Hillcroft Country park, Cumbria
In the heart of the lake district, close to Ullswater Hillcroft Country Park is the perfect holiday retreat, especially for those who love the outdoor lifestyle. Steve Rowe spends a couple of days there to find out more.
On a sloping site, just a stone’s through from Ullswater, Hillcroft Country Park boasts one of the most stunning locations of any UK holiday centre. Designed to meet the needs of holidaymakers who appreciate the peace and tranquillity found in this part of the world, the park isn’t one of those that offers a busy leisure centre, clubhouse or swimming pool, but instead it provides a quiet ‘back-to-nature’ environment. The low-key facilities include a small shop, a children’s play area and a shower block, mainly for the use of those staying in the basic camping pods onsite. There’s a mixture holiday caravans and lodges, with a new lodge development being the major focus of changes on the site. To blend in with the surrounding scenery, all lodges and caravans here have to be green in colour and this makes views over the site much more pleasing on the eye.
It’s just a short walk from Hillcroft to the village of Pooley Bridge, which offers a mixture of pubs, restaurants and shops, mainly targeted at the tourist market. This village sits on the edge of Ullswater and was, unfortunately, one of the places that suffered in the bad flooding that affected the Lake District a couple of years ago. However there’s little sign of any damage now, plus there’s no worry for owners of caravans or lodges at Hillcroft, since this sits on a elevated hillside, several fields away from the water’s edge.
Homes at Hillcroft
Being in the Lake District National Park, this is a very expensive place in which to buy a traditional cottage, making holiday lodges or caravans one of the best options. Prices aren’t as high as you might think, with the current list of homes for sale here including a 36ft x 12, two – bedroom ABI Vista holiday for £35,950. Lodge prices start at £89,950 for a 40ft x 14, two –bedroom Reiver Teviot lodge, ranging up to £139,950 for a Pathfinder Retreat. While at the site, I stayed in a new two-bedroom REIVER Teviot lodge and was very impressed with the spacious open-plan layout fir the front lounge, dining and kitchen area. At the back of the lodge there were two bedrooms, one with an en suite shower room , plus a large family bathroom. As mention above, there is a similar Reiver Teviot for sale for just under £90,000, which seems to be a very competitive price for such a well – specified luxury lodge. The major focus of the development at the park is the new area for lodges. With a backdrop of mature trees, this area is one of the quieter parts of what is already a very tranquil park. Buyers can choose whichever lodge they want for their pitch here, or can opt for one of the show homes currently being sited.
Friendly Sales manager Julie and John Lench are on hand to offer all the advice you’ll need, plus you can even design your own bespoke lodge, to suit your exact requirements.
To help offset your purchase and running costs, the park owners North Dales Leisure Parks operate a holiday rental service. So, when you’re not using your holiday caravan or lodge, you have the option of renting it out.
Different levels of rental service are available, each taking a different percentage of the rental income to cover costs. If you want, you don’t have to lift a finger, with the company finding all the rental customers, doing all the cleaning and laundry, plus maintaining your holiday home for you. Some people are even buying lodges as a pure investment opportunity, never planning to stay there themselves, just renting out the lodge out and enjoying the income. The holiday lodges are sold on a long agreement , typically around 99 years, helping provide peace of mind when making such a big investment.
Amazing Home
The first couple I met when wandering around the park were John and Karen Lynch. From Wigan un Lancashire, they bought a luxurious wood cabin lodge at Hillcroft about 18 months ago and were still adding some landscaping features around their home at the time of my visit. Their lodge enjoys one of the best pitches right at the edge of the site, with direct views over some amazing Lake District scenery. On a stone patio outside their lodge they’ve added a hot tub, plus a table and chairs, so that they can dine out, while enjoying the great views. I asked them what they liked about most about the park? Karen explained, ‘we love the Lake District and this park is close enough to our home that we can come here most weekends’ Wouldn’t they rather have spent their money on foreign holidays? John Answered. ‘With all the hassle of airports, we much prefer to have somewhere like this, where we can come regularly, plus we can also bring pet dogs. We come here throughout the holiday season and love exploring the lakes and visiting places like Ambleside’.
From Country Durham, under two hour’s drive from Hillcroft, Robert and Linda Dent bought a two-bedroom Willerby Granada at the park some four years ago. They bought it for their own use, with no plans to rent it out.
I asked Linda what made them choose Hillcroft? She explained, ‘We looked at many parks before deciding on here. We loved the location, close to the lakes, and also fell in love with the quiet nature of the site. We know the area well, having enjoyed many day trips and camping trips here in the past, so we knew it was the right decision to buy a holiday home here’. How do they spend their time? Robert answered, ‘we love walking around and, from this site, you can just walkout of the gate and you’re on to the fells. We’ll often walk down into the local village of Pooley Bridge, for a drink or to have something to eat, plus we now have many friends on the park’
Mabel and Stan Burn, from County Durham, run their own haulage business and decided to sell their holiday home in Cyprus, so that they could buy a lodge at Hillcroft. They opted for a two-bedroom Stately-Albion Warwick Lodge, which occupies a lovely elevated position at the top of the site.
I asked them why they chose Hillcroft? Stan explained, ‘we have been coming to this park for over 30 years. We used to come here with our kids when they were young and had our own touring caravan for 15 years of that time. The kids always loved staying here, making many friends, so it seemed natural to look for a holiday home here’. Why did they decide to sell their Cyprus home? Mabel answered, ‘With all the hassle of airports these days, we felt it was better to have somewhere we could come to more often. We now come here most weekends and it’s a great break from the stresses of running our own business during the week. Plus we still know people on the park from when we used to stay here in our touring caravan’.
Why did they opt for the Stately-Albion Warwick? Stan replied, ‘We actually came here to look at buying a static holiday caravan, but when we saw this lodge we fell in love with it. It also occupies a great position on the site. In fact, when we used to come here years ago, the place where the lodge is sited was an empty space that was once part of an old stone quarry. Our kids used to play here with their friends!’
If you want to find out about the Hillcroft for yourself, one option would be to rent a holiday caravan or lodge here first, to see if you like the location. In the off-season, you can rent a lodge for £325 per week, or just £228 for a short break.
In the peak season, a luxury lodge here can rent for up to£760 per week. Showing the great potential for making some income, should you opt to buy a lodge here. There are three main ways to approach buying a holiday home. The first, and probably the most popular option , is to buy it purely for your own holiday use , in which case rental income will be of no interest. The second type of buyer is someone who plans to use the home a lot, but also wants to make some income from it when they are not there. In this case, you may be able to cover all your annual running costs by renting out your lodge or caravan.
The third option is the investment-only route. Here, the park’s owners can do everything for you, you just need to make the initial investment and then just take the income each year. After costs, you might find the return on your investment could be as high as 10% per annum. Whatever option you may choose, sales Manager John and Julie Lench will be able to help you out. I must also say thanks to them for making my visit to the park so enjoyable and interesting.
