Waterside House Campsite

Lake District

& what’s nearby

Howtown Road
Pooley Bridge
Penrith
Cumbria CA10 2NA

Tel: 017684 86332

Waterside House farm and Campsite have been run by the same family for five generations.

The farmhouse is dated 1694 and is part of a working farm with land covering 279 acres. The farm is home to a flock of Swaledale Ewes, who spend most of their time on the nearby Barton Fell.

At certain times of the year you may see the sheep being dipped, sheared or even the birth of a lamb. You will certainly see sheepdogs at work.

Cattle and calves are reared and can be seen in the fields around the campsite during the summer months.

There is onsite Rowing Boat, Canadian Canoe, Kayak Hire & Mountain Bike Hire

Tents, Campervans, Motorhomes & Caravans

Glamping. Tipi and Pod Hire

Modern shower & toilet facilities with hot water to all basins
Dishwash areas
Rijo Coffee Machine (Laundry)
Family room including baby bath with shower head.
Electric hook-up pitches available, please check.
Free WiFi (In reception shop area only)
Hand & hairdryers
On-site cafe.
Book Swap (situated in the Laundry)
Chemical disposal ELSAN point
Disabled Toilet
Fully equipped laundry
Children’s play area (in the family field)
On-site shop
Gas and bottle exchange
Firepit hire (subject to availability)
Logs and Kindling
Freezer for ice-pack use
Boat launch and car-parking
Volleyball and table tennis (free of charge small deposit payable)
Charge your phones and laptops in the shop for £1 per item
Recycling (paper glass and cans)

From the North: – Leave the M6 at junction 40 and take the A66 towards Keswick. At the roundabout, turn left onto the A592. About 4 miles along this road, look out for the B5320 and turn left onto it. You are now on the road to Pooley Bridge. Once you have crossed the bridge, drive through the town until you reach a roundabout, turn right onto High Street. Take the first right and after about 1 mile, you will have arrived at the campsite. Entry to the campsite involves a tight right-hand turn.

From the South: – Leave the M6 at junction 40 and take the A66 towards Keswick. At the roundabout, turn left onto the A592. About 4 miles along this road, look out for the B5320 and turn left onto it. You are now on the road to Pooley Bridge. Once you have crossed the bridge, drive through the town until you reach a roundabout, turn right onto High Street. Take the first right and after about 1 mile, you will have arrived at the campsite. Entry to the campsite involves a tight right-hand turn.

From the East: – Take the A66 towards Keswick. Once you have driven under the M6 at junction 40, continue and at the next roundabout, turn left onto the A592. About 4 miles along this road, look out for the B5320 and turn left onto it. You are now on the road to Pooley Bridge. Once you have crossed the bridge, drive through the town until you reach a roundabout, turn right onto High Street. Take the first right and after about 1 mile, you will have arrived at the campsite. Entry to the campsite involves a tight right-hand turn.

From the West: – Take the A66 towards Penrith. At the roundabout before the M6 junction turn right onto the A592. About 4 miles along this road, look out for the B5320 and turn left onto it. You are now on the road to Pooley Bridge. Once you have crossed the bridge, drive through the town until you reach a roundabout, turn right onto High Street. Take the first right and after about 1 mile, you will have arrived at the campsite. Entry to the campsite involves a tight right-hand turn.

Lake Ullswater. The campsite sits on the banks of the second largest lake in the Lake District. It is 9 miles long and 0.75 miles wide. Here are some pointers for a good day out –

Take a cruise with Ullswater ‘Steamers’ where you get completely different views and experience of this unique landscape. You can jump on board at the Pooley Bridge Pier, just over a 1-mile walk from the campsite.

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Take the Ullswater Steamer to Howtown. From here you can enjoy various walks but here are 2 walks that we would recommend.

Howtown to Glenridding walk. This 7-mile walk from Howtown to Glenridding, along the southern shoreline can only be explored by boat or on foot, which creates a tranquil and picturesque walk.
Hallin Fell. A short circular walk above Howtown, you will very quickly have views of mountains and valleys. This is an easy assent for maximum views down over Ullswater and if you are lucky, you might get a high-speed fighter jet passing you as they train here regularly. You might even be able to wave at the pilot!

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Aira Force. The Ullswater Steamer stops at Aira Force pier and the famous waterfall is just over a 1-mile walk. Or you can park in the National Trust pay and display car park just off the A592.

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Pooley Bridge is a short walk from the campsite. The best and most scenic way is to walk to the far end of the campsite, with Ullswater on your left, go through the small gate, pass Gale Bay and keep walking. You will soon reach the River Eamont and Lakeland Boat Hire. Follow the river and you will soon be in Pooley Bridge. The name Pooley Bridge derives from a large pool in the River Eamont,” The Hill by the Pool”. The ‘Bridge’ part of the name was added in 1800. The town had a famous bridge, which was built in 1764 but was destroyed by floods in December 2005. There is now a replacement bridge project.

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Dalemain Mansion & Historic Gardens is a family home to the Hasells since 1679, Dalemain is a beautiful mixture of Medieval, Tudor & Georgian architecture situated in a landscape of rolling parkland, lakes and rugged Cumbrian hills. 4-mile walk from the campsite.

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Lowther Castle. The gardens and castle at Lowther have laid abandoned for 70 years and in 2011 opened for the first time since 1938. Visitors can follow simple routes through the 130 acres of gardens and castle terraces. Just over 9 miles from the campsite.

