Things to Do in Brampton

My family and I enjoyed our annual glamping trip last week. We stayed in the beautiful, picturesque town of Brampton in Cumbria. Before we arrived at the glamping site, I had googled ‘Things to do in Brampton’ and I was surprised to see there is so much to do in this town and the surrounding areas.

Things To Do In Brampton – Glamping

Brampton proved to be the ideal location for our little glamping trip. Once again, we booked with Wigwam Holidays. Last year with visited Loch Ness and booked with the same company. We were extremely impressed by the site and the facilities and chose to book with them again.

Yet again we were delighted with our glamping pod and the site facilities. Holidaying in February, we were somewhat out of season and the site was incredibly quiet (which was rather nice). All cabins on the Brampton site are deluxe (as opposed to some Wigwam sites which also offer more basic cabins with little or no toilet and washing facilities). Our delux cabin included:

• A small bathroom with a toilet, shower and basin
• A kitchenette with a microwave, kettle, toaster, fridge, sink, cupboard space and 2 burner hob
• Crockery and pans
• Dining table with 4 chairs
• 2 double beds (1 of the sofas pulled out into a bed)
• Heating
• TV with DVD player
• Decking area with picnic table
• A fire pit

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The camp site is situated on a fishing lake. There is a small children’s playground as well as a children’s fishing pond.

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The site is ideally located – only 12 miles from Carlisle city centre. The campsite is surrounded by woodlands which is ideal for those who love to walk and or explore the great outdoors.

Things to do in Brampton – Lanercost Priory

Lanercost Priory is an English Heritage site. We have English Heritage membership, therefore, the attraction is free for us to enter. The Augustinian monastic house was built in the 12th-Century. Much of what remains today is a shell of the former buildings. However, the buildings that remain are rather well preserved.

A member of staff gave Aurelia a quest to find a number of carvings in the priory walls. We spent about an hour on the site exploring the buildings in search of these mysterious carvings.

Lying close to Lanercost Priory is the ‘Lanercost Tea Room’. This building not only houses a tea room, but also a gift shop and a gallery.

Much to Aurelia’s fascination, there is also a dog cafe.

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Things to do in Brampton – Exploring the Woods!

As mentioned above, if you enjoy nature walks, then you’re going to love Brampton! We stopped off at a number of woodlands on our visit.

Our favourite though was Gelt woods. These woods are an RSPB nature reserve, so look out for all the beautiful birds and other small animals as you stroll through this quiet woodland. The only noises we heard were the singing birds and the gushing water from the River Gelt.

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We followed the river and stumbled upon the rock faces which still contain the chisel marks of the Roman soldiers as they quarried the stones to build Hadrian’s wall.

Things to do in Brampton – Talkin Tarn

Talkin Tarn, a country park, was recommended by locals when we arrived in Brampton. The park is situated around a lake 9the word Tarn refers to a lake or pool of water formed by a glacier). The walk around the tarn is just over a mile. The park houses a cafe and a playground for children.

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Things to do in Brampton – Hadrian’s Wall

For all my fellow history buffs! If you’re looking to explore Hadrian’s wall, then Brampton is the perfect place to stay. Brampton lies on the Hadrian’s wall route and offers easy access to not only the fragments of the wall still standing, but also to the Roman fortresses built along the wall.

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Birdoswald Roman Fort

Another English Heritage site, Birdoswald Roman Fort is the perfect place to begin your exploration of Hadrian’s wall. The visitor’s centre is filled with incredibly interesting and useful information regarding the wall and how it was built.

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The centre also has some excellent interactive displays – Aurelia discovered how she would look as a Roman soldier!

The ruins of the Roman fort are still visible and can be explored. The extent of the site is quite impressive!

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The longest surviving stretch of Hadrain’s wall can be seen and explored from Birdoswald fort.

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The Sill

I had read about ‘The Sill: National Landscape Discovery Centre’ in various tourist information leaflets and thought it would be worth a visit. The centre is free to enter and includes lots of activities for the children. (It was also a welcomed break from all things historical for my children).

Through the use of interactive displays, the centre educates visitors on the surrounding landscape and the environment.

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By far the highlight of the day was the ‘Augmented Reality Sandbox’. By playing with this display, we made our own landscapes. It is so much fun – we all got involved!

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Walk to the top of the building and walk around the rooftop to get a breathe-taking view of the English landscape!

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We enjoyed a spot of lunch at the Sill Cafe which I can highly recommend. The food was absolutely delicious and reasonably priced.

Events for children are held at various times throughout the day. The centre also holds some family events throughout the year, such as star-gazing. In fact we have planned a return visit to the centre in the summer to attend such an event!

Housesteads Roman Fort

The final item on my ‘Things to do in Brampton’ list is Housesteads Roman Fort. This is another English Heritage site.

The fort is quite a walk – a quarter of a mile and rather hilly. There is a disabled carpark at the top of the hill (although we didn’t learn this until after our visit). Due to the steep gradient and the long walk, only Aurelia and I made the journey to the fort. The walk to the fort took us around 20 minutes (only 10 minutes on the way back as it’s downhill!) However it is well worth the climb! The views are fabulous!

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The fort itself is absolutely huge! It’s difficult to envisage the way these forts would have operated, however, signs containing illustrations are placed throughout. They enable you to create a mental picture of what life would have been like. Aurelia had lots of fun at the fort playing soldiers.

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Be warned – it is extremely windy up at the top of the hill!

We had such a wonderful time in Brampton – we are planning to return to Wigwam Glamping site in the summer and explore some more of the surrounding areas!