camping at a campsite? Pointless?

[mumtotwoboys]

To me, paying to camp in a feild with a toilet nearby and people and not being allowed to start a campfire defies the whole point of camping.
Is it just me?
The whole enjoyment of camping I find is in finding a place hidden away in woodland, setting up, being scared at hearing wild animals in the night, waking up to a thousand different birds singing, bees humming, animals russling, etc..
being able to collect wood, start a fire, and survive 'in the wild', away from any civilisation, going to a stream or waterfall and having a wash..

To pay to camp in a field with taps is like having to sleep rough with no real perks.

Anything I'm missing?

'NB. Wild Camping and The Law in England, Scotland and Wales.

Tents cannot be pitched just anywhere because every piece of Britain is owned by some individual or some organisation and according to the strict letter of the law permission must be obtained prior to pitching tent and camping'

if you are more than half a miles walk from habitiation then it may be permitted / ignored -otherwise I seem to think that the Dartmoor National park might be the only place historically that allows it.

Re animals in tents: I got kicked by a New Forest pony in a very campsitey campsite last year. Little blighter...

How about an 'eco-campsite' as a compsomise? We went to 'Duloch Hamlet' in Fife last year. It has huge pitches, some in the woods and some in open areas, each with a campfire area, only cold water available, no showers and a communal compost loo. Our nearest 'neighbours' were within shouting distance only. I think its as close to wild camping as you could get really.

I did wild camping in Scotland a lot in my youth but with DD in tow we prefer somewhere with a few 'facilities' now.

that sounds great wiggle.

mumtotwoboys I get what you mean, but there are plenty of 'basic' campsites in England that let you get as close to wild camping as possible, and, TBH, with little kids, sometimes it is nice to have runing water and a loo.

All my childhood camping trips where wild camping, in the middle east, where we had to check our shoes in the morning for scorpions and take all our water with us etc., so campsites are something I only discovered in adulthood in the UK, and while I judt don't 'get' the big luxury ones it is possible to camp on a campsite without loosing the essence of camping.

And we have friends who own woodland so we can always camp there for some very tame wild camping if we fancy it!

I once had a cat come into my tent and scare the bijeesus out of me, in my sleepy mind it was a wild mountain cat (in dorset lol)

Slubber I have always secretly wanted to live in a Shirley Hughes book too!

I guess I should try out some better camp sites.
One I went to had blaring music from on camp social club, no camp fires policy, people cooking on portable cookers (wtf)
completely flat feild with roads around. A block of tolets and showers.
I just thought the sleeping rough part was pointless, may aswell have been in a hotel.
There was no chance you'd be able to see any stars at night with the light pollution, and no you'd hear cars and people in the morning.

Had none of the good stuff from wild camping as I remember as a kid.

relatively few campsites allow fires.

I agree many campsites seem kind of pointless. I absolutely hate camping in crowded sites so you spend the time getting disturbed by your neighbours/worrying about disturbing your neighbours.

The middle ground is a lovely emptyish field with a lovely view, plenty of space for the children to run around & other children for them to play with. If you can't sit out at night and feel you're in nice surroundings there's not much point - stayed in a vile site in Norfolk once which was along a main road.

what's wrong with portable cookers though?!

Do you mean a portable microwave oven mumoftwoboys? (if yes then I concur with the wtf)

Maybe you should do a search on ukcampsite and look for the sort of facilities (or lack of facilities!) that you are after then check out the reviews to see what other campers say. I'm sure you can find something that resembles 'wild' without actually being totally 'wild'.

We had a rat come in when I was pregnant, I shat myself. Then few years ago camping with my friend we had a badger trying to get in - I kid you not, i was blardy petrified and still hae the big paw scrathy hole in said tent to prove it!

All that was on a proper site btw so I'd neer cope going wild wild

Come off it Alfie fans, you migyht want to live the SH lifestyle but you wouldn not want to look like Alfie's mum That is my DS1's favourite story - DH and DS1 camped out in the wilds of our urban back garden last year, becauase of the book, and they both loved it.

I like the idea of wild camping because I hate other people, but with young children it would just be too hard.

Ooh i hate other people too in fact both dh and I do, good job DH and I like each other

Breck Farm in Norfolf has no "extras" loo block and showers and lots of lovely fields

I have been terrified by a hedgehog while camping in my own back garden with my children (they were asleep) - its snuffling was hugely amplified inside the tent and I lay in my sleeping bag thinking 'this is an enclosed garden, the Hound of the Baskervilles cannot have crawled under the small gap under the gate hinge' for the best part of an hour before I plucked up the courage to go and have a look and found it rootling about in the border.

And I've seen a donkey nicking a loaf of bread from outside a tent in the New Forest, and again in the Forest (seen from a train, so didn't get to observe the consequences), a foal creeping stealthily into a tent.

Personally, I like loos and showers. Sadly, that amplification effect means that fellow campers can be a trial though.

Anyone want a mildly trampled tent?

Abandoned by owners in the middle of the night when they stupidly camped in the cow field. Dairy cows are very friendly!