Jacob Little

How to try stately home glamping

  • From Spectator Life

We are in the midst of a camping boom. Faced with travel restrictions and uncertainties around jetting off into the sun, taking your family out for a few nights under canvas is an increasingly attractive prospect, and the wealth and depth of the British landscape lends itself well to a stay under the stars. 

Of course, there are traditional camping setups aplenty in this country, many of which are established businesses that keep people coming back time and time again. But a new brand of campsite is emerging across the UK – pop-up sites opening to make the most of the summer break have established themselves up and down the land, and many offer access to the grounds of stately homes normally closed off to the public. Keen to recoup lost earnings over the past 18 months, landowners are thinking of ingenious and diverse ways to reestablish their businesses and provide extra space to the huge influx of new campers that will be taking to the countryside this year.

If you’re serious about injecting the glamour into glamping, these are the sites to try:

Little Wild Campsite, Porthleven

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You know you’ve got an authentic wilderness camping experience when the campsite in question is closed 90 per cent of the year. Open only in July and August, this campsite is perched up high – offering up splendid views across the Cornish coastline. Pitches are in one field and centred around a communal campfire which is a lovely touch. A compost loo and a shower in separate units sit below rustic constructions with turf roofs.

https://coolcamping.com/campsites/uk/england/south-west-england/cornwall/porthleven/165-the-little-wild-campsite

Marston Park, Frome

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Marston Park, a stunning estate in rural Somerset set around Victorian gardens and its own lake, has offered up inspiring creative breaks and glamping for the summer season this year. The beautiful attention to detail and grown-up atmosphere is captivating – the site offers up three different types of accommodation before the end of October.

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