PICTURES: ‘Wick River Campsite is an absolute gem,’ says Lord Thurso at official opening of new facilities block
Lord Thurso has credited Wick Development Trust with saving the town’s campsite as he officially opened a new state-of-the-art facilities block this week.
The sun came out as the Lord-Lieutenant of Caithness, a former chair of VisitScotland, cut the ribbon to officially open the new £450,000 toilet and facilities building at the site.
The work is part of a three-year upgrading programme at the campsite, with the modern facilities block including toilets, showers and laundry as well as fully accessible facilities. It replaced a prefabricated building that was demolished just before Christmas which was deemed unsuitable.
“I’m here to open this fantastic facility and the Wick River Campsite is an absolute gem,” said Lord Thurso.
“It’s surrounded by trees and has a wonderful view over the river. The grass is tremendous – it has the right amount of hardstanding and the mix with grass to allow people to put their tents up or park their campervans.
“It’s the sort of place that makes people want to stay for more than one night. If you get people here for two or three nights and they’re enjoying the time and spending money then that’s really good.”
He went on to describe the camping site as “one of the best in the north” and thinks it will attract a great many holidaymakers to stay.
“If it hadn’t been taken over by Wick Development Trust, and managed in the excellent way that it has, it might not be here at all.”
Lord Thurso welcomed members of the trust along with representatives of organisations which had helped fund the site’s upgrades.
WDT is operating the campsite as a community enterprise and profits will ultimately go towards local regeneration efforts. Trust chairman Jonathan Miller also officiated at the event and told the assembled visitors how work at the camping site had progressed since the initial phases.
“We have invited Lord Thurso to do the honours of cutting the ribbon, and have invited all our funders to attend to publicly thank them and give them a tour of the building,” he said.
The trust reopened the Wick River Campsite under the trust’s management in June 2022 and since then it has begun a three-phase program of improvements to develop it. The phase one improvements included an increase in the number of electric hook-up points throughout the site and improved access around it whilst also adding more hardstanding pitches.
Speaking at the event, Mr Miller said: “Today we are here for the official opening of phase two which is our new facilities block.
“The new building has allowed us to offer a much higher level of facilities to our guests and includes state-of-the-art fully accessible toilets and showers along with family bathrooms, a laundry, phone charging station and a wash-up area.
“It has been a transformational project for the campsite and has really put Wick campsite, and Wick, on the map with visitor numbers increasing dramatically since it was made available to guests in July this year.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the funders who have made this possible as without their support we would not have been able to offer five-star facilities to guests at Wick River Campsite.”
The funders who supported the project and some of whom were in the party of guests include: HIE - Green Fund; Dounreay Socio-Economic Fund; Highland Community Regeneration Fund; CARES; SSE; RWE Camster Fund; Highland Council Ward Discretionary Fund; Tannach and District Wind Farm; and Caithness and North Sutherland Fund.
“We’d like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you, on behalf of Wick Development Trust, to all of the funders who made this happen,” said Mr Miller.
Basking in the sunshine of the September afternoon was a camper called Leigh Reed who was hiking with his partner from Inverness to John O’Groats. “We saw this as a nice little stop along the way and it’s beautiful,” he said.
“We arrived today and think it’s a fantastic site. It’s very calm and there’s lots of wildlife. I’d certainly recommend it to others.”
