Great as stopover and longer stay if you have a car
I stayed here for one night only and it happened to coincide with the site’s 50th anniversary – to the day evidently. The staff did marvellously with afternoon festivities including a lovely celebration cake, champagne and other drinks, tombola and other games and a bric-a-brac stall as well as some wise words from a lovely lady caravanner from the very early days. A tidy sum of over £660 was raised, presumably for some good cause though I know not what. Really good to see and witness.
The site itself is wonderfully rural and very well laid out in a non-regimented way. As per, high trees surround the site so do not expect views. One part of the site is quite open and most of the rest amongst or under trees. On arrival choice of pitch was limited but I took a spot in the open section – much more to my personal taste, but, too late, I came to realise the entrance to the dog walk was behind with the consequence of a regular stream of passing dog walkers - a few of whom thought it was OK to use my pitch as a thoroughfare, but this could happen anywhere (and often does).
As a motorhomer, who prefers to stay put once pitched, this is not a site I would stay at for long as it is isolated, with no public transport nearby. Armathwaite station, on the wonderful Settle to Carlisle line, is about 4 miles; I did manage to cycle there, but this was too much of a challenge for me, hill wise, to adopt for a day’s outing to Settle or elsewhere. Afterwards I worked out a longer route with fewer gradients that might work instead. Fitter folk may have no issue with a hilly 4 miles. For those with a car, not concerned about the lack of facilities, which I have come to see more of an advantage than anything, I would see this place as ideal.
It is easy to misinterpret the carefully chosen language on the web site description of Engelthwaite Hall and assume that the Settle to Carlisle railway runs close enough to the site to view the trains therefrom. This is not the case at all although the track can be reached in about a third of a mile walk. There is no “bus within one mile icon” on the web site; however, under transport links, it states: “Buses go to Carlisle and Dalston”. Again this is highly misleading; the nearest bus that I could work out was over 2.5 miles away – not that I relied on this as I did my research before I went.
The site is beautifully kept, ideal for a stopover due to its proximity to the M6, and really one of the most attractive sites I have visited.
Graydjames
Reviewed on 30/06/2019 16:45
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