IT HAD been a good 20-plus years since I had last holidayed in a caravan.
With memories of being squashed into a small over-the-cab bed in my parents’ caravanette, it was with a sense of trepidation that I set off for Holgates Caravan Park in Silverdale, close to the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales.
And this time around I was a 30-something mum myself, worried how caravan life would fair with my young brood.
But I need not have fretted about a lack of space or home comforts for there’s a very good reason why this Cumbrian spot has won AA’s National Campsite of the Year Award for 2011.
It’s certainly one of the more upmarket caravan sites and as well as being quiet, secure, clean and well-kept, it is also set in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. So it ticks a number of boxes.
Our home for three comfortable nights was one of the site’s spacious static caravans, which are set in more than 100 acres of limestone woodland, around a 20-minute walk from the village of Silverdale.
It boasted an open plan lounge, kitchen and dining area, three bedrooms, one with a double bed and the other two with twin beds, and there were two bathrooms.
The spacious lounge featured a large L-shape sofa, a flat-screen TV with a built-in DVD player, an electric fire and a dining table.