Camping for Softies: ‘Glamping’ with Kids in the UK

The Wood Life, Kenn, Devon
Forget having to shush the kids for fear of alienating neighbouring campers: The Wood Life’s vast, superbly equipped, safari-style tent is set in eight acres of woodland that you get all to yourself. Mod-cons stretch to full-sized brass beds, a (compost) loo, and, fittingly, a stove, oven and outdoor shower that are all wood-fired. There’s also a barbecue and campfire for those old-school camping touches.

There’s no road access, so kids can run wild safely (keep them busy by sending them in search of fuel!), but there’s a small treehouse and giant tree-swing just outside the tent flaps too. If they tire of the woods, you’re within easy reach of mountain-biking opportunities, a Go Ape high-wire course, Paignton Zoo and the sweeping beach at Dawlish Warren.

The tent sleeps six but there’s room for friends to pitch another tent. Exclusive hire starts at £375 for a 4-night midweek break.

Cornish Yurt Holidays, Bodmin, Cornwall
Set up in 2001 (way before the term ‘glamping’ was even a twinkle in a marketing exec’s eye), this was one of the UK’s first yurt camps. It has three sumptuously furnished yurts, each with a wood-burning stove, a gas cooker, a fire pit and a loo, so, while it’s authentic and eco-friendly, there’s no slumming it. This is a magical escape where kids can get down and dirty with nature: there are wonderful trees to climb and a river to swim in, plus, during the summer hols, bushcraft classes (£20pp). Owner Tim makes the yurts on site, and guests are also welcome to visit his workshop to see how. And when the kids get grubby – which they will – the bathroom yurt with its wood-burner-fed roll-topped bath and skylight to the stars will have them queuing up to be dunked.

Prices start at £201 for a 3-night weekend/4-night midweek stay. 

The Gypsy Camp, Wickham Bishops, Essex
"There's a girl who's a gypsy. She has rings in her ears and she sometimes comes to school in a little wagon."   Fans of Rumer Godden’s children’s classic ‘The Diddakoi’ will fall instantly for this place (I’d have killed to have stayed somewhere like this when I was a kid.) There are two lovingly restored traditional bowtop wagons, both for your sole use, set amongst the apple trees, scrabbling free-range chickens everywhere (check your bed for eggs!), Kune Kune pigs to befriend, and even a small herd of Shetland Soay sheep to feed by hand. Owner Ann will organize ‘country explorer days’ when you can try everything from jam-making to den-building, provide hampers of fab, fresh local grub, and, with notice, cook for you too.

Though it’s just 90 minutes by train from London’s Liverpool Station, you’ll feel a lifetime away from the metropolis – especially as Ann can pick you up from the train by horse and cart!

The gypsy camp sleeps 4; exclusive use starts at £80 per night. 

The Dome Garden, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire 
Looking for all the world like the remnants of a giants’ snowball fight (or a dozen teeny Eden Projects), the accommodation here is… well, bonkers. The ancient forest setting means the 12 bright-white, contemporary domes stand out like Belisha beacons amidst the greenery, but though it shouldn’t work, it does. A giant window floods each ‘Space Odyssey’-esque dome with light, blurring the line between inside and out and providing a unique view of the natural world around you and its inhabitants. (The dawn chorus is legendary.) But don’t just look and listen: on your doorstep are fabulous bike trails, a river for swimming and canoeing, and llamas to go walking with, while Offas Dyke, Tintern Abbey and the enchanting Puzzlewood woodland (a location for ‘Doctor Who’) are nearby.

The Dome Garden is hugely family-friendly (the owners have three young kids of their own) – you can borrow sterilizers, baby-listeners and the like, the site is totally secure, and in most cases you can see the entrance of your dome-from-home from the little bar, so you can get some ‘me’ time once the kids are asleep…

Prices start at £375 for a 4-night midweek break in a 4-person dome (larger domes are available).

Safari Britain, Firle, East Sussex
If you’ve missed out on Glasto’ tickets, grab your mates and host your own VIP do on the private Firle Estate in the South Downs National Park. Sleeping up to 18, it has nine luxury bell tents and two vast yurts – one for chilling and one for cooking. Everything you need, bar sleeping bags, booze and food, is included.

Tucked away in the valley below Firle Beacon, the encampment feels more like it’s in lowland Scotland than Sussex – orchids and wild flowers abound, wild horses graze on the hills, lambs bleat, moles burrow, and buzzards wheel overhead. But what makes this place truly special are the countryside experts available to help you make the most of your stunning surroundings – whether you want to forage for your supper or go hunting with falcons, build the best den ever or simply learn how to identify butterflies, bats and bird song, it’s all here. Nettle soup, anyone?

