Sitting out an English Heatwave in our Motorhome in Kendal

We like it hot…. but, not this hot! Those famous words from Peter Kay rang so true this week. It’s been a scorcher, over 30°C in the van at times. Very hot weather and motorhomes aren’t a great combination unless you’re somewhere that you can sit outside, ideally with the van under shade too. With that in mind, and nowhere booked for the weekend, we headed to Kendal. We knew there were several options for staying around the town, one of which we hoped would be able to fit us in on the first weekend of the school holidays.

Driving into the town our first stop was to restock our diminished food supplies. We’d stayed at Seathwaite Farm Campsite for longer than expected, so the cupboards were getting bare. As I did a huge shop in the lovely air conditioned supermarket, Jay sweltered in Zagan checking out the places for us to stop for the night.

There is a simple site (no shower block) in town which gets great reviews. When Jay called, the owner told us she was full due to travellers having arrived on land adjacent to the site, meaning she couldn’t use all of her pitches, but there was a Camping and Caravan Club Temporary Holiday Site (THS) next door. We knew there was a THS in the area as we had tried to call to book in several times but couldn’t get through.

Emerging from the supermarket felt like stepping off a plane in Spain, the hairdryer wave of heat hitting me. On a previous visit to Kendal we stayed overnight in our motorhome at the Kendal Cricket Club, but it wouldn’t be the done thing to get the awning and chairs out there. As the THS was only about half a mile from the supermarket, we headed over to see if they could fit us in. Like the THS we stopped at near Lyme Marina, the site is basically a field with a water tap, somewhere to empty the loo and a skip for rubbish (grey waste water can be dumped around the edge of the field), but at only £9 a night, it is perfect for us.

We pulled Zagan up to the locked entrance gate and were greeted by one of the wardens. He eyed us up and down as I explained we hadn’t booked but were looking to stay. Once it became clear that we were members of the Camping and Caravan Club and were allowed to stay, the gate was opened for us and he explained the situation.

The THS is being run on two large fields just under a mile from the centre of Kendal (N54.339246,W2.732554). Next to it, and sharing the same entrance gate is Spital Caravans, which is like a motorhome aire with marked pitches and hook-up for £15 a night. This looks like a great option if the THS isn’t on when you want to visit or you aren’t members of the C&CC.

Between Spital Caravans and the local tennis club is a small field, and it is here that several traveller caravans have parked up. To anyone walking past who doesn’t know what is going on, it just looks like one big happy campsite spread over a few fields, but those in know would spot the difference. The area where the handful of travellers have parked was strewn with washing drying on the surrounding fences, and had several bin bags of rubbish dumped in a pile by the tennis club car park.

The arrival of the traveller caravans brought fear to the other side of the low fence separating the fields. This has resulted in some of the ‘aire’ pitches being left unoccupied as they were adjacent to the travellers, and an overnight security guard being brought in. The site wardens are also having to sit by the locked entrance gate all day to let us in and out. One stayed up until 2am last night to let late arrivals in, who never showed up. It’s such a shame to feel actions like this need to be taken. I’m not sure if anyone has even gone to talk to the travellers, but from hearing the other folks on the THS, it is needed for them to feel secure.

We’ve witnessed how the traveller community is accommodated across Europe. In several countries specific sites are set up for them on the edge of communities, locked so us cheeky motorhomers can’t park in them, but unlocked for the travellers when they arrive. There are some places like this in the UK too, but it seems there are too few of them, we don’t know really. Jay and I have done our share of wild camping in our time across Europe and North Africa, often where it’s not strictly legal. We’ve always been careful to leave no trace of our stay, to not stay long, to avoid larger gatherings and to keep a low profile, but it’s made us more sympathetic of the travellers I think.

I’m torn as I write this. I know I shouldn’t be prejudiced, but I too can still sense some fear from them being parked nearby and personally would not want to go and strike up a conversation or join them. Would I have such fear if they travelled around in the lovely painted carts of old days? Or, if I hadn’t watched clearly biased TV programmes about the darker side of the traveller community? I really would like to think that they are simply living their way of life, as generations have done before them, and they just want to park up and keep to themselves as much as we do.

