Lake District Glamping in a Gypsy Caravan

May half term is the time when we go camping or glamping together as a family. We can usually grab from Monday to Friday and cope with B&B guests during both weekends. For the past three years we have visited Low Wray campsite, on Windermere, near Ambleside in the Lake District. The first year we stayed in a pod, then a yurt, and this year we decided to stay in a gypsy caravan. As the caravan is small, it comes with an additional tent which houses a kitchen area, table and two comfy chairs. The gypsy caravan itself has a log burner, a double bed and two benches, one of which turns into bunk beds for two children under ten.

glamping in a gypsy caravan

There is storage packed in everywhere in the caravan. Underneath the benches and the double bed. There are cupboards everywhere. There is a light in both the caravan and the tent and they are definitely enough to see by in the dark, but I also had a head torch so that I could read my book at night! The table in the tent had two chairs, so it wasn't possible to sit as a family of four at the same table. It was a small tent, but it gave us somewhere warm and dry to sit in the evenings when the children were asleep in the caravan.

Inside a gypsy caravan

The campsite is well located in the Lake District and there are absolutely loads of activities for children to do, in wet or dry weather! We had a wonderful day out at Brockhole in Windermere. We went to Treetop Nets, which we had been on once before a couple of years ago. It is a wonderful place to spend a few hours. The nets themselves are suspended in the air, attached to trees and poles. It's fantastic fun. Also at Brockhole you can do a Treetop Trek, ride horses, play crazy golf or do a whole host of watersports. There is also an indoor cafe and play area for younger children.

Treetop Nets Windermere

From Low Wray, you are around twenty minutes drive to the ferry crossing point across to Bowness. You can travel with your car on the ferry and the actual crossing itself only takes around five minutes. We got the ferry across one day and then drove down to the South Lakes to visit the aquarium. The South Lake Aquarium is one of my favourite places to visit. It is fully set up for families and children. It takes long enough to go around and there are often treasure hunts or special worksheets to follow, which helps to slow the children down. My favourite things are the ants, they are absolutely incredible (watch my video at the bottom of this post to see more). There is a dressing up box and I also absolutely love that grown-ups can dress up too. My husband is a lucky man!

dressing as a lobster

The only real dampener on our break was the weather. We were so lucky last year and didn't experience any rain at all. This year we weren't so fortunate, and the rain was rather loud on the top of our caravan at night! It also meant that we had to light the log burner, mainly to dry our shoes out as every pair we wore got soaked! It wasn't awful weather every day, and thankfully the Lake District is beautiful whatever the weather!

Lake windermere in the rain

We didn't need to entertain the children everyday. To be honest, they were happiest running around the campsite and playing with the new friends they had made. My daughter had a wonderful time simply collecting petals from the floor where they had dropped in the wind. I think she had plans to make them into perfume, but after a day walking they were not in quite the best condition!


Our children are happy (ish) to walk and can manage between five and eight miles before they are completely fed up! We have previously walked up Loughrigg Fell, but this year decided to walk to Easedale Tarn. Both children like to have something to challenge them on a walk, preferably a hill and they also like something when we get to the top, so we thought the tarn at the top of a hill would fit the bill. You start the walk in Grasmere and it is between a four and five mile walk depending on the route you take. We passed two waterfalls on the way up, and although it was a relatively steep incline, we were kept entertained and there were incredible views all the way to the top.

View to Grasmere

Sadly the tarn didn't have quite the effect we had hoped for. Whilst we were impressed, my daughter sat still for around ten minutes, looked at us and declared, "all it is is a circle of water". Well she wasn't wrong. I think she expected a little more at the top! It was a beautiful walk and certainly very manageable with children.

Walking down from Easedale Tarn

We had a wonderful five days and were never at a loss for things to do or keep ourselves busy. It's such a beautiful part of the world and definitely one we would consider living in! It is so nice to see the children being free to roam and explore and play with friends. I also find it incredibly relaxing being surrounded by nature, having to cook on a camp stove and wake to the sound of birdsong. It's a wonderful way to spend time!


We're hoping to go glamping again next May and I imagine we will be back in the Lake District. I think after our experiences of staying in a pod, yurt and gypsy caravan now, we have definitely preferred the yurt and will be hoping to stay in one again! One thing I would definitely be up for trying (if we can afford it) is staying in a yurt with a private toilet. There's something about camping and being outdoors that seems to mean the children need to go for a wee in the middle of the night and it would be great to have a toilet close by! Have you ever visited the Lake District, or do you have any camping or glamping sites you would recommend?

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