Hillside Auckengill Campsite

View prices & book 9.6 30 reviews
Hillside pitches (added by manager 15 Jun 2023)

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Hillside pitches (added by manager 15 jun 2023)
1/8
1/35
Favourite
The pitches (added by manager 20 may 2023)
Pitches (added by manager 20 may 2023)
Camping field (added by manager 20 may 2023)

  • Small, peaceful tourer site with sea views at Auckengill in Caithness
  • On the North Coast 500 driving route; John O’Groats 10 minutes’ drive
  • Grass pitches surrounded by grazing animals; pub five minutes’ drive
With spectacular views over Caithness farmland to the North Sea, Hillside Auckengill Campsite is a peaceful spot to park up for the night when you’re heading around north Scotland on the NC500. It’s also a handy base if you’ve got an early-morning start for the Orkney Islands, as it’s only 15 minutes’ drive from Gills Bay ferry port. And thanks to its location in the rural village of Auckengill, 10 minutes’ drive from John O’Groats and five minutes from the sea, the site also makes a convenient spot for hanging around and exploring Caithness in more depth. It’s a breeze to get to too, being easily accessed from the A99 trunk road, and has just a handful of grass pitches surrounded by fields full of livestock, as well as a small play area for kids and a toilet block. There are plenty of local walks direct from the grass pitches for hikers and dog-walkers – you might like to follow sections of the fairly strenuous John O’Groats Trail (five minutes’ walk) or simply amble down to Keiss Beach (an hour). Foodwise, barbecues are permitted on site, but if you fancy a change of scenery, head to the pub in Keiss (five minutes’ drive) for some wholesome grub. Restock with supplies at the supermarkets in Wick (20 minutes).

Site type

Motorhome pitches 10
Touring caravan pitches 10
Open all year
Please note
  • Under 18s must be accompanied by their parents or legal guardians.
  • The site does not accept breeds/crossbreeds listed in the Dangerous Dogs Act (i.e. XL Bully, Pit Bull Terrier, Japanese Tosa, Dogo Argentino, and Fila Brasileiro).
  • No hen/stag parties permitted via Pitchup.com.
  • There is no reception on-site: on arrival please contact the number provided on your booking confirmation.

Languages spoken

English

Reviews

9.6

Overall rating based on 30 reviews View breakdown

Peaceful

Voted 82% of visitors View breakdown

97%

would recommend this site to a friend

97%

would stay here again

  • 83%
    10
  • 0%
    9
  • 12%
    8
  • 0%
    7
  • 3%
    6
  • 0%
    5
  • 0%
    4
  • 0%
    3
  • 0%
    2
  • 0%
    1

Only showing reviews for the last 30 months.

Lovely relaxing time.

Overall 10/10
Location 10
Value for money 10
Accommodation 10
Facilities / Activities 10
Customer service 10
Child friendliness 10
Cleanliness 10
Wifi 8
Keren F. The reviewer booked through Pitchup.com

Fully-serviced hardstanding and grass touring pitch

Liked: 10 pitch site with stunning countryside and coastal views. Lovely owners of a peaceful site with lovely touches. Relaxed feeling.

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Hi Keren, thanks for taking the time to give us a review, was lovely meeting you both, hope to see you again, take care. Cheryl & Andrew

Lovely peaceful and simple site. Facilities small but excellent. Friendly welcome from…

Overall 10/10
Location 10
Value for money 10
Accommodation 10
Facilities / Activities 10
Customer service 10
Child friendliness No rating
Cleanliness 10
Wifi No rating
Lisa E. The reviewer booked through Pitchup.com

Fully-serviced hardstanding and grass touring pitch

Liked: Lovely peaceful and simple site. Facilities small but excellent. Friendly welcome from the owner.

Disliked: Site very exposed and windy... but that's to be expected in this area. Certainly didn't put us off.

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Hi Lisa, Thank you for your review. I hope you enjoyed the rest of your holiday. Thanks again. Cheryl & Andrew.

Very good site and very clean. I would recommend them

Overall 10/10
Location 8
Value for money 8
Accommodation 10
Facilities / Activities 10
Customer service 10
Child friendliness No rating
Cleanliness 10
Wifi 8
Anonymous The reviewer booked through Pitchup.com

Fully-serviced hardstanding and grass touring pitch

Liked: The new toilet and shower room Friendliness and helpfulness of Cheryl and Andrew who ran the site

Recommend to friends Visit again

Nice site found it eventually on top hill with nice views…

Overall 10/10
Location 10
Value for money 6
Accommodation 10
Facilities / Activities 8
Customer service 8
Child friendliness 10
Cleanliness 8
Wifi 2
Craig G. The reviewer booked through Pitchup.com

