Our Top 10 Picks for Summer Vanlife Campsites in the UK

As campervan owners we all look forward to making our adventure plans for the spring and summer. After over 6 years of campervan ownership and 100000 miles we have collected together our top 10 favourite campsites that we think are ideal for a summer getaway.

From stunning coastal spots to picturesque countryside retreats, we’ve created a list of must-visit destinations to inspire your next journey. Join us as we explore the beauty of the British landscape and discover the perfect places to park your van for a memorable summer getaway. Whether you’re a seasoned vanlifer or new to the lifestyle, there’s something for everyone in our selection of campsites. Get ready to pack your bags, fuel up your van, and set off on an epic adventure across the UK!

We are Richard and Jackie and we live in the UK. We retired from teaching at the age of 51 in the summer of 2022. Our plans for early requirement include relocating to the Yorkshire Dales, developing our forever home and travelling the UK, Europe and eventually the world in our VW campervan Nelson.

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Check out our blog http://earlyretirementwanderlust.com

Many thanks,

Richard & Jackie

Timeline
00:00 Introduction: our top 10 less wild UK campsites for the summer
01:38 Ocean Pitch campsite- Devon
02:50 Middlewood Farm camping- Robinhoods Bay
04:46 Waterside Farm camping- Ullswater
06:39 Llyn Gwynant campsite- North Wales
09:27 Mother Ivey’s Bay campsite- Cornwall
11:25 Studfold Farm camping- Yorkshire Dales
12:55 Fforest Fields camping- Mid Wales
14:35 Catgill Farm & Howgill Lodge camping- Yorkshire Dales
17:34 Towyn Farm camping- North Wales

Hi we’re Richard and Jackie from early retirement wonderlust we love our VW T6 camper van and we love to get away as often as possible we’d like to share with you some of our favorite not so well campsites that we found along the Way [Applause] As Jackie said we love taking our camper van into the wild places but we also like going to the not so wild places so what we’ve done is we’ve collated some of our favorite campsites that are a little bit more commercial and a little bit more accessible than some some of

Our favorite Wilder sites while we were doing our research one thing we will say um is that we’re a little bit surprised at how much the cost of living has perhaps impacted the prices of these campsites but they are campsites that we would visit again even though the costs

Are a bit more than we were used to so these campsites are obviously a little bit bigger they tend to be located in more touristy areas so they tend to be a little bit busier particularly at peak times so consequently you have to get your together in terms of making

Bookings for peak times because these sites are often booked out okay so in no particular order we’re going to start with ocean pitch campsite which is in Cy in Devon and it is a campsite that we have had absolutely Oodles of fun when we’ve been there not quite sure how we

Stumbled upon it but it’s an absolute gem it’s very quirky and it’s very sort of stylized little campsite it is right by the beach we have spent hours Boogie boarding from there they do lots of surf lessons and Boogie boarding lessons from there it has a quite renowned kitchen

Called biffin’s kitchen that people come from miles to visit it’s a little bit hard to describe it’s a bit like a mobile food truck that’s based at the campsite all the time but the young lad who runs it just produces the most incredible and eclectic takeout meals

That you could ever get at campsite y so if you don’t want to cook we highly recommend those as a campsite it’s not one of the more expensive ones in that area Prices range from3 per night without electricity in low season to 45 per night with electricity in High

Season which is quite expensive but it is the location is just so worth it moving North for our next recommendation is middlewood Farm which is just outside Robin hoods Bay the Yorkshire coastline is one of our favorite coastlines to visit we’ve been visiting it since we

Were kids but only recently have we been visiting it in our camper van and middlewood farm is a working farm it is a little bit rustic it couldn’t be described as luxury but it also couldn’t be described as basic and it is in an ideal location just outside Robin Hood’s

Bay it’s actually one of the first places we ever visited when we first got our camper van we stayed somewhere in The orer Dales and then we went to robon Bay for three nights it is a really cute little walk down into Robin Hood’s Bay it feels like you’re in the middle of

Nowhere and then you go down through the forest and you actually cut in right by the harbor front past the fish and chip shop and I have to say that fish and chip shop is one of the best ones we’ve ever been to isn’t it it is and it’s

