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You’re shore to have a great time in the Lakes

It’s hard to imagine tranquil White Cross Bay was home to the top-secret manufacture of Sunderland flying boat bombers back in World War Two. 

The MoD moved the plant from Kent on the basis that the shores of Lake Windermere were as off the beaten track as it was possible to get.  These days, you don’t need a high-security pass to get in and wooden lodges have replaced the Flying Boat Factory. 

In fact, all that remains of a largely forgotten part of the war effort is the long concrete slipway leading into Britain’s largest lake, from which you can now launch your own boat.  But the awesome Lakeland scenery is pretty much unchanged, as stunning now as when the war effort was moved here in 1941.  Or for that matter, when William Wordsworth was wandering lonely as a cloud back in the early 1800s.  White Cross Bay today is home to a laid-back and well-kept holiday park with more than 40 available to rent.

It’s a few minutes from the tourist hustle and bustle of Windermere town centre, but very peaceful, when the only noise you will hear, is the sound of children (mine included) roaming around the park on their bikes.

We are staying in a three-bedroom superior lodge, complete with a large patio and a fully equipped kitchen area and lounge.  My wife and I and our three kids had so much space that my wife summoned a friend and her three children to come and join us for the day.

If your idea of holiday parks is round-the-clock entertainment and children’s shows, then White Cross Bay might not be for you.  But our kids loved it, especially since they could maraud about on two wheels without having to worry about traffic.  There is a bar, shop and restaurant on site and a quiz night once a week and the occasional singer.  The food is reasonably priced pub grub, handy if you can’t be bothered cooking.  The complex has a decent-size indoor pool (go early if it’s raining as it does get busy) and a gym.

But the main attraction here, aside from top-notch lodges, is the great out-doors which White Cross Bay is well placed for exploring.  We took the kids up Loughrigg Fell which is a 10-minute drive around the lake at Ambleside.  With great views from the 1,000ft summit, you feel like you’re on the top of the world.  There is a well-signposted path, so you really don’t need to be a mountaineer or to have fancy walking gear to get up there.  We did it in trainers and wellies and it only took an hour or so to get to the top.  To our mild surprise, the kids loved it….. especially the decent!

As you’d expect there are watersports centres dotted along the lake but after getting quotes of up to £20 per child and adult to go kayaking for an hour, we opted for more manageable £11 per hour for a two-seater kayak at the Youth Hostel at Waterside.  We took to the water in our life jackets and followed a route across the lake in brilliant sunshine up along the River Rothay which leads into the northern end of Windermere.  Even though it was hard work at times in the wind, it was great fun.

But the biggest test of any UK holiday is how well it copes when it rains, which of course it does in the Lake District – often, in buckets.  Fortunately there is plenty to do in the area around White Cross Bay.  There is an indoor play area for younger kids in Ambleside and two brilliant, old-school, cinemas one in Ambleside and one in Bowness.  Watching Mr Popper’s Penguins on a tiny screen in a room not much bigger than a large lounge at the Royalty cinema simply made the evening all the more enjoyable.  Unsurprisingly it was a sell-out – the audience seemed to be a sea of anoraks drying out from the wet weather outside – though it has to be said, our children were quite happy to splash in wearing their wellies and macs.  Almost as happy as when they were having their nightly scrap about who was sleeping where in the lodge ….

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Sunday Mirror Homes & Holidays Supplement – issued 5th February 2012 by Stephen Martin