South Lakeland Leisure Village
South Lakeland Leisure Village is Pure Leisure Group's flagship self-catering lodge park, set around a private lake near Carnforth on the Lancashire–Cumbria border, in the Arnside and Silverdale National Landscape. Families come for quiet lodges, many with hot tubs and lake views, and a position within about half an hour of the southern Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and Morecambe Bay.
On this page
Is it worth it?
The quick read before the detail: who the village suits, what's included, what costs extra and the facts to skim first.
South Lakeland Leisure Village is Pure Leisure's flagship park, a quiet self-catering base around a private lake on the Lancashire–Cumbria border. The marketing calls it Lake District, but it sits just outside the national park boundary, in the Arnside and Silverdale National Landscape, with the lakes proper about half an hour's drive away. It's set up as a countryside escape rather than an entertainment park, so there's no kids club, no splash pool and no activity programme. What it does well is the setting, the lodges (many with hot tubs and lake views) and a handy position for three different landscapes. What to weigh is that the pool is a single indoor 15-metre pool with no children's section and the restaurant is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. You cook for yourselves and drive to days out.
Best for
You want a quiet lodge, ideally with a hot tub, as a base for the southern Lakes, the Yorkshire Dales and Morecambe Bay, and you're happy to self-cater and drive to days out.
Maybe not for
You want a kids club, a splash pool or an entertainment programme; all your meals laid on; or a resort that keeps young children busy on site.
Best ages
Any age, but it leans towards families who'll enjoy the outdoors, the hot tub and days out rather than on-site children's facilities. There's no baby or toddler water play.
What stands out
The peaceful lakeside setting and the location, with the southern Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and the coast all within about half an hour.
What to check
Which lodge you're booking, since hot tubs, lake views and pet-friendly lodges vary, and, since M6 noise reaches some lodges, which ones are most sheltered.
Where is it?
Borwick, near Carnforth in Lancashire, just outside the Lake District National Park. No beach on site; Morecambe's beach is about 20 minutes' drive.
Quick facts for families
What the village is like
Where it sits, how the lodges are laid out around the lake, and what a deliberately quiet park means for getting around.
The park sits at Borwick, a couple of miles from the market town of Carnforth, on the Lancashire–Cumbria border. Pure Leisure Group runs three parks in this part of the country. This is South Lakeland Leisure Village, not Fell End Holiday Park about 5 miles south near Beetham or Coniston View further into the Lakes. It's inside the Arnside and Silverdale National Landscape, an area of limestone hills, reedbeds and estuary, but outside the Lake District National Park itself, so it's a southern gateway to the Lakes rather than a spot within them. Pure Leisure runs it as the group's premium park, informally known within the company as the 'jewel in the crown', and it's spread across maintained grounds around a private lake. For the wider region, its lakes and when to go, see our Lake District guide.
The layout is simple to picture. Lodges sit on named roads, Arnside, Borwick Heights, Capernwray, Coniston Drive, Gressingham, Lakeside, Sherwood and Silverdale, radiating out from a central facilities hub. That hub holds the Waters Edge Bar and Restaurant, the Pure Essence Beauty Spa and the health and fitness centre with its gym, steam room and 15-metre pool. Around the lodges the grounds are kept up with walking paths, picnic areas, a bird-watching area and a separate children's play area, with a nature reserve alongside. The site is gated, with reception on arrival.
The feel is deliberately quiet and rural. There's no entertainment complex, no rides, no children's animation programme and no splash park; the pitch is a countryside escape, with the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales as your day-trip playground. Every lodge has a decked area, some wrapping around, and the higher-tier lodges take the lakeside and lake-view positions. The Grade I listed Borwick Hall, a 16th-century manor, sits on the same lane but is a council outdoor education centre now, not part of the park.
Getting around is on foot. The lodges are within easy walking distance of the central facilities, and there's no golf-buggy shuttle, the little electric carts some bigger parks use to ferry guests about. The paved lodge roads are manageable with a pushchair. If step-free access from the lodges into the pool, gym and restaurant matters, ask when you book.
The lodges
The lodge tiers, the build quality behind them and which lodges suit a family with a baby or toddler.
The holiday lodges run in tiers, and Pure Leisure names Silver and Gold on its own site; Bronze and Platinum turn up on booking sites too. Gold and Platinum are the more luxurious end, which is about the living space, the fit-out and the views rather than the number of bedrooms. WiFi and gas and electric are included in a holiday lodge, and a booking comes with leisure passes for the whole family covering the pool and the gym. Booking sites put Bronze lodges at up to four guests in two or three bedrooms, Silver at up to eight in two to four bedrooms and Gold and Platinum at up to six. Treat these as a guide and check the exact sleeping and bedroom count for your chosen lodge before you book.
