NEARLY-WILD CAMPING: OUR FAVOURITE SPOTS

There's nothing better than getting away from the stresses of your day-to-day life and spending a few nights under canvas.

If you're looking for an opportunity to get a taste of the wild life, these campsites promise to offer the best of both: wild enough to avoid the crowds, organised enough to dodge the sometimes-confusing laws around camping in open space. Walk on the wild side – and camp there, too.

Nothing says an authentic wild camping experience like a campsite that’s not even there 90% of the year. This pop-up site sits high on Tregonning Hill (part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site), and is the ideal spot for taking to the South West Coast path or discovering one of Cornwall’s many secret beaches and coves – but where this site really shines is its atmosphere. Campsite owners Baya and James run a series of bushcraft-themed courses if you feel like getting into the wild spirit, and with a large communal fire pit at the centre it is the perfect site to meet like-minded campers.

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Comprised of just five pitches, this tiny site is as exclusive as it is brand new, having opened for the first time in 2020. Eco-friendly, off-grid and as minimalist as it gets, parking up and using the provided wheelbarrow to take your belongings through the woodland to your pitch gives the feeling of literally leaving the world behind. Natural springs, a wildlife lake and just south of the Preseli Hills, but with plenty of facilities if you want to use them, this little site strikes the perfect balance between secluded and socialised.

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Near to Cilrath Wood Camping, and very similar in values, is another Greener Camping Club campsite – which indicates the highest standards of sustainability have been met. This one is no larger, with just five pitches, but each pitch is nestled in its own individual clearing in the peaceful woodlands of the Preseli Hills, making it feel even wilder. Facilities are minimal, the ecosystems are largely untouched and the nearest (small) village is two miles away, so bring enough food to last you and get used to cooking on the open fire. Long story short, it doesn’t get much more wild than this.

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Wild camping less than 5 miles from the M25. Sounds impossible, we know, but this is the real deal. Left untouched on purpose by Lee Valley Regional Park, this site has 17 pitches and not much else – a composting toilet, clean water and logs for the fire are about all that’s provided. After that, it’s up to you to use your imagination, and while away days at a time by the campfire or venture out into the Regional Park and marvel at the very existence of a purpose-built wild space running through a capital city. Impossible is what Lee Valley is all about.

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If glamping is your thing, stay away from Barn Owl Camping. But if roughing it is your thing – and we assume it is, since you’re here – then it may just be exactly what you’re looking for. Nestled in 10 acres of meadowland situated between the villages of Rattlesden and Felsham. This site is back to basics in the best way - by which we mean, facilities amount to two toilets, freshwater taps and a gas operated shower. This is the place to bring everything you’ll need and embrace wild living with the great footpaths right on your doorstep – but if you cave and end up at the pub for a classic lunch, nobody’s judging.

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