Fully-serviced hardstanding and grass touring pitch

Liked: Nice site found it eventually on top hill with nice views

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Thanks for your lovely feedback, hope you enjoyed your holiday. From Cheryl & Andrew

Lovely little site with picnic tables flowers and solar lights

Overall 10/10
Location 10
Value for money 10
Accommodation 10
Facilities / Activities 10
Customer service 10
Child friendliness 10
Cleanliness 10
Wifi 4
Ken S. The reviewer booked through Pitchup.com

Fully-serviced hardstanding and grass touring pitch

Liked: Lovely little site with picnic tables flowers and solar lights. Small toilet shower block which was very clean and well looked after. The owner was very welcoming and helpful, and the views across the countyside to the coast and sea are stunning. Ideally situated for visiting John O'Groats and the surronding area.

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Hi Ken thanks so much for your review, hope to see you both in the future. We hope you enjoyed the rest of your holiday. Take care Andrew & Cheryl

in the countryside, quiet location, toilets clean and tidy, good place…

Overall 8/10
Location 10
Value for money 10
Accommodation 10
Facilities / Activities 6
Customer service 10
Child friendliness 10
Cleanliness 10
Wifi No rating
William M. The reviewer booked through Pitchup.com

Fully-serviced hardstanding and grass touring pitch

Liked: in the countryside, quiet location, toilets clean and tidy, good place for an overnight stopover, equidistant from Wick , Thurso, John o Groats.

Disliked: Toilets, draughty, cold, could do with an indicator light to see when occupied.

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Hi thanks for your feedback, we are looking to improve facilities. E.g heater etc, just new toilet block so we are trying to improve our facilities. Hope you had a lovely holiday. Cheryl & Andrew

Clean facilities but very basic.

Overall 6/10
Location 6
Value for money 4
Accommodation 6
Facilities / Activities 4
Customer service 10
Child friendliness 2
Cleanliness 10
Wifi 2
Tanya R. The reviewer booked through Pitchup.com

Fully-serviced hardstanding and grass touring pitch

Liked: Very private only us and one other van onsite, site owner very friendly. Shower and toilet facilities clean and nicely presented. Lovely views.

Disliked: For the price paid the site is very basic. It has what you need; EHU, water and waste disposal, one toilet and shower. You're very exposed to the elements and there’s nothing else on site except the toilet/ shower facility. There was only one other van onsite with us and we had to wait to use the toilet facilities so I imagine this would become more difficult with more vans pitched up.

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Hi Tanya, thanks for taken the time to give us a review. Firstly if you were that unhappy with our site, I wish you had told myself & Andrew when you arrived, I would have happily given you the £24.65 payment back, and you could have found a campsite which was more suitable to your needs. Myself & Andrew have worked hard & invested a lot into our site and we strive to improve our campsite, we have only been open over a year, and the more we build up custom the more we can add more facilities to our campsite. Our campsite is in a rural location and everything we have described on pitch up is what you get on our campsite. In reference to our price after you pay pitchup we recieve £24.65 we spend alot of our time,plus running costs of the site, it maybe seem alot but everything adds up. We couldn't reduce our price, and compared to some sites, we are not overpriced. Hope you enjoyed the rest of your holiday. Take care Andrew and Cheryl

Excellent site with clean facilities and level pitches

Overall 10/10
Location 10
Value for money 10
Accommodation 10
Facilities / Activities 10
Customer service 10
Child friendliness 6
Cleanliness 10
Wifi 10
Chris N. The reviewer booked through Pitchup.com

Fully-serviced hardstanding and grass touring pitch

Liked: Spotless toilet and shower

Recommend to friends Visit again

Lovely quiet site. Clean showers. Friendly host. Recommend to others…

Overall 10/10
Location 10
Value for money 10
Accommodation 10
Facilities / Activities 8
Customer service 10
Child friendliness 8
Cleanliness 10
Wifi 8
Anonymous The reviewer booked through Pitchup.com

Fully-serviced hardstanding and grass touring pitch

Liked: Lovely quiet site. Clean showers. Friendly host. Recommend to others

Recommend to friends Visit again

A great stay, would definitely return in the future.

