Ham Hideaway Glamping - Sandwich

Adam G.

Stayed here August bank holiday, found it a really nice small site, tents were very nice and beds comfortable with heaters. Showers and toilets were clean and lots of hot water for a family of five. Gave it 4 stars as despite it being the height of summer the bar wasn’t open and hot tub was not available- which was a bit of a shame. Not sure why such negative reviews.

One additional point for the owners, I think it would be nice if the shrubs could be filled in to clear the gap where the road is.

All in all a very nice 2 nights away with the family and dog.

Annabelle

Avoid at all costs! Ham Hideaway is a huge disappointment. Here are just a few issues we encountered:

- Upon arrival, bin bags, laundry bags, and general cleaning equipment was littered around the site. We had to tidy this up before the rest of our party arrived.
- No welcome drinks.
- No cocktail-making class (which was an extra £1800!)
- The "arrival" afternoon tea hamper was very delayed as staff were not aware of our booking, despite booking 8 months in advance.
- Cold dinner with missing condiments. Chipped glassware.
- No butler or private chef - dietary requirements were not met!
- Numerous comments from staff explaining they shouldn't be catering to us due to a wedding at The Blazing Donkey (also run by Richard Martin)
- Damaged and torn tents leading to a cold and unpleasant night.
- No hot water. A true CAMPING experience, I suppose. Nothing comfortable or luxurious about it.
- Meat left outside overnight. Very unpleasant to wake up to, poses a serious health and safety risk!

Richard (owner/manager) promised a partial refund verbally and via email but has since refused to honour it. Worth noting that The Blazing Donkey has similar reviews and that Richard Martin has several ongoing court cases against him.

Fortunately, we were able to get food and drink off site, and made the best of the situation we were in, but this is really quite unacceptable. Please avoid.

SB C.

We had the most wonderful weekend here for our daughter’s birthday. Booking was easy and straight forward, the owner was really helpful and sorted all the bed configurations for us as we had 2 adults & 5 kids!

The safari tent was spacious and had literally everything you could need! The hut was so cosy and homely. The beds were super comfy, everything was clean and the staff were very friendly and welcoming. All the little touches in the accommodation are so sweet, it’s really had a lot of thought & love put into it.
It really is a peaceful, beautiful & tranquil place to stay. Would love to visit again.

NorthStar773889

I had booked the Ham Hideaway Glamping for my hen do, to celebrate my wedding with my nearest and dearest. Unfortunately I had an extremely disappointing experience and I would highly advise others to steer clear. ||||When we arrived, rubbish and cleaning supplies were left out, giving a poor first impression. I called the owner, Richard, to explain I couldn't access the shepherd huts, only to receive a sarcastic response about needing to fetch the keys myself, due to no welcome or previous contact this was unknown to me. There was no welcome drinks as told on the booking, leaving us to figure things out on our own.||||The staff had no record of our booking and informed us that glamping bookings typically would never happen on wedding days. This made us feel very unwelcome. We then had to wait for half an hour for anyone to assist us as a wedding was in progress. We were also supposed to have an afternoon tea upon arrival, but had to wait an hour. Eventually, we gave up and went to a local shop for drinks and snacks as it was clear we wouldn’t be getting any service soon. Once the afternoon tea did arrive, the food was to a good standard.||||We had booked a cocktail-making session, which was an extra charge on top of the booking, but Richard informed us that the company hadn’t been in touch, so it was cancelled (it's now obvious this was never booked). He promised a refund and supplied us with watered-down cocktail jugs with only two options. When we asked for more, we were told no because the wedding party had them. Now, Richard is refusing to honour the £2k+ refund he had promised verbally and via email.||||Dinner was served cold and seemed to be leftovers from the wedding. Our dietary requirements, which were communicated well in advance, were ignored. When we asked for condiments, we were told there were none left because the wedding had them all. The food was left out overnight and not cleared away, making for an unpleasant sight in the morning.||||The heating in the tents didn’t work, leaving us cold, and there was no hot water for showers. Breakfast was subpar, but we were just relieved to leave.||||The manager of the Blazing Donkey (now known as Ham Gardens) promised that Richard would contact me to resolve the issues and process a refund. Unsurprisingly, I never heard from him and had to reach out myself, only to receive rude, sarcastic emails. When I called Richard, he was rude again and stated I would never get the refund.||||Richard has stolen money from hardworking individuals and ruined what should have been a special occasion. We made the best of a bad situation, but I strongly advise against booking here, or with any of his other businesses (Blazing Donkey, Ham Gardens, Ham Hideaway). A quick Google search of Richard Martin's court cases reveals his poor treatment of employees, giving you an idea of the kind of person he is. I regret trusting him and booking this venue. Don't fall for his lies.||||Avoid this place at all costs, I would hate to see anyone else have their special occasions ruined.

