Low Greenside Farm Campsite

Low Greenside Farm sits just outside the eastern side of the Lake District, making it perfect for touring both the lakes and the Yorkshire Dales. Here the landscape is more open, with the soaring peaks of the lakes replaced by smooth wide hills that can be just as dramatic as their more famous neighbours. It's a more peaceful area, and Low Greenside ensures this quality extends to the site with only a handful of pitches available.

The site is beautifully simple, encompassing a large rectangular field ringed by stone walls and rising to a gentle bump in the centre, the grass beautifully mown with patches of wildflower meadow left to run. It has grown up gracefully since our first visit: the facilities are now housed in a proper toilet and shower block rather than the old static caravan, and the owner Magnus has thought of everything, from phone charging lockers to genuinely good recycling for cans, cardboard, food waste and plastic. The one thing to know is that you park up and barrow your kit across to the pitch, which is a small price for keeping cars off the field but worth planning for if you don't travel light.

The Black Swan pub is a short walk away in Ravenstonedale and has a shop for supplies. The village even boasts a 9-hole golf course and tennis court, with the nearest town of Kirkby Stephen a few miles up the road. At Low Greenside you'll begin to mark time passing by the herd of dairy cows that are sent to be milked twice a day. Campfires are allowed, with wood supplied on site, and at night the sky shines bright with stars. Perfect.