Exclusive use for a 2-night mid-week break starts at £750 (guided activities cost an additional £100 per 3-4-hour session). Weekend breaks start at £1,550, including all guided activities.

Billycan Camping, Tortington, West Sussex
There’s oodles of space for kids to go bonkers in at this sustainable campsite just outside Arundel. Comprising just seven fully kitted-out bell tents and one teepee, the 7-acre camp is set in 650 acres of farmland, so you’re assured that escapist vibe. A massive ‘Out of Africa’ style tent serves as a central chilling and dining area; weekenders should make sure to arrive in time for Friday night’s giant camp stew, followed by hot chocolate and that all essential fireside fodder – toasted marshmallows. From then on, the cooking’s up to you (each tent has its own BBQ), although Saturday morning’s breakfast hamper will make that first fry-up a bit easier. There’s no electricity at all, so bring glowsticks and, as the campfire crackles and tea-lights twinkle, lie on your backs and play spot the shooting stars.

Prices start at £195 for a 2-night weekend break, including Friday-night dinner and breakfast hamper.

Jollydays, Buttercrambe, North Yorkshire
This is glamping with bells on – Jollydays’ seven luxury tents would put many ‘boutique’ hotels to shame. Think chandeliers, four-poster beds, plush wool blankets, white muslin mosquito nets and en-suite bathrooms with Victorian tub, shower and, yes, flushing loo, all in the middle of a 200-acre wood. If you’d still rather have a hint of Baden Powell while under canvas, there are seven pretty bell tents, each with separate cooking hut.

This is an incredibly social camp – you’ll find yourself drawn to the vast campfire, communal lobby tent (where you can help yourself to tea and cake) and twice-weekly archery and bushcraft sessions. This is the perfect introduction to camping for anyone who still thinks a Feather Down Farm holiday (see below) is roughing it, and one guaranteed to get pale-faced city kids ditching their DS well before the batteries run out.

Luxury tents (sleeping six) start at £120 per night/£555 per week. Bell tents (sleeping four) start at £100 per night/£455 per week.

The Yurt Farm, Crynfryn, West Wales
Ducks, hens, cows, sheep, pigs… There’s way more than yurts on this working organic farm between the Cambrian Mountains and Cardigan Bay. Owners Laurie and Thea host daily farm walks when kids can hunt for eggs, help feed the animals, take time out to scratch Mr T and Truffle the pigs, and pick carrots for tea (or more often for the cows).

Offering an idyllic mix of space and sociability, the camp comprises just five yurts, two of which are next to each other so are rented as one ‘property’, along with a children’s play area and communal cooking and dining cabin. Everything you could need is supplied, from paraffin lanterns to board games, along with a welcome basket of organic farm goodies, and there’s a handy farm shop on site, too.

Yurts start at £55 per night/£315 per week.

Talton Lodge, Newbold-on-Stour, Warwickshire
From cookery classes to camel-trekking, there’s plenty for active broods in and around this working smallholding – you can swim, fish or canoe on the estate’s river, scrump for apples or whatever’s in season, or help owner Olivia feed the poultry and rare-breed pigs. (Did I mention the scrummy Talton Lodge sausages and bacon in your daily breakfast box?!)

This is a cracking camp to colonize with friends as there’s just one tipi, one bell tent and two yurts, plus a pavilion kitchen and a giant tipi for dining and fireside socializing. If you fancy a night off, Olivia, who in a previous life worked under Gary Rhodes and Fergus Henderson, will prepare fabulous home-grown and local produce for you, given enough notice.

Cuckoo Down Farm, Ottery St Mary, Devon
There are just three Mongolian yurts in 30 acres of nature-infested countryside here, so don’t be surprised if you end up feeling like an extra in BBC’s ‘Springwatch’: foxes, rabbits, deer, badgers and owls all call this place home. Add pet lambs to bottle-feed, collies to walk, streams to dam, Ebony the pony to pat, campfires to build and woods to explore, and you’ve got the sort of back-to-basics break that Enid Blyton would have thoroughly approved of. Once the kids are sorted, parents can avail themselves of reflexology, yoga and massage… oh, and the bottle of wine that’s waiting for you on arrival. 

Prices start at £215 per yurt (sleeping 6) for a 3-night weekend break.

Other Great Glamping Ideas

Feather Down Farm Days – luxury tented accommodation on 24 working farms across the UK.
 
Country House Hideout – wacky safari tents in the grounds of magnificent country homes.

Canopy and Stars – Alastair Sawday’s pick of luxury camping holidays, from yurts to treehouses

Go Glamping – a great website full of glamping suggestions for here and abroad