No need to dust down the old leaky tent for the first camping trip of the year ! Happily We Wil had bought a nice new one a few weeks previously . This tent was meant to be the same model as our original. But it seems a whole lot bigger. Erm it’s practically a marquee !
Anyway we didn’t venture to far from home. We chose Fell View Park near the pretty village of Scorton. Perched on the edge of the Forest Of Bowland AONB , Fell View is adjacent to the owners farm and is surrounded by meadows full of bleating lambs and nesting lapwings.
The campsite has plenty of EHU points, good hot showers, an undercover washing up area and a small fishing lake , which is home to lots of ducks and geese. We stayed in the non electric tent field and had it all to ourselves for the first night. The hedges were heavy with the scent of hawthorn blossom and the resident Greylag Geese were happily honking away.
There’s a little Local Information Room on site with maps of nearby walks , so we took a leaflet for a Circular Route taking in ‘Nicky Nook’. The fell top is a relatively easy walk ~ about 215m to the top.
As you can see ‘ The Forest Of Bowland’ is not actually a forest in the traditional sense. The name Forest was given to Royal Hunting grounds in ancient times. Bowland is made up of ruggedly beautiful moorland and gentle lowlands. The AONB actually covers 312 square miles of rural Lancashire and neighboring Yorkshire.
After descending ‘Nicky Nook’ we found ourselves on a country lane and followed the signs to the Apple Store Cafe in Wyresdale Park. The cafe set in a sheltered walled garden in the grounds of Wyresdale Hall, is the perfect place to drop by for a brew and a cake. 🙂 We sat outside , though it did look lovely inside, the glass house interior felt a little stuffy even on quite a drizzley day. The lovely waitress served our refreshments on mismatched vintage crockery, and even brought out a sausage for Hugo!
After tea and cake we explored the grounds a bit ( I never saw the estate peacocks 😦 ) and then decided to deviate from our route and headed into Scorton itself for a wander. On the way we spied this cute cottage with it’s quirky garden signage.
To get to Scorton we had to cross the M6. Who knew that such a tranquil place is so close to the motorway. The pretty village has a Bar Restaurant, spa shop and a cafe/gift shop. We had a couple of drinks in the lovely and dog friendly Priory Stout Bar.
After a drink or two we continued on our way. We headed back through Wyresdale Park, across the fields and onwards to the campsite. It was a beautiful walk. 🙂
Fell View is definitely a campsite we will return to I think ,as there is so much nearby countryside to explore and the area is indeed one of Outstanding natural beauty. 🙂
sunshine and celandines 
Perfect camping weekend.
It really was, Thank you.x
What wonderful photos. Wow, it looked fabulous, what a great visit you had. This time of year outdoors can be so pretty – and I guess the weather held last weekend- brilliant! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Tina. It was lovely thanks and not bad weather, just the occasional drizzle.
Sounds like a wonderful camping break. Your pictures capture the area perfectly. 🙂
Thanks Christine! I really enjoyed our first camp trip of the year.Xx
Sounds like a lovely weekend! I love to go camping again this year (we didn’t go last year) but I think time and money will be against that after buying a house!
Lovely adventure! But what was Hugo’s problem with the priory?
He has a habit of looking fed up if we want to stop for a drink….especially of no food is involved. 😉
Oh no! Hicks positively drags us into pubs.
He drags us to our local as he know all the bar staff give him biscuits. I think he just has the depressed look down to an art. X
Ha ha! He’s displeased you don’t issue everyone with biscuits 🙂 xx