Woolton Farm

Weekend camping and glamping in the Garden of England is on offer at Woolton Farm. It’s an old-fashioned kinda offering with tents pitched in a meadow and cider served in a barn. The family behind this fruit farm have been here for 100 years and, although the holidays here have a timeless appeal, in actual fact, the camping is a modern idea. And it’s a good one. This farm is just five miles outside the lovely, historic city of Canterbury and not far from the seaside at Whitstable. It’s an hour and a half by train or car from central London; ideal for a weekend escape.

There are 15 pitches for people with their own tents and eight bell tents for people without. The pitch-your-own plots are free-form in Ellen’s Meadow; a simple paddock with a Portaloo that’s kept car free so kids can lark about. The camping here is dog friendly too. Meanwhile, about 150 metres' walk away, eight bell tents, each with a made-up double bed, share a dog-free garden setting with a pair of flushing loos and hot-water showers. Campfires are allowed in off-ground fire pits which you can hire on site when you check in at The Barn.

It’s The Barn that forms the centrepiece and the point of difference at this campsite in the Kent countryside. It’s a beautiful, 14th-century farm building that now houses reception, bottleshop and bar. You can pop in for breakfast undercover if it rains and head back for a freshly-made pizza at lunch or dinner with a glass of Wootton Farm cider or wine to wash it down. It makes what is otherwise a back-to-basics camping experience rather easy.

Finding things to do beyond the farm is easy too. There’s a well-known wild animal park next door; one of dozens of family-friendly attractions nearby. But there are grown-up pleasures too. There are walks on nature reserves, canoeing on the river (that one’s for all ages), the historic city of Canterbury and some fantastic places to eat out with menus designed to make the most of seasonal Kentish produce. That’s what this place really showcases; that this home county in the far south east still deserves its reputation as the Garden of England. When you’re camping here on the apple farm, you won’t find yourself doubting that.