Name: Finlake Holiday Resort
Address: Chudleigh, Newton Abbot, Devon, Chudleigh, TQ13 0EJ, United Kingdom, Exeter, Exeter, Exeter, TQ13 0EJ, United Kingdom
Rating: 8

Garden

General

Laundry

Services and amenities

Restaurant

Vending machine

Meals

Internet access

Internet

Bike rental

Billiards

Hiking

Ping-Pong

Recreation

Free Parking on Premises

Parking

Swimming pool

Pool and beach

Cycling

Snorkelling

Tennis court

Fitness facilities

Sports

Massage

Sauna

Beauty and wellness

Children's playground

Kids

Pets allowed

Pets

Location

At the resort

Exeter International Airport

Plymouth Airport

Finlake Holiday Resort

Exeter

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

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treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

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with-view

annex

basement

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1-bedroom

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6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

We stayed in a luxury hot tub 4 lodge (after being upgraded). They have a new check in system using an app on your phone which worked really well as no check in. Our lodge was really well positioned (The Fairways). Lovely lodge interior & appeared to be furnished for 6 people not 4. The second bedroom had two sets of bunk beds so could sleep 6. My only slight criticism was the main bedroom was dusty & there are no oven gloves. The overall site was great, really good indoor pool with slides, multi sports court & small cafe/takeaway place. We took the dog & not many places to let off lead but we didn’t mind. Place is quite hilly so we drove to shop/pool at times. Overall a great (3rd) visit to Finlake.

Lovely family break

This is our 3rd holiday to Finlake, with our last visit being 2016 when the new swimming pool was being built. We were excited to go again and experience the new pool, so booked to go this Easter. We have mixed feelings and unfortunately don’t think we will be returning.

First of all, we received an email the morning of arrival with our accommodation address (6 The fairways), downloaded the app for the digital key and parked up by the holiday home…the digital key didn’t work and we couldn’t get in. We went to reception, explained the problem and after checking all our details on the system, they gave us a temporary key card. On driving back to the holiday home, we had a phone call asking us to return to reception as the card they had just given us wouldn’t work either and we needed an actual key.  On return to reception, my husband was given a key, with the explanation that maintenance had been working on the lock all day. He looked at the key and questioned the address (27 The fairways), which was different to the one we had been emailed with and trying to get in to.  The receptionist didn’t understand why. A lady from the office at the back came out to say we had to be moved because there was an issue. The lady on reception seemed surprised and couldn’t understand why all the correspondence has been sent with a different address.   We had been moved from a 2 bed ‘superior’ to a 3 bed ‘superior’. The holiday home itself was spotlessly clean, with a comfy sofa, however, the bedrooms were tiny.  (Which of course they would be, 3 bedrooms fitted into the same size holiday home as 2 bedrooms). Thank goodness for the 3rd bedroom, as we used this to store our cases, but we felt duped by the size of the main bedroom.  I had to side step by the side of the bed every time I got in and out, sit on the bed to open the wardrobe and the bed was so uncomfortable we woke up with an aching back every morning. All the mattresses had huge dips in them and are not fit for purpose.    

The kitchen was clean, but only had 1 shelf in a cupboard to store food, so this resulted in food being out on the work tops in an already small kitchen.  The gas oven and hob worked fine, but every time we reached over to turn on the kettle,  the gas knobs turned on.  The layout is definitely not workable- I had to stand on a chair to get plates, mugs out as it was too high to reach at an angle. 

Other things to note in the ‘superior’ holiday home is the blinds in the kitchen and bathroom were bent, there is no supply of hand soap, half a toilet roll for each toilet was supplied, 2 dishwashers tablets for an entire week, and enough wash liquid for one wash.  We had 2 microwaves and on the first morning could understand why -  food in the fitted microwave was still cold after 2 minutes.

The saving grace of the holiday home was the comfy sofa, the cleanliness and the hot tub  - by the second night it was up to temperature and was lovely to use and look over to the hills.   As said before, this is 3rd holiday here, in the same kind of accommodation, but the standard has definitely gone down.  We only had 3 people and struggled to move around, so I don’t know how 6 people would fit!  Photos on the website show 2 different sizes and standards of bedrooms, so it seems you don’t actually know what you’re getting until you’re in. We were very lucky with our accommodation the first 2 holidays. 

The actual site is lovely. The swimming pool and changing rooms are clean with a good booking system.  The young lad leading sea scooters was excellent as was laser clay pigeon shooting.  The hub serves nice coffee and food in the retreat was ok. However, it’s now more of a burger bar than a restaurant. 

Unfortunately, there are more disadvantages of Finlake and it feels like they have got too big to be able to look after the accommodation. If you pay the for the new, larger lodges, perhaps you get a different experience.

Third time not as good

I waited a few days to post this review, to give the management time to call me (I was informed the supervisor was too busy to talk to me on check out, and that I would receive a call). This hasn't happened, which is disappointing considering our experience here.