Also ideally located on the Old Railway that they’ve converted into a cycle path and foot path into Whitby now we have walked it once and we’ll probably never walk it again because it’s a fair old TR track but if you got your bikes it’s an ideal location to access Whitby which

Can be very busy at times and also the beautiful Robin hoods Bay it has a mixture of um touring Camper vans and Tents and there is also a static caravan area as well that’s kept a little bit separate it does get busy you do need to

Book it um but we love Robin Hood’s Bay and if you are really lucky you could go a little bit further down the coast on a day trip and there is the seal colony at Ravens car that you could go and visit from there as well pricing structure is

Really simple it’s 30 in off peak season and 40 in peak season so yeah we recommend it okay so we’re going to jump across to the lake districts now we have stayed a couple of times at a place called Waterside Farm campsite which is on the shores of Lake sswat quite close

To the town of py bridge on a summmer night it’s just a 15 20 minute walk and definitely worth it the campsite is again based on a work Farm it gets really busy so you do need to book it the pricing structure is a bit quirky for this one they do have absolutely

Stunning Lakeside pictures that you can pre-book but they do come at a premium of £70 a night a lot of people think it’s worth it you can open your van doors and you are right by the beach but for is it30 a night it is yep 30 pound a

Night you can then choose anywhere else on the campsite that’s not a waterfront pitch um to park up your camper van you can have fires which is lovely we’ve sat around chatting to People by the campfire on many occasion it is an absolutely stunning campsite the other

Thing is it’s great for water sports yep you can launch your kayaks and your standup paddle boards from there and it is really popular people obviously go there for the weekend to do those sort of activities but you also have access to a really quiet Road structure around

The lake where you can do cycling it is really hilly so be warned as soon as you move away from the lake and then obviously being in the Lake District there is um a whole range of walks that you can do from low-level walks around the lake to more challenging Peaks and

Obviously it’s really popular with us because we bagged all the way rights around there so it was a great base for that little bit of a note the pitures around the lake are really nice and flat and level it is a bit quirky you probably might need um leveling chocks

If you were anywhere else cuz the fields are a little bit sloped we don’t have leveling chocks but we do love this campsite on a similar theme to lakeside campsite we move to North Wales and lingin ant campsite which is also based on a lake and is also in the snowdonian

National park so it is right at the foothills of Snowden you can walk directly from there it is a bit of a trek but it does mean that you get free parking at the campsite it is a huge campsite and it is one of our favorite campsites it’s really vibrant

Particularly on bank holidays vibrant or packed or crazy um it’s it’s a very very Lively campsite it has um takeout food it has brilliant pizzas that you can buy it actively encourages campfires and sells you wood um it is just an amazing place to go and relax because you’ve got

A short walk and you are on the Lakeside and you are absolutely surrounded by incredible high peaks of snow don’t you there are a lot of people that take their own paddle boards and kayaks you can go right across to the other side of the lake there are rocks that people

Canoe out to so that they can jump off them quirky thing of note is that the phone signal there is absolutely rubbish we love that once we’ve parked up we are out of contact with the outside world but they have given in and they’ve installed Wi-Fi right by reception so if

You walk around on an evening you do see all the youngsters there trying desperately to get a little bit of signal so that they can stay in touch with the world one of the things I love about the campsite is it is one of the

Paths that you can hike up to get up Snowden it’s called the Watkins path but what I love about the Watkins path is the waterfalls and the pool plunge pools from the waterfalls and we spent a couple of pleasant evenings with a beer or two swimming and paddling in the

Really Crystal Clear Blue Waters of those Mountain Streams it’s gorgeous as I said earlier it does get absolutely rammed particularly at bank holidays and you do have to book because we’ve turned up there on spec and have been turned away because there is just no room on

The campsite at all and in the research for this video the pricing structure is a little bit quirky it is yes um you look online and it does say that it’s 26 pound per night but once you actually go through the basket booking out process there are quite a few little additions

