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(Deze herziening is niet beschikbaar in nederlands)
First visit, May 2008:
We had pretty poor weather during our stay, but apart from that, this was a delightful little campsite in a lovely position in the Derbyshire Dales.
It has about 15 level hardstandings for caravans, and about 5 pitches on grass, all with electricity. Some of the hardstandings are quite small, and you might have trouble with a large caravan, or with an awning. You'll need to be specific when making your reservation. In a separate field, there is space for about 20-30 tents on grass and without electricity. Apart from the hardstandings, none of the ground is really level, and some of it has quite a serious slope. You'll need to think before you pitch!
The site has a lovely situation, and from the top of the camping field, there are delightful views over the Derbyshire hills. The hardstanding area is surrounded by trees, so you don't get the view, though you are better sheltered from wind and sun.
There's a small shop at reception, but they really do only sell the basics. There's a Morrison's supermarket at the first roundabout in Buxton, about 6 miles away.
As I said earlier, we had poor weather, and this started with a very windy day when we were trying to pitch. We chose a pitch at the top of the hill, because of the view, but had to move down to the sheltered part as we could not have slept in that wind. Some people had had to give up, due to the wind tearing canvas and breaking poles. The owner was VERY understanding, refunding their fees (or in our case, not taking the money until we knew we were staying) including the "non-returnable" deposit. This despite the fact that leaving was the camper's choice, and not the fault of the site.
There are lovely walks in the area: Tideswell, Miller's Dale, the Monsal Trail all within a few miles. We were especially taken by a walk in Chee Dale, found on the web. This one passes the campsite, so by changing the start point, you don't need to take the car anywhere, and Chee Dale is spectacular.
The toilets and showers (30p for 6 min) are pretty fair for a site like this, though there might be queues when the site is full.
Second visit, July 2009:
Bad weather again, but we still liked the campsite. They're planning some major changes (see photo) so we'll see how it is next year.
Updated June 2011:
This was my fourth visit to this site, and they have at last received permission to extend and improve, and they have done so. There's a brand new toilet block, with excellent facilities, including free hot showers, and a set of facilities labelled ‘unisex', which are handy for families. Other new features in this block include a washing machine and dryer.
The pitches have all been re-arranged, so that the hardstandings for caravans now have more room, and there is more room for tents as well. There's no marking out of tent pitches, you can pitch where you like. Sometimes, when we've been here before in busy periods, it's been hard to find a suitable patch of ground free, but this Spring Bank Holiday, even though they said they were full, there was still plenty of free space.
They've added electricity to the camping field, and have an excellent pre-pay system, using £1 cards bought at reception. With this method, you only pay for what you use, and we paid £2 for the whole week, whereas on a more ‘normal' site, you'd pay at least that much per night.
One thing they have not done is to level off the ground. This site IS on a hill, so you WILL have to cope with sleeping on the slope.
The other problem with being on a hill is that it can be quite windy. They have planted a good number of trees and shrubs, which will eventually provide some shelter, but they're too small yet to do much good. Having said that, you do get lovely views over the Derbyshire landscape, and in my opinion, it's worth suffering a bit of wind for that.
©Copyright Nick Porter
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