We were still searching for a site not too far from home.
A place to paddleboard would be handy.
A nice pub which did food within walking distance.
Fairly flat camping field with good clean shower and toilet facilities.
Not too far from the sea ( a bonus)
Nice walking country.
Good access.
Not much of a wish list....
I think we picked the site up on Pitch Up. No electric, but we thought Pebble should be able to do her stuff for two nights.
The journey was "challenging", shall we say, down some tiny country tracks. Pebbles super duper satnag, not a patch on Garmin. A few minor renovations needed here. Bring back Garmin. Den coped well, though slightly stressed by the time we arrived. Not only were the tracks narrow with over hanging bushes but very steep in places.
The site was very busy with loads of campers and lots of kids enjoying their boards on the lake.
We were soon set up, cosied up in the corner of the field, by the road. At least it was flat and grassy.
The lake was a major disappointment. Being more pond than lake size. Very well suited to primary aged kids on paddleboards, not so good for grownups. There was a small café by the lake open from 10am to 3pm. It was very busy, we didn't try the food.
The lake was also very popular with local families and apparently OK to swim in. A bit too shallow for us though but lovely for little ones. Arm bands had to be worn for identification by campers, as access to the water was restricted when it was busy.
The café, nice on a hot day and overlooking the lake. The Purple Turtle. Tables must be vacated after two hours.
The saving grace for us was the pub up the road. There was a lovely path that went up along the river to the village pub The White Horse Inn. Very friendly local pub that did nice food at reasonable prices. Needed to book though, as very popular with "happy campers". Lots of tables outside so plenty of room on a summers evening.
Our first night passed pretty quickly. Some road noise but not too bad.
The toilet block was for us the downfall of the place. A rustic brand new building. Unisex loos, washing up sinks and showers. However.... very poorly cleaned. The site was almost full with tent campers but there was very little hot water so having a shower was traumatic. Mentioned the lack of hot water to the warden who shrugged and said it was busy and the tanks only held limited hot water! Wait for 30 minutes or so, tricky if you are covered in soap under the shower.
The washing up area was OK but filthy, again lack of hot water didn't help.
We ate out both nights at The White Horse so no real washing up needed. If it hadn't hav been for the pub we wouldn't have stayed. The second night we were woken up at around 5am by very loud music. Luckily it didn't go on for long so we did get some sleep.
Would we go back? Ummm NO. A good place for camping with young children, as long as they didn't need a shower!! A nice friendly pub up the road, a small pond for swimming in.
To end on a high note. We unburied our Garmin and plugged it in. A nice easy main road drive home. Where did we go so wrong!! Sorry TomTom you're fired.
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