Hi, when the weather warms up a bit we want to take the kids camping a bit more this year but my site knowledge is limited to mountain areas.

We want to find some nice, cheap, basic sites in the south east of the country that are child friendly.

By child friendly I don't mean lots of entertainment stuff, just no big roads and no grumpy 'kids should be silent' type owners.

Forest site's would be good, sites that allow fires would be excellent (though rare as….) good biking would be nice.

Over to the you guys, what's out there?

Is North Norfolk South East enough? High Sand Creek near Stiffkey is worth a look if it is.

No fires from what I remember but there's a huge marsh/beach for the kids (and possibly you and the bike) to play on.

Looks nice, I've got family up that way so I'll keep that site in mind.

Anyone else got any suggestions?

Look out for Big Bike Bash which will probably run again next year in the Summer in the New Forest. My kid loved it and so did I. I even saw the wife smile now and again.

We use this one, on the edge of epping forest:

Debden House

Book a fire pit and take some pallets 🙂

There's a series of books called Cool Camping Scotland/Wales/England etc. I've stayed at a few of the Scottish recommendations and they have all been great.

I was looking for exactly the same – handpicked personal recommendations for great camping sites, especially where you can have fires and so on.

A few days ago I got a list of recommendations from friends and contacts on Twitter, and listed them here:
http://willmcinnes.wikidot.com/campsites-in-uk-and-france

Mcinnes, that's a pretty good list you've got there.

Cheers.

Tom's Field nr Swanage, Dorset – can get a bit busy but nice and basic. Great walk over the field to the sea and coast path walks or a bit of swimming.

I've never actually stayed at Tom's Field, but I know lots of people that have – it has the huge advantage of being near a genuinely great pub, the Square & Compasses at Worth Matravers.

In the same area is Burnbake, near Corfe. Unfortunately it has got really popular and the final straw was that it got into the aforementioned Cool Camping book – for a decade or two it was our little secret! Still worth going though and a great area. Studland beach is big enough that you can get your own bit of soft sand if you are prepared to walk along a bit. The cycle over Nine Barrow down to Old Harry is iconic, with great views.

Have a look @ UK Campsite.co.uk .
Its the camping version of STW with lots of site and equipment reviews.

Don't use the 'Cool Camping' guides. I 've been to a few of their sites and they didn't live up to the descriptions in the books.
Try http://www.thehappycampers.co.uk/

Keep an eye on here if you want a weekend of camping in August with events entertainment kids activities and more fun than you can shake a spoke at:
http://www.bigbikebash.co.uk/

If you want other campsites in the New Forest I take my son to Roundhill and they often have ranger walks in the evening and loads of treasure hunts and stuff for kids:
http://www.forestholidays.co.uk/camping_and_caravanning/our_sites__locations/england/new_forest/roundhill.aspx