Camping holidays that will convert you to canvas
Whether you fancy something remote and far away, or prefer to put up your canvas closer to home, Chris Leadbeater has found the perfect pitch for you this summer.
Stay home
Not convinced by camping? Erm, no. And is that thunder in the distance? It’s OK, your thinking is understandable. Which is why, as with last year, the Caravan and Motorhome Club is running a Big Little Tent Festival (Aug 25-27). This is designed to help people fall for the idea of snoozing in a tent by pitching one in their garden, or by staging their own under-canvas event in an available space – details at caravanclub.co.uk.
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Tents situation
It’s a suggestion that can be filed under the giant shrug of “well, it seemed a good idea when we booked it, and you were all for it, oh love of my life” when water is running down the guy ropes and everything you’ve packed for the week smells of wet labrador. But of late, the weather has been behaving better than a star pupil who has requested extra homework and double choir practice – so OK, let’s do this. Let’s put it in writing: now is a fine moment to consider a camping holiday, whether in Europe or Britain. Where to begin? Well, if you like the thought of domestic shores, you could look at pitchup.com, which lists 9,372 campsites and holiday parks – 1,230 of them in the UK.
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Happy Glampers
Many of us have ditched camping in favour of glamping (turn up; tent is already up; nice bed). Featherdown’s Rhossili Bay retreat in Wales (featherdown.co.uk) offers a Canvas Lodge that sleeps six and can be rented for four nights from Sept 3 for ￡339.
Everybody yurts
Well, not yurts exactly. But Catchpenny in Fife does have a splendid range of canvas lodges with beds, hot showers and flushing loos. Bumblebee Lodge sleeps up to six. It’s available for four nights from Sept 10 for ￡420 (catchpennyelie.co.uk).
Best of British | Camping
Flame thrower
Tents were a significant part of the medieval battlefield. So were dysentery and death by longbow. So credit to Warwick Castle (warwick-castle.com) for only borrowing the tent part (and spicing the concept with a mythical flying lizard) in its Dragon Slayer show (knight fights virtual beast, wins; selected dates to Aug 27). Two-day glamping breaks with tent lodging, show and castle entry start at ￡75pp, four sharing.
Wood be good
Had Queen Victoria been heading to the Isle of Wight now, she might have shunned Osborne House for Tom’s Eco Lodge (tomsecolodge.com) at Yarmouth. Not only does it have giant tents, it has “modulogs” – insulated log cabins (sleeping six). A three-night stay starting on Sept 14 costs ￡588.
Kurt in the act
“With the lights out, it’s less dangerous.” Hang on, wrong Nirvana. What we mean here is the Nirvana offered by glamping specialists Quality Unearthed (qualityunearthed.co.uk). It’s a bijou campsite close to Exmoor National Park. It comes with a converted train carriage that sleeps two (from ￡99 a night), and space to pitch tents. It also has a private airstrip.
Photo Finnish
It is rarely reported, but countries other than Britain have superb weather. Like Finland, where life is so good that the sun barely bothers setting in summer. Artisan Travel (artisantravel.co.uk) offers a Summer in Finnish Lapland holiday where you can sleep in a “kota” (a Nordic tepee). Four nights cost from ￡783 per person – including flights.
Such Gaul
No camping feature is complete without mention of stuffing your family and worldly goods into a car, crossing the Channel, and hoping that, like half of France in August, the Breton weather doesn’t go on strike. An eight-night stay at the La Pointe St-Gilles site at Benodet from Aug 10 (with return ferries) is ￡2,152 via eurocamp.co.uk.
High jinks
Pah! All this sounds like lightweight camping for people who don’t want to spend 28 days slogging across one of the rooftops of the world, slumbering in tents on Himalayan rock. OK, calm down. You need the Lunana Snowman Trek through Bhutan offered by mountainkingdoms.com. It leaves on Sept 29 and costs from ￡8,020, including flights.
Win a luxury holiday worth up to ￡80,000