It was mid morning by the time we set off on our pilgrimage up the M6. We were heading up to pick up a campervan from the Roadsurfer Depot in Manchester, where after a fairly swift turnaround we had our rather impressive home for the weekend and we were on our way to the lakes. 

For the trip we would be staying in the roadhouse camper van, the Road House is a 4 berth van with a pop-up roof hiding an expansive double bed up through a hatch and another permanent double bed in the back of the van with a large storage area underneath.

The van comes fully equipped with all the mod cons including a shower, toilet, cooking amenities and so much more. It’s so well thought out with functional and mood lighting, plenty of charging points and places for storage.

We also opted for the bike rack on the back with 2 bikes. Whilst the Roadhouse was feature-laden, they had somehow managed to squeeze everything into a compact sprinter sized van, making it easy to drive (even for novice van drivers) and opening up many options for accessing even the most remote roads or hidden camp spots.

We didn’t really fancy accidentally gatecrashing the local dogging lay-by or being chased off land by angry farmers, so took the more civilised approach to our first van adventure and stuck to proper campsites. The first stop on our trip was ‘Hollows Farm’ campsite located on the other side of Derwentwater to the closest substantial town, Keswick (about a 10 minute drive away).

It’s a small campsite set on a National Trust leased farm and run by a young couple who took over the lease from one of their parents who previously ran the farm. The campsite is fairly basic but that’s just part of its charm with toilet and shower blocks and an outside washing up station all kept meticulously clean and tidy.

It’s also now officially the best campsite I’ve ever stayed on. This place is absolutely magical, but don’t tell anyone as it would be ruined if it became too popular!

The campsite is located on the river Derwent, a beautiful river with swimmable sections perfect for kids. It is also at the base of Castle Crag, a fairly small hill in comparison with the rest of the lakes but still worth the climb. It does feature in Wainwright’s guide, so definitely counts if you are ticking off the list. Routes start and finish right at the campsite, so it’s the perfect spot to explore from Hollows Farm. The route follows the river and includes an option to explore Millican Dalton’s cave. Millican’s cave is not the most significant cave system, but the story behind this wild explorer and the life he led is fascinating (read more about him here). The trail has some steep sections towards the top, but it’s well worth it for the view of the Borrowdale valley and Derwentwater.

There are plenty of other areas to explore with bike routes easily picked up straight from the campsite. We explored Derwentwater which offers lots of picturesque viewpoints from the highs of Cat bells with amazing views of the Derwentwater and the surrounding hills and fast rolling winding country roads. The route drops down into Keswick where we stopped for a quick snack before taking off round the other side of the lake. There are trails (not officially cycling routes) which follow the shoreline. This section was particularly enjoyable exploring beaches on the shore.  We also managed to find cover in a car park when it started to rain (It was typical Lake District Weather when we visited). 

There are quite a few amazing pubs and eateries in the area, but they do book up well in advance, so be sure to bag your table if you have enough planning time. We didn’t really have a plan and as a result had to resort to the many options in Keswick. We found a very pleasant Indian called ‘Lakeland Spice’ (reliably recomended by a cabbie we talked to) which filled our bellies after an exhausting day. 

Looking down from the path up to the Summit of Castle Crag

Views up to Haystacks over Buttermere

Looking back over Buttermere from Haystacks

It feels like a vast wilderness over the other side of Haystacks

A footbridge on the path towards Keswick

Is camper van life for you?

I think everyone has a dream of owning a camper van at some point in their life, but taking the full plunge into van life is quite a bold (and expensive) step into the unknown, so hiring a van makes a lot of sense! There are so many advantages to vans over camping or other accommodation options.

The biggest has to be accessibility as you can delve deeper into the landscape than if staying in a hostel or hotel, but you also benefit from the luxury of a bed, warmth and electricity which is not possible when camping. The next has to be self-sufficiency, as you have all the amenities for cooking and hot water for cleaning and showering for truly off-grid exploring.

Roadsurfer offers vans of all shapes and sizes, from cosy and compact 2-person vans up to larger vans for up to 4 or 5 people. The Road House van we stayed in is a 4 berth van, but unless half of your group are smaller kids, we would suggest it’s a little snug for 4 adults, certainly with inclement weather to contend with. Two couples would need to be fairly happy coexisting in a small space.

Road Surfer also hires bigger mobile homes, but as with everything in life, it’s not without compromises, as the bigger the van, the fewer camping and parking options you have, and certainly some of the roads we went down would have been quite bum-clenching in places in anything bigger than the Road House van.

The Road House camper van