Nesta Yurt Camping, Frome, Somerset
Music is a big deal at Nesta, a yurt site created by a duo who organise the Shindig festival. Firepit serenades, lounge bar beats and acoustic sessions by bands who usually play the summer festivals (and at the Bell Inn, one of Bath’s best-loved music venues) bring the party here. This summer’s acts include Baka Beyond, a fusion of African rhythms and Celtic tunes. Wood-fired hot tubs, yoga sessions and massage therapists, plus sustainably sourced food and drinks in the bistro and cocktail bar (open to locals) supply the daytime festival vibes, and at weekends kids can join forest school sessions. The site is near Frome, in the grounds of Critchill Manor.
22 June-31 August, from £88 a night for a yurt sleeping four, nestacamping.co.uk
Home Farm Glamping, Elstree, Hertfordshire
This summer, Home Farm Glamping, a small campsite with 12 yurts and bell tents, will host a festival season of individually ticketed events, ranging from gigs by singer-songwriter James Bay, outdoor theatre and kids’ circus skills camps to communal Woodfired Canteen feasts cooked by renowned chefs, such as Thomasina Miers. Long tables are laid out under an oak tree, with background music and drinks served from a cocktail bar in a Morris Minor. Guests may find themselves camping among the performers, who tend to want to stay over. No surprise given how lovely the site is, on the parkland of the Aldenham estate amid plenty of woodland.
Events run until 3 September, tickets from £14pp for theatre, £60pp for meals, athomefarm.live. Glamping from £125 a night sleeping four, homefarmglamping.com
Drover’s Rest, Herefordshire
For summer, a “festival field” of bell tents has been added to this campsite on a working farm in the foothills of the Black Mountains. Communal feasts are set to have a Mexican, Indian or barbecue theme – with cocktails by the fire from the site bar. Locals often join for these suppers, cooked outdoors over flames and served at long trestle tables in the barn. The site’s three cottages (and smarter glamping options) have already sold out for summer, but the bell tents, in a wildflower meadow, have proper beds and hot showers in shepherd huts. Crafts sessions and family activities, such as African drumming workshops, foraging or archery, fill lazy days, and the farm runs courses in bee-keeping and pig farming, too.
July and August, £550 for Mon-Fri or £500 Fri-Mon, sleeping four in one tent with a double and two singles, droversrest.co.uk
Camp Elwood, Holkham Hall, Norfolk
When the sun starts to set at Camp Elwood, a pop-up campsite on Norfolk’s Holkham Hall estate, it’s time for the hosts to dig through their vinyl collection for happy hour at a bar decorated with travel trinkets picked up on their road trips. A game of “country bingo” might erupt, before DJ sessions and a few live numbers by the house band. The north Norfolk coast is close by, yet the shtick here is pure Americana, from the Texas breakfasts and roadhouse-influenced restaurant down to the addition of a softball pitch. There are esoteric touches, too, such as tarot readings by the campfire, macrame workshops and lessons in dressing a crab by a local fisher.
26 July-9 August, (all prices for three nights) pitches for tents from £90pp, for campervans from £105pp, carpeted bell tents with beds from £142.50pp, campelwood.com
Wild Canvas Camping, Bedfordshire
The organisers of the Tipi Field at Glastonbury have provided accommodation for a sweet temporary camping spot on the banks of the River Great Ouse. The beautiful parkland of the Turvey House estate is the backdrop for low-key fun in the form of DJ sessions, meals at the pop-up cafe and drinks at the outdoor bar. Hangovers can be cured by river swimming, walks along the North Bedfordshire Heritage Trail, gentle cycling along the Ouse valley or chill-out time in the wellbeing yurt.
From 23 July-31 August, from £52 a night for a pitch sleeping eight, glamping from £160 a night in a tipi sleeping six, three-night minimum, coolcamping.com
Wylde Valley Camping, Bude, Cornwall
An actual festival site, which usually hosts the Leopallooza festie, has pivoted to offer slightly more peaceful camping breaks. It is still imbued with the festival spirit and facilities will host pop-up music events and food vendors for campers, and one of the usual bars will be open for the summer. The zero-waste site’s 18 bell tents have wooden decks; standard camping areas, with 116 pitches, have flushing loos and hot showers, and there are firepits for hire for low-key gatherings after dark.
Open 30 July-13 September, from £25 a night for a pitch for up to six people, or three nights from £375 for a 4-metre bell tent/£480 for a 6-metre bell tent, both sleeping up to six, coolcamping.com
Summer Camp, Hawarden estate, north Wales
Inspired by American kids’ camps – but transported to the elegant walled garden of the Hawarden Castle estate – Summer Camp is a series of long weekends packed with activities, tours and workshops at a boutique pop-up campsite. Organised by The Good Life Society – co-founded by Cerys Matthews, and which puts on the small-scale festivals Camp Good Life (on this site) and Camp Glen Dye (in Scotland) – it has a focus on learning new skills, such as blacksmithing, smartphone photography and floral art. Relaxation comes in the form of wood-fired hot tubs, and wild swimming and paddle-boarding in the estate’s lake. Numbers are limited to 100 guests, with evenings spent around the campfire, enjoying singing sessions, talks and DJ sets.
9 July-2 August, pitches from £62pp a night, campervan pitches £95pp a night, bell tents and glamping from £105pp a night, thegoodlifesociety.co.uk
MAJU Camping, Axminster, Devon
There is live music, forest feasts cooked by chefs and a woodland bar supplied by the local Lyme Regis Brewery at the new MAJU glamping site. The owner designed the 12 boho-ish bell tents herself, which have block prints and scalloped edges, and the setting is a step up from the average festival field – a farm on the Devon-Dorset border surrounded by woodland, with sea views across the Jurassic Coast on a clear day. Three-course meals using asado fire-cooking techniques are created by chefs from Pit and Plate and Feast Alba on set dates (24 and 31 July, 7 and 13 August), and on 14 August there’s a ticketed gig for Will and the People, a reggae-tinged folk band.
£60 a night for unfurnished bell tent sleeping four, £120 a night furnished, feasts £46pp, majuuk.com
Cloud Nine, Bathurst estate, Cotswolds
Silent discos and circus skills workshops are bonus extras at Cloud Nine, a collection of family-friendly pop-up campsites with bell tents, tipis and Airstreams in three historic settings. New this summer is one at the Bathurst estate and Cirencester Park, with the others filling the grounds of St Giles House in Wimborne in Dorset and Narford Hall near Swaffham in Norfolk. Trampolines, badminton and guided walking tours, along with kids’ parties, bedtime stories and crafts provide good clean fun (plus there’s paddleboarding and kayaking in Norfolk and Dorset). Things turn more party in the evening as site bars serve craft ale and cocktails.
19 July-30 August, from £132 a night for a family, cloudnineglamping.com
Starry Meadow, Hay-on-Wye
