[Closed] What's the secret to finding quiet campsites?

Go mid week in October. Preferably when it's raining. I know of no other way.

Find a campsite that has a minimum age? One of ours isnt a remote location at all but doesnt allow young kids, no powered sites and a fairly large pitch spacing as its in a wildflower meadow. Knepp Wildland if your in the SE.

Has the benefit of 2 really good pubs within walking distance and also contributes to a really awesome and important conservation project.

Go to quiet places; like f'rinstance we've camped in lovely sites in the middle of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Oxfordshire. You don't have to go to 'obvious' places to be surrounded by beautiful countryside, because that's what most of this whole country is comprised of.

Generally the more basic the facilities the quieter it'll be.
Not a guarantee, but if it has lots of facilities, a pool, kids play area, bar/restaurant, etc. Then it'll attract a certain type.

Also I prefer the type of site where you pitch up wherever there's a space, rather than being told where to pitch. Means you can choose a quieter spot.

Two best of this type I've stayed at recently are Tom's Field near Swanage, and Mount Folly Farm in Bigbury.

They all claim to be, but then you find yourself next to a group with a cooler full of beers and feral kids who are up till 2am talking crap.

Report them to the police for loitering with intent

1. out of season. Especially to the continent.

2. When the weather is crap

3. Sites where the owner is a head torch noise rule enforcement nazi

4. Deal with it

You could ask the campsite their policy on noise & how they enforce it.

We stayed at https://www.karrageen.co.uk near Hope Cove, Devon a few years back, the group next to us ignored the curfew on noise and were chatting loudly into the night despite one of our group & the owners going over and asking them to pipe down. The next morning the owner came over and told them to leave.

Park4Night app

Bed and Breakfasts.

Your chances of finding a quiet campsite at the moment?

Zero

Our usual ‘off the beaten track’ campsite has just voluntarily closed itself after being invaded by litter-throwing, 4am music-playing, feral nobheads

Ear plugs for sleeping. I take them everywhere.

Maybe its just not for me. Im fully aware of how misanthropic this post makes me sound

Actually I said smaller, but I meant less dense. If it's really spread out, it's generally ok, especially if it's "zoned" as well e.g. some woodland or tree-y areas which really soak up the noise rather than just having a single vast field! We went to a big caravan-club style one on Anglesea but they had a really quiet woodland area at the back where they stuck us, it was just us & the red squirrel, amazing! Woodland campsites are just great generally, tbh!

You could ask the campsite their policy on noise & how they enforce it.

Ear plugs for sleeping. I take them everywhere.

It’s it going to happen at the minute.

I don't find kids much of an issue it's adult groups getting drunk and being loud past midnight. Some sites have clear rules about noise past 11pm or so but doesn't always stop folk. I blame festival camping, where this kind of behavior is normal, for ruining it for the rest of us.

Same issue here. Kids don't tend to be the issue - it's the feral parents who're noisy into the small hours that piss me off.

We've just sold our caravan and bought a big tent, so putting more effort in finding quiet campsites than before. With the caravan we did find the smaller CAMC sites tended to be quieter/less full of selfish twunts on average, but many/most of them don't take tents.

Same mind set as yourself.

One thing that help imo is sites that require you to park different to where you pitch your tent.
This stops the engine running crowd, reduces the Bluetooth speaker crown and stops the lazy crowd.

Most places like this have wheelbarrows to move your kit from car to camp.

We have a few site that we like but one thing I find suppressing is how hard it is to find site like this in Scotland. Yes I know wild camping but with a family I want to be able to leave tent up, basic facilities etc.

I've used www.campingunplugged.com sites many times in the past.
As recently as last week I took the kids and had a quiet time; always surprises me, especially when you consider it's only about an hours drive from that London.
The sites are in Hampshire, and you can get onto the Wayfarers Way for some gravel biking if you like.

Generally the more basic the facilities the quieter it’ll be.

Single worst night camping in my life was at a site like this! Drunk 20 somethings beating the **** out of each other as one sat on the wrong person's lap at 2 am! Ended up with the police being called and one of the vanishing into the night not to be seen of again! It was awful! And the basic toilet facilities didn't make up for it.

Find that places where the host/family live directly on site also help as they won't tollerate the noise. My parents have been avocating us taking our van to the small 5-berth caravan and motorhome club CL sites - yet to be tried.

I am the same and got called a miserable sod as I asked for Adult only sites....

