Dartmoor National Park. The only, completely legal, safe haven for wild campers in England. Yes, there are plenty of places in both England and Wales where a wild camper can pitch their tent, bivvy, or hammock and enjoy a night immersed in nature, with a very low chance of being spotted and moved on - but that chance is never zero . So if you are a wild camper in the UK, and you're looking for a wild camping experience without bending or breaking any rules (and you don't want to travel to the UK wild campers' Mecca - Scotland) then it is to Dartmoor that you should head.  Wild camping in Dartmoor has been enshrined by law since 1985, and although in the last few years this right has been threatened by land owners in the area (notably when it was banned in 2023 before being appealed by the public and over turned), it still remains the only legal place to wild camp in England. This should make it a special spot for any British outdoor enthusiast, and I have been eager to visi...

 Campsite review: Nearly Wild Camping - Woodland Edge This June I enjoyed my second trip to a Nearly Wild Camping site, near Sparkford in Somerset (for a brief introduction to Nearly Wild Camping please see my previous post here! ). Although I have had my NWC membership since last September, I have so far only managed to use it once, despite seeing lots of wonderful sites on there, it's sometimes difficult to find the time to fit it all in with various other events, trips, and general life! Anyway, myself and two friends were planning a trip, but as one of us lives down in Cornwall, we were trying to find somewhere relatively equidistant, and so, we decided to look in the West Country. For reasons that I have already stated in previous posts , England's West Country has so much to offer campers, and we found an array of sites that looked suitable for our trip, but one stood out above the rest - Woodland Edge. If the name alone wasn't enough, then the pictures of the bushcra...

Since I first embarked on my wild camping journey over two years ago, I have been fortunate enough to have camped in different environments and weather conditions (less fortunate for some of the weather conditions, I might add). These experiences have allowed me to learn from both my failures and my successes, and have aided me in selecting the most suitable gear to put in my rucksack depending on the season, weather, and style of trip planned, limited only by capacity and the number in my bank account. In this post I will list some pieces of gear which I have used for an extended period of time, and that I am particularly fond of. DD Superlight Jungle Hammock My first few wild camping trips took place in a two man compact backpacking tent (more on this below), until I received a spectacular present from my dad - a DD Superlight Jungle Hammock. As I'd taken to wild camping in the forest near home, this was absolutely ideal. The tent still comes out for any field/moorland camping tr...

The first wild camp of the year to me has become synonymous with winter camping. I've only been going for wild camping trips in the winter months for the last few years, but in that short space of time they have quickly become one of the trips that I most look forward to. When the temperatures are low, and the weather is dry it makes for great conditions in the forest. The warmth and light produced by a camp fire are appreciated far more greatly when the days are short and cold, which I think adds to the magic of back-to-basics wild camping. Late season camping requires both planning and the right gear, but when you employ both, it can be just as comfortable, and enjoyable as any summer camp in my opinion.  We had initially aimed to have a winter camp in December 2023, but along with reasonably mild temperatures, the final month of the year had also been plagued with wet weather - so we pushed our plans through to January and the trip subsequently became the first trip of 2024. The...

The Lake District - home to some of the most rugged wilderness in the UK south of the Scottish border, and the largest national park in England. A very popular location for outdoor enthusiasts, and wild campers in particular, thanks to its epic views, beautiful scenery and enough space to remove yourself fully from civilization - even if it's just for a night or two. This is somewhere that I've wanted to visit for a wild camp for some time now, and 2023 was the year for it. Myself and my previously mentioned camping associate Jake had decided that our 2023 big 'away' trip was going to be in the Lakes, and so, we started to plan our trip, which ended up consisting of two nights away, the first in a conventional campsite, and the second, somewhere on the slopes of England's highest peak - Scafell Pike. After spending all of the Friday morning driving northwards we arrived at our campsite, The Barn Campsite, near Holmrook around 2pm. The afternoon was forecast with rai...