The travellers have since the left the site having stayed for a week. The school who owns the land understandably didn’t want to pay the cost of evicting them (who knew there was a fee involved?), and it seems they went of their own accord. We’re told a couple of guys spent an hour or two gathering rubbish together from the site after they’d gone. Now, other than a burned patch in one corner where they had a fire, there’s no sign they were there. We’ve seen photos of camping fields in much, much worse states at the end of music festivals in the UK.

Exploring Kendal

For the first few days in Kendal we did little but keep cool. We’ve had plenty of practice of coping in a motorhome in a heatwave so towels covered sun facing windows, the awning was out and silver screens on, the fridge was kept in shade and we also kept cool in the shade with plenty of water to drink. My feet even dipped into a washing up bowl of cold water a couple of times.

Runs and walks were undertaken early in the morning or late in the evening, and at night one of us slept in the drop down bed while the other slept on the pull out bench bed next to an open window. We managed to get all of our dirty clothes washed in a nearby laundry, it was almost dry before we got back to the campsite. Then on Friday night we bought fish and chips and ate them by the river, enjoying the cooler air as nippers played in the fish step, designed to allow migrating fish up the river.

On Saturday morning the heatwave finally broke, so we could go and properly explore Kendal. Our first stop was the castle on a hill overlooking the town. The first wooden castle was built on the site around 1184 by the then Lord of Kendal, Gilbert Fitz Reinfred to fend off Scottish attacks. His son built the stone castle around 1240 and over time it became a fortified manor house and status symbol of the baron’s wealth and power. The castle was never attacked, but the town of Kendal was devastated by Scottish raids in 1189, 1316 and 1322, so it looks like the hill defences worked.

The most famous owners of the castle were the Parr family, their daughter Queen Catherine Parr being the sixth wife of Henry the VIII, also known as the lucky one (divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived)! I say owners rather than residents as it seemed most of the Lords of Kendal lived in London and had people run their castles for them.

After a good explore of the castle, we headed downhill to the town. First popping to the Kirkland area of Kendal, which used to be a separate township with its own court rules and regulations. Traders whose goods didn’t meet the standards of Kendal market or who couldn’t afford the fees of the Kendal guilds set up their businesses in Kirkland. These days it’s simply part of the main street and you have to look carefully to spot the Blindbeck Stream which used to mark the boundary.

The rest of the day was taken up looking around the town and the famous Kendal yards and alleyways branching off the main roads. There used to be around 150 yards, some of them named after the person who lived in the house at the top, but a lot of them are just numbered. The yards would house industries such as factories, weaving shops, dye works, cabinet makers and bake houses.

One thing that the yards have in common is that they slope down towards the River Kent. Some have steps down into the river for washing sheep wool. One yard we walked through (New Shambles) had a plaque at the top informing us it used to house 12 butchers who slaughtered animals on-site, and the blood would run down the yard and the streets into the river. I’m pretty sure the river wasn’t as clean in those days as it is today!

After a bite to eat outside a Tapas restaurant and a mooch around some of the shops. I finally treated myself to a new towel for in the motorhome, as the one I have been using for the last six years is finally starting to show its age. I love these micro-towelling towels so much that I wrote a blog post recommending them a few years ago, and have had loads of people thank me for the recommendation (much appreciated). They’re one of my motorhome life top tips!

The Temporary Holiday Site ends on Monday, so we’ve booked ourselves into a farm site by the sea-side for a few days. Before we head home for a bit. I have really enjoyed exploring little bits of England, and touring Wales last month. It’s not as easy as motorhome life in Europe because we are having to plan a bit, but I am enjoying staying put for a few days in each place – we used to move every other day and people would ask why. At the time it felt right to us as there was so much to see and do, these days, I really do get their point!

Ju x

---

New to motorhome life,
planning your own motorhome adventure or
looking for the perfect gift for the motorhomer in your life?
Check out our OurTour range of books.

---