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Woodend Farm

North Yorkshire

Views of the countryside from Woodend Farm

Woodend Farm is the kind of campsite that, if you don’t know about, you tend only to discover by chance. That’s because It’s not on the side of a busy main road and it’s barely signposted. So, unless you’ve been past it before, it’s a great secret to find. And that is why it’s so fantastic. That and the rather significant detail of its views. If you like flat, open plains and the ability to see as far as the horizon stretches, go somewhere else. If, though, you prefer giant limestone escarpments that rear up behind the trees, irregularly furrowed hillsides turned purple in spring by a sea of bluebells and like the idea of what might lie over the top of any one of those hills, Woodend Farm will be the place to ponder the thought.

The campsite just squeezes into the south-western fringe of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, where the white rose of the county meets the red rose of Lancashire. The landscape around is outstanding and there is something about the hills, the limestone outcrops bursting from their green coats, that makes you want to explore the next dale, next moor and next lane, whichever county it might be in.

Woodend Farm Campsite is cosy. It has to be, because the prominent Studrigg Scar and Long Scar (which make the eyes open so wide, even the weariest traveller wouldn’t need matchsticks) do indeed scar the landscape, their bulk making the campsite feel small and intimate. That’s not to say that the site is crowded; each camper has plenty of space, but with hills that look suspiciously like mountains, you can’t help but feel pleased to be tucked between the trees in the valley with the tiny Austwick Beck bubbling past your door rather than pitched up on top of the Scar.

Caravanning at Woodend Farm

Individual hardstanding pitches are raised above the brook, making it a great site to enjoy the views even in the depths of winter when the frost plays games with the sunlight over the hills. A large grass field caters for summer visitors who don’t require hook-ups and provides enough space for children to play football without fear of reprisals from concerned ‘van owners. In spring, lambs cavort around the fields in the valley and up on the bank behind the campsite, where the stone walls keep them from straying to greener grass (most of the time).

Margaret and Edward Hird have been farming the land at Woodend for a lifetime. They’ve been showing the baby animals to excited children staying on the site for over 35 years, and, while the lambs of the seventies have long since seen the mint sauce, the children are still returning, now with their own offspring, to see the latest flock dance in the fields. It’s a comforting cycle, one that shows life moving on and how the beauty of the place and the friendliness of the people gets under the skin and works magic in the hearts of campers.

But it’s not just the campsite that impresses old-timers and newcomers alike. The Yorkshire Dales, with their assortment of peaks, coves, the greenest of green pastures and bleakest of fells, and unique geological features do impetuously force visitors to return. While the three peaks of Ingleborough (this one does ‘hide’ over the top and round the corner from Woodend Farm), Whernside and Pen-y-Ghent look harmless enough on the bluest of summer afternoons, they’ve caught out many a walker on desperate days. They are certainly imposing, both to the fell-runner up for the ultimate of challenges or to the onlooker whose only thought is never to be found at the top of the plateau-shaped peaks.

If you consider yourself an onlooker, then you could do worse than to take a circular tour from the campsite. Taking in Ribblesdale and the road from Ingleton to the Ribblehead Viaduct is one of the most spectacular drives you could possibly find. However, being conscious of filling the clear Dales air with stagnant exhaust fumes, it’s a good flat route for cyclists too. Sometimes, it can feel as if you’re the only person in England and you’re glad to be alone until you reach the meeting point of two roads with the giant viaduct. Here, the world meets to enjoy the views, paddle in the Ribble or picnic in the most open of self-provided restaurants.

Woodend Farm

Austwick, North Yorkshire, LA2 8DH

01524 251296

www.woodendcampsite.co.uk

enquiries@woodendcampsite.co.uk

Opening times: Open all year

Facilities: Ten hardstanding plus additional grass pitches, hook-ups (though less hook-ups than pitches), hot showers, toilets, dishwashing, chemical toilet disposal point. Dogs welcome.

How to get there: From the A65, turn off for Austwick and take the road through the village signed for Horton. The campsite is 1 mile from Austwick on the right.

Food & drink: The Gamecock Inn (www.gamecockinn.co.uk) in the centre of Austwick serves good food using local produce but with a French theme running through the menu; the owner trained as a chef in France.

Nearby attractions: The caves at Ingleborough are filled with a lunar landscape of strange limestone formations, made from thousands of years of dripping calcite deposits. For outdoor wonders, Malham Cove and Gordale Scar provide dramatic scenes, with one of the best-preserved limestone pavements in the world sitting at the top of the Cove.

Alternative campsite: Orcaber Farm (www.caravancampingyorkshiredales.co.uk, tel.: 07800 624994). Less than a mile from Woodend Campsite, it has almost as good views but sits on the southern side of the A65.

Top: Peaceful Woodend Farm, well away from the noisy main roads; Bottom Left: The Yorkshire Dales – perfect walking country; Bottom Right: The entrance to the farm