Riding through the Peak District is beautiful, as you can see in the movie above. Camping in popular areas like these can be quite expensive though especially as the Pound Sterling is strong. We quickly looked at alternatives for camping which are affordable; which in the UK wasn't easy. Farm campgrounds are usually a bit cheaper but some of them offer next to no facilities and yet still charge 30 pounds a night for a tent. We did find a really good one in The Peak District though called Beech Croft Farm near Buxton. The Peak District is just east from Manchester and Beech Croft Farm is located at Blackwell in the Peak, a small hamlet with just 10 houses and a few small farms. What we didn't know is that we were actually camping on land that used to belong to a real Duke!
We knew nothing about Beech Croft Farm before we arrived here. We didn't know anyone who stayed here and hadn't read anything about it. It was just pure luck that we turned off the A6 looking for a place to pitch the tents and ended up there. And what a lucky find it was! Beech Croft Farm is a working farm with pigs, sheep, cattle etc. as well as a campground. John and Julie Gregory own and operate the farm and campground, which was bought from the Duke of Devonshire by Johns father in the 1950s. It was then known as Cottage Farm. John and Julie took over when Johns father died and diversified into tourism in 1974. They changed he name into Beech Croft Farm as John's mum still lives in the original farmhouse. In 2010 they did a major renovation of the campground, a bold move with a financial crisis looming.
I don't know exactly what it is that I like about it. It just has a friendly feel to it, which starts at the reception. The facilities are one of the best we've seen and well maintained too. Power is available and rather than paying a set fee, you actually pay what you use. Good system. Running just our laptops for two days cost us only 12 pence! The campground office has a small shop that stocks quite a bit of food and Beech Croft Farm is well placed as a base to explore The Peak District. The famous Pennine Bridleway is just minutes away too. The campground is divided over 3 sections, with plenty of hedges to keep the wind at bay and yet offers beautiful views over the Peak District right from our tent. Facilities wise there are free hot showers in a well designed and maintained toilet block, free Wifi (which works well too), a proper camp kitchen, a microwave as well as a washing machine and a drier.
All in all Beech Croft Farm was to us a very welcome surprise and we decided to stay a day longer sorting through our photographs and updating the blog. Beach Croft Farm can be found at N53 14.765 W1 48.942 and they also have a website at www.beechcroftfarm.co.uk
