Old Hartley Caravan and Motorhome Club Site
Tyne and Wear
Cliff-top members site above St Mary's Island, 11 miles north-east of Newcastle
About Old Hartley Caravan and Motorhome Club Site
Old Hartley occupies a grassy cliff top between Whitley Bay and Seaton Sluice, looking down on St Mary's Island and its white lighthouse. It is about eleven miles north-east of Newcastle and is run by the Caravan and Motorhome Club, so it is open to members only and it does not take tents. What it does offer is one of the best-positioned touring sites on the north-east coast, reopened after a refurbishment and now equipped with around sixty hardstanding pitches, all with electric hook-up.
The facilities reflect the Club standard. The shower block has been fully rebuilt and includes accessible facilities, there is a laundry and dishwashing area, a motorhome service point, wi-fi across the site and a dog walk leading off the boundary. Barbecues are permitted. There is no shop or playground on site, but Whitley Bay is a couple of minutes down the road for supplies, and the site is open all year, which suits anyone wanting a winter storm-watching break as much as a summer one. Pitches on the seaward side are the ones to ask for, though they take the full force of the wind.
The appeal here is the combination of coast and city. The England Coast Path runs past the gate, the causeway to St Mary's Island is walkable at low tide, and the long sands at Whitley Bay and Tynemouth are within a short cycle. For Newcastle, walk or take a bus to the Metro at Whitley Bay and you are in the city centre in around half an hour without touching the car. Seaton Delaval Hall, a Vanbrugh mansion in National Trust care, is two miles inland.