Looking for the best campsites in the UK for foodies? From glamping in the Cotswolds to camping in Scotland and Wales, we have found the best bell tents, yurts, treehouses and more on farms, campsites and country estates.
UK campsites for foodies
Pop-up glamping in Somerset
Eco-focused Fernhill Farm in the Mendip Hills is hosting a pop-up campsite for 12 days from 13 August with Wild Canvas. Sleep in traditional tipis or contemporary tipi tents, both of which are pitched in the farm’s wildflower meadows (you can bring your own tent, if you prefer). There’s a relaxed family-friendly festival vibe, with daily yoga and wool and felting workshops, and plenty of natural social distancing (the farm sprawls across 160 acres of fields and woodland). At the onsite café, tuck into homemade takeaway food such as Mendip mutton curry (with meat from the farm’s sheep), accompanied by local ales and ciders. The farm shop’s shelves are stocked with local produce and you can even order breakfast in bed – hamper delivery to your tipi.
A deluxe tipi costs £175 per night for a couple, £200 per night for four people, with a minimum stay of four nights. Tri-Lodge Tipi Tents cost from £100 per night for a minimum stay of four nights. Tent pitches for ‘DIY’ campers are £22 per person per night, with under 7s free and 8-15 year-olds paying £5, wildcanvas.uk
Camping in Devon
Westland Farm in Devon offers DIY old-fashioned camping and glamping on a working farm, overlooking a small lake. There’s a yurt (sleeps six), a shepherd’s hut (sleeps four), and a grass-roofed drover’s hut (sleeps six) with its own private hot tub and kitchen, complete with wood-fired oven. You can collect eggs straight from the hens’ nest boxes, during the summer there’s a small farm shop run on an honesty box system, and children are welcome to help feed the pigs, lambs, hens and horses.
If you’d rather somebody else did the cooking, you can sample some of Westland Farm’s produce at The Pyne Arms nearby, which during lockdown ran a takeaway menu and a drive-through option on Friday and Saturday evenings. It also offers a Sunday roast – starters such as beetroot chutney and local salad leaves, followed by BBQ pork belly burger with smoked cheddar. The farm is covered by Cool Camping’s Coronavirus booking guarantee, which offers flexibility in case of COVID-19 restrictions.
A grass pitch for two costs from £50 per night, coolcamping.com
Glamping in Wales
At Fforest, a 200-acre farm in wild west Wales, you can stay over in a geodesic dome (complete with wood-burning stove and Japanese-style onsen bathing area), an original Welsh crog loft, or simple ‘garden shac’. All have private shower and toilet areas, to try and create a coronavirus-safe environment. Fforest is also home to the smallest pub in Wales, Y Bwthyn, once an old farmworker’s cottage. Here, you can buy take-out beers and gins created by Fforest alongside local producers such as Mantle Brewery in Cardigan (craft lager Cwrw Fforest); and Crafty Devil in Cardiff, who helped create Fforest Haf, a hazy pale ale with a hint of mango. The Boy Ashore Gin has seaweed, coriander and cubeb (an Indonesian pepper) botanicals. Food-wise, in line with government guidelines, there’s a takeaway kitchen that provides barbecued local meat and fish, as well as wood-fired pizzas.
Geodesic domes sleep four from £80.50 per night, two-night minimum stay. Garden shacs sleep six from £97.50 per night. Onsen domes sleep four from £130 per night, coldatnight.co.uk
Bell tents in Sussex
Crackling campfires, stargazing and toasted marshmallows: Wowo on Wapsbourne Manor Farm specialises in old-fashioned family fun. You can stay over in a yurt, an original gypsy wagon, shepherd’s hut or lotus flower-shaped bell tent. The Wowo shop is packed with local produce (the website even lists the food miles) from Paynes pure English honey (one of the hives is on the farm) to organic eggs from Grassington Farm (1.2 miles) and The Sussex Kitchen’s award-winning artisan bread (0.2 miles) – it’s one family in, one out at the moment.
This summer, Saturday nights are a little different because of the pandemic – no acoustic music sessions in the giant tipi, but you can get a takeaway curry. Curry Love’s pop-up tent serves a moreish menu, featuring Punjabi chole masala (chickpeas, caramelised red pepper, onion and courgette in an aromatic tomato and onion-based curry), lentil samosas and smoky pineapple pickle. Not that hungry? Curry Love’s street-food snacks include loaded polenta fries and queso frito – fried halloumi sticks with smoky-sweet tamarind and maple syrup dip.
Lotus bell tents sleep 5 from £105 per night, minimum two-night stays. Gypsy Wagon sleeps two adults and one child from £62 per night, minimum two-night stay. Yurt from £96 per night, minimum two-night stay, wowo.co.uk
Off-grid glamping in Yorkshire
At Camp Kátur on a 250-acre woodland estate in North Yorkshire, you can choose to snooze in a unidome, safari tent, tipi, hobbit pod, geodome or bell tent – with at least 10m between you and your nearest neighbour. This is glamorous off-grid glamping. The two geodomes, for example, come with candles, a wood-burning stove, outside barbecue, fire pit – and fairy lights (as well as private toilet and shower). Optional extras include not just breakfast hampers, but also delights such as a ‘nibbles and fizz hamper’ (£40) and ‘winter warmer tipple’ (hot chocolate, miniature Baileys, marshmallows and dunking biscuits for two, £20). There’s also a cute, Norwegian-style BBQ cabin in the woods (booking required). Sit in a circle around the fire and watch your steaks sizzle on the flames (£45 for a four-hour session). For the ultimate indulgence, add on the ‘fondue dessert hamper’.
Hobbit pod from £130 for a minimum two-night stay based on two sharing, from £170 for a family of four. Tipis and bell tents from £190 for a minimum two-night stay for two people, campkatur.com
Glamping pods in the Lake District
Grasmere Glamping’s two bespoke ‘pods’ are on Broadrayne Farm, which dates back to the 17th century and is also home to The Yan, a bistro with bedrooms. The en suite pods have wood-burning stoves and fitted kitchens – but why cook when you’ve got The Yan next door, offering a hot takeaway service and a click-and-collect heat-at-home Sunday roast? More specifically, slowly braised shoulder of lamb wrapped in cured ham; or half a spatchcock chicken roasted with lemon and thyme, with a white wine gravy on the side. Takeaway options include beef brisket in a ciabatta bap topped with bacon, cheddar cheese, jalapeños, mustard mayo and Yan ketchup; or the YFC (Yan Fried Chicken) with crispy fried chicken breast, spicy beans, roast corn on the cob and bacon slaw.
Sleeps two, from £250 for a four-night stay, grasmereglamping.co.uk
Treehouses on a farm in Scotland
Alongside Harvest Moon Holidays’ treehouses (which sleep six), you can now stay in an eight-person beach cabin overlooking the dune-backed Tyninghame beach. The working arable farm that the cabin sits on has been in the Dale family for more than 150 years, and as well as growing crops they have hens (collect your own eggs for breakfast), alpacas, goats and sheep. The welcome pack includes a list of local producers, there’s a farm shop nearby for supplies, or you can head to the harbour in nearby North Berwick for lobster and chips, crab, sea bass and line-caught mackerel at the Lobster Shack.
Treehouses sleep six from £570 for a three-night short break; beach cabins sleep eight from £495 for a minimum four-night short break, harvestmoonholidays.com