With the weather finally improving, we had high hopes for some sunshine this weekend, so a trip to Northumberland was booked in. The site I’d chosen this time was a CL in Powburn, very close to the River Breamish CC site we’d visited back in 2012.
The journey there was smooth and straight forward. The entrance to the site can easily be missed, but I made sure we didn’t miss this one! Access to the farm is via a single track lane, which is well maintained with no potholes. The CL is accessed via the back of the farm buildings, well sign posted. We duly arrived to find 4 of the 5 pitches taken, so we began to pitch up on the remaining pitch. Just as we were about to put legs down the owner, Harry made an appearance. He told us that this pitch was reserved for another client arriving and that we would be put in the ‘top’ field, as we were only here for 2 days! So, avoiding the grass we swung the ‘van around with the mover, hitched up, drove back to the entrance and then had to reverse all the way back up the sloping site, through a gate and park in the top ‘private’ field. Not really a manoeuvre a client should be expected to do, which resulted in a bit of clutch abuse. Never-the-less, we pitched up and enjoyed our evening.
Sunday, weather very nice – hooray! We had a relaxed morning with breakfast and then headed out for a walk. I was planning on going to the river, accessed via a public footpath from the site, but it was still water logged, so we retreated. There is an old railway route running past the farm, I though we could walk a bit of this, but this seems to have been commandeered by a quarry company, so no luck there. Returning back to the ‘van, we sat outside a little and then enjoyed some lunch inside. We noted a few cars running over the grass which won’t impress Harry, but the gravel road is simply not wide enough to avoid this, bad weather is going to bring this problem – and as this site is open all year, some work needs done here to avoid this.
Overall this site is very nice, pitches are mostly hardstanding (5), but access involves driving your vehicle on the grass, like most small CL’s, so it can get muddy. EHU (16A) and water points are plentiful, bins and CDP are also neat, located by the toilet. Talking of the toilet, this is a very nice space, located in a farm building. It is nicely tiled, very clean and contains a sink, toilet, mirror and waste bin. Grey waster is in the ‘hedge’, or as we were told, in the woods access via the back of our field! That is a bit much in my books, a couple of appropriately placed drains would help this situation. We enjoyed our stay, and it has a cosier feel than the CC site located just down the road. Price is very reasonable as well.
- Date: 14th April 2018
- Nights: 2
- Pitch #: 55.454548, -1.907636
- GPS: 55.454637, -1.907132
- A697