UKC

Wanting to take my five year old camping in the Lake District this summer holiday for a couple nights. Looked at the National Trust one at Langdale... only have medium pitches the nights we need. £58 for two nights!? Is that the going rate? I've been too spoilt by going to Gwern Gof Uchaf every year and paying £8-10 or whatever it is.

I don't know if I can physically hand over £58 for two nights camping. 

Can anyone recommend any other nice campsites you'd take a five year old to (i.e. not full of rowdy groups)? I don't care about fancy facilities. Ideally looking at that side of the Lakes near Ambleside ish but wouldn't mind going half an hour or so around there.

Bonus points if they're flat!

Many thanks for any suggestions! 

In reply to elliot.baker:

I've never understood why the NT one has quotas of sizes of pitch online because there are no physical pitches, just a couple of big fields.  It's a slightly weird business model.

It would make more sense just to charge per person and maybe (to encourage public transport use) per vehicle on top.

In reply to elliot.baker:

That one is a well known rip off, but equally don't expect to find somewhere that's 8 quid for a field with a minging cesspit in the corner. Doesn't work like that in the lakes.

Also, Ambleside? In the school holidays? Rather you than me.

In reply to Longsufferingropeholder:

If you're willing to go the other side of the hills i.e. to Wasdale there's a fairly basic campsite by one of the pubs which could be worth a look.

https://www.wasdale.com/10.html

That's basically Gwern Gof Uchaf but in the Lakes.  Long drive to Ambleside though (albeit over the spectacular pass!)

In reply to elliot.baker:

Gwern Gof Uchaf would be £30 for you and your 5 yo for two nights. Landale would be £58, but one could have a family of 5 (2 adults, three kids) on that pitch, which would cost £70 at Gwern Gof Uchaf.

It's not cheap, but not a rip off either imho. You want a small pitch it it's just the two of you (@£42 for two nights)

In reply to elliot.baker:

Thanks all, helpful. I'm less interested in Ambleside itself it's just I want to take my son up that waterfall walk which is right there by the campsite. I will have an investigate!

In reply to galpinos:

Trouble as he says is that they have a weird booking system that has quotas of each pitch size despite there being no actual physical pitches.

Could be worth a phone call, they may take a "small pitch" booking manually.

In reply to elliot.baker:

Side Farm at Patterdale might be worth checking out? It's basic so can't think it will be top dollar. Haven't camped there but used to call in to their tea room after walks.

In reply to Lankyman:

Thanks - I have stayed at that one myself but I found it a (A) little bit slopey, and (B) someone arrived really late and was noisy, and (C) IIRC the track you drive down was basically a 4x4 test-route and I'm a bit fretful about my car generally atm!! 

Other than those things it was nice and secluded and had a nice view etc.

In reply to elliot.baker:

2 miles up the valley at Chapel Stile https://baysbrownfarmcampsite.co.uk/booking.html

In reply to elliot.baker:

Ah yes, the curse of the selfish @rsehole. It's why I prefer to avoid paid campsites now. Too stressful waiting for them to show up!

In reply to galpinos:

True, true, true... what you're pointing out here is more that I've neglected to remember that kids cost money!! 😂 

Not only am I used to GGU prices but also used to only paying for myself!

I hear they only get more expensive as they get older as well

In reply to elliot.baker:

They do! Everything feels expensive when you've got to pay for it four times! Wimlands' shout is a good one though:

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/destinations/lake_district_family_campsit...

Lovely site and cheaper/more flexible.

In reply to elliot.baker:

This isn't answering your question at all, but I would suggest  for another trip in the summer holidays that you look at Shropshire (pretty, quiet, well served by facilities) instead of the Lakes. Go to the Lakes in Winter or termtime. 

In reply to elliot.baker:

Chapel House farm in Borrowdale is family friendly and sensibly priced. Loads of great walks from the site 

https://chapelhousefarmcampsite.co.uk/index.php

In reply to Alex@home:

I'd back that. Flat pitches. Nice owners. A good pub and cafe not so far away in Rosthwaite and another good pub in Stonethwaite and Galleny Force waterfall is ~2k walking distance up Wiilygrass Gill. I seem to remember some policy around late arrivals at the campsite as well.

