Two years ago we were lucky enough to be invited for a weekend at Daisy Bank Camp, a peaceful, unplugged retreat in the heart of Calderdale. We stayed in one of their stable cabins and had a thoroughly relaxing stay, but the soaring temperatures meant that we couldn’t get out walking in the countryside with the dogs. It wasn’t a hardship to chill in our cabin with the dogs and a book while Sam went running (straight from the door as the site has direct access to the moor), but I was a little sad that me and the dogs didn’t get a chance to do any longer walks.
I was therefore absolutely thrilled when Angie and Andrew invited us back to stay in one of their honeycomb cabins, which have opened since our last stay and which are just as thoughtfully decorated as the stable cabins. If you read all the way to the end, you might even find a discount code for a stay of your own…
After a slight delay setting off curtesy of a slow puncture, we arrived at about half past six on the Friday night. When we arrived the sun was still shining, but a big difference was the fact that the site was fully occupied! Last time we’d had the whole place to ourselves as we visited just after Angie and Andrew opened their doors, so it was lovely to see that Daisy Bank Camp is just as popular as it deserves to be.
This time we stayed in Tawny, the honeycomb cabin on the edge of the site looking over the moor. Speaking to Angie about Coal’s reactivity before we arrived, she suggested that this would be the best cabin for us: while all of the cabins are very private, Tawny faces away from the path and as soon as you walk through the gate it’s like there’s nobody else around. Just us and the Soay sheep grazing in the field opposite – who we found to be a great source of entertainment over the weekend!
The honeycomb cabins all sleep 2 people, or 4 if you choose to use the sofa bed. They’re super well equipped with a small but perfectly formed kitchen, plus a bathroom with a toilet and shower. I absolutely love the attention to detail in the cabins, from little touches like the tawny owl pictures and ornaments, to more practical things like blankets and hot water bottles for stargazers. Not that you need to venture outside to star gaze with the floor to ceiling bi-fold doors!
We also noticed lots of improvements since our last visit, especially for dog owners. When we visited before there was a dedicated dog wash area: now, all of the cabins have enclosed gardens, and there’s also a fenced off ‘off lead zone’ where you can take your dog for a run around.
Being rather tired from a day at work, slow puncture repair and an (admittedly not too bad) drive down, we were very happy to find that lots of takeaways in the nearby towns of Hedben Bridge and Todmorden deliver to Daisy Bank Camp. On the Friday night we ordered Thai from Rim Nam Thai in Hebden Bridge, which was very tasty and we’d definitely recommend.
Saturday morning dawned with a slightly mixed forecast, but the start of the day was dry and trying very hard to be sunny, so we set off to visit some of Calderdale’s most famous landmarks. The Bronte Bridge and Top Withens are populars spots on a summer weekend, so we arrived early to dodge the crowds and we were lucky enough to only share them with one or two other people. With rain forecast for the afternoon we abandoned plans to do a longer route and instead followed a 3.5 mile circular from the OS maps app.
We really enjoyed this stile free walk. Parking is free at the start near Bully Trees Farm, and it’s a short walk from here to the Bronte Bridge with way markers pointing you in the right direction for most of the way. After this, it’s a very straightforward walk across to Top Withens, thought to be part of the inspiration behind Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights. It’s gradually uphill but never taxing. Rather unexpectedly, many of the finger posts pointing the way also include a Japanese translation: it turns out the Japanese adaptation of Wuthering Heights is rather popular! If you do this walk with your dog you’ll need to watch out for sheep and respect signs asking for dogs to be kept on leads during ground nesting bird season.
The walk back to the car from Top Withens is along the Pennine Way almost all the way. It was really very lovely, feeling remote and rugged but not quite as bleak as some of the wilder reaches of Northumberland can feel. We got to talking about how we’d love to walk the whole thing one day – but we need to finish the Wainwrights first!
We were back at Daisy Bank Camp in time for lunch, and after rustling up some bacon butties (a holiday staple) we settled in for a relaxing afternoon at the cabin. The Soay sheep are surprisingly mobile and we loved watching them run around their field. Eventually the rain started and I spent the afternoon reading while Sam and the dogs had a nap – a perfect Saturday if you ask me. The site is adults only, so despite having a full house it was super quiet and it was so easy to forget that we weren’t the only ones there.
By the time Sunday morning rolled around we were all feeling thoroughly re-charged, and we were sorry to be saying goodbye to our cabin. We woke up to beautiful blue skies and couldn’t resist the opportunity for a quick walk before heading home – quick mainly because it was going to get warmer later in the day and we didn’t want to chance anything with the dogs. In the end we settled on a visit to the reservoirs at Lower and Upper Gorple, an out and back walk that took us about 90 minutes.
There’s free parking at the end of the path leading to the reservoirs, then it’s a very easy, flat, stile free walk across to the reservoirs. You may encounter sheep throughout, so this is worth keeping in mind if you’re taking a dog, but the views are very nice and sometimes a walk without any hills is just the ticket.
We’re now back at home and having had a few days to unpack and catch up on daily life, I feel like we’ve arrived home feeling more relaxed than we usually do. Normally I feel like I need a holiday to get over a holiday, but our weekend at Daisy Bank Camp has left me feeling fully re-charged and ready for a week at work – or as ready as you can be for that!
If you’re looking for an adults only, dog friendly stay where you can properly disconnect from daily life, you should definitely take a look at Daisy Bank Camp. There’s no wifi or TV so that you can properly switch off, but there is good mobile signal if you need it, and the cabins are equipped with a choice of books and games to keep you entertained. Each cabin also has a radio to provide some quiet background noise, while the views out over the moor (and sheep!) are second to none. Angie and Andrew have kindly provided a discount code for my blog readers to use for 15% off their stay – just enter code Merry15 at checkout.
If you want to read about our last trip to Daisy Bank Camp, you can find it on my blog here.
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