We’ve been lucky to have two holidays on the Isle of Wight this year. Earlier in the year we stayed in a lovely Airbnb in Gurnard and we decided to go back to the island for a camping break during the school holidays. A few years ago we camped at Parkdean Resorts Nodes Point and this time we opted for another Park Dean site, Thorness Bay Holiday Park on the north side of the Isle of Wight.

Camping at Parkdean Resorts Thorness Bay Isle of Wight

Can you believe we hadn’t camped since 2019, although both the children have with their Cubs and Scouts groups. We took our lovely Vango Anteus 600 Family Tent. You can take a look at our YouTube video to find out more about it. It’s perfect for us with two bedrooms, a large living area and porch. Since our last camping trip we have a roof box so we were able to take 4 chairs, two tables, two Fatboy Lamzac inflatables, a cooler box, a small stove along with our bedding and cooking utensils.

Why did we choose Thorness Bay Holiday Park? Well mainly because we love that side of the Isle of Wight. We knew the park had some good family-friendly facilities, such as a swimming pool, restaurant, shop, fish and chip shop, children’s play park and evening entertainment. There was also access to the beach. We booked for three nights and our pitch was a short walk from the toilet block and facilities.

We paid for an electric hook up and there were four pitches round each hook up. It took us around an hour to unpack our tent and put everything up. Considering it was the last week of the school holidays the site was quite quiet, not even half full. Thankfully it was a dog-friendly site so we were able to take our pup with us.

The camping site was quite small and we were just a few minutes walk to the toilet block which had showers and a room for washing up. In the other direction was the entertainment complex with bar/restaurant overlooking the children’s playground. There was also a swimming pool, theatre and bar area for evening entertainment, as well as a permanent ice cream cabin, fish and chip shop, launderette and shop (open 8 until 8).

The location was really pretty overlooking Thorness Bay. You could walk down to the beach in a few minutes and we spent a lot of time there. The children also played in the children’s playground but we didn’t have time to try the swimming pool as we weren’t able to book our slot online. We didn’t try the evening entertainment either although the children did spend some of their pocket money in the small arcade.

So what did we think of camping at Parkdean Resorts Thorness Bay Isle of Wight? Well the location was stunning and we loved our evening walks to the beach to watch the sun set. This is such a great part of the Isle of Wight and an easy drive to Cowes, Newport or Yarmouth. The site was well kept and the toilet block was clean. Unfortunately we were unable to book a slot for the swimming pool but there are lots of other things to do at Thorness Bay. We could definitely have stayed for longer!