In December 2016 we completed our second stay in a month at this small, away from it all site, and both times have been absolutely lovely!
The site is located on the Bolton Abbey Estate, adjacent to the Strid Wood car park, and is set on three levels, all hard standing pitches.
Very much a woodland site, but still gets plenty of sunshine, the site has a small facilities block at it’s centre, offering the usual clean, tidy and well heated loos, showers and washrooms. There is also a pot wash area and a laundry on site.
It’s a member only site Caravan & Motorhome Club), and doesn’t admit tents.
The special draw for us was the location of this site, offering superb walks in beautiful countryside, with the Abbey, gift shops and a couple of cafes to visit.
Our dogs thoroughly enjoyed the walks, streams and safe parts of the river to swim in, but they needed to be kept on close leads by the Strid itself, a fantastic sight at any time of the year, but very dangerous!
Skipton, with its Castle, church, and great shops is about 20 minutes away, and has supermarkets and petrol. Further afield is Settle, a lovely small market town, and of course you are quickly into the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.
Special mention needs to be made for anyone interested in birdwatching. Set up a feeder outside your van, and it will quickly be inundated with nuthatches, coal tits, blue tits, Bull finches etc..
We also had Tree Creepers, Great Spotted Woodpeckers visit as well. All watched just six feet from our van! Down on the river, we saw Goosanders, Mergansers, Harlequins, Herons, Dippers and Kingfishers in abundance! A quiet early morning walk had deer springing up almost under foot!
A good price, under £18 for a couple per night in low season, this has quickly become one of our regular trips out. Don’t get caught out by the arrivals after 1pm, departures by 11am club rule!
Although, it was so quiet on our stay, we were fine to stay way beyond 11am! We suspect it will get busy in the warmer months, but most of the pitches are very spacious, and the site is well laid out in terms of privacy.
The site has no mobile phone signal, although it still has a public phone box. TV reception is by booster on analogue. The Cavendish Pavilion Cafe is nice, but very very expensive! The Cafe and gift shop just outside the site is better!
