12 of Britain’s greatest new campsites and glampsites | Tenting holidays

The numbers are important: 250 new campsites up to now this yr on reserving portal Pitch Up, 100 new glamping places on the Cover & Stars web site, and extra to come back, plus a bunch of different treehouses, yurts, caravans and easy pitches awaiting your personal canvas.

This summer season appears to be like set to supply a bumper choice of new potentialities, partly a results of relaxed laws about pop-up websites, but additionally as a result of relatively few Britons are expected to holiday oversees. Bookings are up all over the place – threefold at specialists Glampingly – however elevated provide means there’s loads of selection nonetheless accessible.

What makes a superb web site? Let’s begin with a fundamental one, which lays on a bathroom and possibly a bathe however little else. The belief is you might be outdoors the tent more often than not. What I wish to know is the place are you able to stroll to? Is there a river or lake close by and might you swim in it, or kayak or fish? What wildlife may be noticed? Can I’ve a hearth? The place’s the closest pub? What number of pitches are there and the way shut collectively? Easy campsites are practically all the time deeply embedded, by necessity, in native life. Good house owners can let you know the place greatest to buy, eat, and drink. This new crop definitely look promising.

New in Suffolk

Wild Riverside Camping and the brand new Suffolk Wild Tenting (which is able to launch quickly) are on the identical massive farm near the Suffolk coast. Jonathan Simper began with a 2.4-hectare pop-up web site in 2020 and is doing the identical this yr, and including one other massive subject. Pitches are going to be additional aside than final yr’s 10 metres. The River Deben is a couple of minutes’ stroll away, and kayaks, paddleboards and dinghies are welcome. When you don’t catch your personal fish then the farm operates business boats which is able to. There’s even a smokehouse that seems kippers and salmon. The movie The Dig exhibits what the realm appears to be like like: most of the exterior photographs have been finished on the farm. Sutton Hoo is close by and there’s a pub, The Ramsholt Arms, alongside the river. Wildlife is ample with otters noticed repeatedly, marsh harriers, barn owls and three sorts of deer.
• Pitch from £30 (as much as 5 individuals). It is a web site working underneath the brand new 56-day opening rule (the restrict for a pop-up web site) and so solely operates at weekends

Additionally fundamental in Warwickshire

Opening up for the primary time is Long Meadow Campsite close to Warwick, a four-hectare plot with bathrooms and showers. There are many native footpaths, the choose being the routes round Edgehill the place Charles I raised his normal in what can be the primary battle of the English civil warfare (there’s a superb pub, The Castle, on the positioning now). There are beautiful rural views and the Peacock gastropub at Oxhill is inside strolling vary. For different points of interest – the Cotswolds, Warwick Citadel, Stratford-upon-Avon – you’ll want a automotive. Campfires are allowed.
• Pitches from £26 an evening, open 30 April to 1 September

And one other in Devon

Stitchpool Farm close to South Molton popped up for the primary time in 2020 and can be again for the summer season holidays. There are simply 30 pitches so no crowds. You get a bathe, a toilet and operating water however the remaining is as much as you. With Exmoor and the North Devon coast close by, there’s lots to do. Plus there’s the characterful Poltimore Arms pub a two-mile stroll away.
• Pitches £25 an evening for as much as Four individuals, open 16 July-30 August

Sussex riverside location

New Wharf sits on the River Adur in Sussex with entry to swimming and boating, however right here you possibly can rent kayaks and paddleboards. There’s a bit extra in the best way of amenities: you may get a bathe. Campfires are allowed and there aren’t any vehicles permitted on the tenting space, making it child- and dog-friendly. The closest seaside is eight miles away and Brighton is a day journey.
• Household-size shepherd huts from £120 an evening, tenting £15pp, open April–September

Wild swims and a superb pub within the New Forest

Any campsite that boasts respectable wild swimming instantly catches my eye, and Harry’s Meadow within the New Forest is not any exception. A grassy subject beside the River Avon, the positioning is nice for a dip. There’s additionally a superb pub, the Horse and Groom, inside straightforward strolling distance. This yr, the Sheriff household’s operation has grown to 2 separate fields with barely totally different atmosphere: Harry’s Meadow for wilder and less complicated; Harry’s Area for extras, corresponding to a pizza oven and a beer wagon – really a well-laden Land Rover from the native Downton brewery.
• Pitches begin at £20 plus £9/£Four an grownup/youngster, open 9 July-30 August