Our journey to Waterside House had been a combination of chasing the sun, running away from the rain and squeezing in a music festival. The music festival was first, Killin Music festival is held every June in the Scottish town of Killin. This great wee festival showcases local talent and established acts such as Trail West. Then it was a 154 miles drive to Seahouses, a seaside town on the northeast coast of England. The weather was nice and sunny for a couple of days but the rain was forecast, coming in from the East. So, we looked West and that’s when we discovered Waterside House Campsite. Situated in the Lake District, on the shores of Lake Ullswater and forecast to be sunny for a few days. Just the small matter of a 127 miles drive!

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We arrived early in the afternoon and were met with a friendly member of staff who checked us in and directed us to an area, next to the lake, that we could pitch up. The site is well organised with plenty of open space and not regimented into allocated pitches. This created a degree of freedom regards pitching up and we soon found our ideal spot, next to a fellow campervanner. The views from our pitch were spectacular and we looked forward to exploring this lovely part of the world.

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We soon struck up a conversation with our campervan neighbours or at least we thought it was ‘neighbours’. An elderly couple who were clearly old hands at camping and were regulars at this campsite. It became a bit more confusing as we discovered that the lady was the owner of the campervan and enjoyed her space, preferring to sit in her van with a glass of wine and read. The gentleman, on the other hand, was very talkative and enjoyed sharing his stories. He, it turned out, had his own tent with him which was pitched up on the other side of the lady’s campervan. Explaining that he and his friend often arranged to meet up and pitch up together. Apparently, his wife was happy with this arrangement!

Unfortunately, we have forgotten our elderly gentleman’s name so for the purposes of our story, we’ll call him ‘Bob’.

Bob was keen to share his knowledge of the surroundings and he did have a pleasant and helpful manner about him, if not a bit overtalkative but we put this down to his friendliness and maybe a touch of loneliness. As a result, we agreed to Bob’s suggestion to walk with us into Pooley Bridge and he can continue to share his stories. So off we set with Bob in tow and an expectation that our afternoon would involve a very slow walk into Pooley Bridge and be a party to numerous stories and local information.

Luckily for Bob, Aileen and I are amenable, tolerant types who always try to see the good intentions in people. So, we were able to filter out his occasional anecdotes that were clearly no longer PC in this era and accept his advice and suggestions.

On arrival at Pooley Bridge, we made our way to Crown Inn for a refreshment and treated Bob to a well-earned pint. We sat outside and assessed to new Pooley bridge construction and tried to imagine how heart-breaking it must have been for the village to lose its old bridge to a flood.

Now that we had a large list of places to visit, thanks to Bob, we were keen to get back to the campsite, sit down with a glass of wine and discuss our options. On the way back, Bob invited us to his campfire social evening that he was organising. He was keen to invite other neighbours, bring out his guitar and sing the night away. He mentioned that he had brought along some ‘special’ alcohol, which made us a bit nervous but we agreed to come along.

Unfortunately, for Bob, the weather took an unexpected turn for the worst that evening. Just as Bob was tuning his guitar, the wind and rain started and there was no letup.

That was just about the last time we saw Bob. The next day, he was nowhere to be seen. His friend was still in her campervan reading but no sign of Bob. Did he mange to convince any other neighbour to come to his campfire sing-along? Did he consume all the ‘special alcohol’ himself? Did he have a falling out with his friend when he got back to the campsite and told her that he had invited half the campsite back for a party? We’ll never know but we genuinely hope he has finally managed to have his campfire sing-along at some point. All the best Bob.

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So, what did we decide to do in the end? Well, we were only staying for 2 nights, which obviously limited us. We had spent the first afternoon in Pooley Bridge with Bob but now that the late-night campfire drinking session was cancelled, we could get up nice and early the next day.

We decided to take the Ullswater Steamer – Lady of the Lake to Howtown and climb Hallin Fell. Not the most energetic of climbs but it suited our schedule as we wanted to get back a go back into Pooley Bridge by ourselves, have a wander about and go for a meal.

We would definitely recommend a trip on an Ullswater Steamer. It’s so graceful and stylish as it cuts through the water with a view in every direction. We even got a glimpse of Dora, our Autoleeper Duetto campervan pitched up at the campsite as we passed by.

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The first thing you will notice when you arrive at Howtown is that there is a distinct lack of ‘town’. There is a small pier and a wooden hut but that’s about it. There is probably a straight forward route from the pier to Hallin Fell but as usual, we got a bit lost. At one point we were heading towards Howtown Hotel, which actually turned out to be a great refreshment stop once we were back down from Hallin Fell and were awaiting the return trip on the Lady of the Lake but for the purposes of going up Hallin Fell, it was the wrong direction. For those of you who take this trip and end up facing a driveway up to the hotel, simply turn around 180’ and start walking down the path towards the lake. Turn left with the lake on your right and then take the first left. At the end of this path, you will be at a path T-junction. You now have a choice. If you turn left you can assent Hallin Fell on a less steep but longer path or you can turn right and follow a steeper but shorter route. In the end, we opted to turn left and do a circular route, taking back down the steep side. Either way, the views are worth it, especially looking down on Lake Ullswater from the top.

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This was a short but memorable trip and we will definitely be back to explore more. We will also return to Waterside House campsite and may just maybe get invited to a campfire social night!