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Quote: Originally posted by Pixie_Hez on 24/11/2024
Has anyone tried to stop at Junction 38 Truckstop with a caravan? It is just before Tebay and run by the same people who run Tebay. We always use Tebay so it is disappointing to hear that they have taken away the caravan parking. I have emailed them to ask if Caravans can use the J38 Truckstop as it might be a viable alternative.
I thought I would resurrect this post as we have just tried the Junction 38 Truckstop. When we are on our way to the North Lakes, we usually stop for lunch at Tebay Northbound but for the last few years it has been chaotic with the caravan. There are now only a very small number of caravan parking spaces and they are usually filled with cars and if you are lucky enough to get a space, the services are really busy and queues in the cafe and shop are long.
This year we decided to try the J38 Truckstop which is about a mile before the Tebay Northbound services and is run by the same people as run Tebay. It says lorries only but there were other caravans and even some cars there so I think it is quite flexible in who they allow. You leave the M6 at J38 and follow the signs. It is just off the southbound side so if you are travelling Northbound then the exit takes you under the motorway and round to the services. When we arrived it was a bit confusing at first. There is one big entrance and we initially stayed left and ended up in the car park with spaces just for cars. Luckily this was big enough for us to swing round and drive out. We then kept right at the entrance and followed the roadway round behind the petrol station and to the back of the services building where there is a barrier entrance to the main lorry parking area. We approached the barrier and it went up for us. We drove into the parking area and discovered about 50 drive through spaces and another 50+ drive in reverse out spaces. There were about 15 HGVs parked up and one other caravan. We drove into one of the ‘drive through’ spaces close to the entrance and parked up.
On entering the building from the lorry park there is a restaurant to the right, toilets straight ahead and a shop and take-away to the left. We started in the restaurant as it was lunch time. They didn’t have the same extensive menu as the main Tebay services but what they had suited us very well. As it is run by the Westmorland group, all the food is home cooked. Apparently the selection changes every day but on Saturday they had a choice of a burger (looked like a proper steak burger from the farm shop), Cumberland Sausage wheel, some sort of casserole, chilli con carne, and mince and tatties (a very popular dish where I come from). You could also get battered fish cooked to order and toasties and omelettes cooked to order. All of these came with a choice of sides from chips, mashed potato, vegetables, gravy etc. There was also a cake counter with cakes, scones and sweet treats and you could order a hot pudding of the day which on Saturday was either summer fruit crumble or sticky toffee pudding, both served with custard. We ordered the fish and chips which was freshly cooked for us, really tasty and cheaper than at Tebay services. The restaurant seating area was quite utilitarian, nothing fancy, but perfectly clean and comfortable. For us, the restaurant experience was far superior to Tebay as we didn’t have to queue and our freshly cooked fish only took about 8 minutes so the chef must have started on it the minute we ordered.
After eating, we found the toilets which were standard service area toilets but very clean. Again, there was no queue like there can sometimes be in peak season at Tebay.
We then went to check out the shop and discovered that it also had a takeaway selling hot drinks and home made hot savouries such as sausage rolls and pies (the same as you would get at Tebay). They also had a deli counter selling a small range of the deli products that they have at Tebay such as pork pies, scotch eggs etc. They also have cakes and sweet treats and some groceries and meat etc. There are a few small tables where you can eat your takeaway food but we also noticed a few people has taken theirs into the restaurant seating area to eat as the tables must have been full in the takeaway area.
All in all, we had a really positive experience and will definitely use this service area again rather than run the gauntlet of Tebay on a busy peak season Saturday. It was very quiet, parking with the caravan was simple and the food was home made and tasty.
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Pixie
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Topic: Caravan parking at Tebay north .