The park's ownership lodges, the ones people buy rather than rent, show the build quality the holiday lodges are drawn from. They're a separate stock from the ones you rent, so a rental's age and fit will vary, but the four models below set the ceiling and give a sense of the space and finish.
| Ownership model | Size | Bedrooms | Bathrooms | Standout feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlas Wisteria LV | 40ft × 20ft | 2 (double and twin) | 2 (bathroom and en-suite) | Vaulted ceiling, U-shaped kitchen island |
| Willerby Clearwater LV | 40ft × 20ft | 2 (double and twin) | 2 (shower and family shower) | Wrap-around deck, island kitchen |
| ABI Harrogate LVY | 41ft × 20ft | 2 (king and twin) | 2 (bathroom and en-suite) | Floor-to-ceiling glazing |
| Lakeland Lodge LVY | 42ft × 20ft | 2 (double and twin) | 2 (bathroom and en-suite) | Marble island, boot room |
For families, the standard two-bedroom lodges sleep four, a double and a twin, with an open-plan kitchen, living and dining room and the two bedrooms off it, so a baby or toddler can be settled to sleep away from the main living area. There are three-bedroom lodges too, and the largest, Gressingham 42, has four bedrooms and sleeps eight. There's no interconnecting family lodge, so a bigger group takes a bigger lodge rather than two joined ones.
Hot tubs, lake views and pet-friendly lodges are dotted through the park rather than standard, and the list changes, so check what a specific lodge has when you book. On the live listing at research time, the hot-tub lodges were Borwick Heights 10, Capernwray 19, 20 and 21, Coniston Drive 12, Gressingham 50, Lakeside 32 and Sherwood 45, and the pet-friendly lodges were Coniston Drive 12, Sherwood 20 and Sherwood 45. A lodge with a hot tub is the thing guests rate most, especially on cold evenings.
On the lodges themselves, kitchens are fitted and equipped, though reviews of the lower-tier lodges flag tired kitchen kit, blunt knives, worn pans and the odd missing basic, with fewer such complaints higher up the tiers, so pack anything you'd miss for serious cooking. The lodge walls are on the thin side and sound carries between lodges, and where a lodge has a hot tub, some carry a rule closing it from 10am, which has caught a few guests out; it's worth a quick look at the lodge rules if evening use matters to you.
Eating and drinking
The self-catering basis, the one restaurant, the days it's shut and where to shop for the rest.
The park runs on self-catering, so most meals happen in the lodge kitchen. On site there's one restaurant and bar, the Waters Edge, which sits by the lake with outdoor decking and a beer garden. The kitchen does traditional British dishes alongside Mediterranean, Indian and Italian ones. There's a café on site too, serving breakfasts and lighter daytime options.
The main thing to plan around is that the restaurant is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. If you arrive on a Sunday you have a two-day gap before you can dine on site again, so those nights are self-catering ones. The bar keeps longer hours than the kitchen, and reviews across recent years mention the menu being cut back at times when the kitchen is short-staffed, so it's worth treating the restaurant as a nice-to-have alongside the lodge kitchen rather than the plan for every night. Hours can change on bank holidays, so call 01524 730823 to check.
| Day | Bar | Restaurant |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday | 9am–6pm | Breakfast 9–11am, lunch 12–4pm, no evening service |
| Monday | 9am–6pm | Closed |
| Tuesday | 9am–6pm | Closed |
| Wednesday | 9am–9pm | 12–2pm and 5–8pm |
| Thursday | 9am–9pm | 12–2pm and 5–8pm |
| Friday | 9am–10pm | Breakfast 9–11am, lunch 12–2pm, dinner 5–8pm |
| Saturday | 9am–10pm | Breakfast 9–11am, lunch 12–2pm, dinner 5–8pm |
Where to shop
The park has a café and bar, so for groceries do a proper food shop on the way in rather than expect to top up on site. Carnforth, about 2 miles (3 km) away, has a Co-op, independent shops and a pharmacist, and there are bigger supermarkets in Lancaster and Kendal. With the restaurant closed on the Monday and Tuesday, plan those two dinners around the lodge kitchen.
The pool and leisure centre
The indoor pool and leisure centre, the beauty spa and everything there is to do without leaving the site.
