Recommended Campsites

bob_the_baker

Full Member
May 22, 2012
489
43
Swansea
Straight from the Moot I went camping with my 2 brothers and 19 year old nephew at Broome Farm, just outside Ross-on-Wye.

Lovely location, cheap, very relaxed, very simple, incredibly handy pub with some superb ciders, fire pits welcome and, it being an orchard, plenty of trees to hang off.

I'll be going there again
 

Greg

Full Member
Jul 16, 2006
4,335
260
Pembrokeshire
Glyn-y-Mul was a site that was used for a South Wales Moot a good 8-9 years ago...I organised it to get the South Wales guys together...turned out to be a great weekend and it wasn't just the South Wales lot that turned up :D
 

Greg

Full Member
Jul 16, 2006
4,335
260
Pembrokeshire
Hole Station in Devon has already been mentioned but I just wanted to mention again that it's a great little site, open fires allowed, compost toilets, showers and just a very quiet peaceful site and Greg the owner is a good guy.
 
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Lacijag1

Forager
for londoners this is a great place

debden house camp site in the epping forest http://www.debdenhouse.com/index.html

camp site has 7 fields each for different users, for families for young people, camper vans etc. prices are reasonable. facilities good and clean. tents, tarps hammocks and fire is allowed. we went to 2. field, that was the most foresty. don't purchase fire wood from the site, it is cheap but crap.
there is no fence around the site so u have straight access to epping forest.
spent a weekend there with the family, we had a good time, i recommend this site.
i made a short video about our weekend:

[video=youtube;JT_r9XAriN0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT_r9XAriN0[/video]
 

Mang

Settler
I had a weekend at the fairly new Lee Valley Almost Wild Campsite on the Hertfordshire/ Essex border which has big plans for the future and is open until late October. It has bushcraft sessions which are mostly run by Blackwolf Survival's Craig Fordham as a guest instructor at the weekends (I think the rangers do some too) and has ample room to fish and launch canoes etc into the River Lee.

The only thing I'd suggest needs looking at are the weekend booking times which are 14:00 onto your pitch on Saturday to 11:00 on the Sunday when the site closes. I rang their office and to be faior said that I could arrive at 10:00 and prop myself up against a tree doing some project or other with a 12:00 time to my pitch. As luck would have it my pitch was clear and I could get stuck in. The guys next to me arrived at 14:00 and it made me realise how much stuff I wouldn't have got done if that had been me. I also found myself clock watching somewhat on the Sunday. Great site with a lot of potential having said that.

I've done a blog about my stay here if anyone wants a bit more info.
 
Last edited:

Robson Valley

On a new journey
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,672
McBride, BC
Lee Valley Almost Wild. How was it for sound/noise from other groups? Any privacy from the forest?
Running cold water, lights at the toilets, firewood. I could do that for a long time.
 

Mang

Settler
Lee Valley Almost Wild. How was it for sound/noise from other groups? Any privacy from the forest?
Running cold water, lights at the toilets, firewood. I could do that for a long time.

I've covered some of this stuff in the blog but the trains from the station I noticed a distance three or four, guys next to me just got on with their stuff and I mainly heard noises connected to that, there was a mainly girl group over in the tent pitches who were a bit giggly a couple of times but the site doesn't allow under twelves and has private river access and the tarp and hammock pitches are big enough to do your own thing in.
 

BrokenDoll

Member
Jul 4, 2018
12
8
Berkshire
Frome - South West

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/details.asp?revid=13807


Vallis Veg - Only 6 pitches, each completetly separate from each other. From my pitch i couldnt see another tent, the nearest pitch to mine was 70m away in a different field. No parking next to your pitch, you have to use their wheelbarrow and carry your stuff to your pitch but worth it for the views, lack of road noise and isolation. Fires allowed, compost loo, water point and sink but no showers and £7pp/pn.

We stayed here last weekend and can recommend it.

