Skelwith Fold News
Let us help with your petrol costs this Summer - Special Offer!!!
Why not try a mid-week break at Skelwith Fold in your touring caravan or motorhome and get 4 nights for the price of 3 throughout the summer holidays?
Arrive on either Sunday or Monday before 29th August for a 4 night break and you will save up to £28 which even with petrol soaring past £1.20 per litre is enough of a saving to get another 150 miles from the average car.
If you've stayed with us before you'll know that Skelwith is a haven of tranquility, where flora and fauna share their environment with us, and our guests can escape the pressures of the outside world.
If you haven't yet discovered the secret delights of Skelwith Fold - there has never been a better time to do so! Simply quote SQUIRREL when you book to take advantage of this offer. To book please call 015394 32277
The Big Event ‘08
Our summer show is little more than a month away so it’s time to get painting, snapping, weaving, crafting and baking your entries. The event is all about displaying the masses of talent there is amongst the guests, owners, friends and even staff of Skelwith Fold Caravan Park. The idea is to have a bit of fun with competitiveness strictly optional.
You can pick up entry forms at reception and begin handing in your entries in preparation for the big event. The show will be open on Saturday 24th May from 7.00pm until 9.00pm and Sunday 25th May from 10.00am until 1.00pm.
We remind you that we will not accept repeat entries from 2007. This is purely to keep the show fresh and to prevent exceptional pieces dominating any of the categories year after year.
Tasting Evening, Saturday 17th May.
Why not come and join us for another tasting evening where you can sample the latest from some of our local suppliers. On offer will be sausages from Pinks (winner of Britains Best Banger), Cheese from The Cheese Larder, as well as beers from both Coniston and Hawkshead breweries.
A raffle is also to be held with prizes donated by Pinks. All proceeds and contributions, as is now usual, will go to Cumbria Air Ambulance.
The tasting is on Saturday 17th May between 6pm and 8pm.
New Laundrette UPDATE!
You will be pleased to see work starting on the laundrette in the middle Tarn area very soon. There has been a bit of a delay on the building, the main reason for this is we doubled the size and decided to go for a better building. The new building will still have the laundrette in but we have had such a good response to the book amnesty that we are making the library/information/internet room bigger. Thank you to everyone for the books, I think you will be impressed when the building is finished.
Congratulations are in order.
The response to the re-cycling initiative has been a resounding success. It’s hard to believe that we filled an 8 yard skip in 2 weeks, it took our supplier by surprise, so much so that they hadn’t made provision for emptying it so soon. They assure me that this has now been sorted. If possible, please flatten plastic bottles to avoid the skip filling too quickly and being full of air. The cardboard bins are both being filled every week, so I have ordered another. Several people have asked about re-cycling tins etc. So I have ordered another skip, like the plastic one, for metal/tin cans etc. (we still put aluminium drinks cans in the big plastic re-cycle bins, at the top and bottom of the park). Although it costs to get these bins emptied, it is covered by the reduction in our normal green bin empties, hopefully soon we may be able to drop to only 1 empty per week.
Between us we are trying our best to reduce our “carbon footprint” and it is apparent what a difference we can all make with not too much effort, last year all this would have gone straight to landfill.
Thank you all and well done. Keep it up!!
Important: Condition of Gas hoses and regulators
Due to current regulations we can not reconnect gas bottles to hoses that are out of date or cracking, It is the owners responsibility to check these and make sure they are in order.
Gas hoses and pigtails (the black hoses that connect gas bottles to auto changeover valves) Should have no signs of cracking and be within 5 years of manufacture. Each hose has the date stamped on it (not the 1991 approval date) it normally says something like “Nov 2005”. The larger orange pipe that connects the changeover to the van, also date stamped should be changed every 5 years.
Some older vans have a regulator fitted, they should also be changed every 5 years, these have a date also stamped on them, mostly stamped into the flat face of the nut that screws into the bottle (some are underneath and some are on the top surface).
You don’t need to be corgi registered to change the pigtails, a regulator or a black gas hose with jubilee clips, but you do to change the large orange pipe from the changeover to the van. Because we are corgi registered, If you do ask us to change them all, please be aware that we will then have to gas safety check the van and all appliances, which will obviously incur a cost. Alternatively you can contact any of our outside contractors who will be glad to help.
Gas hoses, pigtails and regulators are readily available at any caravan or calor gas dealer, we try to keep a supply of them in our shop too.
3rd March 2008
2008 will see the arrival of our central Laundry block situated next to tarn toilet block. This should spell the end to setting off to use the laundry facilities only to find they’re in use and you’ve had a wasted trip. The number of machines will increase with some larger washers and dryers which will be able to cope with duvets.
The new laundry block will also house a space set aside for a source of local information, leaflets and such, in addition to that available at reception. This space will be known as the Information Centre and will also accommodate a Trust Library where all are welcome to swap, swap and swap again your read books for something different. We stress that this will be a Trust Library and you will all be free to browse and swap until your hearts content. In theory, between yourselves and our tourer guests, the choice of books should be ever changing. If you have any spare or read books please do hand them in to help us get the library off to a well stocked beginning.
