Holiday cottages in coastal areas with dark skies in UK mainland.

[Guest]

We are looking to take a weeks break in mid september. We are looking for dark skies so as I can take my Newtonian. Take the hound. Coasts are nice to be near. Any help in finding the right area please. Can you see the northern lights in Scotland?

Two couples will be going.

[Starlight 1]

North Norfolk . and I think you can still see northern lights this far down .

[MARS1960]

+1 for NN as i live there .

Great dark site is Kelling, they hold star parties there twice yearly.

http://www.kellingheath.co.uk/holiday-accommodation-id170.html

[Starlight 1]

You could always take a steam train to Sheringham , north Norfolk coast is well known for its heathland so if you take animals beware of adders, 

UKs only venomous snake, quite timid unless threatened.

[ronin]

North Norfolk would give the coastal aspect and thee is the NN Coastal Path and a number of places to visit. Maybe somewhere around N Walsham as a base for reasonable access to Cromer, Sherringham, Norwich etc, could drop in to the Norwich Astro Club. Equally if the dark sky is a primary request then between Sherringham and Holt which is where Kellingheath is, so dark enough for the observing.

Alternative Nirthumberland, thinking Alnwick, Berwick. Could try the coatal areas around Seahouses and Bamburgh although both ar fine for a day trip but not sure about being based at either. Alnmouth and Amble are bigger if I recall, but bigger means lights. You would also have Kelder to visit. The coast from Seahouses to Bamburgh is a good walk and there are the Farne's to possibly visit.

Have suggested East coast as our prevailing weather tends to give them the better or clearer weather.

N Norfolk would seem the easier as if weather is against you there is possibly a greater selection of things to do. Just not really very far from Cheshunt if part of the reason was to get away. Pick somewhere on the NNRailway if you don't want to minimise driving when there.

[Wikiastro]

We hired a lovely cottage in Dumfries and Galloway that was quite cheap and had lovely dark skies a couple of years ago. But it was Scotland. So got one night of partial clear skies in a week. 

[Guest]

Thanks all for the suggestions.

Plenty to think of.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Hi, here's a handy LP map, taken from Dark Sky Discovery.

The darkest skies are up in Scotland, but there is less cloud further south.

[ollypenrice]

42 minutes ago, Knight of Clear Skies said:

Hi, here's a handy LP map, taken from Dark Sky Discovery.

The darkest skies are up in Scotland, but there is less cloud further south.

The likelihood of a clear night seems to be in inverse proportion to the level of LP! Parts of East Anglia might offer the best combination.

Olly

[gorann]

Yes those maps are interesting. Show that people like to live where it does not rain too much. Wonder why.

[ollypenrice]

18 minutes ago, gorann said:

Yes those maps are interesting. Show that people like to live where it does not rain too much. Wonder why.

It's also economic activity which generates light. It would be interesting to see a third map showing some economic indictors.

Olly

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, Knight of Clear Skies said:

The darkest skies are up in Scotland, but there is less cloud further south.

Corrected version of your cloud map:

 

[Stub Mandrel]

20 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

It's also economic activity which generates light. It would be interesting to see a third map showing some economic indictors.

Olly

It's fascinating to look at how economic indicators relate to other factors, like amount of greenspace, air quality etc. etc. I did some work on the subject a little while ago for the Black Country. In short, if you are poor and urban, you are much more likely to have poor environmental quality.

Here's an England map of air quality and the indices of multiple deprivation, both of which (unsurprisingly) correlate closely with light pollution.

No doubt you will find a higher proportion of astro9nomers in areas of low LP, low deprivation and good air quality. The government clearly needs to persuade more people to take up astronomy!

[Beulah]

From that map that Knight of Clear Skies posted, it seems that the SW coast of Pembrokeshire would be a great place for astronomers to live as it's probably got little LP and the most sunshine hours. (Marloes, anyone?)

[JamesF]

Though clearly it will be far too late for the OP, hopefully within the next twelve months we will have a 3-bed holiday cottage and observatory on the edge of Exmoor and only eight miles or thereabouts from the coast to rent out.  Maybe even with access to a swimming pool if I can find a sane way to heat it without costing an arm and a leg.  Have to get it all through planning first though.  The architect is drawing up the plans at the moment.  I think it's going to be quite a project.  At the moment it looks like this:

 

We've just had the roof completely rebuilt to stop the entire building falling down.

