ambleside aire

easter weekend ambleside aire

stayed three nights, water and elsan available, secure padlocked site, quiet, a few minutes walk into the centre of Ambleside. If you don't want any frills, this is ideal. Can prebook a pitch if you like (would recommend this during a bank holiday). 15 vans there this weekend, and a nice EAster present of hot cross buns for everyone there!
 
Just got back home, Great 3 days there! The location is perfect wether you are a cyclist, walker or driver. We cycled over to Windermere and went walking another day. For those who dont like using their toilet in the van there is a public toilet very close. There is also a good playground for the kids just a stones throw away. The site was perfectly clean with no litter. A big thank you to Graham the site manager who made us very welcome. We will be back there again soon.
 
Ambleside aire

Just back from a glorious weather weekend on millers field. Agree with others its a great location and we do not object to paying £6 for 24hours parking.
Talking to Graeme I can confirm he has no plans to add EHUs or toilets or turn it into a campsite. we will definatly re visiting probably in winter when Ambleside is slightly quieter.
 
According to some people on the not so fun site who have just come back from this aire it has gone up to £10 a night for any size of motorhome (as of 1st July) Graham gives you a £3 discount a night if you show a motor caravan club membership card.
 
Gina said:
According to some people on the not so fun site who have just come back from this aire it has gone up to £10 a night for any size of motorhome (as of 1st July) Graham gives you a £3 discount a night if you show a motor caravan club membership card.
Click to expand...

Recently back from an extended trip to the Lake District, during which, in addition to wildcamping, we used three Caravan Club CLs, all with EHU, at costs of between £6 and £9 - I wont be using what amounts to an unserviced car park for £10 per night! To call it an aire is an insult to a superb French system!
 
Supply and demand...

Gina said:
According to some people on the not so fun site who have just come back from this aire it has gone up to £10 a night for any size of motorhome (as of 1st July) Graham gives you a £3 discount a night if you show a motor caravan club membership card.
Click to expand...

I suppose its a little supply and demand thingy...
£7 with a membership card, just about acceptable, but any more and a no no...
 
Just stayed for a night. Agree with the previous remark about ' this is not an aire'. In fact I think it is now a rip off. £10 a night gets a place on a side-shoot of the car park. No proper water / dump just a temp hole in the ground. The large field next to the site is now being used for 'motorhome rallies' we were told. The council (pee'd off over this) demanded a % for any van using the rally field, so the owner (he owns the car park, the aire and the rally field) has decided to jump from £6 to £10 for use of the aire to cover this. We chatted to the nice chap who runs it for him (Graham?) and made the point that it's not an aire - most of these are free and those that do charge are only a fiver at the most. Saddly won't be going back at this price.
 
We have a large van and paid £8 last time, so the increase doesnt seem as much.

If you park a car in the car park you pay £7 a day, so i suppose £10 isnt too bad for a town centre location. Once there you wont need to move your van as you can walk or cycle loads of places from there. So if you stayed on a remote CL you would end up paying extra in diesel and parking to get into town. Not to mention the hassle of finding parking, especially in a big van.

If you want to visit Ambleside for a day or so I dont think you will find a better location, or a cheaper one if you add the extra diesel and parking.

I chose motorhoming to relax, once I get in my van I am on holiday. I dont need to rush to get to a check in at a hotel or site by a stupid time. I dont want to have to search a whole town for an hour to park my van. At Ambleside I turn up when I want, let myself in, fill up with lakeland water from the tap near the gate and I am ready to have a relaxing drink.
 
Ambleside 'Aire'

If read carefully you will see that the advertising blurb for the site states it is 'based on the European aires system', the important word being 'based'. Until the attitudes of the governing authorities in this country change radically there NEVER will be a true aires system.

The adjacent car park, run by the South Lakes District Council, charges £7.00 for 10 hours parking, there are no height restriction barriers BUT the local traffic wardens (is that a politically correct description anymore?) are very keen and WILL ticket you for over staying or overnighting.

For an extra £3.00 Miller Field offers secure, level, 18 hardstanding or 30 grass camping pitches (seasonal), with a fresh water supply and toilet disposal point, within a 2 minute walk of the town centre.

The European authorities are streets ahead of the UK when it comes to catering for motorhomes and actively supply or support their aires systems - here in the UK the authorities are so short-sighted that anyone having the patience and tenacity to fight them in a bid to supply facilities for motorhome camping at a reasonable cost deserves a medal!
 
We enjoyed our stay there last year and whilst not free very reasonable compared to others we tried
 
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