Camping in the UK

[whatsagoodusername]

Does a site like this exist:

Remote enough that you feel like you are out in the middle of nowhere (not a field full of tents!)
Has toilet facilities
Allows fires
Reasonably easy to access (we don't drive)

I'm used to camping in the US, where these were easy enough to find (at least where I lived) and a field full of tents/organised activities/restaurant canteen type places fill me with horror.

DH is not keen on camping, and I can see his point regarding most campsites I have seen/looked at online. I dislike caravans and want to go camping properly. I'm not sure I can convince DH any time soon, but if I succeed, I want a good place to suggest!

Here is a place where I first camped with my kids. It is a fabulous woodland site (although I now prefer open space camping for max sunshine!). You did not mention the area you are in so not sure if it's accessible to you.

Happy camping

I keep recommending Foxholes (I'm not on commission, honest!), as it's one of the few sites I would happily go back to. It's just outside Bishop's Castle in Shropshire, allows camp fires, you can walk to the village and out along the Shropshire Way directly from the campsite ( transport details here )

This is the best campsite ever.

When we were there I remember a family who didn't have a car but not sure how they got around.

I second Foxholes!

Thanks, those are great!

We're in London, but I'm happy to go anywhere. If it's a distance, I could tempt DH with a hotel on the way

www.sandscaravanandcamping.mobi

Forgewood in Eridge, near Tunbridge Wells is also great and really easy to get to from London Bridge station. It does get busy though. You can camp in the woods or the fields and campfires are positively encouraged except for between 10am and 6pm (I think). Great facilities (loos, showers) and they also have a cafe and restaurant on site as well as a shop for basics and essentials.

Also the sister sites to Forgewood which can be found on their website. I have been to Abbotstone Woods which was amazing and quiet and there's another poster on here, hz who really rates Inwood

In fact you should check out hz's blog here yellowfieldscamping

Thanks for that hillbilly! I was thinking of putting a link to YellowFields in but always feel a tad self conscious. whatsagoodusername (not mine clearly!) you are in good company here on the mumsnet camping thread as many of the posters abhor club houses and straight lines and prefer campfires and a bit of wildness. I find as a very general rule campsites that allow campfires are likely to be much more laid back, more along the lines of a wilder camping experience. All the campsite on YellowFields camping are campfire campsites. There's a map too.

If you go to the UKCampsite home page you can search by clicking on the 'Public Transport' search, and then click on a general area on the map, and then the campsites within one mile of public transport come up county by county. Then you can add another search filter - click on 'campfires'.

Lots of lovely woodland and campfirey sites in Sussex and other S counties.

You don't mention kids. If you are camping kid-free I would recommend Blackberry Woods adults site, which they call the Wild Side. You do get a secluded glade on your own, and even the shower (hot water) is in a hedge and shrubs, not a hut! It's lovely and their website says a cheap taxi trip or a 25min walk from a station.

Nethergong Nurseries in Kent is lovely and they say 500m from a bus stop - but not sure where the buses go to - Canterbury, I think.

If you wanted to go as far as the lake district you could try Fisherground. You get to it using a steam railway. It allows fires and has loos but can get overcrowded in school holidays and you can feel a bit hemmed in. Supposed to be better at other times.

We are members of the camping and caravanning club and use their certificated sites. These are small, quiet sites. We always go in school summer holidays and have never been to a crowded site. One year we stayed on a site in pickering, n. Yorks and the only other family left on our 2nd day so we had the place to ourselves.