Stepping up the amenities in Norfolk

Right here at Camp Elwood we’re transferring up a stage in amenities: hairdryers, a kids’s playground, electrical hook-ups for vans, a eating corridor with restaurant and takeaway, and an Americana-themed licensed bar taking part in surfer tunes. At its coronary heart, nevertheless, that is nonetheless a pop-up web site in a superb location. It’s on the Holkham Property with a lake (boats to rent), bicycle trails (bikes accessible), lengthy walks (the Norfolk Coast Path) and a sandy seaside that leads right into a nationwide nature reserve the place you would possibly hear the natterjack toad, spot redshanks and even, with luck, a white-tailed sea eagle.
• Three-night weekend keep for 2 is £210, open 26 July-9 August

Out of the canvas and into the timber in west Wales

Tenting turns into glamping when the roof is strong, however with that I count on to wish to grasp round the home, just because it’s so rattling beautiful. Rhodri and Sarah Lloyd-Williams constructed Ty’r Onnen (the Home of Ash) after watching Cabins within the Wild on Channel 4. It’s a treehouse on their natural sheep farm, seven miles from Aberystwyth, that’s off-grid but additionally feels luxurious. Lounge in mattress watching hares run across the meadow of their droves, then step out on the balcony for a sizzling, open-air bathe. The couple have used lockdown to construct one other treehouse, Ty’r Derw (the Home of Oak), half a mile away, that guarantees the identical combine of untamed and great – plus a sizzling tub. The wildlife is spectacular: pine martens and polecats within the woods, barn owls and pink kites overhead. When you do get twitchy, yomp away into the abandoned hills or get right down to Borth seaside for a swim.
• Ty’r Onnen sleeps 2, from £140 an evening; Ty’r Derw will sleep 4, worth TBA

Nonetheless up within the timber, in Scotland

The definition of treehouse appears to have shifted in recent times to be extra like a cabin on stilts, however I’m superb with that. Flycatcher and Willow Warbler, an hour’s drive north of Edinburgh and Glasgow, are undoubtedly on stilts, amongst timber, and all the higher for it. There’s a rope bridge between them if hiring each, plus a sundowner deck and out of doors copper tub. The close by River Teith provides loads of bankside strolling and additional afield you might have the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs nationwide park.
• Each sleep Four from £130 an evening

Extra Welsh glam

There’s an tendency amongst glampsite house owners to publish stage-managed images of a bottle of champagne and two half-filled glasses – as if this tells you something helpful in regards to the web site. Nevertheless, within the case of Retro Queen, I make an exception. It is a place the place the bubbly suits completely: a colourfully curvaceous 70s themed cabin has extras, corresponding to a cassette machine! There’s a wood-fired sizzling tub and good TV, plus out of doors cooking amenities. When you want the 80s, head for Retro Madonna, its neighbour. There’s a pond and wildlife (binoculars supplied), however for me the star is the Ceredigion coast a brief drive away (because the crow flies, at the very least). Llangrannog, New Quay and Aberaeron all provide good locations to begin a coast stroll.
• Each sleep 6, from £115 an evening

On wheels in Northumberland

At its greatest, glamping design appears to launch shedloads of inventive ingenuity. Ashton Symm has exerted his on a Bedford TK lorry. And why not? Incarnations of this unsung design traditional have included a hearth engine, military personnel service, chuck wagon, horsebox, and now, with this 1964 mannequin, a family-size glamper with logburner, copper sink and bathe. At Abbeyfields, you get a big subject to yourselves with walks within the woods and meadows (the market city of Morpeth is a mile away) plus the campfire and awning.
• Sleeps 4, from £110 an evening

Additionally on wheels – in Herefordshire

Mojo and Kizzy Fell have been doing superb renting Airstream caravans to movie stars on set when lockdown got here. Some fast readjustment of enterprise plans means we are able to all get pleasure from their beautiful vans now. The Wells Glamping is on their 16-hectare farm in a few of Herefordshire’s greatest surroundings. There’s loads of good strolling and a very good pub close by however why would you go wherever? Gentle a campfire subsequent to your wagon and sit out underneath the celebs. Final summer season that they had 5 vans – this yr they hope to have 12.
• Reserving accessible quickly. Every van is £250 an evening and sleeps as much as 5, open April–October

On wheels – and nonetheless transferring – within the Lakes

The situation of this gem may be tough to pinpoint: house owners Hannah and John transfer Hinterlandes round, though all the time inside the confines of the Lorton valley within the Lake District and all the time tucked away in a subject. Inside, there’s superbly crafted panelled woodwork, in addition to a big logburner and marble-tiled bathe. Outdoors, is a big tub to soak in underneath the timber.
• Sleeps 2, from £155 an evening