Lancaster

Lancaster rewards a couple of unhurried days rather than a flying visit, with most of its sights within easy walking distance of each other in the compact city centre.

• Lancaster Castle — A working castle and former prison on the site of the old Roman fort, with parts dating back to the 11th century. Visitors can join a guided tour through the Shire Hall, the Crown Court and the medieval keep, taking in centuries of legal history including the 17th-century Pendle witch trials, which were heard here.
• Lancaster Priory — Standing right beside the castle on the same hilltop, this Church of England priory church has Anglo-Saxon origins and a beautiful set of 14th-century carved choir stalls. The churchyard gives one of the best views over the Lune and the rooftops below.
• Williamson Park and the Ashton Memorial — A Victorian park laid out on the site of old quarry workings, crowned by the domed Ashton Memorial, a grand Edwardian folly built by a local linoleum magnate in memory of his wife. The park's butterfly house and tropical dome sit alongside sweeping views across the city to the Lake District fells on a clear day.
• Lancaster Maritime Museum — Housed in the old Custom House on St George's Quay, this small museum tells the story of Lancaster's 18th-century trade with the Caribbean and the Americas, including its role in the transatlantic slave trade, alongside the fishing and shipbuilding that shaped the quayside.
• River Lune and the Millennium Bridge — A pedestrian and cycle bridge across the river links the city centre to Riverside Green and gives access to the towpath walks along the Lune, one of the best short riverside strolls in the north west.
• Lancaster University — One of the UK's leading campus universities, set in parkland a few miles south of the centre, with public art, a concert venue in The Nuffield Theatre and open grounds that welcome visitors as well as students.
• Forest of Bowland — This designated National Landscape begins within a short drive of the city, offering some of England's quietest walking country: heather moorland, the Trough of Bowland pass, and villages like Slaidburn and Dunsop Bridge.

Lancaster has a good independent food scene for a city of its size, helped along by its student population and market-town roots. The Sun Hotel and Bar on Church Street occupies a handsome old coaching inn and is popular for its range of cask ales, while The Borough on Dalton Square combines a busy pub with its own microbrewery. For coffee and daytime food, Atkinsons Coffee Roasters on China Street has been roasting on the same premises for decades and is a local institution. Simple Pleasures and the stalls of Lancaster's Charter Market on Market Square are good spots for fresh, local produce, and the city's proximity to Morecambe Bay means excellent seafood, including the bay's famous shrimps, turns up on menus across the city. A strong pub culture runs through the centre, with a handful of genuinely old buildings among the more modern bars around the castle and priory.

Camping around Lancaster means trading city streets for the quieter folds of the Lune Valley and the fringes of the Forest of Bowland, both within a short drive of the centre. As in the rest of England, wild camping without the landowner's permission is not legal here, so pitching up is a matter of booking one of the area's established campsites and caravan parks rather than heading off into the hills with a tent. The countryside itself rewards the effort: the Lune Valley offers gentle riverside pitches and easy access to villages like Caton and Hornby, while sites closer to Bowland put you within reach of proper moorland walking country, including the Trough of Bowland and the fells around Slaidburn.

The camping season here runs broadly from Easter through to October, with the best weather typically arriving in late spring and again in early autumn, when the valley is at its greenest and the fells are quieter than in high summer. Many sites are geared towards families and walkers alike, with a mix of grass touring pitches, hardstanding for caravans and motorhomes, and an increasing number of glamping options, from safari tents and shepherd's huts to fully fitted pods with their own wood-burners, for anyone who wants the setting without the packing list. Facilities vary from simple, basic fields with a standpipe and compost toilet to fuller-service parks with showers, laundry and on-site shops, so it is worth checking what is included before booking, particularly out of the main summer season when some smaller sites reduce their opening hours.

Whichever spot you choose, the appeal is much the same: quick access to genuinely quiet countryside without a long drive from Lancaster itself. Riverside pitches along the Lune offer easy fishing and walking straight from the tent, while sites nearer Bowland make a good base for longer days on the moor. Weather can turn quickly in this part of Lancashire, so it is worth packing for rain even in midsummer, and checking site policies on campfires and dogs, both of which vary considerably between the smaller family-run sites and the larger holiday parks.