Barnard Castle: Easter 2009

It’s the start of our second season as caravan converts and we’ve chosen to spend it at the C&C Club site near Barnard Castle in County Durham.

This trip also marks our first foray with our new puppy, Lucy (pictured); who we’ve had since January so there was some apprehension as to how she’d settle in. At 6 months old and still convalescing after having just had her “tubes” cut a few days prior to setting off, we had some concerns.

A two hour trip north up the A1 and along the A66 and we were at the site which would be our base for the next four nights which means us packing up and leaving on Easter Sunday. The site itself is about two miles outside the town along a fast and pathless B road; a fact that was to prevent us visiting the town on foot over the next few days. Car only I’m afraid. A downside to the site’s location!

So we’re here and what do we think?

On the upside and as usual with Camping and Caravanning Club sites everything is immaculate and well organised. Added to this we were greeted by a friendly couple spouting those wonderful, soft, North East tones that we love.

Immediately to the rear of the site behind the “bog block” (our term for the toilet and shower block on these sites) is access to a “dog walking area” which doubles as a bridal path for the adjacent riding school; a run which takes you through a copse, past a stream and onto the entrance road of the school itself. Lucy’s reaction to these big animals is still at the “what the hell are those?” stage – but she’ll learn.

Barnard Castle itself is a market town, very reminiscent of Skipton in Yorkshire (if you’ve ever been there) in that it has a wide central street which is turned into a street market on market days and acts as a car-parking area on others. Like Skipton, the town boasts a myriad of small independent shops which is always good to see and the locals are not short of a pub or three to visit. A small Morrison’s supermarket hides away behind the town centre shops and helped us stock up on some missed essentials (like more beer). A ruined castle (“Barnard’s Castle”) overlooks the town and offers a good starting point to explore.

This being the Easter weekend the site soon filled up to capacity with a mixture of tents and caravans (or ‘vans’ as they are affectionately known). In our excursions to date as newbie caravanners we’ve generally only encountered a small percentage of tenters at any of the sites we’ve visited, but this time the mix looked to be fifty-fifty. Lots of families too!

As we discover more we’ll write again in the next post…

Tags: Barnard Castle, Co. Durham, Dogs