Campsite has let us down - help?

[janinlondon]

Does anyone know of a campsite within 2.5 hours of London, allows fires, has hot showers and flushing loos, but is not a featureless flat field? Our choice was on the riverbank with all of these features, but their water is out. Our other option is an orchard by a river with all of the above, but it is closer to 4 hours away....help me oh knowledgeable mumsnetters??

Hey, have you looked at Inwood & Kingsmore in Farleigh Wallop? They encourage fires, have hot showers and toilets and have a variety of pitches!

Park Farm near Bodiam in East Sussex

I second Park Farm, it's a lovely place to camp.

Wowo in Sussex

Rushbanks in Essex is nice I think - though I don't think it had hot water last time I went but I think they've put it in now.

But from your description I suspect it might be rushbanks!

www.longthornsfarm.co.uk/

We stayed at one near Ledbury last year that would tick all your boxes, but I'm not sure whether that's further than 2.5 hrs from London. Which side of London?!

Heritage Coast campsite in S Wales (just outside Cardiff, so could maybe do it from West London?) looks amazing - I wanted to go there last week, but it was full.

Allows fires is probably the hardest to fulfil. We got around this last week by having a BBQ and topping it up with slow burn charcoal. We had the heat, but not the mesmerising flame of a wood fire.

Embers in East Sussex has a fire pit for each pitch. And hot water. But no river.

great -if they have space - oxfordshire -v small
www.therealcampsite.co.uk/

near Ivinghoe beacon- often more space -open rather tahn woodland but great views and walks
www.townfarmcamping.co.uk/

Cuckoo farm campsite near Rutland water.

www.cuckoofarm.co.uk

Pegs & Pitches have 2 both in Sussex and they're both lovely.

Thank you all! Working my way through them all...(Nacreous you are psychic!)

Nethergong near Herne Bay, has a pond, lake and woods on site.

Kingsdown near Deal, overlooks the sea

Check CoolCamping and use the 'campfire' filter.

+1 for Cuckoo Farm
(fantastic meat in the farm shop too, recommend the hogget chops)

Thanks all for your input! We stayed two nights at Park Farm in Sussex. Big pluses: It was only 50 miles from London. We were virtually alone (there were maybe six tents) in the top field, so had a choice of where to pitch, with a 180 degree view over the Weald. Nearest tent was probably 50 metres away. The permanent showers and toilets were spotless, and the showers were HOT. There are lovely walks, and three gorgeous pubs in walking distance. Small minuses: toilets locked overnight so you had to use portable loos that were not terribly nice, and our beautiful view was at the cost of a lot of traffic noise through the night from the A21. Overall it is a lovely campsite, and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay.Thanks to the power of Mumsnet!