The leisure centre sits in the central hub, and the pool is its main draw for families: a single indoor, heated pool of 15 metres, with an air-conditioned gym and a steam room in the same building. The pool and gym are covered by the leisure pass that comes with a holiday booking, both handy on a wet afternoon.
There's no separate children's pool, no baby pool and no splash pad, so all the swimming happens in the one pool, and some lanes are roped off for lap swimmers. The pool runs to set session times, so check them with the park before you rely on a particular slot. The family changing rooms help with young children, and families single them out. For a baby or toddler it works for a daily dip with a parent holding them, rather than as a water-play day out in its own right.
The spa
The Pure Essence Beauty Spa is on site in the central building, run independently by Sue Shields. It covers eight kinds of treatment: advanced skin care, general skin care facials, hand and feet treatments such as manicures and pedicures, lash and brow work, massage and holistic therapies, slimming treatments, hair removal by IPL laser or waxing and packages that bundle a few together. It's for adults, and treatments are booked and paid for separately, so book direct on 01524 735 240 or at [email protected]. It's the obvious way for a parent to get an hour to themselves while a little one naps or after bedtime. There's no spa pool or hydrotherapy area, so it's treatments rather than a wet spa.
On the siteThings to do on site
The site is set up to be peaceful rather than packed with things to do, and it helps to go in knowing that. There's no entertainment programme, no evening shows, no children's clubs and no watersports or cycle hire. What there is sits outdoors and around the lake.
Fishing on the private lake is included for holiday guests, with trout, perch, bream, carp and pike in the water; the neighbouring Borwick Lakes fishery on 01524 917313 runs four connected lakes with bigger specimen carp if someone in the party is a keen angler. Sailing and small craft are allowed on the large lake, with no powerboats; ask the park about hiring a boat or bringing your own if you're hoping to get on the water. Around the grounds there are walking paths, a designated bird-watching area, picnic spots, photography around the lake and a children's play area, though the play equipment isn't described.
For golfers there are six courses within reach, including nine-hole courses at Lansil in Lancaster and Casterton near Kirkby Lonsdale and eighteen-hole ones at Morecambe, Grange over Sands, Silverdale and Windermere; the park's own golf page lists them all with contact numbers.
Babies and toddlers
How the park works with the youngest, the kit in the lodges and the food question, then the days out around it.
South Lakeland Leisure Village is a quiet, self-catering base rather than a resort built around babies and toddlers. There's no kids club, no crèche and no babysitting of any kind, so young children are with you throughout. If a break in the day or an evening out is what you're after, that's the clear gap here; the nearest thing to a parent's break is a spa treatment. You might see a family-travel listing describe it as a great baby and toddler place, which reflects the quiet, self-catering appeal rather than any dedicated children's facilities, since there's no club or water play for little ones.
What helps most with the youngest is the lodge itself. Cots and highchairs are available to hire for an extra charge, so book them ahead rather than count on one being spare. Full kitchens make weaning and bottles straightforward, since you can store and warm food in the lodge, so feeding a baby or toddler is mainly a job for the lodge kitchen. The two-bedroom lodges give you a door to close on a sleeping child while the living room stays yours.
A couple of practical things with a toddler. The private lake sits close to the lodges, so it's worth keeping an eye on a small child near the water. The covered decks give somewhere to leave a pushchair, and the paved lodge roads are manageable with one.
Off the parkThe area and days out
The location is what most families come for. The park puts three different landscapes within about half an hour: the southern Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and the Morecambe Bay coast. Arnside and Silverdale itself, the National Landscape the park sits in, covers 29 square miles of limestone hills, reedbeds, woodland and the Morecambe Bay estuary, with its villages a short drive away.
Closest of the family days out is Leighton Moss RSPB reserve near Carnforth, the largest reedbeds in north-west England, with level, buggy-friendly paths and a visitor centre with a café and baby changing, open dawn to dusk on 01524 701601. Lakes Aquarium at Newby Bridge, at the foot of Windermere, has daily otter feeds at 11:45am and 2:30pm, opens from 10am and lets under-threes in free. Sizergh Castle, a National Trust place about 11 miles (18 km) north near Kendal, has a wild play trail from age three, a café and baby changing, with under-fives free; adults are £15 to £16.50 and children aged 5 to 17 are £7.50 to £8.30, with a family ticket at £37.50 to £41.30 (last checked June 2026). The paths to the garden are flat tarmac, though the garden itself has some loose gravel and slopes. Levens Hall, near Kendal, has the world's oldest topiary garden, a café and a deer park, open for the 2026 season from late March to early November; hall and gardens together cost £17.30 for adults and £5.75 for children aged 5 to 16, with a family ticket at £42.75 and under-fives free (last checked June 2026). Holker Hall near Grange-over-Sands has 25 acres of gardens and a deer park, open Wednesday to Sunday plus bank holiday Mondays in 2026, with pram access throughout and under-twelves free.
