Fields End Water campsite review

There’s something fishy about Field’s End Water campsite. This fenland hideaway, roughly halfway between Peterborough and Ely, offers two excellent fishing lakes and even has pitches available right by the water’s edge. A visit here would provide a long-overdue chance to sharpen up my angling skills while exploring this beautiful part of the country.

The site is adult-only and dog-friendly, and is really two campsites in one. The five-pitch Caravan Club CL is for members only, and has some of the best views and the best access to the two fishing lakes – which are known as the Pit and the Pool. We took one of the 33 pitches on the main park, and were very pleased with the space available as well as the quality of the facilities.

It’s all very level here – this is the fens – which helps make the whole site accessible for people with limited mobility, and the owners have gone to great lengths to extend this to the facilities block. It also makes pitching a breeze, and we were pleased to find how easy it was to manoeuvre. Both grass pitches with electric and fully-serviced hardstanding pitches are available. The fact that the site is open all year made it a natural choice for our late autumn break.

The reception building includes a decent shop offering basic supplies and snacks, as well as bait and other fishing paraphernalia. The site also has newly-opened luxury lodges for those who do not bring their own accommodation on wheels. There’s excellent dog walking well away from the roads, which our springer enjoyed immensely in-between periods of patiently waiting at my side, watching for the tell-tale twitch of a nibble on the line.

Meanwhile, the local area provided plenty of diversions for the non-fishing contingent of our party of two. It was reported back to me that the cathedral at Peterborough should be more famous than it is, with its enormous triple-arch front façade and unique twelfth century architecture. The number 33 bus goes to Peterborough and passes near the site.

Another local attraction that found favour was the Thursday market at Wisbech, about half-an-hour north of the campsite on the number 56 bus. We didn’t manage it on this trip, but Cambridge (the X8 bus) and the Imperial War Museum at Duxford are also within reach.

What we did enjoy, though, was the little-known Ouse Washes nature reserve, just a 20-minute taxi ride from Field’s End Water. This RSPB reserve is an important bolt-hole for Bewick’s and whooper swans in winter and black-tailed godwit in spring.

And the fishing? Day tickets are £5.50 for residents, with additional rods £1.50, although evening tickets are just £3.50. In my youth, I fancied myself as something of a natural talent, bolstered by the 2lb trout I once landed with a toy fishing rod set. Would that prove to be the plateau of my angling career? The lakes here are stocked with a variety of species including barbell, carp, perch, and tench, and a small number of these were good enough to throw themselves onto my hook. I didn’t quite manage to repeat that glorious day of my youth, but it was a darned close thing. As I explained later in the pub, there was this one fish, honestly you should have seen the size of it…



SITE INFORMATION

ADDRESS: Benwick Road, Doddington, Cambridgeshre PE15 0TY
TEL: 01354-740199
WEB: www.fieldsendfishing.co.uk
OPEN: All year

Charges: From £15.00 (two adults, fully-serviced pitch. Dogs 75p).
Nearest public transport: On the main Benwick to Doddington road at the top of the entrance road to the site – about 800m.
Nearest pub/restaurant: In Doddington, one mile away.
Directions: From the A141 March to Chatteris road take the turning for Doddington. In Doddington village take the B1093 signposted Wimblington/Benwick. Approximately 1½ miles down this road there will be a right turn, signposted for Fields End Water Caravan Park, Lodges and Fishery.

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