Buxton open again, here on site now
Buxton reopened yesterday after a long closure and total refurb. I am on the site now. Very impressive and pretty much everything has been replaced, amenity blocks, roads, pitches, everything is brand new and to a high standard. It is also pretty much full.
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And hopefully a new motorhome waste emptying point?
Enjoy your stay and thanks for posting the update.
David
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No play area though, they seem to have built service pitches on that. I know it is next to a country park. However, if you want to attract families with smaller children it seems a strange thing to do.
Also enjoy the rest of peak (August) this year, prices seem to be 13% more in 2019.
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No play area? At such a great location for families?
"We've all seen a lot of change over the years and this is one I'm particularly excited about. We don't know yet what the next generation of explorers will look like, but we'll be ready for them."
Grenville Chamberlain, Club Chairman
Well maybe...
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We have never stayed at Buxton although I think many years ago we did visit to see what it was like. Not so long ago we stayed at Leek and both sites are on the same (infrequent) bus route although the bus stop is a longer walk from Buxton. Are there any short cuts into the town from the site? Perhaps we will have to give it a try.
David
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The short cut is through the country park David, although is rather steep and can be slippery in wet weather, particularly when the leaves are falling. It's quite a drag back up from the centre of town, up hill all the way. The first part on pavements / through the park, and then on steep paths from the cavern onwards.
Edit
I just checked the map, about 420 feet of rise from Buxton to the edge of the quarry.
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I'll put in on my list to check out.
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We didn't find the walk too steep compared to other places but it's certainly a longish walk when you include that bit and the following walk into the town (although it's nice if you take the pavilion gardens route and stop at the café.) There's also a nice café at the caverns which welcomes dogs so that's just before the start of the woodland walk back. Plus Go Ape for families next to the caverns too. So you can rest and recover if you need to or swing in the trees!
Shame about the lack of play facilities although there is a huge countryside area just outside the site to burn off some energy.
A few views from Buxton, outside the site entrance, on the hills overlooking the town, the gardens and a character in the woods.
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We've never stayed at Buxton either David, we usually use Blackshaw Moor, mainly as our daughter and son-in-law live on the main road just down from the site at Upper Hulme. I'm rather hoping they might keep Buxton open a little longer now it's been returned. When we wanted to go one one occasion, both Blackshaw and Buxton were closed. However we ended up at staying at Clover Fields. A nice little site at Buxton when we pitched next to Brian Capron (in his Motorhome, who recently took part on the Celebrity Caravanning programme).
David
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It is a very nice site. It was a favourite of ours when we were working, as it was much easier to get in than Chatsworth or Castleton and was only slightly further from home. One thing to remember though, is that it is the highest site on the network at over 1300 feet. The first time we went there it was a lovely warm afternoon. We were contemplating sitting out with a drink before dinner, perhaps even eating out. How wrong we were.😂 As the sun starts to go below the quarry rim the temperature plummets.
Lovely site though we must revisit especially now they have service pitches. I suspect that walk up through the woods, might take a bit, or even a lot longer than last time we went.☹️
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You could walk down, there are well maintained wide paths and it's an interesting walk, with lots of information about the mine workers life on Grin Low as you pass. You emerge by Poole Caverns where the café is situated, another place to visit and then on to the town. The Pavillion gardens are a very attractive route to take. Maybe a taxi back?
The photo I put on of the tower is Solomon's Temple, the walks start from around there, well signposted, a few minutes from the club site. You can also climb the tower for some long distance views of the peak district.
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I don't understand why after major improvements the site has 1 non awning pitch out of a total of 112 and the said pitch has a large expanse of grass to the left. Also the post earlier about the loss of the play park is also quite odd as the pictograms show that it is. 'ideal for families'. To take out a play park but put in washing facilities for dogs and bikes tends to make me think the club is going in the wrong direction.
Interesting price banding for the remainder of this year. It shows a 50% mid week pitch discount but stangely if you use a super pitch the discount only amounts to 32%. Another strange anomaly from the club. Then project into 2019 prices and there is no 50% mid week discount at all.