In reply to elliot.baker:

Check out Tarn foot near loughrigg, years since I have been, but Google suggests it's still there and basic.

Old school camping.

NT Langdale is expensive IMHO.

Base whatever farther down the valley is okay, but full of groups and you chose  near the bogs and the midgey area or near the pub and looong walk to the bogs.

Also, do not forget, buses only cost £2 per journey, you could travel up the valley that way from tarn foot.

The campsite, I would recommend though is Turners Hall in the Duddon valley, the best campsite in the sweetest Valley in the Lakes, and a lovely place to take a 5 year old camping. Long way from Ambleside though.

In reply to elliot.baker:

A friend and I were coming down from Scotland after the weather looked to be turning and were trying to find somewhere reasonable to stay in the lakes for a quick hit the next day. We ended up staying in the Premier Inn in Carlisle for a fraction of the cost of the camping on option.

The campsite at Turner Hall Farm in the Duddon Valley, but you would need to ring, looks like a change of ownership.

Great fairly flat site with stunning views, and the Duddon never gets that crowded.

In reply to Offwidth:

If you mean the Scafell/Riverside bar that's closed down for the forseeable future.  A huge shame as I loved eating in the bar after a good day out in the hills then staggering back to the campsite trying not to be rowdy. 

In reply to graeme jackson:

Yes a real shame. A new/old one has opened up in Seatoller. Not tried it yet. The one in Stonethwaite isn't one for pints and staggering....its a foodie one!

In reply to Godwin:

Just phoned Turners Hall as I fancy going myself.

Just turn up and pitc.

☆£10 per adult

£5 per child I think he said

£2 per tent

£2 per car

IIRC showers are by a coin.

So, though it is a great  campsite in a great location, the NT in this context, seem reasonable 

In reply to elliot.baker:

One not mentioned so far is Setmabanning Farm, at the N end of St John's in the Vale. Proper farm campsite.  Our springer especially "admired " all the free range chickens.

Great location close to Keswick with swimming options available nearby. Prices are not too bad for the Lakes.

In reply to elliot.baker:

Crikey! Looks like I'll be avoiding the Lakes proper!

Out the back of Skiddaw, the (very) basic campsite at Hesket Newmarket is £5pppn, no additional charges for tent, number of tentpegs, car, dog etc.

Up the road in Caldbeck, the posh site with big pitches with picnic table, spotless toilets and free hot showers is £8pppn and no extra charges. Cracking pub in Caldbeck as well.

In reply to elliot.baker:

Another vote for Baysbrown in Langdale - but still £25 a night for 2 of you (not sure if there's a child discount). 

Bear in mind that the NT campsite will avoid massive parking charges which will add to your bill if you move further away from your objective. 

I think we just all have to accept that camping fees have shot up in recent years. Electricity, red tape, post covid hygiene costs, bad weather all ramped up costs for the owners I guess.

I don't think they're suddenly coining it in. 

In reply to elliot.baker:

Try Hollows Farm or one of the other Borrowdale campsites and take your son up Sour Milk Ghyll instead, with paddling at the top in the gill. £30 for 2 nights, from a glance. Other days for 5 year old: Castle Crag, the  Bonsai mountain, a stroll along the river from Grange to Stonethwaite, a stroll down Langstrath, paddling along the way.

In reply to Babika:

It doesn't seem to be the money spinner we all might think. Different area I appreciate,  but down in SW visitor numbers generally are well down and a few campsites we have used previously have disappeared. 

Supply and demand in the Lakes like everywhere and if the numbers do drop then so will prices....at least for a while.

In reply to PaulJepson:

What a smashing idea, a night in a Premier Inn in Carlisle, just the thing to inspire a five year old with a love of the outdoors.
Seriously though, just how cheap did you get a room for, thats a fraction of a camping option, a room for maybe £14? 