We stayed as a family this week at Finlake. This was our first time here, and we stayed in one of the A frame lodges (booked through Hoseasons). My in laws stayed in the downstairs twin bedroom, and my husband and I were upstairs in the double bedroom with two young children in the third upstairs twin room. 

Arriving on Monday 1st, we checked into our lodge. It seemed clean enough, there were some areas of dust and there were some vapes left in the living room table (we do not smoke or vape) but otherwise we were initially happy with the lodge.

On Wednesday evening around 11pm when my father in law went into his bedroom a mouse ran out from under his bed and into the downstairs bathroom. He was very shaken, and upset. 

I tried all the telephone numbers I could find for the park, but there was no answer or an emergency out of hours number to contact. This was incredibly concerning, as for any type of emergency there is no way of letting someone that is working on site know. 

I then found a number for Hoseasons, which was answered by a lady that sounded as concerned as me about there being no one to contact, and she also tried the numbers to the park she had, with no luck. She advised that we go out and look for a security guard, and that if we wanted to leave to let them know as it would be understandable. 

My husband and father in law were able to find a security guard, who reassured them it was a mouse not a rat (as mice are quite common!) He offered to bring a mouse trap, and this was placed in the bathroom. The mouse wasn't there, but there was a large gap in the wall which was the most likely place it went. The guard also confirmed there were mouse droppings in the bathroom. 

He left, giving us his mobile number, and said that he would get someone to check on us in the morning at 8am. 

We were all concerned about staying in the lodge, but with my children asleep upstairs I didn't want to wake and upset them. We ended up sharing the bed with our children while my in laws took the other bed upstairs as they were not comfortable staying downstairs. We had little sleep, and in the morning decided we were not going to stay for another night. 

No one came to our lodge at 8am. When the reception opened around 9am I called to speak to them about what had happened in the night, and the lady apologised and said she would tell someone and ask about getting pest control down to check the lodge.

My father in law and husband also went to find a site worker, and there was a worker talking to the people staying in the lodge below us (number 71). They heard her complaining that she also had to chase out mice from her lodge! They listened to her, then my father in law told them we had the same experience (which they didn't know about).

We packed up all our belongings ready to leave. As my daughter was upset about leaving early we took her swimming before leaving, but heard nothing from the site or anyone working there through the morning. After swimming we went to check the lodge before leaving, and did see a pest control van go to number 71, but still had no one around our lodge. This was just after midday. 

We drove to the reception area, and I went in to speak to them about our experience. I told the lady at reception, and said that we were not comfortable staying another night. She said okay, and that her supervisor was in a meeting but would call us when they were free. 

I wish I had stayed and not left until speaking to the supervisor, but with a 7 and 2 year old in the car we wanted to just get them home as we had a long drive for the rest of the day. I trusted that I would hear from them, at least an apology and offer of compensation for missing out on the rest of the holiday due to this experience, but I had no call throughout the journey home or since. 

I called Hoseasons, and as we had already left they said I needed to email their customer care. I did this in the evening on returning home on Thursday. I am waiting for their response. 

This has been an incredibly disappointing end to our holiday. Our 7 year old daughter cried all the way home, which was upsetting as she didn't want to leave the holiday early. Neither did we, but we didn't want to stay when we all too uncomfortable with having both a mouse in the property and a lack of response from the park itself. I have never experienced this in any of the parks I have stayed in the past, and hope that I won't again in the future. I am posting this review so that hopefully no one else will experience this as well. 

I didn't take many pictures during our stay, but I did of the mouse droppings and trap in the lodge, which I have attached to this review.

Mouse in lodge - no response from management or apology

We have just returned from a lovely week spent at Finlake, we loved it here! We stayed at 9 The tors, we had an amazing view over the park, was lovely on an evening sitting in the hot tub watching the world go by. The facilities at fi lake are great, we didn’t get to use them all but we will definately be back again! We booked one of our children onto many of the activities and she loved them all. She has additional needs and needs things to occupy her mind and this was great. 
We was here celebrating a 40th birthday, we couldn’t have picked a better park! We did the Easter egg hunt with the children, this was good fun even if a little hard at times but it was great to get out and explore the park. 
The holiday home was great, we had a fridge freezer, dishwasher and washer/dryer in the kitchen which definately came in handy! There was plenty of space for us all. A lovely decking area with great views, we felt we had enough privacy when using the hot tub.
The hot tub guy was great he let our 1 year old help hold the hose to fill, the rest of the week our little one kept getting the hose and standing at the top ready to fill again. 
Staff on site were all great and wanted to chat and make sure you was having a good time. 
Our only negatives are, there isn’t much storage space in kitchen, we didn’t have a mop (there was a bucket just no mop) which would have helped as it was a wet muddy week. The gate on the decking is at the bottom of the stairs, where most others was at the top, this wasn’t great with a curious 1 year old who kept trying to climb up and down and a toddler sister who tried to open the gate, plus the dog kept attempting to jump from the decking at the top, luckily not succeeding as it would have hurt him if he did manage it. In the end we had to use chairs to barricade the top of the stairs, If there was a gate on the side near the hot tub this would have made us relax knowing the children/dog couldn’t escape or get hurt playing on the steps. 

