Garlieston Club Campsite
Log in to write a review
Lovely Garlieston
IBAH2483
Reviewed on 16/08/2019 09:52
Beaches, bays and bookshops
We arrived at the Garlieston site in beautiful sunshine; the sea was bright blue and the site and village couldn’t have looked prettier. Our pitch was not directly at the harbour’s edge but we could still catch glimpses of the water and boats from our van and awning.
This was our first trip to Galloway and we made the journey so that we could visit Wigtown (Scotland’s Book Town), which is just a few miles north of Garlieston. We spent a full day browsing the many bookshops in the town. Most of the bookshops sell second-hand books but some also have new stock. Our dog was welcome in a number of the shops and cafes which made our visit so much easier. Also nearby is Kircudbright, which has been designated an “Artists’ Town” with many art and craft galleries to visit.
On another day we enjoyed a trip to the Isle of Whithorn where we visited the harbour, the tower and the ruins of St Ninian’s chapel. Then we moved further along the coast to St Ninian’s cave. The half-hour walk from the car park to the cave takes you through a wooded valley to a pebbled beach where the cave is found in the cliffs overlooking the bay. We were glad we’d followed the advice we’d found online to wear stout footwear – the path is muddy through the woods and the beach is rocky with large pebbles.
We took a trip west towards Stranraer to visit Castle Kennedy Gardens. We explored the large gardens following the waymarked trails. Afterwards we visited Portpatrick on the west coast of the Rhinns of Galloway. It has an attractive harbour, beach and rocky cliffs from which you can look across to Northern Ireland.
During our stay, we took a number of walks from the site along the edge of the bay round to Galloway House Gardens and also in the opposite direction past Garlieston beach and north around the bay. Our dog loved running on the beach at low tide.
We will come back to Garlieston because there is plenty more to do in the area that we didn’t have time for this time, particularly exploring north into the Galloway Forest Park.
Beautiful people
brown25
Reviewed on 13/08/2019 09:31
A little gem
Luxi
Reviewed on 12/08/2019 16:55
Great site and staff
MrMelrose
Reviewed on 11/08/2019 14:15
wee Bonnies.
JIMMY DRINNAN
Reviewed on 11/08/2019 12:29
Beautiful site but beware of arriving 2 minutes ea
Beware - don't arrive at 11.58 or you will have a very frosty, unfriendly and brusque reception from the warden! Not what you need at the start of your holiday. Otherwise the site is very beautiful and peaceful. Fantastic scenery and good location for visiting Wigtown and Isle of Whithorn. Buses run regularly from just outside the site if you are a motorhomer. Lovely stay despite the frosty reception on arrival!
Comment from the Club:
Many thanks for your review and we are delighted you found the site beautiful and peaceful. Please be assured our site staff always do their utmost to welcome guests on the site and help members have a wonderful holiday. As you can see from other reviews from members they always try to be friendly and helpful. However, they are responsible in ensuring that arrivals are not earlier than 12 noon, if any early arrivals pull up in the wrong areas, this can sometimes block access for members already onsite, coming and going and block entry roads. We also consider that other members, waiting nearby for the 12 noon check-in time it would see it as unfair to let another member book in earlier. We have had complaints from members staying at Club Sites who have specifically waited until 12 noon only to find that the best pitches have been taken by earlier arrivals and as such, the site staff at Garlieston do their utmost to be fair to all.