Below are articles and comments given by people who have stayed in a 4 Winds Lakeland Tipi of hired one for an event. If you would like to add a comment of your own please contact us (See: Contact page).


Quotes

“We had an absolutely fantastic holiday, we can honestly say it was the best holiday we have ever had even if it was pouring with rain when we first arrived. Tipi was amazing and had everything we needed and the setting is breath taking! Thank you we will definitely be returning in future years. Have some great memories of my three year olds face when he first saw the tipi. ”

- Liz, Kieran and Thomas - July - 2010.


“The Tipi's were amazing, I’ll certainly be back”

- Louise - July - 2010.


“ Thanks. We had a fab time and the tipis were brilliant. We will be recommending this to all we know. In fact, our daughter is crying as she wanted to stay longer!”

- Claudia Rogers - 2010.


“ hi just to say we had a wonderful holiday, the tipi was first class, we do a lot of camping and this was the first time we stayed in a tipi it was like a luxury tent. the position of the tipi village was in a perfect location the scenery was amazing despite some rain on the Tuesday we still went out and was glad to get back in the tipi. if it had of rained all week we still wouldn't have minded staying in the tipi all week along with the added bonus of a portable heater was really nice especially on Friday morning. we have recommended you to our friends and family and are looking forward to coming back next year. Thanks for a great experience.”

- The Highams from Warwickshire - 2010.


“ Thank you. We had a fantastic time in the tipi. Even though we only live a few miles away we felt that we had really gone on 'holiday'. The tipi's are fantastic. We hope to book again for next year”

- Julie from Kendal - July - 2010.


“ Thank you Suzanne and lee. We had a wonderful time and will definitely be back this year if poss. Enjoy your summer as well. ”

- Anne Walker - July - 2010.


“ Lee, Suzanne thank you both for the best weekend break my friends and I have had together. We wanted a weekend together that was peaceful, relaxing yet different, and wow was it different, the tipi's are fantastic, clean with everything you need!! We never went more than 5 yards from our tipi all weekend, just enjoyed the barbecue and beer, laughing out loud with friends. Many friends and family have awaited our return to tell about the fun we have had in the tipi and many of them wish to experience it for themselves. We took lots of postcards from the reception and have given several out already. So a huge thank you for an amazingly different experience making our weekend just fantastic. Hope to stay with you again soon, Kind regards.”

- Liz - July - 2010.


“ I would just like to say thank you and what a great time we had last weekend in the just camping tipi. Its nice to be welcomed into the camping grounds by such friendly and helpful staff members. The facilities were also excellent. The toilets and showers were always clean. A big thank you, to you and your staff members. As I said to you, I had my wife’s parents from South Africa with us and they were well impressed with the camping grounds. I will definitely be coming back for another weekend before winter this year.”

- Dave - July - 2010.


“ Hi, just to say we had the best holiday ever and want to come back ASAP. The tipi was fab, we usually have to lug a lot of gear around on our Harleys and camp in our own tent but to have carpet and a gas fire and candlelight made our stay very comfortable and so chilled out. Never been to the lakes before but just totally fell in love with the place...thank you so much”

- Samantha from York - 2010.


“ Thankyou your tipis are beautiful, we had a great time and will hopefully be back next year”

- Gemma and Chris - 2010.


“ Just a note to say we have had a brilliant holiday in your tipi this week. we did all the things we wanted to do.the scenery was outstanding, and the weather, well what can we say? wall to wall sunshine! unbelievable! It will be a holiday we wont forget.Thanks very much”

- Ali Bailey,Jim Parkman and boys - 2010.

“Thank you for an amazing tipi experience. We will definitely be booking to come again.”

- Emma and Chris Catterall, Manchester - 2009.


“Just a quick note to say thanks very much for a fantastic weekend. The setting was beautiful and the tipi was amazing. We all had a great time. The kids now want to live in a tipi.”

- Rob, Kate, Amelia and Isabel Boon - 2009.


“Just to say thanks for everything, it was a really good experience and we would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to experience camping in a different way. We really enjoyed the tipi and the directions were easy to follow. The tipi made camping so much more enjoyable and fun, no matter what the weather was like. ”

- Vivi & Joe, Liverpool - 2009.


