Howgill Lodge Caravan & Camping Park

It’s never fun to pitch your tent on a slope. There are plenty of campsites in the mountains with good views but finding a place like Howgill Lodge, which is both tucked into a view-tastic hillside but also perfectly terraced so that your pitch is flat, well, in the Yorkshire Dales, that’s nothing short of a minor miracle.

Near the foot of Simon’s Seat, a 1,600-foot mountain reached via a steep path from the campsite, Howgill Lodge is an ideally-placed ramblers’ campsite with good facilities and ample space. A gravel track leads from the old stone reception building, first past a series of hardstandings and then down through four terraces, each backed by a drystone wall and with picnic benches laid out, ready for the day's campers to arrive. Birch trees and the odd oak break up the space and, at the bottom, the camping area doglegs around to another long, tent-friendly paddock that’s a little more private at quieter times (though a longer walk from the facilities). In summer time, when the trees are green, the sun's out and ivy creeps along the patchwork of drystone walls, it's a layout worthy of the camping version of Capability Brown.

The general ambience here is laid back. Campfires are allowed in firepits, well-behaved dogs are welcome and there’s an easy-going mix of walkers and families. The former come to hike the fells or walk the 80-mile-long Dales Way (which passes 500 yards from the campsite), while the latter might not walk much further than the River Wharfe for a swim (about half a mile; 10 minutes with the kids). Nearby Bolton Abbey, with a magnificent ruined priory and a picture-worthy picnic area reached via stepping stones, is also a great place to spend the day, while young ones will particular enjoy Hesketh Farm Park or a ride on Thomas the Tank Engine, which runs on the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway, 15 minutes’ drive away.