Campsite review: Nearly Wild Camping - Warbleton Farms

Earlier this month for my birthday I was lucky enough to receive a membership with the Nearly Wild Camping Club from my partner Catherine. Nearly Wild Camping is a growing network of locations willing to host campers who are looking for a 'wilder' camping experience, whilst still maintaining some of the benefits of a regular campsite experience - most importantly, permission to be on the land! I'd been looking at getting a membership for a while at this point, because since I'd found wild camping, it had made most regular sites seem too busy and commercialised, but I still wanted to be able to go camping with more than what can be carried on my back - so Nearly Wild Camping seemed like a perfect fit! The site has a great system where locations are rated 1-5 on how 'wild' they are, with 5 being just a location, and 1 being more or less a regular campsite with all the amenities that you'd expect. 

I already had a trip planned for later in the month with an old friend from university, but we hadn't chosen a site yet, so I started to have a look at the area (near Eastbourne) and was pleased to see lots of Nearly Wild Camping sites nearby. Whittling the list down to one site didn't prove too difficult, as some sites were only open until August, and some didn't allow for parking next to pitch - which isn't a total deal breaker, but being able to access the car more easily does make life much easier - and so a site was decided upon, by the name of Warbleton Farms. I contacted the host, and received a helpful response, confirming the price, directions, and even offering firewood that we could purchase on arrival. 

Warbleton Farms was only a 15 minute drive from my aforementioned friend's home, so we went shopping to load up on all the essentials that we would need, such as sirloin steaks, and delicious beer  products. From the directions previously sent to us, we found the site easily, and once we got to the general area, a sign off the road showed us which field to enter. As it had been a hot and dry week, we had no trouble driving over the field, although in poorer weather I can imagine it could become slippery, and a four wheel drive would be needed.

We were staying in the very spacious 'Brooks' field, which despite it's large size, is divided into only four, very generously sized, pitches. This means that you get a really good amount of space, and your own composting toilets too. Because all of the pitches are well spaced out, you can't even hear other campers - it really did feel wild. We parked up on our pitch, and were pleased to see that we even had our own wooden picnic table, fire pit, and a handy wooden shelf built into one of the trees, which was really useful for cooking. As well as the field, we also had access to our own section of woodland, with a few leisure hammocks, and even a rope swing (you're never too old!). Hoping that there would be suitable woodland, I had packed my DD hammock as well as my tent, and I was able to hang it right next to our table area.

We had gotten really lucky with the weather, as despite being early September, we had temperatures of around 26 degrees with blue skies, and bright sunshine. We mostly stuck to the cool shade of the woodland, and spent the day making some feather sticks for the fire, chopping kindling, and catching up over a few cold ones. When the evening came about, I grilled the sirloin steaks bought earlier on a small BBQ, which coupled with buttery potatoes, and corn on the cob, made for a beautiful camping dinner.

Eventually, as it started to grow dark, I lit the tinder with a spark from my firesteel, and we sat around the flames. It was still a warm evening, so we didn't by any means need the fire for the warmth that it provided, but the wholesome feeling of sitting around a camp fire before bed is one that's hard to beat.

Although I find sleeping in a hammock to be a generally comfortable experience, this particular woodland was quite noisy, and kept me awake for much of the night. This was in part because acorns from the oak trees were repeatedly falling and making a noise as they hit the leaf litter, and also there were a number of owls calling to each other throughout the night.

Brushing aside the night of disrupted sleep, the field looked beautiful in the morning sun, and it was a lovely place to wake up and start the day. Normally, no camping trip would be complete without a morning cup of coffee and a cooked breakfast of some kind, but as I had a decent drive home, we instead had a quick cup of tea, and then packed up, ready to hit the road.

After my first experience with Nearly Wild Camping at the lovely Warbleton Farms, I was so impressed! For anyone who enjoys camping, but wants a change of pace from the more conventional and sometimes crowded campsites and really 'get away from it all' this was perfect. I'd definitely recommend the Nearly Wild Camping network and if you're looking for a good spot in the South East, then I would recommend this site in particular.