Glassenbury Camping

There's no boozing, big crowds or thumping music late in to the night. This is Glassenbury. Not Glastonbury. But there are a few things the two have in common. There's plenty of space, there's a focus on the eco-friendly and the setting, on a farm, is left for sheep to graze for the vast majority of the year. And, like Glastonbury, once word gets out, we've no doubt campers will be crashing the internet to bag themselves a pitch. Numbers here are limited to something more like 100 people, rather than 100,000. It's small, it's quiet... it's great.

New for 2021, Glassenbury Camping is set in the heart of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and expands over some twelve acres of land, with campers pitching wherever they please. Owners Raf and Maria see themselves as caretakers of the site, which they've created with careful consideration for the environment. They use renewable energy from solar and wood-fired systems, and toilets are of the composting variety. The mostly flat meadow, meanwhile, is surrounded on most sides by high trees and shaggy hedgerows, and what meagre slope exists is south-east facing, so you get fabulous sunsets on summer evenings.

In a designated corner you'll find the site’s three pre-pitched bell tents, each furnished with a double bed and side tables and uniquely decorated with its own selection up-cycled treasures (handmade bunting, a wood-framed mirror or perhaps a Moroccan rug and chest). Outside, you'll find a BBQ and campfire pit, something that Maria and Raf place great importance on. All campers at the site can enjoy campfires and, as evening falls, the general scent of woodsmoke and the happy crackle of campfires is the main soundtrack to life under the stars.

A particular bonus of camping here is Glassenbury's convenient location. It's less than two hours from central London and finds itself in prime walking and cycling country. The bridleway that runs just north of the campsite is part of the Long Distance Walkers Association's "Three Castles Walk", which lets you take in Sissinghurst Castle, Scotney Castle and Bodiam Castle all in one day and gives you an idea of how close they all are. Bedgebury National Pinetum and Forest is also just a ten-minute drive from the campsite and it's less than half an hour to the village of Battle (the site of the battle of 1066) and the coast around Hastings. It's enough that you won't be able to do it all in one holiday. But then, like Glastonbury, you'll probably be returning year after year.