James

[ronin]

16 minutes ago, JamesF said:

Though clearly it will be far too late for the OP, hopefully within the next twelve months we will have a 3-bed holiday cottage and observatory on the edge of Exmoor and only eight miles or thereabouts from the coast to rent out.  Maybe even with access to a swimming pool if I can find a sane way to heat it without costing an arm and a leg.  Have to get it all through planning first though.  The architect is drawing up the plans at the moment.  I think it's going to be quite a project.  At the moment it looks like this:

Going to be a heck of a project to make that a roll off roof.

[ronin]

Back to the original question:

Suppose suggesting Jersey or Guernsey is not applicable - I know not mainland but a sort of self contained island. Likely best to not have a car, their roads can be chaotic

[JamesF]

Yes.  There must be at least three tonnes of slate on there, plus the fairly hefty roof timbers

Actually, we had to replace the roof because it was in danger of becoming a "slide off"   Over many decades it had been repeatedly patched up with wriggly tin sheet (it would originally have been thatched) and the roof timbers had reached a fairly appalling state of decay.  Not only that, for the entire width of the openings visible in the second photo the roof was supported on two lengths of 8" diameter tree trunk used as pillars.  Or rather, it wasn't, because they had completely rotted through at the bottom.  The entire roof was constructed around four massive wooden trusses and two of those were effectively just hanging in the air at one end.  I think the only thing holding them up was inertia.

James

[Guest]

54 minutes ago, JamesF said:

Though clearly it will be far too late for the OP, hopefully within the next twelve months we will have a 3-bed holiday cottage and observatory on the edge of Exmoor and only eight miles or thereabouts from the coast to rent out.  Maybe even with access to a swimming pool if I can find a sane way to heat it without costing an arm and a leg.  Have to get it all through planning first though.  The architect is drawing up the plans at the moment.  I think it's going to be quite a project.  At the moment it looks like this:

 

We've just had the roof completely rebuilt to stop the entire building falling down.

James

Looks good. Not too late for a roof observatory dome to be added to the plans.

[Paz]

Jersey is good if you get away from the touristy lit areas but the darkest sky I've ever seen was from a cottage I stayed at in Cornwall in the middle of nowhere. Dark lanes in the milky way  by eye and so many stars that it was hard to actually find anything in my binoculars.

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, JamesF said:

Though clearly it will be far too late for the OP, hopefully within the next twelve months we will have a 3-bed holiday cottage and observatory on the edge of Exmoor and only eight miles or thereabouts from the coast to rent out.  Maybe even with access to a swimming pool if I can find a sane way to heat it without costing an arm and a leg.  Have to get it all through planning first though.  The architect is drawing up the plans at the moment.  I think it's going to be quite a project.  At the moment it looks like this:

 

We've just had the roof completely rebuilt to stop the entire building falling down.

James

Look into ground source heating.

Will you be giving an SGL discount for advance bookings?

[JamesF]

Just now, Stub Mandrel said:

Look into ground source heating.

Will you be giving an SGL discount for advance bookings?

Ground source heating is something I'd like to look into.  We have a field of about an acre immediately to the south west of the barn which would probably be suitable and I can probably do some of the work for laying the pipe myself.

As for discounts, I think we'll get a bit closer to getting it done before we start worrying about bookings

James

[PeterW]

What's the SQM reading there? Looks a nice place. You could always go to the south coast near Worthing and Bignor... just up the South Downs we got mag 21.3 skies last week. Surprisingly good, pity about the wind!

 

Peter

[JamesF]

4 minutes ago, PeterW said:

What's the SQM reading there? Looks a nice place. You could always go to the south coast near Worthing and Bignor... just up the South Downs we got mag 21.3 skies last week. Surprisingly good, pity about the wind!

 

Peter

Not sure if you mean me or someone else...

I've never taken an SQM reading, but occasionally I check out the naked eye limiting magnitude by checking stars in Ursa Minor when it's high in the sky.  On good nights I reckon it gets to around 5.7.  Someone with younger eyes might do better.

James

[PeterW]

Sorry, yes SQM from your site. Wish more people would make measurements, so we can build up a picture of where the best close skies are, would help more people get out and save petrol miles.

PEter