Site of the month

Greendale Farm Caravan and Camping Park
Pickwell Lane
Whissendne
Oakham
Rutland LE15 7LB
Tel: 01664 474516
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.rutlandgreendale.co.uk

Facilities:
A four star adults only park, with 15 grass and hardstanding pitches - all with electric hook up - set in landscaped grounds and surrounded by farmland. The site offers a heated toilet and shower block, laundry services, a shop, tourist information area and small lending library, items for hire such as BBQs and bicycles, and a heated outdoor swimming pool. Every pitch has a view of a birdfeeder too.

HOW many caravan sites do you know where you're woken up, not by traffic or the noisy family next door, but by the dawn chorus? Where you get your Sunday newspaper delivered to your door and a full English breakfast with freshly baked bread and homemade jam awaits you at your sunny table in the garden? Where you can have a lesson in photography, art or birdwatching, and where the site owners are so green that even their information leaflets are printed on recycled paper?

Well we know of one - and it's in the tiny English county of Rutland, a county whose motto Multum in Parvo (so much in so little) is as true for the county as it is for this gem of a site.

So what is it then that makes Greendale so special? Well, lets start with wildlife.

The site has around ten birdfeeders and lots of bird boxes, and over 77 different species of birds have been spotted from the site. Other wildlife is encouraged on site too, and owners Ian and Sue Barron have received a Gold David Bellamy award for their efforts. Wild rabbits, frogs, and plenty of butterflies on the flourishing buddleia are often to be seen, and you might even spot a badger or water vole if you're lucky, as there is a small brook that runs along the edge of the site.

Walk into the small on site shop and one of the first things you notice is a whole range of things for hire. Barbeques, blow up mattresses, tents - you can even borrow blankets if you're cold. There is a fridge for campers to use and at the back of the room, along with hundreds of tourist information leaflets and local restaurant information (there is a whole folder full of the restaurant recommendations of previous guests), is a small lending library, stuffed with well read paperbacks and plenty of reference books too - birdwatching and photography being particularly popular.

The shop's shelves are full of everyday essentials, like milk, bread and toiletries, and there is plenty of local produce too. The free-range eggs come from a Whissendine farm, the bacon from a butcher down the road, and there's a shelf full of homemade jams, chutneys and honey, which are made in the village. You can even buy a bag of organic Whissendine flour - ground at the picturesque village windmill! In fact Sue bakes her own bread with this flour, which she serves with her fantastic cooked breakfasts on Sunday mornings.

There is more than enough to do to fill a week, or even two, staying on this quiet site. If you're feeling active you can hire one of the brand new bicycles and borrow one of the laminated cycle route sheets which will guide you round the sights of the surrounding countryside. Feeling artistic? Then there is a range of art materials to borrow - and Sue will offer a few tips to get you started, or you can join Tuesday's art group, with tea and homemade cakes thrown in too. On Wednesday you can take a photography class, and on Thursday how about an introduction to birdwatching? - you'll soon be able to identify what you're seeing on the birdfeeders. Of course if you'd just like to relax, then sit and read a borrowed book at one of the picnic tables dotted around the site, or have a dip in the heated pool. On this super peaceful site, the only noise you'll hear is the chirrup of birdsong - and maybe the occasional tractor.

With only 15 pitches, this quiet little site offers more than its share of added extras, from being able to borrow a barbeque to having your breakfast cooked for you on Sunday - Multum in Parvo indeed.