Ord House in Northumberland won the 'Best campsite in North-East England' category in the Top 100 Sites Awards 2014. This annual award scheme asks readers of Practical Caravan and Practical Motorhome magazines and Caravan Sitefinder to rate their favourite campsites in the UK, then counts up the votes to find the national and regional winners each year. Ord House Country Park and campsite was also a finalist in 2013, proving that its high standards are consistently excellent.
The 44-acre five-star country park is home primarily to static holiday lodges for sale, static caravans for sale and camping pods for hire.
Three areas at Ord House Country Park are set aside exclusively for tourers in caravans, motorhomes, trailer tents and tents. All pitches are of a good size and have electric hook-up, including tent pitches. It is a wonderful campsite for family holidays in Northumberland and it is open all year round.
Site facilities are impressive, including an award-winning centrally heated washroom that includes baths, free hot showers, free hairdryers, family shower and bathroom suites, disabled facilities, a dish washing and vegetable preparation area and a launderette. You'll also find a shop that stocks all the essentials.
Maguire's Bar offers good bar meals, wines, beers and other drinks. You can choose to eat either in the family area or the lounge, with views of Ord House's gardens and the Country Park and countryside beyond.
If you need any camping equipment, there's a camping accessories shop on site to cater for all you might need.
There's also a woodland dog walk that takes in just a small part of the beautiful surroundings in the park, following the perimeter of the park for 1.5 miles.
Children will enjoy the large playground at Ord House Country Park, and there's outdoor seating here, so parents can keep an eye on their children in comfort. Families might also enjoy the Crazy Golf, Table Tennis and Sand Pit.
Ball games are allowed, so Ord House is a great campsite for family holidays with teens. There's a football pitch sized area for you to have a kick around with your children, ideal for active, sporty families.
Ord Country Park has its own Ord Manor House, which now houses the park family lounge. Here you can enjoy a tasty reasonable priced bar meal and a drink with your children. The family lounge provides various activities to keep the children entertained, including a soft ball area, pool tables and several computer based games.
Here are some of the comments from Practical Caravan, Practical Motorhome and Caravan Sitefinder's readers, who voted Ord House into the top spot as the best campsite in North-East England in 2014.
The first reader said: "The play park is really good, and the kids loved the soft play area in the pub. The walk around the park is absolutely beautiful, too. Ord House Country Park is well worth a visit - we'll definitely be going again."
Another reader said: "We spent an extremely enjoyable three nights at Ord House Country Park. It has excellent facilities, especially for anyone with a disability, which both my husband and I have. The pitch was superb, with electric hook-up and water supply and drain, it made life really simple."
If you don't have your own tent, caravan or motorhome, or you fancy a quick break with no setting up or towing, you can also hire one of the 10 new Wishbone Lodges at Ord House for your camping holiday. These cute little camping pods, which look like wooden wigwams, would suit a small family or a couple and are sited in Ord House Country Park, between mature trees and hedges. Each pod has double glazing, lights and plugs, plus its own veranda. It's heated by a low wattage electric heater and offers bunk beds and two camp beds, a kettle and simple wooden furniture.
Perhaps the best thing about Ord House, though, is its location. From here you can visit Alnwick Castle, where Harry Potter was filmed. You can see Bamburgh Castle, watch baby seals at the Farne Islands, spend a day exploring Lindisfarne and visit the award winning coastline with its spectacular beaches.
Active families might also enjoy going to the local Speedway, Berwick Bandits at Shielfield Park a short walk from the campsite.
For golfing holidays in Northumberland, Ord House is well situated for a few local golf clubs. There's Magdalene Fields Golf Club, Goswick Golf Club, Eyemouth Golf Club and Duns Golf Club.