Taylor

Stayed here for a hen do - although it was lovely as all us ladies had each other. The service if you could even call it that was shocking.
Absolutely avoid if they have a wedding on as you'd be forgotten about and told I'm not sure if you can have that as we have a wedding on. We asked for some sauce with our dinner to which we were told I'll see if I can give you some we have a wedding on. Paid to have a cocktail making class which we didn’t receive to which we were told they’d make us the cocktails when we asked for a espresso martini we couldn’t have that as it was used for the wedding. Really couldn’t win either way.
The poor staff weren't even aware of us staying there. Admittedly the place is cute however If only it could be run by someone who knew what they were doing. The price being charged I would say would be worth it if we were receiving a half decent service- if I could give it less than one for this I probably would. Definitely avoid to save the disappointment.

Louisa

SAVE YOUR MONEY AND LOOK ELSEWHERE!
We booked for a large party using all of the huts and tents 8 months in advance. We were promised a private chef for dinner and bottomless drinks, a cocktail making class, welcome drinks, and an afternoon tea.
Firstly, when we arrived they weren’t aware that they had a booking and informed us that the glamping site isn’t available when there are weddings on, which there was on this weekend, so we apparently never should have been able to book. So as they weren’t expecting us, you can imagine the disappointing series of events that followed;
No welcome drinks, last minute scrambled together afternoon tea (this wasn’t too bad), no cocktail making class (instead given 2 small jugs of strawberry daiquiris and told we weren’t able to have other cocktails we suggested ‘due to the wedding’), a cold bbq (which forgot the dietary requirements we gave plenty of notice), no one behind the bar serving drinks or the private chef we were promised. We couldn’t even have condiments with our food as they were being used at the wedding! The facilities have a lot of potential but are lacking basic things I would expect for this price such as a fire pit, heating (that actually works) in the tents, hot water, and outside lighting such as solar or fairy lights, to name a few suggestions. Our tent was freezing and had tears in and inside was full of spiders (you’d expect a quick dust down to at least try to clear them out before arriving).
I felt sorry for the staff as they were trying their best but as the owner didn’t note down the booking and they were already busy with the wedding, although they tried their best, it simply wasn’t good enough and missing almost everything we were promised.
Luckily we made the night as best as we could and went to the local shops to get food and drinks etc and had a really fun night, but had we have been provided what we were promised and what we paid for, it would have been far less stressful and chaotic and we could have just relaxed and enjoyed the night.
The owner left his staff to deal with it and didn’t care to manage the situation himself. He has refused any monies returned and claims we were provided with everything we paid for.

In a nutshell, the service is awful, facilities need a revamp, owner is notorious for these issues and won’t compensate you, and for the price you will ultimately be disappointed.

J3925ERleahl

Despite coming during the coldest time this winter the tents had heating which kept us nice a warm. The hot tub was a perfect addition for our girls weekend and had a beautiful view of the field. ||We ate at the Blazing Donkey and the food was delicious and fresh! Fast service with friendly and welcoming staff! ||Bathrooms and tent was clean, beds were super comfortable. ||Great location!! Sandwich is a beautiful town and only a 20 minute drive to Dover where we spent the day. ||We had an amazing time and will definitely be visiting again in summer!!

Jean D. P.

Absolute rip off of a place. £375 a night for shepherds hut for a family of 4, that’s 4/5 star London hotel prices. Avoid this place.

Service is dismal: 1. We arrived hot tub was not even switched on, 2. Had to ask several times for hot water as no hot water to showers, after eventually being rude this was resolved, 3. A fire pit was promised with the booking which we had to fight to get as allegedly because of insurance issues they couldn’t provide it. Again had to be rude to get this. 4. Glamping Tents were freezing with heating not working. 5. No bins provided in the rooms. 6. Daily cleaning was supposed to be included with fresh cups for tea/coffee, didn’t happen.

On the positive breakfast was good and the kids had a blast, however this can be done at a fraction of the cost at other sites.

It s a wedding venue with Glamping site as a side hustle. Avoid at all costs!