You can stay at Blackberry Wood any number of
times, but each visit is likely to feel completely different – partly because
the secluded woodland changes with the seasons, but mainly because owner Tim is
so focused on expanding his unique range of glamping accommodation, that
there’s no anticipating what weird and wonderful structures you might find next. On our first encounter, a double-decker bus poked from a clearing and an
assortment of revamped old caravans and bell tents were available for hire. Today, there are also the likes of an ex-RAF helicopter and a brand new treehouse
with a shower room built inside its wonky turret!
It’s the ‘proper’ camping, though, that’s the
real heritage of this site. Nestled on the South Downs, the place
is almost lost among the native woodland. Follow
one of the footpaths leading into the rambling straggle of thicket to find twenty of the most coveted pitches, located in individual
clearings with a firepit, some rudimentary seating and enough space for a
medium-sized tent. Each spot feels gloriously secluded and, with so few
pitches in this part of the site, there’s a rare and special kind of peace among
the trees, enhanced each evening by the soporific soundtrack of campfires
gently fizzing.
On the opposite side of the road a second
wooded camping area with a ‘no kids and no groups’ rule also does a roaring
trade during peak season – it’s popularity only waning as couples return the
next year to splash out on one of the glamping options instead. Indeed it’s impossible to
visit once and not return again to try out something new. The options just seem
endless.
‘Bubble’ the 1960s
caravan and a brightly-painted gypsy wagon have a particular air of romance,
while the red Routemaster bus, equipped with a kitchen/diner downstairs and a
kids’ soft-play area upstairs is on the more eccentric end of the spectrum. The
full-sized RAF chopper with rotor blades still attached is an even more bizarre
find still. It’s Tim’s new treehouse, though, completed in 2016, that is
perhaps his biggest pride and joy. It sleeps up to four adults (or two adults
and three children), with a double bed and a snug loft bed, as well as
featuring a well-equipped kitchen, a wood-burning stove and a sun terrace
outside. Its higgledy-piggledy shape formed by the naturally irregular branches
gives it a charming, storybook quality.
All these contraptions
can be found scattered around the first small field when checking in at the
reception caravan. Of course, reception was in a caravan at the time of
writing, but we hear that NASA is selling off de-commissioned space shuttles,
so next year’s check-in experience might be altogether quite different!