Lovely site, lovely area, very tight access
It's already been said - Borrowdale and the Lakes are the bees knees if you are even a tiny bit outdoorsy. We love the place and for us, this site is in the midst of much of the best of the Lakes. The site is obviously short of amenities but apart from the actual toilet block it has everything you would expect, including friendly and helpful wardens. The site is largely among pine trees and there aren't many open spaces but there is a whole lot of lake and hills and scenery only a few steps away.
The only real minus is the very narrow road access which I think is worth a fuller mention and so this review is mostly about that side of things.
We are in a motorhome and it is hard work driving around here. Buses travel these roads (the 77 and 77a for the Honister/Buttermere/Keswick circular stop right outside the site) and are reasonably frequent up to early evening. Keswick is a hub for more or less the whole of the north Lakes and it happens the 77 served us very well but the buses only get through by giving the trees and bushes an exceptionally good rubbing and one afternoon they just couldn't get through and had to wait for a car to be moved.
We were there for 4 days and found every day that cars would park inconsiderately in the village and also on surrounding passing places on single track stretches of road, particularly from late morning onwards, ie. the times we are usually arriving at the site. It's fair enough that people need access and parking places to enjoy the area but judging by the lack of even vaguely appropriate parking areas, almost zero helpful signage and very few double yellows, it looks like whoever is supposed to manage the roads has pretty much given up on doing anything about the problem. Leaving site wasn't too bad at 9.00 or so in the morning and would probably be OK up to 10 or perhaps little later.
Would we go back? Well, the location is exceptional and although there are other sites in and around Keswick, it is probably worth the arrival hassle. For me though, especially given the local bus services (and the Lake Launch service), I wouldn't readily contemplate using a motorhome between arriving and leaving. Good luck with the parking.
svenno
Reviewed on 31/10/2017 20:04