I use uk campsites and filter by adults only, I also pick the more remote on that list.

https://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/

Park4Night app

he said quiet spots , not dogging spots

Had the same issue before we had kids and I found the solution was to join the Camping Club and use their certified locations. Generally smaller sites with limited facilities but certainly more comfortable than wild camping.

https://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/ukcampsites/smallsites/

One thing that help imo is sites that require you to park different to where you pitch your tent.
This stops the engine running crowd, reduces the Bluetooth speaker crown and stops the lazy crowd.

Agree that it's drunken, braying adults staying up till 2am+ that are the biggest annoyance, generally kids are knackered out by running around for a few hours and don't stay up that late!

Join the camping club and use their certificated sites. No more than 5 units - usually on a farm with a look and a tap - what else do you need?

kids are knackered out by running around for a few hours and don’t stay up that late!

Yeah, I'm usually more concerned about trying to get our sprogs to STFU when they wake up too early.

Find a forum member with "farmer" in their user name and ask them if they mind you camping on their flat field next to the river with a composting toilet and firepit in the middle of the Brecon Beacons national park. You may be surprised and end up with exclusive use (maybe some sheep!). 😉

Just not the August bank hoilday WE as I have a group in already.

This, last night, is the secret.
[img] [/img]
I've pretty much given up on campsites, with one very discreet exception in the Marches that is unfortunately closed at present because the elderly wardens are understandably cautious given current conditions.

There are also a couple of sites that I've used for years; no longer taking tents, converting everything to hard stands because they were fed up with feral pikey families, but they let me stay and use the facilities when I rock up on a bike.

Ear plugs for sleeping. I take them everywhere.

This. Sometimes it's just going to be the luck of the draw and you are just going to have to deal with it.
I also highly recommend what welshfarmer said! (Hi welshfarmer)

Binners, that's one of our favourites also. Very sad.

Many sites at present are doing reduced residency bookings which hopefully helps.

I think next year is probably going to be just as bad as this year, as given the shambles of quarantine etc. Many people won't countenance going abroad next year or until things are resolved.

Find a forum member with “farmer” in their user name and ask them if they mind you camping on their flat field next to the river with a composting toilet and firepit in the middle of the Brecon Beacons national park. You may be surprised and end up with exclusive use (maybe some sheep!). 😉

Makes a mental note of this 🙂

Experience, IME 😉

But even so, not all have remained quiet over the years. Things have changed, especially with the recent anti-EU/pro-pandemic situation among the fake-tan brigade.

My best bet these days (have given it a miss this last year for the first time ever) would be an autumn camp and revisit old quiet farmsites and agreed ‘wild’ camps that I found years ago. It helps if you aren’t seeking out notable beauty spots

One of our favourites I found a few years back simply by asking in a local pub while returning from a family visit. I wanted to check out my new (to me) tent so chose a quiet village and asked around. Turned out it had a Caravan Club site and only allows a few caravans/tents . I checked in and pitched by a river with the place to myself. This was September/October IIRC. Have since returned in May/June and had glorious two weeks of blissful peace there, along with a handful of quiet campers (some of whom are now good friends and have shared with us other similar sites)

Biggest tip: Set out to find somewhere to enjoy camping. Sounds obvious but this is what I mean:

If you set out to find somewhere to camp anywhere nearby a tourist trap then you’ll miss that little field by the river, nr the village of Nowhereley or Otherington. You’ll miss a place that feels miles from home yet is only an hour away from your door.

I look for somewhere with the plan to stay on site most of the time, cooking, wildlife-watching, reading books, sunbathing, messing around with tent stuff/improving the pitch/setup/maintenance, driving out for a daytrip, return with a takeout curry.

Tourist traps IME are better for an out of season day trip/overnight bnb or not at all. Camping IME is best for wild camping/outdoor activities or a getawayfromitall - which often means going somewhere ‘dead’. When the tent is pitched and the sun rises next morning, you realise that the luxury of having nowhere to go (except by foot to the local village, footpaths etc) is luckily for you thought not so much of a ‘luxury‘ by the thousands who prefer to be sardines paying through the nose at packed site within driving distance of The Giant Parrot Park or whatever.

I am Keith Pratt and I’ll keep that fiver thanks.

Going by my recent experience, choosing a static caravan park with a camping field works a treat. It's basically a pensioners summer retreat. Some loud teenagers turned up and within 30 minutes had some of the regulars round at their tent telling them to be quiet. They calmed down but still I woke up in the morning and they were gone, we concluded they must have been kicked off!

This is at st bees head. Wouldn't recommend it as they did a shit job of camping provision but it was certainly quiet...

There are different kinds of campsites.

1. Loads of amenities, fancy shower blocks, marked out pitches - usually busy but well spaced out and sometimes loud but usually have strict policies which can be policed.

