# Barge Inn Pewsey - probably best avoided!



## pandalf (Oct 29, 2006)

Members have entered glowing reports on the Barge Inn, located near Pewsey in Wiltshire. But the place has recently changed hands, so some may be interested in the experience we had at the site this past weekend.

If you are 20 years old and into shouting, drinking and smoking weed all night, or if you are a 60 year old druid determined not to grow up, this is now the place for you. For the rest of us, this place is Hell on earth. But let's go through the plus points - there are a few. The location is great, right on the canal with a chalk white horse in the near distance. The camp site is a decent size, fairly level and looks well drained. And the toilet block, while a portakabin affair, is reasonably clean. When you arrive, you see three decrepit, self-build motorhomes, that look semi-permanent. They are populated by equally decrepit ageing hippie types who self-police the campsite. They take your money - £7.50 per person per night - and leave you to yourself. They did warn us that there would be music that night until about midnight, which was fine. We were accompanied by our son and his girlfriend, who are both Reading Festival veterans. Things started to go wrong only about 9PM, when the "music" turned into a full rave with laser light show that went on well past midnight. Then the main music stopped, and various groups continued shouting, drinking, puking and running around the entire night long. Around 1PM a tent was pitched right next to us for the purposes of weed smoking, and it was packed with people getting high before being dismantled in the early morning. 

Maybe we were unlucky, but it disappointed us that nothing at all was done to curb the noise and illegal goings-on. We felt really sorry for regular campers, especially those with children, who had to endure it. Several units just packed up and left through the night, unable to stand any more. There are great pub campsites nearby at the White Swan at Wilcot and the Bruce Arms on the Pewsey-Burbage road, so why take the chance. This has now become a ghastly, uncaring dump to be avoided at all costs.


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## deefordog (Dec 31, 2013)

Could you post the same review on ukcampsite?http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/reviews.asp?revid=6071

Might help others stay clear.


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## pandalf (Oct 29, 2006)

O placed a similar post on UKCampsite and Trip Advisor.


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## pandalf (Oct 29, 2006)

Interestingly, the very similar review has been removed from the Trip Advisor website, with a bullsh*t excuse that my review referred to a different establishment! And the version on UKCampsite has mysteriously never been published. It says a lot for the true impartiality - or lack of it - that the moderators of these websites really have. Trip Advisor is obviously in the pocket of businesses that will threaten if their revenues are in danger. I know my review was extremely inflammatory - in fact, the first time I ever posted a rating of 1 in Trip Advisor in over 100 reviews. But the reality is that we observed at first hand appalling mismanagement and illegal activity at the campsite that was ignored, to the detriment of the many regular campers who were there. I pity the next person who stays at this site based on the carefully engineered Trip Advisor reviews that make it sound like Utopia.


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## 1302 (Apr 4, 2006)

Come on now - stop sitting on the fence  :lol:


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## Kaytutt (Feb 5, 2013)

Uk campsite reviews can take a few days to get posted, I think they get a large volume of reviews. I've posted less than favourable reviews in the past and they've always published them


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## Camdoon (Sep 21, 2012)

Oh to be young again and want to head off to such a site


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