Kirkby Lonsdale, about 20 minutes off, is a market town with the medieval Devil's Bridge, Ruskin's View, a Charter Market and a Thursday crafts and collectibles market, plus guided Vault Walks through the old passageways under the town (adults £7.50, under-16s free); its cobbled streets, though, are hard work with a heavy pushchair. The southern end of Windermere around Newby Bridge, 25 to 30 minutes away, has boat cruises, lakeside walks and the steam trains of the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway. The Yorkshire Dales, around half an hour, are Three Peaks country, with the Dales Countryside Museum and the market town of Settle both worth a day; the terrain itself is proper walking country, better with a baby carrier than a pram. Morecambe, about 8 miles (13 km) south-west, has a promenade, the Eric Morecambe statue and a free bucket-and-spade beach on the tidal bay; the Eden Project Morecambe broke ground in 2026, but nothing is open yet, with the gardens due around 2027 and the full attraction in 2028. Lancaster, about 9 miles (15 km) south and 20 minutes' drive, has a castle, Williamson Park, a city museum and a canal towpath for an easy walk, which makes it a good wet-weather day.
One name to know: the Fell End Nature Reserve that appears on the park's own attractions page is a free 90-acre reserve with wildlife hides and easy paths, but it's about 5 miles south at Pure Leisure's Fell End park rather than on this site, so treat it as a nearby day out rather than an on-site facility.
How it compares
The village against other Lakes parks, then the drive in and the best months to go with little ones.
Within Pure Leisure's own group, the nearest comparison is Fell End Holiday Park about 5 miles south, which has soft play, an amusement arcade and a games room and feels more like a traditional holiday park. South Lakeland is the quieter of the two, without the arcade or soft play, so if an indoor soft-play buffer for a rainy afternoon matters, Fell End has the edge, while lodge quality and a spa point you back here.
Further afield, Landal Whitbarrow near Penrith has an indoor pool and a dedicated children's splash pool plus a toddler play area and adventure playground, so it's the better choice where the children's water provision is the decider. White Cross Bay, a Parkdean park on Windermere, runs an entertainment programme, Aqua Babies swimming and a marina at a lower price and suits families who want structured children's activities, while South Lakeland wins on lodge quality. Another Place, The Lake on Ullswater is a different thing again, a hotel with an Ofsted-registered kids club and babysitting at a higher price and not self-catering, which is the one to look at if supervised childcare is what you need.
Getting thereGetting there and when to go
Nearly everyone drives, and it's an easy family drive: the park is five minutes from junction 35 of the M6, with no mountain passes or narrow lanes on the approach and service stations along the motorway. There's no park shuttle or airport transfer. Carnforth station, about 2 miles (3 km) away, is on the Furness line and the Leeds to Morecambe line, but there's no park shuttle from the station, so you'd need a taxi or a car for the last stretch, which makes it a driving holiday in practice. Manchester is the nearest big airport, roughly 65 to 70 miles (105 to 115 km) south, about an hour and a half by road.
Bookings start at a two-night minimum and run up to 21 nights, and the park is open all year with staff on site, so a short break works as well as a full week. For families with little ones, late May and June give the best balance of drier, sunnier weather and quieter, cheaper weeks; October half term works if the hot tub and pool are the focus. The indoor pool, gym and spa are the wet-weather fallback, though the restaurant's Monday and Tuesday closure means cooking in the lodge on those nights. The nearest A&E is Royal Lancaster Infirmary, about 20 minutes' drive, and Carnforth has a GP surgery for anything minor.
When to goWeather
This is north-west England, so rain is a year-round factor, but the southern edge here is drier than the central fells: the Morecambe weather station records about 1,060mm a year, wetter than most of England but well short of the Lakeland mountains. The driest months are April and May, the sunniest are May and June and the warmest are July and August, with the wettest stretch running from October to December.
