Finding the right caravan park depends on several factors, including your preferences, the type of environment and your budget.
When it comes to caravan sites in Cumbria, there are a wealth of options to choose from, and many factors to consider when making your choice.
Some of the main considerations are:
- Facilities: Do you need access to amenities like a swimming pool, playground, or a clubhouse? Or do you prefer more basic, peaceful surroundings? Some parks are large and bustling, while others are smaller and more intimate. Decide what kind of atmosphere you’re looking for.
- Safety features: Look for caravan parks with ANPR access, secure entry points, and reliable on-site staff to ensure a secure, safe space.
- Location: Do you prefer a seaside park, countryside retreat, or one near a city? Think about the type of environment you want to enjoy.
- Activities: Check if the park offers activities like kayaking, canoeing, fishing, cycling, hiking, or children’s entertainment.
- Pet-friendliness: If you’re bringing pets, ensure the park allows animals and check if they have any special pet amenities.
- Caravan park associations: Reputable caravan parks belong to associations that ensure certain standards. For example, The British Holiday & Home Parks Association.
- User feedback: Websites like TripAdvisor or Google Reviews, can offer insights into other owners experiences.
However, something that goes overlooked is chatting to the people who already own caravans on the park – like some of the static caravan owners at North Lakes.
Here at North Lakes Country Park, we have recently celebrated our long-term caravan owners. Many have been with us a very long time, some for over thirty or fourty years, and to show them how much we appreciate them, we treated them to a meal at The Lowther Arms, Mawbray.
Their memories over the years are fascinating, and are a fantastic showcase of what it’s like to be a caravan owner with us.
Take a look at some of their stories below.
Long Term Ownership – Making Memories
Owner A
After bandaging a patient in her clinic and general chit chat, the patient mentioned she was selling her little caravan north of Keswick on a working farm with a tarn. She was about to put a postcard advert in Safeway, she asked her to wait a couple of days.
The first hurdle was to convince her husband; no electric, no plumbing but the idea of spending weekends there with their 3 year old daughter saw them all in the car hurtling up the M6 that Sunday.
When they first set eyes on the tarn they were sold, saying: “It’s difficult to put such beauty into words, the glassy surface of the tarn itself, the land around it, breathtaking”.
Many a jolly holiday has followed. Joined by her sister’s family, the little basic caravan housed them all. The children were welcomed by the farmer’s wife to connect with the animals. The farm sheepdog would pop by for treats every day and cows would wander around the caravans.
The children have long flown the nest, but the two families are still enjoying holiday here 40 years on with their grandchildren, but in more luxurious surroundings these days.
Owner B
As her husband was suffering with a health condition and in desperate need to get out of the home’s four walls, the search for a holiday caravan started. All the other parks they viewed were ‘centre type’ and not what they were looking for. They then found North Lakes from a recommendation from a friend of a friend, who both had caravans here, at that time it was called Tarns. It was a working farm with a couple of fields, with the farmer’s wife distributed goose eggs.
Favourite memories are watching their grandchildren feeding lambs and holding a goat kid, watching the stars, seeing the Barn Owl with drink in hand and talking to each other.
“The park has been developed in a beautiful way, considering the needs of the old and new owners tranquillity”.
An interesting fact is when the park installed a sewage system to the caravans, some of the owners didn’t approve as they had used the toilet block as a social meeting point!
Owner C
After visiting their friends caravan here in 1999 they were captivated by the park and the tarn. A caravan had just come up for sale, which was owned by the Mayor of Blackburn – it even had working gas lamps!
They snapped it up and as they say, “the rest is history”. Each morning ‘Beaut’ the sheepdog would sit on the caravan step waiting for treats. There were lots of hens and a few cockerels which were locked up at night for their own safety.
There was a large black pig, called Ethel, who their grandchildren loved to feed. They came here with their daughters just for a day out with friends and 25 years on, they are still on the same plot, still enjoying the park and couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.
Owner D
A few years after visiting his friend’s caravan here in 1980, a caravan came up for sale and his family purchased it. The caravans didn’t have any mains or drains, just gas lamps.
There are fond memories of Bonfire Night, building a bonfire out by the tarn, Solfest arriving, but mostly the quietness, the dark skies where galaxies could be seen. In 1991 the family built a jetty in memory of his Mum – our owner said, “she would have loved the new caravans and the seasons here.”
Owner E
They were introduced by a friend who had purchased a pre-owned caravan here, and had offered them to stay for a weekend one September. 3 years later and several more visits, their friend moved to the South and they purchased his caravan.
Over the years they have replaced their caravan but remained on the same plot, enjoying mains electricity and a fully plumbed-in bathroom with piped hot water, no more boiling water or visits to the toilet block, which was a boon on dark, wet nights.
When foot and mouth disease broke out, they found it very odd returning to the park and all the farm stocks throughout the entire county being gone. Walking through fields or on the fells was prohibited, and they were restricted to walking on the lanes only.
They have so many happy memories: canoeing and rowing on the tarn, once being “buzzed” by 2 low-flying RAF Hercules aircraft, which churned up the water! The wildlife spotting included: an otter, badgers, osprey, and the hundreds of whooper swans landing on the tarn during autumn times en route south from the Artic.
When the park was taken over in 2018 by the current owners, whilst they missed the warm relationship they had with Wilson and Barbara, they have been delighted with the park’s new management. They have enjoyed a cordial relationship with Rose, Stuart and Smithy and more recently with their replacements Jayne and Karl.
Just some of our amazing caravan owners…
Find your home away from home with North Lakes
Ready to begin your journey to holiday home ownership? Find your perfect holiday home, static caravan, or lodge at North Lakes Country Park. Contact our team to book a viewing or drop in to see us to check out the range of lodges and static caravans we have for sale.
Out of all the caravan sites in Cumbria, we firmly believe ours is the best. With unbeatable customer service, unparalleled natural beauty, and exceptional facilities, we know you’ll fall in love with our park just as all our past owners have done.
We look forward to welcoming you to North Lakes soon!