Overall 10/10
Location 10
Value for money 10
Accommodation 10
Facilities / Activities 10
Customer service 10
Child friendliness 10
Cleanliness 10
Wifi No rating
Jacqueline B. The reviewer booked through Pitchup.com

Fully-serviced hardstanding and grass touring pitch

Liked: Nice peaceful site, toilets and shower new and spotless. A small site with limited space, which made for a quiet enjoyable stay. The warden was lovely, very friendly. Would recommend

Disliked: NONE

Recommend to friends Visit again

Features

Dogs allowed

Leisure on site

Bar or club house Cycle hire Evening entertainment Fishing Fitness centre Games room Indoor swimming pool Kids' club On-site restaurant/cafe Outdoor swimming pool Play area TV room Take away Tennis Watersports

Amenities on site

Bath available Car parking by pitch/unit Composting toilet Dog park Drying room Food shop Free wifi Ice pack freezing Internet access Launderette Parent & baby washroom Pick-up from public transport Portable toilet Pub toilets Public telephone Shower available Toilet block Washing-up area Wifi

Groups welcome

Family friendly Motorcycle friendly Single-sex groups welcome Student groups welcome

Rules

Barbecue provided Barbecues allowed Campfires allowed Commercial vehicles allowed Dogs allowed Dogs allowed all year

Utilities

Charging facilities Chemical disposal Electric car charging point(s) Gas cylinders available Recycling available Renewable energy

Nearby amenities

Bar nearby Dog walk nearby

Type

Tiny (1-10 pitches)

Accessibility

Disabled facilities

Nearby leisure

Golf nearby Sailing nearby

Touring and motorhomes

Drainage hook-up points for tourers Water hook-up points for tourers

Location

Hillside Auckengill Campsite

Auckengill

Wick

Caithness

Scotland

KW1 4XP

Directions

Timezone

Europe/London BST (GMT+01:00)

GPS

58.57135°N
-3.09278°W

Nearest transport

Rail
9 mi Wick Rail Station
13.6 mi Georgemas Junction Rail Station
15.8 mi Thurso Rail Station
Ferry
5.1 mi John O' Groats Ferry Terminal
5.3 mi Gills Bay Ferry Terminal
12.4 mi Burwick Sth Ronaldsay Orkney Ferry Terminal
Airport
8.2 mi Wick Airport
27.3 mi Kirkwall (Orkney) Airport

Please note: All distances on this page are calculated "as the crow flies" - please check actual distance depending on your mode of travel using the Get directions button above.

Local attractions

To learn more about Caithness heritage, pay a visit to Nybster Broch (five minutes’ drive), the circular ruins of a former Iron Age settlement with a 19th-century tower covered in gargoyles built into it. Just down the road, the Caithness Broch Centre (also five minutes) displays Viking and Pictish artefacts found in local brochs, including pottery and gaming tokens. Have a nose around the dramatic clifftop ruins of Bucholie (five minutes) and Old Keiss castles (10 minutes), or for a regal day out, tour the sumptuous apartments and neatly planted walled gardens at the 16th-century Castle of Mey (25 minutes’ drive), once the home of HM, The Queen Mother. Head to John O’Groats (10 minutes) for beer and whisky tastings or to pick up pretty souvenirs in the art gallery. To admire the wild Caithness coastline from the sea, join a boat cruise from Wick (20 minutes) and get up close to caves and jagged sea stacks while looking out for puffin colonies tucked into the cliffs and seals basking on the rocks.

Water quality at nearby bathing waters

Name Distance Type 2020 2019 2018 2017
Dunnet 9.8 mi Sea N/A Excellent Excellent Excellent
Thurso 15.5 mi Sea N/A Good Good N/A

Data source: European Environment Agency

Must see

The Castle & Gardens of Mey 6.6 mi

Cycle routes

Find local routes on the National Cycle Network - over 12,000 miles of cycling routes.

Other

The Stacks of Duncansby 5.5 mi

Noss Head and Sinclair and Girnigoe Castles 6.7 mi

Staxigoe to Noss Head 8 mi

Dwarwick to Castletown 10.4 mi

Brough Harbour – Marry Geo - Remains of Castle – Kerry Geo 10.4 mi

Please note: All distances on this page are calculated "as the crow flies" - please check actual distance depending on your mode of travel using the Get directions button above.

Nearest sites

Unfortunately, we have no nearby bookable sites.

Want to know more about camping in Caithness?

  • Does Hillside Auckengill Campsite have a swimming pool? No View all features
  • Is Hillside Auckengill Campsite dog friendly? Yes View all features
  • What attractions are near Hillside Auckengill Campsite? To learn more about Caithness heritage, pay a visit to Nybster Broch (five minutes’ drive), the circular ruins of a former Iron Age settlement with a 19th-century tower covered in gargoyles built … Read more
  • When can I check in and check out of Hillside Auckengill Campsite?
    Camping and touring
    Arrive:  1 p.m. –  7:30 p.m.
    Depart by:  11 a.m.

    Please telephone the site 30 minutes before arrival.

    Read more
  • How much does it cost to stay at Hillside Auckengill Campsite? From £29 (for 1 night, 2 adults) - prices may change depending on your dates and party.