Overall 
Overall we enjoyed our stay at Raidens Lake, De Karperhoeve, the facility was excellent. the food was good but choice is limited. The fishing was difficult however we where rewarded with a couple of beautiful specimens.
Definitely on our list of lakes worth revisiting.
To Book this lake visit https://www.thecarpspecialist.co.uk/carp-lakes/de-karperhoeve-raidens-lake
Booking
We booked De Karperhoeve, Raidens Lake through the Carp Specialist, the booking was last minute and was simple to complete as it does not require online payment. Once the Carp Specialist confirms your booking via email (approx 24 hours) you are required to make the payment via BACS to their IBAN account, once this was made we received the booking voucher which required printing and taking with us on the day.
Submitting a BACs payment to an IBAN is as simple as carrying out a transfer to a regular UK account however the account number is considerably longer.
Facilities
We arrived at De Karperhoeve at approximately 1330 hours on the 11 September where we were greeted by Timmy who took us through the main building and explained the rules of the site.
The building had a section that was open 24 hours this had a shower room with two showers (communal not enclosed) with a lockable main door, the shower room was not accessible in the evenings. You are required to clean up behind yourself this includes removing the excess water from the floor using the provided equipment. The toilet block was clean and well kept there are two urinals and two cubicles, one allocated to ladies and the other to men.
There is also a communal fridge/freezer and electricity point available 24 hours a day which is covered with a CCTV system.
All lakes had access to a guest WiFi, we did not utilise this so we can not rate the service however coverage was wide.
Tackle Shop
The tackle shop was well stocked with everything you may have forgotten and also much more, the shop was reasonably priced. As the place is family run the shop is open most of the day however if Timmy does pop off site the shop is closed, to ensure you have the stuff you need, buy it in advance and don’t put it off till later because accessing the shop was on our occasion very limited.
Limited access to the store has brought the rating down, however when open the variety stock is exceptional
Food Service
First of all I’d like to caveat this section to say that we did cook for ourselves whilst on site. As fishermen having food cooked and brought to your swim is a big perk and appreciated, however we rated this as 3 star not due to the quality of food or the service but mainly due to the lack of choice.
When conducting research into the site there is a lot of misleading information about a tavern on site, this I believe is due to the past history of the site where the tavern was open all day due to the trout pond.
During our stay we ordered dinner for two nights and breakfast for the Saturday morning.
Hot food was delivered to the swim which was good quality, for people with dietary requirements we would recommend bringing food with you.
The Lake – Raidens Lake
During our stay at Raidens Lake we had booked Swim 1 which sleeps up to 4 persons, but in our experience we would recommend only two persons sleep per cabin, there is plenty of space to put up a large tent/bivvy. The cabin came with a dual socket (EU) with one consumed by lamp recommend bringing a small extension or multi USB charger.
We where able to drive up to the swim and leave the vehicle onsite, this reduced the effort of hauling the kit down to the swim.
In our experience when both swims are booked Swim 2 gets a larger share of the lake, also the Swim 2 cabin was angled better for shade against the sun after midday.
Both swims are relatively close to each other which limits the cast space for the anglers who are on the inner positions. Swim 1 had a reed growth to the front which was cut down, if there are two anglers the reeds made it difficult to land fish especially in the night. Lifting the fish over the reeds is considerably dangerous for the fish and the angler as the reeds where sharp. The only safe areas to land where on the edges which was difficult if fishing with multiple lines and multiple anglers. For the safety of the fish we would recommend that the swim reed growth be removed to prevent accidental damage to the fish whilst landing.
The cleanliness of the swim and the lake was exceptional and well kept, the fish caught where in good condition and full of life.
The ambient noise was quite frustrating due to the busy road about 100 meters away which prevent having the sound of silence. The INEOS chemical storage facility was somewhat distracting as this give of large amounts of artificial lighting preventing complete darkness.
The local wildlife resident around the lake was really pleasant to observe whilst waiting for the fish to bite. (Heron, Cormorant, Kingfisher and an abundance of large dragonfly)
Visits
Weekend – 11-09-2020
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