Travel: Home is where the park is on a visit to the west coast and Lake District

IT says a lot about a weekend getaway when, less than three hours after arriving, you are already referring to your accommodation as “home”. This was certainly the case soon after our introduction to Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park, on the doorstep of the Lake District and the shores of Morecambe Bay. While the nearby village of Silverdale is in Lancashire, the holiday park is just over the border in Cumbria and is only a short drive from the Yorkshire Dales. The Forest of Bowland and the RSPB’s Leighton Moss nature reserve are also nearby.

Holgates has been in family ownership for more than 60 years. The company owns six sites in Cumbria and North Lancashire, and its flagship Silverdale park offers everything you could want from a family-friendly stay. It is open all year round and has 350 holiday home owners, 80 hard-standing touring pitches, eight family “glamping” pods, camping facilities, and 13 luxury holiday homes for hire. A stone-fronted clubhouse and leisure complex houses a bar, restaurant, indoor swimming pool with steam room, sauna and Jacuzzi, well-equipped gym, bowling alley and games room. There is also a soft play area, shop, laundrette and a place to buy delicious ice-creams. And that’s just inside. Outside, there is a nine-hole pitch and putt course (for which visitors can hire clubs and balls), a football pitch, two adventure playgrounds, woodland to explore, a butterfly reserve and lots of lovely open space to run around or relax in, all only a short walk from the nearest vast expanse of beach.

Despite being busy over the bank holiday weekend, the 100-acre site wasn’t uncomfortably packed. Thanks to the hilly terrain, many of the caravans are dotted about on different levels and have plenty of space around them, and the mature landscaping successfully disguises the true size of the place. It is beautifully quiet too, with birdsong often the loudest sounds to be heard, along with distant church bells on Sunday mornings.

On the first evening, our meal was enjoyed in the restaurant, which has a wide menu to cater for most families, reasonably priced and much of it featuring locally-sourced produce. A takeaway offering even means you don’t have to cook to enjoy meals in the comfort of your home-from-home.

Our holiday home really was luxury in a Tardis-like package. With a parking space directly outside, the static caravans for hire are no older than two years and have one double bedroom, two twin bedrooms and a shower room with loo, all beautifully clean with great quality furniture and fittings, including a fully-equipped kitchen, flat-screen TV and fire in the comfortable living room, central heating for cold days and a patio with picnic bench for when the sun decides to shine, which happily it did a lot during our visit. Just remember to bring a hairdryer if you need one.

Dogs are allowed in some of the holiday homes and it certainly is a great area for walkies. We trekked along the beach and coastal path to the little village of Arnside, which has shops selling local crafts, cafes, a couple of pubs and a fine fish and chip shop. We enjoyed its fare on the shore, watching the trains crossing the Arnside viaduct over the River Kent estuary on the Furness line. About once a month, visitors can also witness a natural phenomenon, the Arnside Bore, a tidal wave caused by the surge of the incoming tide meeting resistance from the sands of the bay. We completed our walk with a hike up 522ft-high National Trust-owned Arnside Knott, which rewards your efforts with far-reaching views across Morecambe Bay, the River Kent estuary and towards the towering peaks of the Lake District.

Nearby Silverdale is another lovely village worth a visit. It is home to The Royal Hotel, also owned by Holgates, which has a similarly full menu and is also a good venue for Sunday lunch. Silverdale is about 30 minutes’ drive north of Lancaster and a similar distance south of Kendal, both places to visit if you are in search of history, culture and shopping. If you fancy some traditional seaside fun, you can certainly find it in Morecambe, also about half-an-hour away. And, of course, Holgates Silverdale is ideal as a base from which to explore the wealth of attractions the Lake District has to offer, with the advantage of you being able to skip back to the comforts of your perfectly placed holiday home at the end of a long day’s climbing/walking/cycling/sightseeing.

Another sign of a good short break is feeling like you have been away for a long time. That was certainly the case for us, and it was with some reluctance that we said our goodbyes to Holgates. It just goes to show, there sometimes can be another place like home.

• Silverdale Holiday Park, Middlebarrow Plain, Cove Road, Silverdale, Cumbria LA5 0SH; T: 01524-701508; E: info@holgates.co.uk; W: holgates.co.uk/silverdale

To rent: Caravan holiday homes sleeping six from £299 a week (short breaks available); timber camping pods from £45 per night. Touring caravan, motorhome and camping pitches: £36 per night (for two). Luxury caravan holiday homes to own from £30,000.