Northumberland in a Motorhome

Travelling north to rural Northumberland is to leave behind congested roads and workaday stressers.  Mind you getting there on the main routes from south to north is inevitably long and slow because of endless roadworks especially if you are travelling in an 8m motorhome, towing a trailer and a noddy car. 

It is worth the journey though.  Once you get past Blackpool, traffic is less and the scenery more breathtaking.  From the west, if you aren't towing I recommend you leave the M6 at Penrith and take the route across the North Pennines via Alston to Hexham.  You will travel over wild moorland, through wooded valleys and midst lush green pastureland.  The UK's varied landscape encapsulated in only 35 miles!

If you are towing you should take the A69 from Carlisle heading towards Hexham and Newcastle.  It's a longer and  less stunning route (still pretty) but safer if you are driving anything with more than 4 wheels and a mobile rear- end that needs a lot of stopping. 

The Abbey in Historic Hexham



Fallowfield Dene - a warm welcome awaits you.



Our home for the week was a lovely peaceful caravan and camping site at Acomb, near Hexham.  It's approached by a narrow road with passing places and the final turn into the entrance is over a narrow wooden bridge, so if you've any doubts about the size and shape of your rigg 'phone ahead first to book and check suitability.  At 8m plus a trailer, we just manage.  The owner told a horrific tale about a large RV that was stuck all day and plans to dismantle fence rails at the bridge if the painfully slow, inch-by-inch manoeverings came to nothing.  It worked eventually - so the bridge was saved.

When we arrived at Fallowfield Dene Caravan and Camping Park (listed with the Caravan and Camping Club) we got a wonderful warm north-east welcome from the owners. 

We were allocated a suitable pitch in one of the large clearings reserved for tourers.   This being Hadrian's Wall country all of the clearings are named after Roman leaders.  We weren't aware of the size of the site until we had a ramble around the curving paths through the woodland.  The 10 static and 120 base pitches for regular weekend and holiday visitors, are all are set up in little clearings, with natural gardens that are beautifully kept by the owners. 

Tidy Loos at Fallowfield

The separate ladies' and mens' loos and shower blocks are pristine.  Showers are free with plenty of hot water.  There are the usual drinking water and chemical toilet emptying points.   There is a laundry room, disabled facilties and an open washing up and veg prep area.  The motorcaravan service point is difficult to get to if you have a larger unit so we drain ours into a container and empty it by hand.

We settled in feeling at home straight away. Putting the kettle on for a cup of tea is one of the first jobs we do.  The electric hook ups are 16 amp so you have no problems if you want to boil a kettle and put the heating on at the same time. 

Go to http://www.fallowfielddene.co.uk/ if you want to find out more about this lovely rural retreat. 

We're so impressed I've just written a review of the site for MMM Magazine which I am hopeful that they will publish.  Keep a look out for it in mag and on http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/

Grasshopper spent most of the week polishing Wanda (motorhome).  I spent time exploring, taking out separately Mam and Sis (who live in the area) in our two seater Smartcar.  More about the interesting places we visited in later blogs.