Dearne Valley - Doncaster

Milktar21

I went here for NCS Live It! for 5 days during October half-term. What I can say is that this place is alright but is in definite need of refurbishment.

The dorm room I was in (room 10) was fine, only slight staining on my mattress. Although, other people seemed to have filthier mattresses. The shower drain in the bathroom en suite also clogged towards the end of the trip (my roommates suggesting it was clogged by the feces of the previous people there, as well as a pic below of a puddle inside the shower), hinting towards a lack of maintenance of the dormitories. This was especially clear by much the bunk beds creaked when I'd so much as just readjust my sleeping position on the top bunk.

Speaking of bathrooms, the en suite shower was not great, being that you had to hold down on a single hot water button, on top of the shower water getting dangerously hot in my opinion (I feel like people could get burns from it). Interestingly though, no-one else complained about the water temperature so this just be an issue with me. The shower also had no shelf in it to store shampoo or soap bottles, so you had to put them on the floor. If you also spent too long in the bathroom, the lights would turn off, and you might have to get out of the shower to turn them back on again (very annoying) and the sensor is a tad bit difficult to trigger. The taps in the bathroom were also not good, requiring quite a lot of pressure to press down on, resulting in a miniature Jetstream gushing out the taps. There were a couple of times where I managed not to achieve this, but you shouldn't have to worry about excessive water output from the taps in the first place.

The food, however, was actually pretty solid. It was far from perfect, but it was edible and not bland (bar the fish finger sandwich that was just fish fingers stuffed into an undercooked baguette with nothing else inside and bland porridge for breakfast). The downside was that there was always something potato-y or deep fried in all the meals. Hash browns for breakfast, then either chips or something else in lunch and dinner. Thankfully there is a salad bar and some kids were able to ask for other options when they didn't like what was being served.

The staff were also pretty good. The canteen staff were dressing up for Halloween and were very cheerful. The staff members for the activities, whilst not as invested in Halloween, were quite enthusiastic to let us complete the activities, especially the Jacob's ladder staff who wanted us shout "It's not Jacob's ladder, it's my ladder!" (along with different teams having different sayings) before the activity began and if we reached the top of Jacob's ladder.

There was also a ghost hunting activity ran by the place where laminated cut outs of ghosts were scattered around the place. I remember going around with newly formed friend group ghost hunting on the last night of NCS. These ghosts would then be handed into reception and get added up to each of the 6 teams we were grouped into for NCS.

All in all, this place and my experience of it was alright, but could do better. Whilst I'd tell you not worry if you got sent here for NCS Live It!, I would also tell you to be wary of the dorm rooms and the en suite bathrooms (as well as to pick the chicken goujons over that awful fish finger sandwich, you do not get to pick both).

Harry D.

Absolutely appaling in every possible sense.
-Accommodation rooms were dirty, with stains on the matresses. There was mould on the floor and the ceiling of the bathroom, and the shower was essentially just a shower curtain in the corner of the room.
-The food ranged from extremely bland at best to nigh inedible at worst. It managed to taste both burned and raw at the same time. Think of a low quality primary school dinner and that's pretty much what you're getting here. Worse still, there was very limited access to cold drinking water, as the drinks given at mealtimes were lukewarm, as were the taps, forcing you to pay for the overpriced bottled water from the shop, which only opened at specific (and often inconvenient) times of the day.
-The staff's professionalism was extremely poor, acting like immature children at times, especially when they believed we weren't around. Their behaviour towards us was either to treat us (college students) like 8 year olds, or to be very rude and condescending, often being very unhelpful and unsympathetic when we asked for water or help.
-The activities would probably be fine for young children, but for anyone older than 10 they are very tedious, repetitive and often easy, or simply not age appropriate at all. Worse still, you spend far more time waiting in line for activities than actually doing them, and the staff do very little to combat queue jumping.

Overall this was a horrendous experience and I highly recommend avoiding this place if you value your time, money, health or sanity.

Zero X.

Food was mediocre, the activities were fun enough and the rooms were fine, I've been here twice in total and each time, staff have been friendly and helpful

Melissa L.

We had our son's 10th birthday party here and it was absolutely fantastic! The party was great value for money as it included everything you needed from invitations to a birthday cake to party bags. The food provided for the birthday buffet was just delicious too. The staff were knowledgeable & excellent at what they did.

Lucy D.

Never felt so disappointed, tent/room I stayed in was very cold at night causing me to get very ill very quickly! The food was horrible, very poor selection of food, stale and tasted very undercooked or was just burnt. The activities were very boring and the staff not so nice and quite rude(not all staff but quite a lot out of the people I met). The bedding was awfully thin and stains everywhere, the cleanliness of the bathrooms and showers were appalling and half of the facilities were broken. I think it will be an okay place for kids but just not for anyone else. A lot of the group I went with was being sick and very poorly after just two days, many would not eat the food as it made them feel a lot worse. Overall do not recommend!.

Raymond K.

Generally a pleasant activity centre. It boasts of it solar panel roof that makes the building as green as it can be. Accommodation (wath) was somewhat basic - a bunk bed with an old mattress, with a toilet and shower (very hot water non adjustable) that is it! (Do not expect a mirror, a desk or a chair not even hooks for hanging clothes). However, in my opinion some of the facilities are not well maintained. The accommodation (wath) that we stayed in did not have heating nor hot water supply due to broken boiler (surprisingly the management did not know until we reported the incident) - the whole building was without hot water for two nights although they compensated by allowing us to use another building for super hot shower and stuff. Two out of four water taps are not working in the public gents as well as non functional urinals. Beautiful scenery but let down by the poor maintenance. Catering was OKish (not too bad) I will say. Staff were friendly.

Michael S.

Attended for a site visit, prior to leading a secondary school residential.
Steve, the site manager, was extremely friendly & proud of the Dearne Valley site.
Activities & accommodation look fantastic & location is excellent, situated near English Heritages' Conisbrough Castle.
Thoroughly looking forward to bring our students on the residential.

Liesel B.

My two daughters have visited on Separate occasions and both have said the facilities are of a poor standard and not clean. No heating, rooms with no curtains or carpets and urine, faeces and blood stained mattresses. Holes in the ceiling and floor. The toilet seat was cracked and no toilet paper. The sinks were blocked and unable to use. The shower curtain was too short which meant the water flooded the bathroom and the water was freezing cold. The lights weren't working in the rooms and kept flickering. There was wriring on the beds and on the walls. There was a bra left over from the people previous which the cleaners didn't remove from the wall. There was used sanitary towels on the floor left from the previous people. Absolutely disgusting. The food is poor quality, cold and either under cooked or over cooked. I will not be sending my children again. I would give zero stars if it was as possible