Primrose Fields Campsite

A few miles west of Wareham in the Dorset countryside is where you’ll find Bovington Tank Museum, Monkey World Ape Rescue Centre – and Primrose Fields Campsite. This back-to-basics site in a hay meadow is perfectly located to visit all of the listed attractions plus it’s only seven miles north of idyllic Lulworth Cove on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast. But it’s not only location that makes this campsite worth a visit, Primrose Fields is just about as lovely as its name suggests.

It’s a relaxed, summer-only site that opens to tents, campervans and motorhomes on high days and holidays from May through to September. It’s hosted by the incredibly friendly Christina whose grandparents used to farm here. Her vast single meadow is surrounded by mature trees and has not been cut for 50 years. As a result, nature thrives. It’s at its best in early summer when its native grasses are peppered with wild orchids and ox-eye daisies, all abuzz with bees and butterflies. Christina mows patches for campers but leaves parts of it long for wildlife.

The camping is similarly organic and, of course, it’s off grid. You choose your own spot in the field and settle in to enjoy its pleasures: greenery, birdsong and starry night skies. As befits a temporary campsite like this, facilities are temporary too. There’s a cluster of toilet cubicles in the centre of the field, equidistant from everywhere in it. They are of the portable kind but are pleasant as they are kept impeccably clean. Other facilities, showers and sinks, are in a timber building near the entrance.

Campfires are allowed in off-ground fire pits, which you can hire on site, with local wood and sustainably-made charcoal for sale too. If you've forgotten your tent pegs, guy ropes or anything else, there's a handy free-cycle area (next to the all important recycling bins) where campers can help themselves to camping bits and bobs that other visitors have left behind. And that’s about it – apart from the tree swing. It’s a small but important detail but one that your kids won’t forget; another of the simple pleasures of a simply lovely site.