Hennock Hideaways

The bus to the little village of Hennock visits just once a week. The roads that lead you there are narrow, with hedgerows either side. It may only be four miles off the A38, which leads to Southern Devon, but be prepared, they can be slow ones. Choose this route, though, and your patience in giving way to occasional cars and tractors will be rewarded soon enough. First you’ll pass the village with its Devonshire pub and then, just 200 metres up the road, a campsite with a view hoves into sight. This is Hennock Hideaways and it’s here you can pitch your tent.

This 30-pitch campsite certainly lives up to its hideaway name; tucked, as it is, in a five-acre field off a country lane. And yet, from here, it feels as if you have the whole of Devon spread before you thanks to far-reaching views across the Teign Valley on the edge of Dartmoor National Park. You enter the sloping camping field at the top, where the scenery is at its best. A handwritten sign invites you to find your own pitch and check in later. Camp next to friends if you wish or away from everyone if that’s what you prefer; stick to the top for the view or head lower down for a shorter walk to the loo. For the glampers, there are a pair of fully-furnished bell tents in a prime half-acre patch.

The campsite is part of a family smallholding and it’s mum-of-four Kate who keeps the whole thing running with help from husband Roy. The site’s simple facilities have been honed over the years and are clustered close to their farmhouse base. There’s a couple of family bathrooms and a couple of flushing loos, an honesty shop and a shed where you can wash up undercover. Weekends bring takeaways, Devon campsite-style: breakfast rolls and coffee in the morning, pizza and nachos by night, all cooked in the site’s stable kitchen. Kids are kept happy in a play area with a trampoline that’s open until the sun goes down and the campfires start to burn.

It’s a simple but lovely site that encourages you, like the journey here, to slow down and take it easy. You can walk to a nearby reservoir or drive 10 miles in any direction to discover more of Devon. There’s wild swimming and walking out on Dartmoor, mountain biking in Haldon Forest and the seaside at Teignmouth. But no matter how many times you go out and return to site, the impact of that view doesn’t seem to diminish. Just ask your fellow campers. There’s a good chance they’ll be among the growing legion of camping fans who return here every year.