The perfect site
If we had the ability to create the perfect landscape and put a site in the perfect location it we couldn't do better than Low Manesty in Borrowdale. In our opinion it is the perfect site in the perfect location. It is a dream for walkers: walk out the site entrance and you're at the foot of Cat Bells and have a choice of footpaths in various directions up the mountain or on the level, all of which offer great views. Walk out of the site through the gate at Lakeside Gardens and the short walk to Derwent water and you are rewarded with the best view in the Lakes looking south into Borrowdale and Castle Crag. The final exit from the site will take you through woodland to the lake launch landing stage at Brandlehow. We visited in June and saw loads of nesting birds. There are several tearooms half an hour's walk from the site. In fact you could stay for a week and visit a different one every day. This is the one site we return to time and time again and are already planning our next visit.
There are no shower blocks or toilet blocks but all modern caravans and most campervans have these facilities. The last few miles of towing are a bit narrow especially through the village of Grange where parked cars can be a problem. We've visited this site 7 times to date and once did have a bit of a squeeze through Grange. The bridge has a 6'6" width restriction but our 7'3" van fits with the best part of a foot either side: it is the village itself which is a problem. The site is in woodland. You can't see the site from outside which means most pitches don't have views and some pitches are dark.
We didn't have an awning on our most recent visit but because all the non-awning pitches had been booked for one night of our stay we had to book an awning pitch. We didn't particularly want an awning pitch and were happy to take a non-awning pitching leaving the larger awning pitches free for someone else but the warden insisted we take an awning pitch. We've never had to do that before at any club site.