2. Large fields near seaside areas with loads of people packed in, these can be noisy too.

3. Large fields in the hills with fewer people packed in, sometimes a shower block sometimes not - usually decent due to the space but sometimes noisy.

4. Small fields way out in the countryside, only a few people, usually cheap, sometimes rudimentary facilities sometimes nothing.

Choose the small ones and you'll be guaranteed a quiet stay. Finding them is easy if you are a member of the Caravan and Camping club (or Caravan and Motorhome club if you aren't tent camping) as they call them Certified Sites, they are limited to 5 caravans/tents and they are cheap. This is the reason we joined the CAMC incidentally.

However you can also stay on independent ones like the one in the pic. Just pick a quiet out-of-the-way area on Google Maps and type 'campsite' into the search. You can then switch to satellite view to see if it's a canvas megalopolis or a field with a tap or whatever inbetween.

The small ones are usually £10-15/night rather than £45 too, which really helps.

The Camping & Caravanning Club is also worth joining if you go to Europe usually as you get reductions on ferries and the Channel Tunnel. We often stay on their Certificated sites - as above, small sites that are fairly basic but quiet.

FYI, the Caravan and Motorhome Club used to be called The Caravan Club. They changed their name due to an image problem as they were seen as being very snooty, unfriendly and site wardens were little Hitlers. This is a generalisation but there is some truth in it.

Not advertising it on the internet when you find one.

So, this thing about empty campsites - in my (quite limited) experience - I've found it doesn't really matter how few people there are in the campsite, whereever you erm camp, the next JOLLy, FRIENDLY, LOVELY CAMPER type family will drive up and park (I meam camp) right next to you so that they have a FWEND for the week. And continue to point out in a JOLLY FRIENDLY lovely way how you're not as experienced at camping as them because, I dunno they watch every bloody thing you do and have nothing better to do than to talk to people who are actually trying to get away from pests like them..?! Just me?

Just me?

I've never experienced that thankfully.

I’ve found the below really good indicators by accident when on the road with biking friends that don’t like hotels.

Never actually looked for a quiet campsite but the below seem to offer that alongside last minute availability.

* Mostly used by camper van people with just a few tent spots.
* No playground, bar or restaurant. Maybe a shack selling crisps and water with really odd opening times.
* Slightly more expensive than others.
* Long list of off putting / unclear rules.
* Nowhere near public transport or walkable to anything.
* Requires some kind of random unfashionable membership that usually costs just a few pounds a year.

The above makes interesting reading because, over here at least, any Brit families who pitch up are always quiet and it's the Spanish who are doing noisy sobremesa until 1.30am - with zero thought for their through-hiking neighbours sleeping under tarps who've got a 5am start.

Pity about the quarantine OP but if you are in the southern half of the country, nipping over the channel is worth it because French sites are usually dead by 11pm - moreso in the last week of August.

Join the camping club and use their certificated sites. No more than 5 units – usually on a farm with a look and a tap – what else do you need?

Be aware that certificated sites often don't have loos, just a disposal site. Good for self-contained vans and caravans, though

Be aware that certificated sites often don’t have loos

They often do though, and showers, and leccy. You just need to check when you book.

FYI, the Caravan and Motorhome Club used to be called The Caravan Club. They changed their name due to an image problem as they were seen as being very snooty, unfriendly and site wardens were little Hitlers. This is a generalisation but there is some truth in it.

It wasn't just that, it was because motorhomes are now far more popular so they wanted to include them in the brand. But yes, it is full of the kind of caravanners that Top Gear likes to mock and who are quite up themselves. I only use it for access to the CLs but I am considering switching to the caravan and camping club. Although I'd add that the only time I've ever faced grumpy site Hitlers has been on independent sites.

> https://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/ukcampsites/smallsites/ https://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/ukcampsites/smallsites/

We've been to 2 different campsites this summer, in the lakes, both quite. 1 was the YHA Borrowdale, any sniff of trouble was quickly extinguished, and Lanefoot farm near Bassenthwaite. We walked through the scenes at Stonethwaite site in Borrowdale and it looked horrendous, at least 4 big festival/stag do groups who you could tell would ruin it for everyone. Site has closed down now to focus on the core farming business

So I think they are there, and they are easy to find personally

Following this thread with interest as I’ve a week off in a 3 weeks. Want to escape and want to be as anti social as possible and avoid anywhere with covidtwonks.

Noted Welshfarmers post

@molgrips picture number 3, handy for the bridges?

Get the Cool Camping book/website. NEVER go to any of the sites in it.