Recommended campsites in Kendal/ Cumbria?

[welshgirlwannabe]

Hello everyone,
This is my first time mumsnetting (verb?). I have been trawling through old threads looking for information but it's easier to just get out and ask. So...
Can anyone recommend a campsite in/around Kendal area please? There are so many to choose from, I'm getting very indecisive. It will be for 3 nights, me, dp, ds (11) and my mother!

Not that I'm fussy but I like/require:
a great setting/view
some sense of privacy
space
a laid back atmosphere
campfires permitted

don't want or need:
on site activities/ clubs
electricity
amazing facilities (microwave on site feels like cheating!)
lots of caravans!

Am I asking too much? basically, just a nice cheap farmers field type campsite in an amazing location! Thanks for any help, and for paving the way for my first mn post

[welshgirlwannabe]

anyone?

[ThingummyBob]

Hmm, lots up in the lakes area don't allow campfires so that might be a big ask I'm afraid along with your other requirements!

There is one on the road between Keswick & Cockermouth that allows fires, but a 'private' campsite it is not. I'll go find a link for you though. The scenery is great and its near the forest up that way which has loads to do!

[ThingummyBob]

Linky here

It is a laid back place and I think they were improving facilities over last winter, the toilets etc.
It is walking distance from a pub too which is always a plus point for me!

[welshgirlwannabe]

Oh thanks v much, that looks great! campfires are an added bonus, but not a deal breaker....
I'm worried I may have been spoiled by some lovely campsites on the Llyn Peninsula which meet my many requirements
Are campsites in the Lakes District always rammed? (I fear I know the answer already...)
thanks again for the link

[carriedaway]

Not quite in the lakes but Gibraltar farm in silverdale (arnside) is lovely - sorry cant link as on phone but comes up if you google it. Not too many caravans and no campfires (everywhere is so strict now! ) but simple, nice lakes feel and great coastal setting. Good luck with the search!

[MortifiedAdams]

With a caravan or a tent - CAstlerigg

With a tent only - Stonesthwaite. Road too narrow and bumpy to allow a caravan down, no showers just loos and some whirlpool lakes upriver. Love love it.

[Daisybell1]

Sorry, I misunderstood you - how far from Kendal do you want to be? if borrowdale's ok then what about Fisherground in eskdale - has campfires and all sorts of lovely things, and Turner Hall Farm at Seathwaite is lovely too.

I'd heard Stonethwaite was rowdy but maybe I've got the wrong site.

I'll think a bit more!

[Daisybell1]

And yes, always rammed is my experience - I work in the lakes so hear a lot from colleagues.

[YellowDinosaur]

Fisherground ticks all your boxes except not too rammed. It is also run by camping nazis who insist on you pitching your tent in a very precise slot with no movement allowed. Or out was when we went 2 years ago. Lovely spot although quite far from anything to do if it rains. Boys loved it. I liked it but the fact they rammed you in like sardines and their general attitude put me off.

[ThingummyBob]

at camping Nazis in Fisherground yellow

[Daisybell1]

Its amazing how Cool Camping doesn't mention the problems at Fisherground, isn't it? I must confess I don't know as much about it now as I used to do as I'm now in a different job.

If you go to ukcampsite and click on the map search you can search around Kendal and filter sites to include campfires.

[welshgirlwannabe]

Ahh... Stonethwaite looks lovely! Def ticks all my boxes, I'll just have to make sure everyone else in my party is ok with foregoing showers for a few days! although come to think of it we do have a solar shower purchased for just such an occasion... has anyone every used one of those? we tend to bring it along, fill it, then realise that there is never anywhere private enough to use it

Fisherground looks a good enough plan B, but I am pretty averse to camping nazi-ism of any kind! Is the barbed wire comment a joke thingummybob? and as to 2009's debacle - best not to ask??

Thank you ladies, excellent advice

[MortifiedAdams]

Castlethwaite, near to Stonesthwaite is thw rowdy one.

[ThingummyBob]

No not a joke welshgirl there really is a barbed wire fence running through the site. Last year a couple had to pitch so close to it that their tent got ripped.
There is also barbed wire sort of wrapped into the stone walls round the edges at the bottom of the site I think its in the walls to stop pesky campers hanging things on the walls.

I have been back to fisherground since the debacle of '09 but only in a small tent with two of us who were spending a weekend walking. I wouldn't go back with kids or a bigger party of people until the current owners have left.