near the site, serves breakfast from 8am, and we can recommend it. A ‘small’ breakfast (£3.50) comprises egg, 2 rashers of bacon, a sausage, 2 mushrooms, tomato, baked beans, and a slice of toast. The ‘large’ one doubles the first 4 items, and is £4.50. Tea or coffee is extra, and 2 coffees cost £1.20. Everything was freshly cooked. I think that I would like to try an evening meal there on our next visit.

Visited 18th - 20th February 2008

John & Jean Haseltine. CLIC. March 2008

Kingsbury Water Park
Camping & Caravanning Club
Bodymoor HeathLane
Sutton Coldfield
West Midlands
B76 0DY

Tel: 01827 874101

Web site: www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk

We stayed at this site for 3 nights in October. Access is easy from the M42, and is signed from J9.

When we were there the whole site was open, but on the 1st November all the grass pitches are closed for the winter, leaving the hardstandings and reinforced grass pitches for the winter, 75 in all. The second facility block also closes.
The main block, which is open all year, has underfloor heating. Both blocks, and the site overall, were immaculate.

It is easy to walk from the site into the water park which has footpaths and cycleways, and has 13 fishing lakes, 6 of which can be fished if you buy a day ticket. Another 6 need a season ticket. What happens to the 13th I know not! See www.fisheries.co.uk/kingsbury for details.

While here we visited the NEC, an easy journey via the M42and clearly signed from J8. That evening we had a dinner at the Dog & Doublet canalside pub, a short distance from the site. A fairly typical pub menu, but good - and reasonably priced.
The next day we decided to visit Birmingham, and as we returned from the NEC we had seen signs for Coleshill Parkway Station, so we decided to travel by train. Parking was £2, and the return fare was £4.50 each. Certainly simpler than driving into the city parking. The train service is half-hourly.

John & Jean Haseltine. CLIC. October 2009

Somers Wood C&C Park
Somers Road
Meriden
West Midlands
CV7 7PL

Tel: 01676 522 978

E-mail: Somerswoodcpk@aol.com
Web Site: www.somerswood.co.uk/index.html

Details: Mature people only

I would very much like to report on the above site.

Both my wife and I found right from the initial warm welcome we received from the proprietors, the site to be one of the most peaceful and tranquil settings we have ever stayed on.
The beautiful surroundings allowed for total relaxation and rest.

The immaculate toilet facilities (an issue my wife is very particular about) only added to the high standards set.

The site is situated not far from many interesting attractions, and acts as a useful base for the access of these. However should the needs of the visitor be that of a rural setting with a countryside feel, Somerswood is also ideally suited for them.

It goes without saying that many future visits by my wife and I to this site is a certainty.
I would truly recommend this site to all lovers of a peaceful tranquil setting

Kevin & Sheila Spencer. Internet. May 2006

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