“Just wanted to say thank you for a really special weekend, the whole experience was absolutely wonderful! Colin (my partner) is a bit of a city boy so I wasn’t sure how he would take the outdoor living, however he had a really chilled weekend – and so did I. The tipi was lovely, the scenery was amazing and the atmosphere in the camp was really relaxed, a much welcome break from civilisation as we know it! It was a totally different experience to anything I have done before and we will certainly be booking again next year. Loved the shower by the wa :)”

- Jennie - 2008.


“Just a note to thank you both for the tipi. We had a wonderful time..the boys absolutely loved every moment despite the diabolical weather and it was a great experience....i could have done without the slug in my hair tho!!............ talk about back to nature... so we have lots of happy memories and things to laugh about.”

- Selina John and Peter Daly - 2008.


“Many, many thanks for a wonderful holiday in one of your lovely 18ft tipis. Even the rain did not spoil our fun. Stepping out of our tipi early morning with the mist rolling off Lake Windermere below, switching on the piping hot shower and standing in a cedar- scented steam, enjoying the woodland view - pure bliss. We have stayed in a lot of luxury hotels over the years and none of them come close to matching your shower facilities. We will definitely be back.”

- The Troup Family - 2008.


“I had a lovely time thanks, really relaxing and so much fun at the same time! Thank you both for your hospitality, we all had a fantastic and comfortable stay. I liked it so much I'd like to come again, maybe with my future husband! Take care and thanks again.”

- Unnamed - 2008.


“I was in the party of 7 'hens' that stayed in one of your 18ft tipi's at the weekend :) I'd just like to say a big thank you for your hospitality and helpfulness! We had a great time and hope to be able to come back again some time.”

- Pamela Copeland - 2008.


“Just a short note to say how much we enjoyed our week in our tipi, have never returned from a break so relaxed and refreshed. We were delighted with everything, not even the rain spoilt our fun. The kids also had a ball. Many thanks we look forward to returning soon.”

- Lou , Mark , Maddy and Maisie - 2008.


“The Hiawatha Experience, Peace and simplicity of life in a tipi. As soon as you enter a tipi things seem slower and more relaxed. You do feel much closer to nature.”

- Christain Dymond Cumbria Life Magazine.


“This is now our third holiday with 4 Winds Lakeland Tipis we just love coming!”

- The Templar family from Oxford.


“The site is amazing.”

- The Bell family from Essex.


“The girls love dressing up as Red Indians.”

- The Lyndsey family.


"We will definitely come again.”

- Father and sons from Lancashire.


“This holiday has changed our lives its made us think more about how we live at home.”

- The Smith family from Manchester.


“I wish we could live like this all the time.”

- A small child from London.


“What a great time we had the boys absolutely loved it especially at night when it goes dark and you light the candles and put the lantern on.”

- John Mc Ardle actor who stayed for a weekend with his son and a friend.


“We had a lovely week, the tipis were great, the site beautiful and the kids had hours of fun in the river. Wishing you every success with your venture.”

- The Braithwaites from Kendal.


“We had a good time from the sun coming up to going back down. A wonderful experience.”

- Thank you from the Pendle Tribe.


“Fantastic experience definitely coming back in the summer.  Thanks.”

- Wendy, Allison, Pauline, Sue and Julie.


“4 Winds Lakeland Tipis provided a great venue for our Drum Kitchen at the BBC Spring Watch event in Angel Fields in Manchester.”

- Mimi Rogers director of Another Really Useful Idea events.


“My daughter had a really special birthday in Shaman tipi erected in our back garden by 4 Winds Lakeland Tipis.”

- Mrs. Stone from Lancashire.


“We would just like to thank you for the wonderful say. The Tipis were more impressive than I thought. We had all we needed during our stay, all we did was arrive and relax. The area was so peaceful and it was such a treat to just watch the stars over a roaring campfire. We chatted into the night, it was a laugh a minute, and we really appreciated the communal living aspect, it made the experience even more intimate and cozy. The air beds were a nice touch for the effortless nights sleep and the convenience of the fire wood sore next door who were very accomodating when the fire wood got low. You can definitely put us down for the same time next year. ”

- Antony, Mel and Katie from Carlisle. In The Big Country - Article
“It was time to play cowboys and Indians again, but this time far more for real, writes Jonathan Skinner.

Perhaps it's being forty something or other' that makes me want to relive the dreams of my youth, but when I saw the advert for a holiday that meant I could stay in a proper tipis in the Lake District, I was enchanted.