8th February 2008
More than likely many of you have already tried at least one of the 13 guided walks from Skelwith Fold which we sell in the shop to raise funds for the Wildlife Fund. In 2007 we have raised a total of £110 from these walks alone. Tony Carroll, the creator of the walks, is braving wind, rain, sleet and all the other charms of the Lake District winter to check and update all of the walks and we will continue to offer them for £1 each in the site shop, this year giving all proceeds to the Cumbria Air Ambulance. You will find a catalogue of the walks on the shop counter to peruse, each marked with approximate time, distance and difficulty.
15th January 2008
A small update on the clearing up of the fallen trees and the converting of their wood to useful timber. The clean up in the woods has obviously slowed down now but is likely to continue, albeit on a smaller scale, for some time, such was the devastation of the storm in January 2005. Alex and Dave of APT Countryside Management have been continuing the lonely task of the clean up and have again been exercising green carpentry to create more bird boxes, path edging, benches and tables throughout the park.
19th December 2007
Wishing all of our customers, guests, suppliers and friends a very special Christmas and a Happy New-Year. We look forward to seeing you all again in 2008.
26th July 2007
We will be holding another one of our popular Batty BBQ's on Saturday 28th July for which tickets are still available. The barbecue starts at 8:00pm and we'd be delighted if you will come and enjoy the night with us. The barbeque is followed by a guided bat walk (bat detectors are provided) and all proceeds from the event go to conservation tasks upon our woodland park.
Can't make this weekend? Don't worry. There will be a second Batty BBQ on Saturday 25th August also beginning at 8:00pm. We look forward to seeing you there.
30th June 2007
Congratulations to Mr Gibson for winning a free nights stay at Skelwith Fold Caravan Park for use whenever he wishes. The free night was awarded again for simply letting us know which pitch he selected on the park. Many thanks to all those who have been returning their entry slips.
31st May 2007
Congratulations to Mr Pearson for having won a free nights stay at Skelwith Fold Caravan Park for whenever he wishes to next return. Every guest of our touring pitches has the chance to win a free nights stay simply by reporting which pitch they have chosen to pitch on. Don't forget to let us know when you're next here or you may miss out.
19th April 2007
Skelwith Fold Caravan Park has been declared overall winner in the holiday park section of the Enjoy England Awards for Excellence, announced at a ceremony in London last night.
We are one of only 12 'Gold' award winners covering all types of holiday accommodation and attractions in England. In order to take the Excellence award, for which some 3000 holiday parks were eligible, Skelwith Fold was subjected to a strict judging process which involved detailed inspections from VisitBritain tourism experts, and the scoring of its standard of facilities and services as well as being assessed for aspects such as its atmosphere, quality of upkeep, helpfulness of staff, and contribution to "green tourism".
Judges commented that “Skelwith Fold was a clear winner through its deep commitment to the environment, and that the Wild’s were wholly committed to the green agenda, and demonstrated the same dedication to encouraging staff development and providing first-class customer service”.
Thank you to all our guests for respecting rules and common sense green code which helps us to keep the site looking tidy in an “as-nature-left-it” sort of a way. Commiserations to our fellow Cumbrian businesses that didn’t quite make it to victory in their respective categories.
12th April 2007
Easter was as busy for us as ever but was made so much easier by continued hot weather. Smiling faces all around then, especially as we achieved our goal after a concerted effort of opening our newly refurbished main toilet block in time for the Easter holiday makers. Feedback on the finish of the block has all been positive and we thank all of our Easter guests for their smiling faces. With the sun beaming and the Rhododendrons blooming at Skelwith Fold it’s hard not to smile.
5th April 2007
March the 1st has come and gone and with it comes the start of another season. Slightly unexpected is the early arrival of some very sunny spring weather interrupted only very briefly by a mini snowfall in March and the odd-April shower. Thankfully (or regrettably depending on your personal preference) the snowfall was short-lived and settled for just half a day or so, failing to mimic the snow fall of March 2006. Forecasts of further heavy snow didn’t prove true and we’re now enjoying beautiful bright sunshine and a site covered in real daffodils much earlier than expected. What a wonderful place to see the vibrant changeable colourings of spring. We look forward to the seeing the bluebells shortly.
28th February 2007
As we reported back in December we have been automatically entered into the England for Excellence Tourism Awards following our win at both the Cumbria for Excellence Awards and North West Tourism Awards in the category of Best Holiday Park. We have just received news that of the nine parks up for the National prize we have been short-listed to the final three and have been invited to the awards ceremony to be held in London in April. While we will be crossing our fingers for an outright victory it is hard not to be flattered enough that we have been recognised as being amongst the top 3 Holiday Parks in the whole of England. We await with much anticipation the result of April’s awards ceremony.
6th December 2006
Next season, during the Whitsun holiday, we intend to hold an “Arts & Crafts” show. Similar shows held in previous seasons were always very well supported and we do have a lot of very talented painters, sculptors, needle workers and photographers (professional and amateurs) on the park and, also, who visit each year as tourers. So, we thought that we would give you all plenty of notice, so you can start thinking and get busy over the winter to produce more top quality exhibits. We intend to put on refreshments and hopefully arrange for some local artists to exhibit their work to add interest and also join the judging panel.
