Camping in Kendal

Kendal makes a practical, low-key base for camping in the southern Lake District, with sites ranging from simple club-run pitches to fully serviced touring parks within a short drive or even a walk of the town centre. The terrain around Kendal is gentler than the high fells further north and west: rolling limestone country, the Kent and Sprint valleys, and the parkland around Sizergh and Levens, which suits family camping and easy valley walks as much as it does a springboard for tougher days on the fells beyond Kentmere and Longsleddale.

The Camping and Caravanning Club's site at Kendal sits on the edge of the national park and is a popular choice for its position, with pitches for tents, campervans and caravans and rates that undercut many sites deeper inside the Lakes. Kendal Rugby Club runs a simpler, no-frills tent site around a fifteen-minute walk from the town centre, useful for anyone wanting to camp without a car and still reach the shops, pubs and museums on foot. Further out towards Windermere and along the Kent valley, smaller farm-based sites and Hipcamp listings offer quieter, more informal pitches, often with fewer facilities but a better sense of open countryside.

As everywhere in England, wild camping without the landowner's permission is illegal, including on the fells around Kendal; the long-standing informal tolerance of high-level wild camping in parts of the Lake District applies to certain fell tops well away from Kendal itself and should never be assumed as a right. Anyone wanting that experience should stick to the areas where local practice and landowners have historically permitted it, or otherwise use one of the area's licensed campsites. Weather is the other practical consideration: Cumbria is wet even by English standards, and while Kendal sits in a slight rain shadow compared with the central Lakes, a good waterproof tent and proper groundsheet are essential whatever the forecast says.

May to September is the reliable camping season, with June and July offering the longest daylight for evening walks up to Kendal Castle or along the river. For anyone who wants the countryside setting without the tent-pitching, glamping pods and shepherd's huts have multiplied around Kendal in the last decade, with several sites within a fifteen-minute drive offering ensuite pods, fire pits and even hot tubs — a good option for a first camping-style trip or a wet-weather fallback that still keeps you close to the fells.