There also needs to be more info when booking activities, eg where they will be held.

Lovely relaxing holiday

We stayed at finLake for a week and we had an absolutely outstanding time. It was the best holiday I could ever imagine the food was amazing. The service was amazing. The experience was absolutely divine. However, there was this one chap who was rather small, curly hair, etc… he refused to give us his name and he downright ruined our holiday. Completely ruined just the way he walked around poolside thinking he owned the place absolutely disgusting. He was so rude to my family. I would never go back to Finlake after this guy apart from that, we had a wonderful time

Ruined

I came here 4 years ago and had a lovely time so when it came up on my search while looking at a place to take my husband for his birthday I thought great , sadly this was not the case we walked in to a very average lodge first night was ok but early hours the lodge got very cold and when I went to turn on heating there was a fault so we had to put on the little electric fire for the rest of the night but had no hot water to wash or cook etc I spent nearly an hour   trying to get through to reception the next morning only to be cut off and have to start all over again 45 mins later they said they would send someone out , an hour later 2 men walked in to the lodge without knocking I had two teenage girls half dressed who were very embarrassed 
The two men did what they had to do and left without saying anything so we had no idea this could happen again in 3 days this happened a total of 8 times 
When going to cook breakfast when I opened the cupboard to get out the frying pan I found someone had cooked there breakfast already I found old bacon and bits of fried eggs 🤮
I did not leave the lodge for the 3 days so I know that in this time not once did anyone come to check on our hot tub or test it 
Just can’t explain how bad this place was ruined my partners birthday couldn’t cook him a birthday dinner or breakfast as we were waiting so long for reception to answer and send someone to fix the heating etc 
So don’t go here we spent a lot of money and wish we would of stayed at home

Terrible place

Disappointing birthday weekend away. We stayed at 5 View. On arrival had trouble using the app to enter lodge. Family opposite spoke to us telling us  no heating and no internet at there’s. So unpacked and tried finding thermostat for heating as freezing cold. Only able to adjust radiator thermostat and this made no difference at all. Switched fire on ti boost temperature and fire started vibrating and cutting out. Went to shut kitchen blind and was a black slatted metal type blind and was horrified to see paint coming off lots of places looked awful. Next day Saturday went to reception and asked them to get someone out to heating. I was assured someone would come and would leave a calling card. No card left but knew someone had been in although bi change. Was so cold had the 2 single duvets on  top of our double duvet to keep warm. Next day did lots of cooking si cooker warmed lodge up but then cold again at night. So bad we left in the early hours of the morning. Ruined my birthday weekend away. Stayed twice previously had no problems but this time absolutely terrible.

Rachel

Have not visited this site before and I was a little anxious after reading some reviews, but I was pleasantly surprised and would definitely return. We stayed with two children and a small dog and had a hot tub. Everything was easy from start to finish, lodge was clean and presentable, staff were friendly and went above and beyond (the girls in the hub are an asset to the site!) the food was delicious, pool was great. We stayed in 37 Lakeside.

Great weekend stay

We have just come back from a very enjoyable second stay here. The lodge is well situated close to Finlake falls. Very clean and the hosts have thought of everything from entertainment for the children to the comprehensive selection of gadgets in the kitchen. Thank you Eleanor!

Willow Lodge- Finlake

We just came back from a long weekend at Finlake Resort, staying at Foxes Walk 29 (Foxes Leap Finlake) which is a privately let lodge marketed exclusively via Devon Holidays Finlake. The booking experience was seamless, and they kept in touch throughout our break, offering fantastic onsite and local suggestions.
The resort was awesome. Reading some of the poor reviews here, we needed to figure out what to expect; however, this meant we were amazed and pleased with every aspect of our stay. 
The lodge looked and felt clean and could not be faulted. The rooms were just the right size, and it had a great living room, nice sized TV and the added extra of a Playstation 4 and games. The kitchen was well-equipped for our stay.  The resort was also clean and well-kept. All the grass areas, as were the public areas such as the pool, spa, hub and Retreat restaurant, were kept neat and tidy. The staff in the Hub, Spa, Retreat and Pool were really friendly. However, the main reception staff were grumpy as if they wanted to be elsewhere. Luckily we only needed to go there once for a map, and we utilised Devon Holidays' personable approach for all other suggestions and help.
I feel for those with the one-star experience, as we found booking one of the private lodges via Devon Holidays Finlake to be second to none. We will come back as we love the resort and the properties and service we got.  Thank you to Finlake for having such a fabulous resort and for the work and effort your teams must go to for it to look so good; the same kudos for Devon Holidays, who were on hand morning, noon, or noon night to answer our questions and give great suggestions.

Finlake Holiday Resort

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