There will be certificates and prizes in each category and in the photography section we will also be looking for the best 12 pictures taken within the park of nature or wildlife for our 2008 calendar.
In order to gauge the interest and set the categories, please collect and complete a “show form”, which will be available from reception at the start of the 2007 season in March, and return it as soon as you are able.
3rd November 2006
Following our success at the Cumbria for Excellence awards we are pleased to announce that we have now also been presented with the North-West Tourism Award for Best Holiday Park. It was with pride that we were nominated for the award and with much glee that we scooped the award above stiff competition. We weren’t the only winners from Cumbria and give our congratulations to Bridge End Farm Cottages winning Self-Catering Holiday of the Year, Averil Dawson and Ann Cook at The Beacon who together were awarded for Excellence in Customer Service and Low Wood Hotel who won the Excellence in Business Tourism award.
Pic left: Skelwith Fold's Henry Wild (left) being presented with the Best Holiday Park award at the NW Tourism award ceremony, 25th October, Manchester Hilton Hotel.
14th & 15th October 2006
On the weekend of the 14th and 15th of this month we would be pleased if you would join us for an informal get together for coffee and biscuits, between 10:30am and 4:00pm on Saturday and Sunday in the Function Room, in order to become better acquainted with our current team at Skelwith.
We will also be opening up our ‘show’ caravans for you to browse, should you wish, and some knowledgeable person will be around if you have any questions.
If you have any spare time during the weekend, please come along and meet us all when we will be delighted to chat over a cup of coffee and light refreshment.
20th September 2006
Storm damage update: You may have spotted Alex and helper hard at work on the Coppice touring area converting all the fallen oaks into useful wood product. Much has been converted into oak beams for the building trade as well as flower troughs and bird boxes. Currently, benches for around the park are being made and all waste wood is being converted to chip wood. See the benches taking shape in the gallery. All profit from sales of this stock is being put into replanting, with particular attention being given to special wildlife habitats as well as the planting of wild flower in the margins of the park as befits our conservation policy.
5th September 2006
A warm welcome to Mike and Jeanette Bullock, our new Wardens, who begin here this month and have now moved into the Chalet on the East side of the Reception Office with their daughters, Hannah and Emma, and their dog “Woody”.
1st September 2006
A film debuts at the Lawns Caravan Show this week made by CITO designed to aid training for the caravan industry on safely siting static caravans. Much of this film is set on Skelwith Fold Caravan Park and features our own team siting a caravan on the Fir Trees area of the park. The film has been made to highlight the extra precaution and planning necessary when siting on a woodland park such as Skelwith Fold.
28th August 2006
Our “Batty Barbecue” this weekend, held to raise funds for the wildlife fund, was a great success. More than 50 people were in attendance to enjoy the barbecue and many waited for night to fall to join the ‘bat walk’ armed with our electronic ‘bat detectors’ and led by one of our knowledgeable volunteers. The evening was a big hit with the kids too and all were pleased to see and hear lots of bats. Thanks go to our bats for their participation.
21st June 2006
A sculpture has been installed in the meadow here at Skelwith Fold for all visitors to see. It is a unique piece sculpted by local artist Katie Eveson.
Katie: "The 'Henge' is a monument to the trees that died in the January '05 storms, bringing together themes of ancient monuments and folklore. These are shown in different elements of the sculpture: the circular layout, circles being the symbol of strength and life, the alignment of the centrepiece North to South and the faces to represent the spirits of these wise old oaks. I wanted to create a tribute to the trees giving the trees a new purpose and life, providing seats amongst the circle where viewers can sit, look and think.
See photos of the 'henge' in the gallery section. This piece is currently unnamed, but going by the name of "Skelwith Henge" so all sugestions are greatly appreciated.
14th June 2006
Skelwith Fold has been awarded the 'Cumbria for Excellence' Award. As a result, we now go on to be entered for the North-West of England for Excellence Award. Cumbria for Excellence is a highly prestigious award and we are delighted to have been recognized above all other entrants as the winner. We look forward to being scrutinized for North-West of England for Excellence award though our competition is strong indeed.
Pic Right: Skelwith Fold's Henry Wild (left) with Eric Robson (right) at Cumbria for Excellence presentation held at Carlisle Race Course.
13th January 2006
Phase 1’ of modernising the top facilities block adjacent to Loughrigg, Garden and Blake Beck has taken place. This means, you’ll find the top block is now better insulated and re-roofed with skylights fitted, meaning brighter and warmer facilities for those using the toilets, showers and washrooms at the top of the park.
16th December 2005
Having just completed a survey of all holiday home owners and tourer customers, we are reviewing the feedback and will be announcing our findings shortly. Our winter programme will involve looking at some of the areas raised in the survey so we can maintain the high standards at Skelwith Fold.
1st November 2005
We have distributed our second ever customer survey to all our residents and tourer customers at Skelwith Fold. There is a free prize draw which offers a digital camera or a set of binoculars to the lucky winner.
