Date of Visit: August 2021
Overall View
Meathop Fell is a medium sized Club site located in a lovely wooded area, about a 10 minute drive from the lovely Victorian town of Grange-over-Sands. This is where the nearest National Rail station is located.
The site is approximately 10 miles from J36 of the M6, the last ¾ of a mile is a single track road but there are passing places. There is a site arrival video HERE
There are 117 touring pitches of which 102 are hardstanding. The site is open all year round but they do not accept tents. Non members are welcome.
Facilities
There are the usual Club facilities of shower, toilet, dish washing and laundry facilities block located next to Reception. There is also a fully accessible disabled wash room using the Radar key system. This was completely renovated a few years ago and still looks as new as if it was done this year.
There a several distinct areas to the site, including a small tarmacced area for you to choose to pitch on. There are also a small number of fully serviced hardstanding pitches which book up well in advance. There are hard-standing and grass pitches, all with EHU and the ability to use the TV booster point on the bollards. We did not need to use these as with directional TV aerials a good range of stations could be obtained. Mobile wise, EE 4G was very good, as was Vodafone. Three struggled indoors at times. The coverage checker for O2 suggested similar. The club site Wi-Fi is graded as Bronze and was ok during the day but struggled at peak times, particularly in the evenings.
An information room and Reception complete the facilities on the site and the Reception offers basic supplies including gas.
There is also a sizeable play area with a better than average range of play equipment available including a helter-skelter chute.
The site now benefits from a secure dog walking field to the rear of the facilities block – a much welcomed addition to the site.
Finally, Meathop Fell benefits from the availability of a few small apartments which are available to rent, please see Club website for further details. These enable caravanners and non-caravanners to holiday together.
Review of Site Pitch
The pitches, perhaps other than the grass pitches were up to the usual Club standards, size wise. There is one pitch, 81 which requires you to park sideways on and is, perhaps, best suited to a motorhome or van with just a canopy. The overall upkeep of the site is of a very high standard. The usual service points are located across the site and also a drive over motorhome service point.
A number of the grass pitches are sloping and depending upon your outfit, levelling blocks may be required.
There are a number of pitches which command views across the Estuary and views to Morecombe and Heysham.
Around and about
First, the basics, the nearest large supermarket is in Kendal about 10 miles drive away. However, there are a range of independent shops, bakery and butchers in Grange over Sands. A Co-Op and Spar are available here.
There are no petrol stations in Grange over Sands itself, however, there are two situated on the A590 – one to the west near Newby Bridge, (Shell) and is around a 15 minute drive away. It should be noted that road queues are regular at Newby Bridge and can be lengthy. There is also one towards the M6 to the East, (BP) around a 5 minute drive away.
The nearest caravan dealer and accessory shop is at Bardsea Leisure on the outskirts of Ulverton. They keep a range of spares and accesssories.
There is no bus service which stops outside the site – the nearest bus stop is about a 20 minute walk along the single track road.
There is a good range of pubs and restaurants in Grange over Sands. Whilst we were there we had an excellent Sunday lunch at the Commodore Inn, dogs allowed in the bar area.
As the area is in the Southern Lake District, all areas are within reasonable driving distances – although distance and time do not necessarily correlate as some roads involve narrow driving and over passes.
Treasure Trails have a lovely Trail around the town, its promenade and gardens. There are some steep up and down hill stretches involved in this trail.
A short trip to the pretty little village of Cartmel is a must – lots of pubs and little shops plus, of course, its home to the famous sticky toffee pudding – Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding Company and its own shop. I can personally recommend their sticky toffee pudding!! It also has its own racecourse and horse racing is held several times a year. It gets extremely busy at those times.
The Lakside and Hatherthewaite heritage railway is about a 20 minute drive away, (please note you have to go through Newby Bridge, so please allow time to enable you to reach the station). Combined train and boat trip tickets are available which take you across Windermere to either Bowness or Ambleside and return.
A good day trip is a drive up to Coniston, a boat ride on the lake, (dogs allowed) and the Blue Bird Cafe comes highly recommended but can get quite busy. On the return, calling into the very picturesque village of Hawkshead and the home of all things Beatrix Potter.
A shorter, half day trip is to the market town of Kirby Londsdale – gateway to the Yorkshire Dales. This is about a half hour drive back and across the M6. The town is very picturesque with lots of independent shops and cafes and a pretty little market square with its very old market rotunda in the middle. The town also boasts a fine church and walking through the grounds brings you to the famous view of the River Lune, immortalised by artist John Ruskin. There is also a Booths Supermarket here.
A longer day out but easily broken up into sections is the route along the coast via Ulverston, Bardsea following the A5087 along the estuary towards Barrow in Furness. There are plenty of laybys to stop and take photos and about half way along there is a small cafe and the stony beach opposite to enjoy. At Rampside, take a short detour to the end of the road – where during the summer months it is possible to get a small boat over to Piel Island and its castle. There are public toilets in the high street. From here make your way into Barrow in Furness – once a huge ship building area but now reconditions and services submarines. There is a big town hall and a small shopping precinct here. From there, cross over the bridge onto Walney Island. There is an RSPB nature reserve at one end – please note dogs are not allowed. Great photo opportunities are available around the coast road – it is possible to circumnavigate the whole island.
Summary
We stayed for a week in August 2021, weather was mixed but this did not prevent us from getting out and about. The site was pretty much full but we found the site to be very quiet with no discernable road noise. Overall the main attractions were that the site has easy access, quiet, yet with all the attractions of the Lake District within a reasonable distance of the site. We would certainly visit again.