Plans for Walking Holidays this year!

Welcome to 2009 Storm Outdoors fans!

I always look forward to this time of year, the clear blue skies, snow and fresh, crisp (but cold) air changes the view of our towns, villages and more importantly hills and countryside. The Storm Outdoors store is busy both offline and online, in fact we received online orders on Xmas Day (a first!) and Friday the 2nd January was an extremely busy in the shop keeping us all very busy.

What we're really excited about is planning our walking holidays for this year. We're always great fans of The Lake District and regularly visit to relax (and secretly I get to test new camping gear and equipment).

There's loads of places to stay in the Lakes, from campsites, to caravans through to wonderful cosy cottages in the villages and towns like Ambleside, Grasmere, Keswick or Windemere. To help you out here's our favourite websites for staying in the Lake District:

For Lake District Campsites we recommend the Great Langdale campsite found at the head of the majestic Great Langdale and the National Trust Wasdale Head campsite (great for access to Scafell Pike or Great Gable).

For caravans we like the quiet peace of Langdale's Greenhowe Caravan Park - great value though a bit of a walk to the pub but its a pleasant enough stroll on a summer's evening.

But our favourite place to stay is in a Lake District cottage and really get a flavour of how life was years ago. Its also preferred especially when you return from a walk where the weather has been atrocious, its so great to sit in front of a wood fire and get warm.

We use the following websites and all have come highly recommended from our own personal experiences (though we won't admit to which cottages we regularly book unless you email us!)

www.cumbrian-cottages.co.uk

www.lakelovers.co.uk

www.heartofthelakes.co.uk

These 3 Lake District holiday cottage websites all have an extensive list of properties to view and book online. We've used them all in the past and would happily book again with any of them.

Let us know how your holiday goes this year, we'd love to hear where you're headed!