Saturday:
A relaxed start, not too early – we picked up the ‘van and headed West. We’re off to Blackpool today so we used the A69 to get to the West side and then picked up the M6 to take us South. We used a new service station for this journey, namely ‘Tebay Services’ on the M6. This is a nice services, we enjoyed some hot food (no Greggs here!) and a coffee. There aren’t any dedicated caravan parking bays, but there were enough HGV spaces to take one of these. Following this we soon arrived at Pipers Height, it’s very easy to find being just a stone’s throw from the M55. This is the first time we’ve ever turned up at a campsite without booking it prior. With the weather being so poor the week previous, I didn’t want to book anything and lose money should we have to cancel. We booked in without any issues, although they don’t take credit cards and then were assigned to pitch 18. Most of the pitches on the site are a good size, but 18 is a little small. We aren’t using the awning this trip, so it wasn’t a problem, the pitch is just fine for the ‘van and car. The rest of Saturday was food, TV and relax!
Sunday:
Weather was nice, clear sky and sunshine. We didn’t venture far apart from a trip to Tesco’s to pick up a couple of items we needed. The site started to empty quite a bit today as most of the tourers left. There are quite a few seasonal caravans here as well, so a lot of cars and kids left today as well.
Monday:
Rain and more rain. No chance of getting anywhere today, so we relaxed indoors!
Tuesday:
Glorious weather, woohoo! Off to Blackpool promenade we go. I was going to use the bus to get us there, but there’s plenty of parking in the town centre and would be cheaper than the £5 return ticket per adult. So off we went and parked in the central car park off central drive. This places you right by the tower in-between the North and Central piers. We had a good walk about, took in a Gregg’s breakfast and also discovered that thimbles have disappeared from Blackpool! We spent 3 hours there and then returned back to the site. Weather still great, I washed the ‘van and then we explored the site, mainly via the dog walk, it really is a very nice site.
Wednesday:
Weather still good, not as much sunshine but fine for exploring. So on the agenda today was Stanley Park and Blackpool Zoo. Firstly Stanley Park, which we soon found and parked there. I wasn’t sure if there was any parking there but there is, along the road into the park and coupled with a small car park at the visitor centre. We explored the park and coupled it with memories from visits earlier in our life. We enjoyed a good breakfast at the cafe there. There’s plenty of grounds to walk through and on a warm day, would provide an excellent day out. With the wind biting a little however, we left the park and headed for the zoo. The zoo is only a couple of minutes drive from the park, so we were soon there and parked up, this time at £2.50 per day. We headed into the zoo and spent a good couple of hours looking around. There’s an excellent range of animals and facilities, again in warmer weather a good day can be spent here. Once we’d covered all the animals we left and collected our photo on the way out. Blackpool promenade, zoo and Stanley Park are essential to visit if coming to Blackpool. With further time and better weather we’d have liked to have covered Blackpool South and Lytham St Annes, there’s certainly plenty to do here. Back at base, we relaxed and waited for the forecast rain to descend!
Thursday:
The rain came through the night but the actual day wasn’t too bad. Regardless, we usually like to stay on site on the penultimate day, do a spot of cleaning etc. This is what we did, whilst watching a few new arrivals.
Friday:
Smooth journey home.
The site is very new and so has excellent facilities. All pitches are hard-standing and fully serviced with own water tap, 16A EHU and grey waste disposal. The washblock is superb, underfloor heating and kept spotlessly clean. Showers are large but utilise the push button valve, which only lasts a few seconds. Surely there is something better in this day and age for such a modern washblock? The lighting could also be improved as the toilet cubicles were very dark, although I did see one spot wasn’t working so this probably the cause. Pitches are separated by small hedges so are well defined. There is a children’s play park and a dog walk on site as well. Reception sells some basic food items as well as providing plenty of information on the surrounding area and activities to do. There is a clubhouse on site as well, but this is located over on the static site, so doesn’t impact on the touring area. Entrance is via an ANPR barrier, so no key fobs here! For Blackpool, it’s an excellent site.
- Date: 10th March 2018
- Nights: 6
- Pitch #: 18
- GPS: 53.784935, -2.979533
- M55 > A583 > Peel Road