A fantastic hide that has been well thought out. Enthusiasts will get great views and shots from a mobile phone , photographers will get as close to a badger without loosing toes as possible. F2.8 isn’t essential due to ample lighting and the proximity of the badgers. Suggested lenses would be 24-70,70-200,100-400/500 or equivalent. I am mainly a prime user , but this is not the place for them due to the size of the cut outs ( any wider and the badgers will be on your lap). The staff are great , parking is outside the hide and the toilets are over the road and spotless. I would recommend this to anyone wanting close encounters with badgers.

We've visited Haweswater twice this year: once at the start of the year to plant a little oak in memory of my mother-in-law and then back again to visit the oak and spend some time in the badger hide. The site is very out of the way and wonderfully peaceful. There's greenery, a babbling stream and a lot of birdsong along with the wonderful Belted Galloway cows which are definitely the best cows available! I wasn't sure what to expect from the badger hide experience but it was absolutely brilliant. We arrived at about 7pm (start times vary depending on when the badgers are tending to arrive on site) and nipped up to visit our tree. When we got back, we opened the door to the hide and the first badger of the evening was directly the other side of the very clean viewing window. She spent a good few minutes searching for the peanuts that had been hidden - and hurling some stones and logs out of the way to get to them. We had visits from 2 more badgers before we had to leave just after 9pm, but we could have stayed till 11 if we'd wanted to, we just had a long drive home. The hide was very comfortably set up and there were slots that could be opened to allow photography but actually the glass didn't seem to impact photos and the gentle floodlighting meant no flash was necessary. I'm 55 years old and this is the first time I've ever seen living badgers. It was a wonderful experience and I'm very grateful to the team at Haweswater for the care they put into making sure it's great for visitors but also for badgers and other wildlife.

Absolutely amazing experience! A fab insight into watching the badgers in their natural habitat. The Hide is situated in a lovely spot and easily accessible. A big thank you to Annabel who gave us more information on what action there was from previous nights. I got some great photos and videos from just my phone as they were so close. No special equipment needed.

Book in advance for a great night out Badger watching with family. The hide holds up to 8 people. The Badgers appeared at 8:30pm .The last one visited at 22:10.

A wonderful evening with the badgers We were met by a lovely lady who showed us around and explained how it all works, then left us to it. We’d brought a picnic and a flask, so got settled in and waited for them to arrive We had several badgers come and go over the next two hours. They’re clearly used to the hide and weren’t concerned about us The windows are spotlessly clean so you can easily take photos through them and there are ports that open allowing you to photograph directly There’s a book to fill in what you see and it’s fun to look through others peoples notes over the preceding weeks. I would thoroughly recommend this. It would be great for kids, as long as they stay reasonably quiet