Nostalgia, romance (and if I am brutally honest, the image of myself as a great warrior chief for a weekend) had me hooked.

Having crammed four children and a bemused and mildly insane Cocker Spaniel into the car with all the clobber needed for a few days away, we were ready to make as early start as possible in order to begin our adventure in Cumbria by lunchtime.

However, the adventure started earlier that I expected we had forgotten about the perils of the M6.

I reasoned that if I headed out far enough towards Wales, in the end I would find some clear roads. I was wrong. We spent hours meandering near the Celtic borderlands. At last, feeling shattered, we gave up and called into a country pub for a meal while we waited for all the traffic to die down.
Well into the evening we set off again and finally reached our Indian village at about midnight.
There is something about the Lake District that reminds me of the children's rhyme, When he's good he's very, very good, but when he's bad he's horrid.' On a fine day there is absolutely nothing better that the Lakes, but in the rain there is little worse. And on this night it was not just raining, it was a veritable monsoon.

We ran, slipped and staggered through pitch blackness and pounded by torrential rain ran into our shelter, a tipis.

Inside, we began to sort ourselves out. The tent was surprisingly large and well equipped with cooker, lamps and so on, and even rugs on the ground sheet which gave it an authentic feel. As quickly as we could we arranged our bedding on the air mats provided, comforted ourselves with mugs of steaming hot chocolate and then huddled into our sleeping bags and listened to the rain battering the canvas.

In the morning the weather was little better, and as we peeped out we could see that the Indian village' of five tipis was situated on the edge of a deep wooded valley on the fringe of a forest.
Fog and mist hung over the trees like a damp blanket. Putting on our most stoic attitude we set about preparing for a day out touring the area.

The nearest lake was Coniston Water, which I knew from previous experience is stunningly beautiful and the place where Arthur Ransome's famous tale Swallows and Amazons was set. We went out on the wonderful Victorian steam launch and visited the home of art critic John Ruskin, called Brantwood, on the shore of the lake.

For those interested in literature, there really is nothing quite comparable to the Lake District - generations of poets and writers have been inspired by the beauty and stunning grandeur of the place.

Sadly, our exploring was done in overcast and gloomy conditions, leaving us cold and damp, and discouraged to the core. Despite making the best of it, the weather was dampening our spirits.
But then on the last day it happened - the sun suddenly came out and shafts of light lit up the scenery.

The transformation was stunning and the effect staggering. Great expanses of the most extraordinary and amazing scenery suddenly became illuminated before us. And we remembered why people love the Lake District - in fine weather it is unparalleled.

We saw our campsite in a new light; living in a teepee buried deep in woodland and valley with wildlife all around could be the most refreshing and revitalising experience.

The only thing I would really want to learn before being an Indian again for a weekend is how to do a rain dance that guarantees fine weather. Now, where did I put my tomahawk?”

- Jonathan Skinner reporter with the Oxford News.

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Daily Express Article
In July 2005 Andrew Eames a reporter for the Daily Express Travel Section came to stay at a 4 Winds site with his children Thomas aged 12 and Rhena aged 10 both brought a friend along. Here’s what he had to say:

“Creature comforts have taken much of the grit out of sleeping under canvas.”

- says Andrew Eames.


“Camping isn’t what it used to be. In my teenage years I spent weeks lugging a tent around the Lake District, carefully rotating my socks, eating just-add-water curry and rice, and getting steadily more pungent as the days went by.

Now my own children are growing up I thought it was time for them to discover what real camping is all about. Time for them to venture a little into the savage side of life. Except this was Native American style in the heart of the English countryside.

We had rented Thundercloud, one of seven tipis in the Lake District’s first ever tribal encampment, 4 Winds Lakeland Tipis.

The tipis are large and eye-catching, and almost as well-equipped as a top-end mobile home with a cooker, barbecue, mattresses, lanterns and a tribal headdress or two to get you in the mood. My little savages were delighted with Thundercloud.

We decided on some hill-walking. We were rewarded with a perfect picnic spot on a grassy bank from where we could watch others coming up the path and take in the views. We could see Lake Windermere our tipi camp was below us and there in the middle was Thundercloud- the only thundercloud that we could see.”

- Andrew Eames, reporter for the Daily Express Newspaper.