Recent camping in the NE of England - Bellingham and Kielder

[Gfamily]

If people are interested in visiting the Kielder Observatory, here's some lessons learned from our recent visit to the NE of England. 

The Observatory is at the top of a 2km track, for pre-booked vehicles only, and the carpark at the bottom is £2 for 1 hour (not long enough) or £5 for all day. (that said, we were there on a cold November Friday and took 90+ minutes and we didn't get a ticket having only paid for 1 hour). Make sure you have plenty of coins as payment is by cash only. Away from the towns, phone signals are fleeting, so don't expect to be able to look things up unless you're lucky. 

It's a nice walk up though - with signs on the way up representing the distances to the planets - Neptune by the Car Park, and the Sun near the top.  If you're not on an arranged visit, there's not a lot to see at the Observatory itself. It's a lovely building in a great site, but there's not a visitor centre or any facilities as such.

We stayed at the Bellingham Camping and Caravanning Club site, which is about 25 minutes from the Car Park - the campsite is very positive about its location in a Dark Sky area - it minimises the amount of lighting across the site - and it holds its own Astronomy Star Parties.  We took our binoculars and small refractor, but only managed a short session of observing as the rain swept through at very regular intervals.