Two Northumberland campsites have taken awards at a national Camping and Glamping awards ceremony.
Walkmill Campsite in Guyzance, near Warkworth, and Langley Dam Glamping near Haydon Bridge both came as runners up in the best for dark skies category at the campsites.co.uk Camping and Glamping Awards, finishing runners up to Bwch yn Uchaf in Gwynedd, Wales. The county is home to the largest gold tier International Dark Sky Park in Europe, and camping offers a way to enjoy the "nightlife" for less.
A night under Northumberland's dark skies was named as the top thing to do in the UK before you turn 40 in a study earlier in the year, while astrotourism is said to be worth £25m annually to the region. Despite that, neither winner is actually located within the boundaries of the dark sky park, which is the second largest area of protected sky on the continent.
Read more: Northumberland campsite named best in region at AA Caravan and Camping Awards 2023
Langley Dam's glamping cabins are located just south of Langley Castle, near Haydon Bridge, and are designed to look like upturned fishing boats and all eight on site are named after fields and fell-land on the farm. Owner Jo Bates said: "We're very pleased, it's nice to be recognised in some way, shape or form.
"I guess because Northumberland is nicely recognised as a dark skies area, although we're just outside the dark sky park, it's close enough that we do have them and out customers all recognise that. Our reviews often say the skies are lovely and you can see the stars."
Walkmill Campsite is around a half-hour walk to one of the coast's most arresting attractions, Warkworth Castle and is nestled in a crook of the River Coquet. It was highly commended at last year's North East Tourism Awards.
Claire Gillingham, who owns the site with her husband Nick, said: "Our campsite is just all about people enjoying camping in the natural environment, there's nothing better than sitting out of an evening and watching the stars. We're really pleased to be recognised and I've been having a look at the reviews since we found out about the awards - a few people mentioned the dark skies and one gentleman referred to the Milky Way."
Martin Smith, founder of Campsites.co.uk said: "With so many great sites it hasn’t been easy to choose the winners, but these sites have offered campers something extra special this year, going above and beyond for their guests. Congratulations to all the winners!"
Many of the regional winners in other categories were based in North Yorkshire, while the overall national winner was Beech Estate Campsite in East Sussex.
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