On there you get charged A5 booking fee which considering you have to book I’m not sure why they do that but in essence once you’ve gone through all of that process it ranges from about 38 per night in lower season to 45 a night in High season it is an amazing campsite

And I would pay that fee just to experience being by the Lakeside on a nice sunny evening we’re back down in Coral for our next campsite and this is is one of our family favorite campsites that we used to go to every year when the children were little it’s called

Mother Ivy’s Bay which is just outside of padto it has the most stunning location the campsite itself has its own little private beach mother Ivy Bay it is within walking distance of three epic surfing beaches there’s Harland Sands which is about 15 minutes going north and then to the South there’s

Constantine Bay and boobies Bay which the kids thought was hilarious with that name um but they are all really dramatic Moody stormy beaches if it’s cold and wet and we’ve been there on several occasions when it’s been wild and windy but there’re also huge surfing beaches

And it is just beautiful it is an absolutely huge campsite and particularly in Peak seasons of school holidays it will feel absolutely rammed but it’s also quite a peaceful campsite it doesn’t have a clubhouse it doesn’t have a bar it does operate quiet times um on a night and it is a really

Peaceful place to go we’ve spent endless days and nights wandering down to the beaches sitting out having campfires on the beaches Fishing Off The Rocks some really really happy memories but it does come at a price yes what is the price in more recent years we’ve only actually

Ever gone off peak and it’s about 33 a night which is definitely worth it um doing our research when we looked how much it was in the summer holidays it starts from £65 a night now but we also looked and compared it to quite a few other Cornish camp sites and that is

Seemingly the going rate I think it’s a great base for a family holiday nice and peaceful and even at65 a night it’s still cheaper than renting a holiday Cottage and you’re out there in pure Wild Heaven moving closer to home for us in the Yorkshire Dales is studfall Farm

Which is on the Eastern side of the Yorkshire Dales in the nidale valley its closest town is plyy bridge and it is just a really good standard family Campsite in the middle of nowhere that gives you that feeling of isolation but you’re not actually that far from anywhere it’s got great facilities it’s

Got a nice toilet Block it’s great for families it part of the campsite has access to an Adventure Trail there is a separate cost to to that it’s got a little fairy themed trail that the children can go and explore up and down the stream it’s got a cafe there which

Is great it did a cracking breakfast when we were there it’s within walking distance of the closest Little Village and there is a really good Pub there that we had a nice meal in and it’s really reasonably priced so in off peak season non-electric hookup is a remarkable £15 a night with Electric

Hookup being 21 and then if you just add a tener on for peak season it goes to £25 without Electric hookup and £31 with Electric hookup so it just is a really good value campsite that we would recommend in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales and for me one of the major polls

That made us return underneath the campsite must be a complete Warren of rabbit holes if you sit out watching the sunset on an evening there are literally dozens of rabbits around the field they’re so cute heading back into Wales the next campsite that we have on our

List is a campsite called Forest Fields campsite near the town of and I know I’m not going to pronounce this right bulath Wells it seemingly is a bit of a mecca for VW Camper van when we’ve stayed there on a few occasions there’s probably been upwards of 30 or 40 vws

Parked across the fields it is a little bit remote you have to drive to the nearest town but the campsite itself is quite Compact and has everything that you need it has got a pizza Oven restaurant it’s got a nice quiet little bar area it’s got a farm shop that sells

Uh fresh meat produce so everything that you need you could get on that campsite and you can also get the space because it’s got a huge camping field where you can literally pitch up where you wish it does have some pretty amazing sunsets we’ve had some nice nights there and

Bizarrely it’s got its own I’d call it a lake but it’s not much more than a pond um that is available for water sports so there’s some kayaks there and stand up paddle BS and I do know that people swim in there so it feels in the middle of nowhere there’s

Lots of walks around there nothing too high nothing too strenuous but it is just really popular in terms of a weekend break and I know it’s very very popular on school holidays compared to some of the other campsites that we’ve reviewed um it is quite reasonable in

Terms of cost in off peak season for nonelectric it’s 20 a night and with electric it’s £30 a night and then the peak season prices just go up by5 so 25 for non-electric and 35 for Electric hookup so we’re back in the orchard ales for the next recommendations and a