Things have changed a bit since this recommendation in 2014 so I'll update:

10 woodland pitches (nice & shady in the current weather!)
1 compost loo
1 cold water washing up sink
0 showers

Current costs:

£8 pp/pn
£8 parking per car, per night
£5 for a bundle of firewood/kindling

Small firepit on each pitch plus a larger one in the communal (covered) area. Home grown organic vegetables boxes often available from the owners.

Easy walk to Frome town centre via the East Mendip Way, approx 30 minutes.
 
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BushDaddy

Member
Jan 5, 2014
43
0
Felixstowe
Forgewood camping near Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

www.forgewoodcamping.co.uk

Originally Posted by Vulpes
I think I tried to book a night down here, but they said minimum 2 nights stay as it takes a while to get in and I was just passing through. I'd like to try it at some point though, looks great.


Reply by pauljm116
It is great, been going there for a few years. Not the cheapest but perfect for bushcrafters.
Just looked and this appears to be closed now :(
 

pauljm116

Native
May 6, 2011
1,456
5
Rainham, Kent
Just looked and this appears to be closed now :(

It closed down 4 years ago due to poor management, they didn't stop people from using dead wood and the place was stripped so was shut down by the relevant authorities. Its a shame as it was a great campsite. I've been going to Badgells wood in Meopham ever since which is a great site, all pitches are in the woods so no open fields but great for hammocking and the people running it are very friendly, helpful and proactive in maintaining the woodland. https://badgellswoodcamping.co.uk/
 

BushDaddy

Member
Jan 5, 2014
43
0
Felixstowe
It closed down 4 years ago due to poor management, they didn't stop people from using dead wood and the place was stripped so was shut down by the relevant authorities. Its a shame as it was a great campsite. I've been going to Badgells wood in Meopham ever since which is a great site, all pitches are in the woods so no open fields but great for hammocking and the people running it are very friendly, helpful and proactive in maintaining the woodland. https://badgellswoodcamping.co.uk/
thanks for the update :)
 

Lacijag1

Forager
had a camping trip to wildman wood campsite in the brecon beacons http://www.thewildmanwoods.com/
this one is an other decent place, a small farm with a woodland area where u can camp.
we were the only ones there when we went (late octrober) but it seems like a busy place during summer. lots of pre set up places for holding courses.
10/night/adult 5 for kids
5 for bag of mixed firewood
and they sell fresh eggs, which was awesome for breakfast
the woodland is nicely maintained, family friendly
just 10 min drive from the farm is the llyn y fan fach car park, great place for a day hike https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llyn_y_Fan_Fach
 

Bob Adams

Full Member
Feb 27, 2018
32
17
41
Birmingham UK
Oaklands leisure and fishery, Shropshire - decent woodland camping as well as fields and pods.

On the face of it, pretty damn pricey for one person under a tarp at £20 per night for up to two people. I spent four nights there last year by myself, found a really pretty spot and got three nights with the place entirely alone. Not that I could hear or see any of the other campers on the fourth night anyway.

With sensible ground-fires and responsible bushcraft activities encouraged by the owners (doesn't include eating fish from their lakes), it turned out to be exactly the back-to-basics camping experience I was after. Super-quiet surroundings, with no-one else around, it really felt like the wilderness, especially in the evenings. So in the end, I was pretty happy to pay for the easy access to a fairly full-on bushcraft-camping experience just down the road from me.

Some woodland pitches are close together so check they're not busy. Not sure what's happened to their website at the moment but they are open for business in a couple of days.

Links:
Pitchup listing for the campsite
Facebook page
 

Tengu

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
13,033
1,642
51
Wiltshire

No open fires but really that means "Please do nothing that scorches the grass"

Dogs and children very welcome but keep under control.

They are open again tommorrow
 

Laurentius

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Aug 13, 2009
2,540
705
Knowhere
Camping seems pretty much screwed at the moment unless you have a caravan or camper van. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me, as you can perfectly well be self contained in a tent if you need to be. Apart from that general price hikes to cover for losses.
 

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