Skelwith Fold Caravan Park, near Ambleside, Cumbria (From York Press)

Skelwith Fold Caravan Park, near Ambleside, Cumbria

11:37am Saturday 5th September 2009 in

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A short way from busy Ambleside in the Lake District, all is peace and tranquillity, so long as you don’t mind the rain, finds JULIAN COLE.

IT WAS the summer when anyone who bought a barbecue had plenty of time to regret their rash belief in the long-range weather forecast. So what could possibly go wrong on a three-day trip to the Lakes?

Should we mention the long and potentially lovely walk back from Ambleside which ended in an aimless wander through a dense wood while the rain pelted and soaked us to the bone?

Hard not to, really, especially as the downpour didn’t let up for a day and the clothes were still wet when we arrived home.

Still, visitors to the Lake District have to be made of sterner stuff, because all those lakes had to have been filled somehow, and without the rain the tarns wouldn’t glimmer and the slopes of the fells wouldn’t be so green.

This being a contrary sort of summer, the sun shone at our arrival and Skelwith Fold put on a breathtaking show that evening, before playing a soaking trick on us the following afternoon.

This caravan park is set in a beautiful wooded area a couple of miles or so from Ambleside, or three or four if you get lost in the trees in the rain. Where Ambleside is a clogged honeypot, its undeniable charms lost amid the cars and the queues, Skelwith Fold is all peace and quiet, a tranquil woodland haven set in the national park.

The 130-acre site has views of the Langdale Pikes, which could be seen on the dry portions of our stay, and boasts wildlife including deer, red squirrels, badgers, tawny owls and woodpeckers.

We didn’t see any of these, not that we went looking, but it is cheering to hear that a colony of red squirrels has now moved in.

What we did do was walk through the leaf lanes of the site a few times to the tiny hamlet of Skelwith Fold, which, quietly and almost without anyone noticing, boasts one of the finest views in the Lake District. It is also, incidentally, where we shall live after winning the lottery, a fortuitious eventuality which must surely happen one day.

The BBC programme Springwatch visited earlier this year scouting for a location, but Skelwith Fold failed the audition, so to speak, although the site did reach number two on the programme makers’ shortlist.

Well, that’s presenter Kate Humble’s loss; the rest of us can just enjoy the peace and quiet, and go on the many walks mapped out in routes for visitors, ranging from short strolls to all-day hikes (just watch those directions on the way back from Ambleside).

The naturalist David Bellamy is said to be a fan of this site, which is owned by the perhaps approrpiately named Henry Wild.

Until 1950, the land had belonged to the wealthy Marshall family, who built a mansion at its highest point in 1890, a house demolished some 50 years ago. The Wild family took over 11 years ago and began to reclaim the over-grown site and turn it into an ecologicially minded caravan park.

We stayed in a two-bedroom van set aside for members of the press (and their teens too). It was only after our visit that something became clear: the 300 or so vans on the site are offered for sale and not to rent.

However, touring caravans are permitted and if I were the sort who liked to tow a wheeled tin cottage behind my car, this is where I would tow it to.

As it happens, an elongated family estate is quite enough for this driver to handle, and we used the car one afternoon for a return trip to Keswick, once a frequent location and always worth a visit. As it happened, someone turned off the heavenly tap during our visit and the sun shone.

The faithful car also carried us there and back from York, via the slow and scenic route through Hawes on the way, and by the quicker, less pretty Skipton-Harrogate loop on our return.

We enjoyed our stay very much and even, in dry retrospect, the soaking we received. You can’t complain about the rain in the Lake District. It would like going to Spain and moaning about the sun.

Fact file

Skelwith Fold, Ambleside, Cumbria, is open from March to November. The park has 300 privately owned holiday homes, which are available to buy from £25,000 to £60,000. There are also 150 touring pitches, which cost £17.50 per night.

For more information phone 015394 32277 or visit skelwith.com