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Be warned at willow farm in Kent


retromlc
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I don't usually do this sort of post but...

About a month ago I went there in a week day to practice, I asked the per clay price and the answer was odd 

"Depends but 36p a clay"

I assumed it might vary if you're a youth or pensioner ,so for me 36p. I had 3 boxes and had a hand full in pocket. There were maybe 6 no bird's,

 She  put the claymate card in the machine and just said £32.

Odd, or very good at math. Tbh I hadn't kept an eye in how many I shot so...

Today I went with the same amount of carts, carefully logged the 6 no bird's so I'd shot 83.

Once again £32 ???

So I worked out it should be £28.90

When I questioned it the response,  to sum up that basically, and without any signs up it looks like the minimum fee regardless is going to be £32 

Being English I normally just pay and walk but not this time

There's no reason for this figure, no signs.no crossover from when you pay less than £32 or when you go over, (I suspect it's when you shoot clays at 36p and exceed £32.

So basically you will be overcharged.

Apparently there's been plenty of comments to the staff who have informed the owner , which is falling in deaf ears

In the current climate I would think you would have a full car park if it was midweek at 30p a clay, the place was empty and unless my mates insist on going there I won't be returning.

 

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Local to me is Mendip Shooting Ground, I have noticed that they often do not allow no birds and you get charged for them, also you have to use their over priced cheap thumpy cartridges. Some I know are ok with them and the comment usually is "they do a nice breakfast" and shy away from commenting on the price of the shooting.

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12 minutes ago, sportsbob said:

Local to me is Mendip Shooting Ground, I have noticed that they often do not allow no birds and you get charged for them, also you have to use their over priced cheap thumpy cartridges. Some I know are ok with them and the comment usually is "they do a nice breakfast" and shy away from commenting on the price of the shooting.

In that case why does anyone use Mendip Shooting Ground?

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24 minutes ago, sportsbob said:

Local to me is Mendip Shooting Ground, I have noticed that they often do not allow no birds and you get charged for them, also you have to use their over priced cheap thumpy cartridges. Some I know are ok with them and the comment usually is "they do a nice breakfast" and shy away from commenting on the price of the shooting.

Didn't think the breaky was up to much, to be honest.

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1 hour ago, sportsbob said:

It may have something to do with several small local shoots being closed due to development and wokeness.

Quite, there's simply nothing nearby to match their facilities. Fry up was ok.

They do 'membership' there which apparently pays for itself quite quickly, but they are less than transparent about their prices.  I'm sticking with my local strawbalers as a result, or Ivythorn if I can get a group of us together.

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19 hours ago, udderlyoffroad said:

They do 'membership' there which apparently pays for itself quite quickly, but they are less than transparent about their prices.  I'm sticking with my local strawbalers as a result, or Ivythorn if I can get a group of us together.

:good:

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Mendip works for me as they have Avalon there, and it's the better ground in the area if I visit family. Their own carts are ok, and they've always removed no birds for me.

Their food was mediocre at best, but I've never had an issue with service per se. Plenty of stands now they've expanded, even if you have to drive down from the club house, and still has skeet and DTL etc I believe for variety? 

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On 14/06/2023 at 16:05, retromlc said:

There's no reason for this figure, no signs.no crossover from when you pay less than £32 or when you go over, (I suspect it's when you shoot clays at 36p and exceed £32.

Is it potentially a 80 bird layout and they allow 10% no birds, so is a fixed cost?

It should be advertised though, that's true!

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On 14/06/2023 at 16:05, retromlc said:

I don't usually do this sort of post but...

About a month ago I went there in a week day to practice, I asked the per clay price and the answer was odd 

"Depends but 36p a clay"

I assumed it might vary if you're a youth or pensioner ,so for me 36p. I had 3 boxes and had a hand full in pocket. There were maybe 6 no bird's,

 She  put the claymate card in the machine and just said £32.

Odd, or very good at math. Tbh I hadn't kept an eye in how many I shot so...

Today I went with the same amount of carts, carefully logged the 6 no bird's so I'd shot 83.

Once again £32 ???