Pack waterproofs and layers whatever the month, and lean on the indoor pool, gym and spa for a wet week. There's no sea temperature to give here, since the site is inland and Morecambe Bay is tidal mudflat rather than a swimming beach.
| Month | Daytime high | Overnight low | Rain | Wet days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7° | 1° | 218 mm | 18 |
| February | 7.5° | 1° | 192 mm | 16 |
| March | 9° | 2° | 167 mm | 15 |
| April | 12° | 3° | 114 mm | 14 |
| May | 15.5° | 5.5° | 114 mm | 13 |
| June | 17.5° | 8.5° | 109 mm | 14 |
| July | 20° | 10.5° | 108 mm | 12 |
| August | 19.5° | 10° | 133 mm | 13 |
| September | 17° | 8° | 153 mm | 14 |
| October | 13.5° | 6° | 242 mm | 19 |
| November | 9.5° | 3° | 216 mm | 20 |
| December | 7° | 1° | 230 mm | 18 |
Typical monthly averages from weather-station records. The park is open all year.
Loves and gripes
What families consistently rate and what they flag.
What families love
- The quiet, well-kept lakeside setting, which brings guests back.
- Helpful, welcoming staff, noted again and again.
- The hot tubs, especially on cold evenings.
- The family changing rooms at the pool.
- The location for exploring the southern Lakes, the Dales and the coast.
- The mid- and upper-tier lodges, modern and well-kitted.
Common gripes
- The restaurant closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, a snag for a Sunday arrival.
- One pool, with no children's or splash section.
- M6 noise reaching some lodges, mainly on the western side; ask the park which are most sheltered.
- Tired kitchen kit in the lower-tier lodges.
- Thin walls, with noise carrying between lodges.
- Worn decking and outdoor furniture at some lodges, fewer higher up the tiers.
- Cleanliness slips on arrival at times, hair or dust missed.
- Some reports of uncomfortable mattresses and flies in a lodge.
There's no single reliable guest score to quote for the park, so look at recent reviews for your own dates before you book. The praise is consistent on the setting and the staff, and the gripes cluster on the lodges' upkeep and the restaurant's hours rather than the welcome. On the lodges, the newer and higher-tier ones draw far fewer complaints, so if the finish matters to you, ask which tier a lodge is when you book. You may also see the park's own marketing describe "5-star facilities"; that's Pure Leisure's own phrase rather than a VisitBritain or AA quality grading.
Questions
The things families ask most, the pages worth a bookmark and when this guide was last refreshed.
Is the on-site restaurant open every day?
No. The kitchen serves Wednesday to Sunday and is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so a Sunday arrival means cooking in the lodge for the first two nights. The bar and café stay open in the daytime through the week, and hours can shift on bank holidays, so ring 01524 730823 if you're relying on a particular meal.
Is there a children's menu at the restaurant?
Ring the park on 01524 730823 to check the children's options before you count on the restaurant for a fussy eater. With a full kitchen in every lodge, most families with young children cook their own meals anyway.
Is the pool right for a baby or toddler?
There's one pool and no baby or splash area, so plan on a short dip holding your child rather than a water-play afternoon. The family changing rooms make getting a baby or toddler in and out easier, and it's worth checking session times with the park so a swim fits round naps and mealtimes.
Is there a kids club or childcare?
No. There's no childcare of any kind on the park, so for supervised care or a proper evening off you'd be looking at a hotel like Another Place on Ullswater, with its registered kids' club, instead. Here, an evening to yourselves means waiting until a little one is asleep in the lodge.
Can we hire a cot and a highchair?
Both are available to hire for an extra charge, so book them with your lodge ahead of arrival. If you'd rather not chance it, a travel cot packs into the car easily enough for a driving holiday like this one.
How long can we stay, and is it open all year?
The park is open every month with staff on site, and bookings run from a two-night minimum up to 21 nights. That means a weekend or a short midweek break works as well as a full week, so you can match the stay to a wet-weather escape or a proper holiday.
Where's the nearest hospital and pharmacy?
The nearest A&E is Royal Lancaster Infirmary, about 20 minutes' drive. Carnforth, about 2 miles (3 km) away, has a GP surgery and a pharmacist for anything minor, which is worth noting before you set off with young children.
See more South Lakeland Leisure Village photos
Open the South Lakeland Leisure Village photo gallery →Useful links
- South Lakeland Leisure Village: the park's own site for lodges, facilities and what's included.
- Arnside and Silverdale National Landscape: the AONB the park sits in, with walks and wildlife nearby.
- The Lake District with little ones: our guide to the wider region, its lakes and when to go.
Last updated 17 July 2026.