Went to Hollows Farm a couple of months ago - nice place with a (low grade, bolted anchor trad) crag, some nice walks (including Castle Crag), river and cafe all very nearby. Would be utterly fabulous for a 5yo - lots of paddling (bring shoes - the stones are VERY tough on the feet), hillocks to play on, and loads of rope swings that were covered in children when we were there. Nb there are two fields and one is a distance from the loos; say you've got a kid and want the tent-only field. Nb it definitely requires Smidge (I don't recall often experiencing that in the Lakes) and was unfortunately quite loud (with families) when I was there, but I assume we just got unlucky that weekend.

I agree that camping in the Lakes increasingly feels like an assault on Everest; campsites seem to get booked up madly early (I get that with cottages but - a space in a field??) and they never feel like a good deal if you're in a party that isn't all in one large tent - or indeed if you're one person. The model seems to assume you've got a family of 5 in a tent larger than my living room, but no, heaven forbid you should have a couple of small 3-mans right next to each other with a smaller total footprint... Plus a surprising number of sites now seem to require you to arrive for about 8pm; coming from Sheffield and actually working Friday afternoons makes that pretty difficult some days (I sense I'm often competing with people who left Manchester and Liverpool at 2pm...).

Anyway. Raging into the wind done for now. 

In reply to Queen of the Traverse:

Good points, it's not just prices it's also all the additional friction that has crept up on us, including the cycle touring killer, two night minima.

Threads like this are valuable, as it cuts down the legwork needed to find an affordable site. Thanks everybody.

In reply to Fat Bumbly 2.0:

When you get into the North East of England and head into Scotland, many Campsites do not accept tents, WTF.

The only App, I have ever paid for is Archies, and it is brilliant at finding campsites

In reply to Godwin:

Yes: camping has been replaced by the retiree motorhome and trad-spouse vanlife brigade, transforming every layby and field into some sort of nauseating upper-middle class domesticity. Watching them set up their stupid little camping chairs and awnings and 4-hob stoves and lanterns and firepits and pizza ovens, before brushing down their 3 huskies, makes me despair at the decadence of our society, in which some people have more mod-con comforts in their £20,000 holiday home than many people have in their homes, where high energy prices and a 2-child benefit cap mean children are hungrier and colder than some people's pampered pets.

In reply to C Rettiw:

Calm down and wipe the spittle off your screen! Labour are in control now and are about to install giant treadmills in every layby where stupid fat middle class retirees will be forced to run round generating green energy. Pampered pets will also be forcibly re-educated.

In reply to C Rettiw:

Eloquently put ex-youth.
Though I doubt £20,000 would buy many of the "vans" you see. It is interesting how they term them vans, attempting to conflate them with the vans of the working class they feign to be, and despise at the same time.
One of the grimmest sights/sites is when they congregate at Grasmere and form a  smug Favela of Plastic boxes and deluxe camping chairs.

Give us a shout if free, you are even more cynical than me.

In reply to Lankyman:

We can only hope. But, I'm not sure Sir Kid Starver is really committed to the green retiree treadmill energy revolution that we desperately need.

In reply to C Rettiw:

That's the sort of quality rant that's been missing from UKC for a while - Chapeau!

In reply to C Rettiw:

The vans you're thinking about are 100k plus, not 20k.

In reply to Godwin:

(tent free campsites)

I saw that in Byrness yesterday. On the Pennine Way as well (does anyone still do that?). Admittedly out of Bellingham, I pushed on up to Chew Green when I did it. There were a few services there then, almost nothing now. Hostel gone, filling station gone, shop gone etc....

In reply to Godwin:

Ugh. I remember camping in Weymouth once as going down to Portland by train. Could only get in a Butlins type site. They very nearly turned us away because it wasn't 'safe' for us to pitch our tents in the dark... it would have been a long walk back to London!! 

In reply to elliot.baker:

Just a thought, perhaps you already are?

Join  a climbing club which has huts in the Lake and elsewhere.

I’m in a club which has a hut 15 mins walk from the ODG. £35 club membership for the year and £6 a night ( £3  for kids ) You can camp in the hut grounds but still use all the amenities of the hut.

Albert