Friday 4th September – Tuesday 8th September 2009
The approach to this site is not for the faint hearted. The roads are narrow with passing places and I found the only practical route is the one explained in the handbook. The owners did send me an e-mail with directions attached but when I needed it I was unable to get a signal on my mobile internet so that was a waste of time. Anyway, many people make the journey as the site is very popular especially with walkers and I feel it is worth the effort.
The pitching area is a few hundred yards from the farmhouse so it is advisable to call there before pitching. All the pitches are on hardstandings but they are a few grassed alternatives providing it hasn’t rained for a few days. During wet periods the grass is completely unusable. The hard pitches are very close together and if anyone had wanted to use an awning it would practically be touching your neighbour. Car parking is a problem during wet periods and all vehicles need to be parked in front of your outfit during these times. Additional cars cost extra but I don’t know were you have to park; perhaps they need to be left in the B & B car park at the farmhouse.
There are no shops, no supermarkets, no banks, no takeaways, no buses and no pubs within miles of this site. You can practically hear the silence, especially at night; the only noise is the occasional sheep bleat. All this means that if you need provisions it is necessary to travel by motor vehicle. The government drive to get us all on public transport means nothing around here [infact I think it means nothing outside London]. The nearest place of any size for shopping is probably Ulverston.
One of the two important things for experienced caravaners to look out for as they approach an unfamiliar site is the direction of the TV aerials on local buildings. This gives you a rough idea as to what direction to point your aerial for the best reception. Another way is to buy a walkers compass and visit www.digitaluk.co.uk/postcodechecker/
Tell the website you are in the aerial installation industry and enter the postcode and name of your site. This will give you the direction and distance to the advisable transmitter and whether the signal is horizontal or vertically polarised. If you find this too complicated go back to using the visual aerial spotting method. You cannot rely on the direction of other caravanner’s aerials as I have found that a lot are not even aware that they have a directional aerial. Getting back to this site the worrying thing here was that some local residents aerials were on masts about 10 ft high so my less than 12 inch extending rooftop mast on my status directional aerial seemed useless. This proved to be the case as my digital tuner kept telling me to check my cable connections and try again. So this was my first venture into a digital only area without the assistance of a TV hook-up and the results were a superb picture of a notice telling me I was doing it wrong. You would think that after re-tuning a telly every four days I would have got it right by now. My only option was to get out my rarely used satellite dish and try and find the elusive Astra 2 satellite. Its early days yet but I am beginning to find that caravan rooftop aerials will become useless in many places. The only way forward is to get a domestic aerial on a long [and I mean long] extendable pole or buy a satellite dish and a Freesat receiver. Caravan manufacturers take note.
I did eventually get reception using my satellite dish but had to put some guy ropes on it to prevent the wind blowing it across the field.
One other thing I think needs mentioning is that the owner sent me an email asking for a £20 deposit. This was done by telephone using a credit card and I told the male owner to keep the receipt until I arrived because I was travelling about. On arrival I met the owner’s wife who was busy and could not get to her booking diary. I told her I had paid a £20 deposit and I paid the balance by cash. A few hours later the owner approached my caravan and implied I was trying to rob him because I had only paid £10 deposit. He showed me the receipt as proof. I was unable to get an internet connection for the next few weeks so was unable to confirm he had asked for £20 but now I have I feel annoyed that he accused me of deception when the error was made at his end. One thing I can say in my defence is that if I intended to rob him it would have been for more than £10.
No analogue signal
Couldn’t get a digital signal from caravan aerial
Had to use satellite dish
£11.00 per night [a bit high considering small pitches and no additional facilities]
The approach to this site is not for the faint hearted. The roads are narrow with passing places and I found the only practical route is the one explained in the handbook. The owners did send me an e-mail with directions attached but when I needed it I was unable to get a signal on my mobile internet so that was a waste of time. Anyway, many people make the journey as the site is very popular especially with walkers and I feel it is worth the effort.
The pitching area is a few hundred yards from the farmhouse so it is advisable to call there before pitching. All the pitches are on hardstandings but they are a few grassed alternatives providing it hasn’t rained for a few days. During wet periods the grass is completely unusable. The hard pitches are very close together and if anyone had wanted to use an awning it would practically be touching your neighbour. Car parking is a problem during wet periods and all vehicles need to be parked in front of your outfit during these times. Additional cars cost extra but I don’t know were you have to park; perhaps they need to be left in the B & B car park at the farmhouse.
There are no shops, no supermarkets, no banks, no takeaways, no buses and no pubs within miles of this site. You can practically hear the silence, especially at night; the only noise is the occasional sheep bleat. All this means that if you need provisions it is necessary to travel by motor vehicle. The government drive to get us all on public transport means nothing around here [infact I think it means nothing outside London]. The nearest place of any size for shopping is probably Ulverston.
One of the two important things for experienced caravaners to look out for as they approach an unfamiliar site is the direction of the TV aerials on local buildings. This gives you a rough idea as to what direction to point your aerial for the best reception. Another way is to buy a walkers compass and visit www.digitaluk.co.uk/postcodechecker/
Tell the website you are in the aerial installation industry and enter the postcode and name of your site. This will give you the direction and distance to the advisable transmitter and whether the signal is horizontal or vertically polarised. If you find this too complicated go back to using the visual aerial spotting method. You cannot rely on the direction of other caravanner’s aerials as I have found that a lot are not even aware that they have a directional aerial. Getting back to this site the worrying thing here was that some local residents aerials were on masts about 10 ft high so my less than 12 inch extending rooftop mast on my status directional aerial seemed useless. This proved to be the case as my digital tuner kept telling me to check my cable connections and try again. So this was my first venture into a digital only area without the assistance of a TV hook-up and the results were a superb picture of a notice telling me I was doing it wrong. You would think that after re-tuning a telly every four days I would have got it right by now. My only option was to get out my rarely used satellite dish and try and find the elusive Astra 2 satellite. Its early days yet but I am beginning to find that caravan rooftop aerials will become useless in many places. The only way forward is to get a domestic aerial on a long [and I mean long] extendable pole or buy a satellite dish and a Freesat receiver. Caravan manufacturers take note.
I did eventually get reception using my satellite dish but had to put some guy ropes on it to prevent the wind blowing it across the field.
One other thing I think needs mentioning is that the owner sent me an email asking for a £20 deposit. This was done by telephone using a credit card and I told the male owner to keep the receipt until I arrived because I was travelling about. On arrival I met the owner’s wife who was busy and could not get to her booking diary. I told her I had paid a £20 deposit and I paid the balance by cash. A few hours later the owner approached my caravan and implied I was trying to rob him because I had only paid £10 deposit. He showed me the receipt as proof. I was unable to get an internet connection for the next few weeks so was unable to confirm he had asked for £20 but now I have I feel annoyed that he accused me of deception when the error was made at his end. One thing I can say in my defence is that if I intended to rob him it would have been for more than £10.
No analogue signal
Couldn’t get a digital signal from caravan aerial
Had to use satellite dish
£11.00 per night [a bit high considering small pitches and no additional facilities]
