Free delivery on orders over £805 Campsites For Wild Swimming, Canoeing & Waterborne Fun
The Cool Camping concept was born after a group of friends enjoyed the perfect camping trip but then struggled to find another campsite for their next trip that would measure up. This sparked an idea to find all the best campsites in England and compile them into one place so others could benefit. After great success, the Cool Camping series branched out and now covers Wales, Scotland and France as well as many other European locations.
With the recent launch of our wild swimming range we thought we'd ask them to recommend some of their favourite campsites that have great accessibility to great wild swimming and water sports spots.
The Otter Channel
East Sussex
Trialed with family and friends last summer and now opening to the public for the very first time, this pop-up campsite beside the River Rother has just 20 camping pitches and oodles of space. Rustic facilities include a shop inside a horsebox, composting toilets and bucket showers you can heat over your campfire (‘regular’, gas-powered showers are also available). There are kayaks and paddleboards for hire but swimming is the most immediate way to enjoy the river, one of the first in the south of England to see native otters return in the early 2000s.
A pitch for a family of four from £30 per night. More information here.
Dragonfly Woodland Camping
Pembrokeshire
This tiny woodland site, with individual camping pitches in clearings and a wood-clad washblock powered by wind and solar energy, doesn’t have a river running through it, but the Daugleddau Estuary is within easy walking distance. The tea rooms at nearby Lawrenny Quay are the obvious starting point – walk the footpath through the woods of National Trust-owned Cleddau Woodlands to find quiet swimming spots (check tides and watch for currents). If you time it right you can let the river flow carry you back to the quay. Then trek back to the campsite for evening campfires, with firepits, cooking grills and a timber shelter provided at each pitch.
A pitch for a family of four from £45 per night. More information here.
Cornish Tipis & Camping
Cornwall
Set in the grounds of the former Tregildrans quarry, this enchanting site returned to nature years ago. The old quarry pit filled with spring water and slopes and nooks regenerated with blackberry bushes, shrubs and trees. Today, the site is a treasure trove for explorers, who camp in small clearings, glamp in furnished tipis or pitch tents in the main meadow area. The lake – a wonderful turquoise colour owing to minerals in the old quarry – is ideal for canoeing and swimming and there’s an excellent on-site café that serves wood-fired pizzas in summer.
A pitch for a family of four from £60 per night. More information here.
Frome Meadow
Dorset
Beloved by wild swimmers, this pop-up campsite on the banks of the River Frome in Dorset (usually open for 28 days each summer but extended this year due to demand) offers inflatable rings to campers, who wander upstream along the river bank before drifting back to the site. There are composting loos, three hot showers and a washing-up sink but little else besides and the owner arrives regularly to sell logs for campfires from the back of an old Land Rover Defender. It’s a 15-minute drive to Lulworth Cove and the best of the Jurassic Coast.
A pitch for a family of four from £60 per night. More information here.
Ace Hideaways
Moray
Hidden in the woods beside the River Findhorn, this Scottish campsite is paired with an adjacent adventure centre that offers white-water rafting, tubing and gorge walking in more turbulent stretches of the river, with a dramatic gorge just a mile or so downstream of the campsite. Campers enjoy a far more serene environment, with pitches set in a light larch and birch wood, where red squirrels and deer are sometimes seen. A timber cabin houses showers, loos, washing up basins and a communal dining space and it’s a short walk to a calm stretch of the river bank.
A pitch for a family of four from £27 per night. More information here.
