Forest Holidays – Keldy Cabins

Keldy Location

Just back from 5 days Forest Holiday at Forest Holidays Keldy.  Located in the heart of the North Yorks Moors there’s 2 sites close to each other that “Forest Holidays” offer.  Keldy and Cropton.  Doing a bit of digging before I decided to go for the Keldy location.  From the reviews Keldy seems to be located further into the forest whereas Cropton sounds like the cabins are located in a field.

Arriving at Keldy around 5pm on the Monday I was advised that the cabin wasn’t quite ready yet as the cleaners were still working on it.  No big deal, we were offered free drinks while we waited and we can’t have waited any longer than 30 mins.

Keldy Cabins

Our cabin (number 16) was ideal – Located very close to the main reception/shop cabin but in a position that was surrounded by trees and not overlooked (unlike some of the other cabins around us).  If I was to stay at this site again I’d probably pay the extra money to reserve cabin 16 for this reason.

Although it was nice to get away from civilization there was plenty to do on the site itself.  We did the “Night Walk” on the Tuesday evening which promised top end quality night vision goggles for spotting the forest’s wildlife. It almost started badly with the organiser/ranger (Gareth) failing to shout out in the reception area  (where we were told to meet).  Thankfully, I was walking around the reception (first at the front, no sign of anyone then at the back where he seemed to be waiting). The night vision kit was a bit frustrating, wires wouldn’t stay connected it really needs a bit of an upgrade.  That said, Gareth seemed to know his stuff and was very professional throughout the walk.  Well worth the 10 quid.

There’s plenty of signposted forest walks to keep you occupied for a few days – we did quite a few of them including one that ended in a pub!.  There’s plenty of walks for dog owners and the ratio of dog to people was pretty high.  I managed to go on a run early one morning around the forest as well.  Walking to the Cropton site one day I realised the reviews I’d read are correct, the cabins were mainly gathered around a field and didn’t feel as welcoming as Keldy.

Points to note; There’s no Wifi or phone signal on site.  If you’re lucky you might get the odd 1 bar signal whilst out walking. Not always a bad thing as most people would get away to avoid technology.  You can upgrade to get WiFi and Sky Sports in your cabin for £40 – I chose to decline as I’d only be interested in the occasional WiFi usage and little else.  You could get on WiFi at the reception if you needed to grab your email.

The pizza’s ordered through room service and delivered to our cabin were pretty good for the money – worth doing one night when you can’t be bothered cooking.

All in all an enjoyable 5 days and we’ll probably be back at some point.