As we emerge from a seemingly never ending winter, we’re busy making plans and looking forward to the warmer months. We have one camping trip in the diary, but are keen to plan in a couple a more this year.
We’ve been looking back at some of our top family campsites, looking for inspiration and hoping to narrow our ideas down!
If you’re also looking for some great family campsites, hopefully this will help you out too.
Great Langdale
Great Langdale and Hickling Campsite are our favourite two campsites, and are the ones we have visited multiple times. There is a very simple reason why Great Langdale is a top family campsite, it is in a stunning part of the country, it is run by the National Trust and it has great facilities.
Great Langdale is not far from Ambleside and offers a dramatic backdrop for a camping trip as the Langdale Pikes tower over the campsite. It has access to some of the most challenging routes the area has to offer, but there are also plenty of family friendly walks directly from the campsite.
Facilities wise, it has a shop, play area, toilets and showers, laundry and drying facilites and electric hook up. It’s clean and well run, and we love staying here.
Hickling Campsite
Hickling Campsite is another that we have been back to, and we’re considering another trip this year. It’s a really well run, small and friendly campsite. Over the years it has been upgraded and it offers everything a family could need.
There’s a clean toilet and shower block, a small shop and braziers available for that full camping experience! It’s also ideally situated and near to some fabulous Norfolk beaches. There is no electric hook up at this site, but there is a ‘charging cupboard’ for charging phones etc and freezers available to store your ice blocks.
It is on the small side, but I can forgive that as everything else is just about perfect!
Farm on the Hill
Farm on the Hill is a different type of campsite to what you might be used to. It’s a peaceful, eco friendly, back to basics kind of place. It had a lovely laid back feel and we really enjoyed our short stay here a couple of years ago.
I’m not sure this photo does our pitch justice!
There’s little in the way of facilities, apart from a tap, a toilet and a (very picturesque) shower, but our pitch was huge, we had a whole area to ourselves and the kids loved it. It really is a make your own fun kind of place, but that makes it all the better in our eyes!
Cotswold Farm Park
Everyone has probably heard of Cotswold Farm Park, home to TV farmer Adam Henson, and it is a very popular destination for a family camping trip. We did visit in 2020, which was a weird year, so things may have changed.
It has great facilities, including clean toilets and showers and a communal kitchen. There is also a farm shop and restaurant on site. The pitches are a little on the small side, but there is a recreation field to run about and play in.
There is a lovely nature walk from the campsite, plus access to more walks in the local area. Also, a massive bonus is that you get entry into the farm park included with your stay for the duration of your trip. We certainly made use of this when we stayed.
Caolasnacon Caravan and Camping Park
I had to include Caolasnacon as it is quite simply the most beautiful place we have ever stayed. Now, we did stay there back in 2014, so it may have changed – although the view certainly hasn’t! You may have noticed that I have made good use of the photos we took there over the last 10 years.
Caolasnacon is a great base to explore the local area, being near Glen Coe and Fort William if you’re looking for some more adventurous hiking like Ben Nevis.
On the site there is a toilet block, laundry and dish washer room with a freezer. There are also some electric hook ups available on a first come, first served basis.
Whitehill Country Park
We don’t usually go for larger sites, but with the boys getting older, we have started to look for family campsites with more facilities to keep them occupied. I chose Whitehill Country Park as it had an outdoor pool, it turned out to be a bit too cold to enjoy for long, but we made use of the other facilities and had a great holiday here.
Our pitch at Whitehill Country Park
The boys loved the play areas, and made the most of having lots of free space to run around. There was also an arcade, bar and restaurant for the evenings. There is an indoor pool on site, although we didn’t use it.
Situated close to Paignton, it’s a great location to enjoy the seaside and all the local area has to offer.
That was a whistle stop tour of some of our favourite family campsites. Hopefully we’ll get lots of opportunities over the coming years to find some new hidden gems.
Do you have a favourite family campsite? Let me know in the comments.
If you enjoyed this post, find more camping content here:
The Beginners Guide to Camping Etiquette
Top 10 Camping Tips for Beginners
Why We Love Camping
The Best UK Campsites as Chosen by Outdoor Bloggers