Little bit different we’re going to talk about two campsites that are owned by the same family cgill campsite and howgill campsite they’re based near the Bolton ABIA estate and they are both similar but very different cat Gill is mainly aimed at people in tents you can

Go there in smaller Vans like VW Vans but you’re not allowed motor homes because of their planning permission howgill their sister campsite is about 5 miles down the road and that’s aimed more at Caravans motor homes and less tenting ironically though howgills is way more isolated and way more difficult

To get to so even though you are allowed motor homes and Caravans I personally would be sweating it a little bit driving down the roads to get to howgill because it is down some pretty windy roads yeah you have to go over Barden Bridge you do see a lot in the James

Harriet program that we’ve been watching recently it’s really really narrow and then you have to negotiate a farm track that’s not even tarmaced but once you get there it is beautiful the common theme between the two campsites is actually for Jackie’s purposes llamas they’re not llamas they’re old Pacers

And yeah um the first time we ever went to howgill they had three alpacas in the field just at below it and they all had babies sadly one of the babies did did die but they’ve moved them across at the moment or certainly last time we went

They were at catville campsite so you never quite know which campsite you’re going to be at to where you see the alpacas but back to the campsites um the standard across the two campsites is really high so the quality of the facilities they have is really good so

The washrooms and everything that you could possibly need are of a high standard um they are quite into their sort of trendy camping so they will hire out fire pits and sell you firewood and they’re into the the the glamping scene wow the glamping Pods at cat Gill are

Just I can’t even put it into words they are so luxurious they are expensive but wow wow if I could afford it I would hire one it’s about20 £250 a night but they’ve got their own jacuzzi and a pizza Roven both campsites offer a takeout service in the mornings you can

Get some lovely French coffees and pastries last summer we did do a campsite review of cat Gill farm and I’ll put the link somewhere above but we fully intend to visit its sister site howgill this summer and also do a review of that but they are two of our favorite

Campsites they’re pretty much on our doorstep where we live and that doesn’t switches off that because they are so good that we still actually like going to them both campsites have quite a complex pricing structure and the prices range from 28 a night up to 42 a night

Depending depending on the season that you go and whether you require Electric hookup or not and we’ve saved in our opinion probably one of the best and best value campsites to last it is Town Farm on the North Coast of the Linn Peninsula and as is traditional with

Jackie and Richard it is based on a working farm so you have to get used to the fact that there will be lots of sheep and lots of sheep dogs around and interestingly the washroom is based in the old pig sty which which is quite a a

Unique situation but it is a good quality facility the showers are a little bit basic you do have to pay 50 P for the privilege of hot water but it is perfectly adequate for a weekend or a week because people do go and stay there for long periods of time because it is

Such good value and it is in an amazing location yeah it’s right on the coast by the coastal path and you’ve got access to several beaches and little Coes and you can really even though the campsite is busy you can get away from the crowds by just spending 2 minutes extra walking

Along the cliff path and dipping down into one of their little sort of secretive Coes it’s stunning the sunsets from there are just beautiful it does get really busy there are a lot of families that go there and you do need to book the owner its family run is

Absolutely amazing she is just such a character and she’s so friendly they have opened up a very high-end Farm Shop C Cafe that’s on the cliff Edge and if you head Inland there is a path that takes you straight to the local pop and in our opinion it’s really good value

For money because it’s just a flat rate of25 a night if you don’t require electricity or 30 if you do want hook up and it is genuinely one of our favorite campsites that we are desperate to keep going back to um not just because it’s good value but its location and sunsets

Are simply stunning and it’s quite a short drive to some of the big touristy destinations that we love going to it’s about 20 minutes from abiso you’ve got hell’s mouth Beach which is just further down the road it’s in a great location to explore the Linn Peninsula so that’s

It another eclectic mixture of campsites from Jackie and Richard um we hope that one or two of them might be something that you think you might like to visit and as we said right from the start we absolutely love our Wild campsites but it’s really nice to go to some of these

Perhaps a little bit more commercial and a little bit more populated campsites when you fancy just something a little bit different so that’s it from us bye see You