So I worked out it should be £28.90

When I questioned it the response,  to sum up that basically, and without any signs up it looks like the minimum fee regardless is going to be £32 

Being English I normally just pay and walk but not this time

There's no reason for this figure, no signs.no crossover from when you pay less than £32 or when you go over, (I suspect it's when you shoot clays at 36p and exceed £32.

So basically you will be overcharged.

Apparently there's been plenty of comments to the staff who have informed the owner , which is falling in deaf ears

In the current climate I would think you would have a full car park if it was midweek at 30p a clay, the place was empty and unless my mates insist on going there I won't be returning.

 

Thanks for the warning, one to avoid! Though others are as bad, electronic clay mates are a curse, paying these prices you deserve a scorer to button and count no birds!

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On a similar line, we were up at Westlands last Monday ( bloody hot! 🥵) and whilst having the craic in the gunroom, I was asked my opinion on another ground local to me which we thoroughly enjoy. I won’t mention the ground as it’s unfair, but he told me him and a mate had 37 no birds in a round of 100 each. 
Some grounds I know, use ‘pick ups’, and he told me it wasn’t fair to those shooting, to do so.
At Westlands there is a no ‘pick ups’ policy, which I totally agree with due to an unpleasant and potentially very dangerous experience some years ago. 
Mate and me shot 232 birds between us while at Westlands, with just one no bird. 

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I get a similar experience at Barbury and Widdington in my area, both refuse to use pick ups. 

A friend and I shot at Barbury at the weekend, shot close to 500 between us and probably beset part of 8-10 no birds.
Widdington pride themselves on a max of 3% no birds as they really take care of their traps.

37/100 no birds, Scully?! ouch!

Retromic, I think it is good to mention caution on this site! :)

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  • 1 year later...

I ,my friends  shoot willow farm regularly  great shoot,variety of well thought out targets that steadily increase in difficulty.so there are  stands  for all levels of experience, clays prices are pretty standard and on the less expensive side compared with other shoots .  in recent months the grounds have  been upgraded to a high standard , it's clean tidy. Easy accessible  for disabled shooters .there's always very  Few no birds as they don't appear to use pickups. High percentage of Stands are  under cover and it's all very well maintained ,staff are on hand to sort occasional empty traps,which we get most of our " no birds". From .it's also one of the very few shoots that has multiple shooting days every week .with the ever increasing costs of clays ,cartridges and shooting in general who gives a t;#s.  If it costs £2.10 extra as a standard fee to shoot there. !!  

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  • 2 weeks later...

There's at least one ground I know that at certain times allows Scouts to go round picking up. Whatever they pick up they then shoot for free.

Certainly forward thinking in encouraging younger shooters.

 

 

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...

A positive update on this, I used to shoot there regularly, but since my June 23 post I never went back.

I visited last week and when I went to pay I was asked about no birds and they were removed from my 100 clays cost.

When it happened in June 23 I was approached in the car park by a shooting instructor I assumed and he said it's a real problem with many people complaining, it sounds like they have addressed this, 

Well done Willow Farm 

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On 22/06/2024 at 10:46, pairkilled said:

I ,my friends  shoot willow farm regularly  great shoot,variety of well thought out targets that steadily increase in difficulty.so there are  stands  for all levels of experience, clays prices are pretty standard and on the less expensive side compared with other shoots .  in recent months the grounds have  been upgraded to a high standard , it's clean tidy. Easy accessible  for disabled shooters .there's always very  Few no birds as they don't appear to use pickups. High percentage of Stands are  under cover and it's all very well maintained ,staff are on hand to sort occasional empty traps,which we get most of our " no birds". From .it's also one of the very few shoots that has multiple shooting days every week .with the ever increasing costs of clays ,cartridges and shooting in general who gives a t;#s.  If it costs £2.10 extra as a standard fee to shoot there. !!  

As Gordon says below, almost like they wrote it themselves.               :w00t:

On 04/08/2024 at 17:14, Gordon R said:

Whatever happened to pairkilled? After a review that the ground concerned would delighted with - couldn't have been better, if they had written in themselves.

He NEVER came back......................:no:

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