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I had four kids on the go at one time and while a play area was a bonus it wasn't the most important thing about the site. If it was there it would be used but only for a short amount of time and that would be in the evenings after being out. More important was the things to see and do around the site that were suitable, ie fun and really the messier and/or 'dangerous' the better. If there is a park next door maybe it isn't necessary and/or the old play area wasn't in use that much?
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Apart from the country park just outside the site there can't be many sites within walking distance of a Go Ape centre (with club discounts) plus Poole's Cavern, (underground caves) to explore and some woods to burn off the last bit of energy on the return.
Buxton Go Ape LINK
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I quite agree that there's loads to do off site.
However if you look at requests for site suggestions people often specify that a play area is essential.
After all - where do children play with the friends they make on site? Part of the joys of this sort of holiday for children is making new friends
Blackshaw moor however is well equipped and a much better choice for families now
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We like our motorhome and have no intention of going back to a caravan as we find motorhoming so much more relaxing for all sorts of reasons. However we do accept there are some restrictions in certain places which with a bit of forward research, like here, can help over come them. A taxi seems the most obvious for the journey back. I have noticed that from the next bus stop along from the one I initially looked at there is an additional hourly service. There seems to be a footpath down to that spot which is about the same distance as walking down the access road to the main road.
David
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You are right JayEss, all children like a play area, it's something they look for, I don't know why the club can't improve or add good play areas to sites. Buxton does have better outdoor access than many but a play area would have been a normal expectation for families.
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We had an insight into being away amongst families this last tour. All bar one of the CLs and sites we used had lots of happy children having fun, no bother at all to any other visitors. And not a swing or climbing frame in sight. The key appears to be space, and of course parents and grand parents up to joining in. Nunnykirk was a delight, big grass pitches, lots of families with younger children had taken loads of things to do. We sat enthralled watching one family blow up a fantastic dinosaur themed pool for their two toddlers, it needed a pitch to itself! Children were having a ball, splashing about, water pistols, all within a few feet of van. Plenty of space there, and nice grass to play on. Same on a couple of CLs. Farmers had cut a big grass play area into one meadow, and children and adults were happily kicking balls about, riding bikes and scooters, playing with radio controlled toys, doing nature and wildlife spotting. Even we were tempted to get our kites out! And the children were alll making friends, busy, busy all day long. We are after a Swingball now after watching these children! Good exercise! We are not huge fans of being away in school holidays, but it was nice to see happy safe children enjoying themselves, letting off a bit of steam.
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yes I agree parents and others joining in is much appreciated by children, up to about 12 I think then we're an embarrassment no matter what we do
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There seems to be a footpath down to that spot which is about the same distance as walking down the access road to the main road.
If that is the path I am thinking of, be aware, that unless they have improved it, the top part of that gets very muddy in wet weather.
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We’ve stayed at the Buxton site while going to a concert. We got a taxi there and back (so we could have a drink). I can’t remember the price, but it was very cheap - the wardens gave us the details of the firm that most people used (they were obviously geared up take caravanners into town).
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We have not been to Buxton site for some time. However, when we did the play area always seemed well used on weekends. Our preference was the quieter top part of the site away from it.😀 Other sites such as Clumber have parks on the doorstep, but still have play areas. It would be interesting to know why they decided to remove it. Other than the obvious fact that the service pitches in its place will be very popular.
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We find that on quite a few sites. Here in MK we are used to fairly cheap taxi fares, providing you use private hire! So I tend to judge by those fares. We have been pleasantly surprised by the cost of taxi fares in some parts of the country. If you are paying for two bus fares, often a taxi is not much more.
David
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We were there two years ago, I seem to remember an open area on one part of the site, has that been filled with pitches?
I found this leaflet, we used it for the local walks. It took about twenty minutes steady walk down to Poole's Cavern, we had elderly dogs with us and we all manged it easily. The paths are in good condition. If you take a break at the cavern café it's not too far to the town from there, we used the cafe in the gardens on the way down and the cavern café on the way back. (Can't manage without a coffee somewhere!
) The Pavillion Gardens are lovely with glasshouse displays, a small lake and good facilities.Leaflet LINK
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,The main reason we gave Motor caravans up as we got older
