Please Please recommend a midlands campsite for our very first family camp!

[debbiewebweb]

We've bit the bullet and bought our first 'family tent' a rather lovely Khyam Ontario 8 - well certainly looks lovely in our back garden in glorious sunshine .

So we've got no excuse not to go camping. I'm just a bit worried about our first trip with our rather 'precious' 5 year old daughter and our 22month old daughter. So could anyone please recommend a campsite ideal for a family, we'd ideally like a site with a shop, one where we could bbq and preferably one we're we won't get kicked off should the kids make a fuss all night long - but just in case we'd like one around notts / derbyshire area. Oh yeah, and great toilets of course

Can anyone please help?? At this rate, the tent is going to be awfully lonely shut up in the shed all summer long!!

how weird.. we're thinking of getting the onatrio 8 and are also looking for a good camping site in the midlands.... ????!!!!

anyway i'll be interested to read responses to this post... i'll be looking on the uk campsute web site for any recs... if i spot any i'll let you know!

Might be a bit out of your way, but Cotswold View (google it) is lovely, quiet , a great play area (ask for a pitch by it) cheap shop (gets a Sunday paper for you too),farm animals, football pitch in the woods, you can bbq, and a village you can walk to (couple of miles?) with a few shops and pubs.We've been 3 times now. Our youngest is now (just) 5, and I'm happy for him to play at swings while I watch from my pitch. Very safe

there's a fab site at Dovedale in Derbyshire called Callow Top - very good facilities incl. pool and shop. Gets booked up very quickly though!

we're going here for the weekend in august. Don't know what its like but the reviews on uk campsit look good. We've only just started as well if that's any help. Its near Nottingham btw

this is a good site in Leicestershire

Cotswold View sounds great, just the sort of site we would like, but I think its a bit far for our first trip! Will try ringing Orchard and Rutland though, thanks all
Has anyone tried Clover Fields Buxton or Wing Farm Rutland as I'm going to try them too I think.
It may well be a case of wherever has space.
I'll certainly let you know how we get on bea!

did you manage to book anywhere?

Haven't booked yet - Looks like our friends are going to come with us they have two boys the same age as our two girls, so I think that would be good fun .
So will give them a couple of days to decide and then book two pitches next to each other.

sounds like fun . We're going with friends to the Orchard one.

Yes hope so. They, like us, used to do a bit of camping / walking before the kids came along but haven't camped since, so we can all figger it out together I guess. And hopefully the kids will have lots of fun too.
I'm a bit worried about getting them off to sleep, and getting them to stay asleep! Am now thinking it might be best to take the travel cot for my youngest who will be 2 next month, but looking at the amount of kit needed we probably won't be able to fit it in anyway not sure!

Deb when you book check they are OK with the ize of your tent (ours is the same and its always worth asking)

Once you're going further afield, 2 sites we love that always have loads of people from the Midlands in are the Forest Holidays ones the forest of dean and this one in Somerset is the ultimate kid site imo- bioth a run down on the motorway which is why they're popular I think, does make it easy I think.

(Oh and Debs and anyone who ahs an Ontario- if you look on UK campsite (search on the message bopards for messages from Peachyclair, or Khyam Ontario- either should be OK) there is DH's essential guide to packing the tent up. A MUST LOL)