We recently had a little break in the Northern Lakes at an amazing place called Scales Plantation. It's a family run encampment site on an upland farm. They describe it as a back to nature experience. In fact, in the guest book, someone had described it as Swallows & Amazons for adults - perfect!
In the middle of Greystokes Forest is a little clearing for the Skiddaw site.
There's a shepherd's hut to sleep in, and a wooden shelter to cook and hang out.
They've really thought of everything to make it cosy, including a wonderful welcome basket with lots of scrummy locally produced food! All the spaces were equipped with log burning stoves - including the bathroom which was a luxury!
It was typical Lakes weather but it didn't really seem to matter. There was sporadic mobile reception and no TV to be distracted by. There was lots of reading, tea drinking, walking and relaxing.
I loved making the fires and then cooking in the oven.
When the skies were clear, they were big, and the light was beautiful both day and night.
To top it off, we saw red squirrels leaping around in the trees and a roe deer close to camp.
When we left, I immediately felt a pull to return. What a beautiful hideaway.