10 Tiny campsites and eco-travel – interview with Dixe Wills – podcast

July 12, 2010 by admin
Filed under Accommodation, Camping, Leisure, Nature, Podcasts, United Kingdom

In my podcast interview with Dixe Wills, author of the Tiny Campsites guide, we discuss the benefits of slow travel and the things that make the campsites in this guide so special. You can read my review of the Tiny Campsite guide and hear Dixe’s tips and resources for those who want to travel in an environmentally friendly way. Like the Tiny Campsites Guide, this interview is guaranteed to leave you wanting to pack your tent and get out to enjoy these quirky and characterful campsites, handpicked by Dixe and all under one acre in size.

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To download the Tiny Campsites and eco-travel podcast, right click here [mp3] 43 mins

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Piel Island from Tiny Campsite

I met Dixe when we were both camping at Trericket Mill and Dixe was cycling around Wales to research his Tiny Campsites guide. We discuss how he got into travel writing when he was wondering how to pay the mortgage and on the spur of the moment wrote to the Guardian Newspaper travel editor to pitch an article on Wild Camping. However Dixe suggests that aspiring travel writers should take a reality check, as most freelancers barely make a living from travel writing and he claims to live on the LILO principle – Low Income,Low Outgoings.

We discuss how Dixe decided not to travel by plane any more after he had lived in Guatemala and after many transatlantic flights decided that the impact on the environment was too great – now he travels by train, public transport, on foot or by bike. Dixe finds that travelling slowly enhances his experience of travel as he spots different places from the train he might like to visit in the future and when walking or cycling appreciates the small details around him as well as connecting with local people and culture. He quotes the Arab saying that your soul only travels at the speed of a camel, which is why travelling too fast leaves you disorientated and gives you jet lag.

Resources

Dixe recommends the following resources to plan his travel by train and other public transport;

Seat61.com – a website to help you plan train travel worldwide, named after the founder’s favourite seat on the Eurostar train. The site offers advice and information on planning different routes, train operators and the cheapest way to book your ticket.
Transportdirect.info – for planning travel by public transport in the UK giving door to door information on what transport to use to get to your destination.
Tourism websites – Dixe recommends using local or regional tourism websites for the destinations you want to visit as they often give useful information on how to get there.

Middle Ninfa from Tiny Campsite

Favourite places

We discuss favourite places that Dixe has visited that are off the beaten track but can be reached by public transport and he recommends;

Herefordshire and Shropshire in England which have beautiful countryside for walking such as the Long Mynd Hills but unknown as tourist destinations – mainly because they have very few motorways running through them.
The Cévennes in France is a large area of National Park with a small population as well as beautiful old stone villages – it was visited by Robert Louis Stevenson who wrote a book called Travels with a Donkey through the Cévennes. Dixe travelled to the Cévennes by taking the Eurostar from London to Paris and then the train on to the Cévennes region.
West Sweden – Dixe will soon be visiting the lake district of West Sweden called Dalsland , which he plans to reach via Denmark on a combination of ferries and sleeper trains.

Dixe told me how he came to write the Tiny Campsites book when was cycling across Devon looking for a campsite to stay the night and could only find a large commercial site, but luckily spotted a small camping sign that led him to a small campsite on a farm. He looked for a guide to help him find other similar tiny campsites and realised that, as there wasn’t anything available, he would have to write his own. Over the years he had visited or had recommendations for many delightful tiny campsites and in order to research the book he cycled all over the UK to visit all 75 campsites in the book and more to select the best ones to include.

Park Farm from Tiny Campsite

Park Farmfrom Tiny Campsite

Although there are a wide range of Tiny campsites from farms to back gardens to pubs and museum gardens, the thing that unifies them all is the charm, character and beautiful locations or just an indefinable something that makes you want to go and camp there, as Dixe put it ”a little bit of heaven”. Although I am slightly put off camping by the changeable British weather, Dixe has found that crazy weather can be found anywhere and he recommends June and September as beautiful times to camp, with more settled weather than the July and August.

We discuss the trend towards more unusual or luxurious camping experiences from yurts, to campsites like Broad Meadow House in Cornwall where in addition to the normal camping area, there are a couple of permanent tents with beds and B & B facilities where a delicious breakfast can be delivered to your tent in the morning.

I asked Dixe for some favourite campsites from the book and his suggestions were;

Great for families – Park Farm in Kildale, with fantastic views and walking and a camping barn on the same site where you can dry off if the weather is unkind.
Fantastic Views – Middle Ninfa Farm with only 4 pitches, two of them beside a croquet lawn and amazing views over the Usk valley
Coastal adventure – Piel Island in Cumbria – which can be reached by ferry or by walking at low tide with a ruined castle to explore and a pub where the landlord is known as the ‘King of Piel Island’

You can find more information about the Tiny Campsites guide at www.tinycampsites.co.uk and the book is widely available priced at £10.95 in your local bookshop or from the internet book sellers.

By the way, I featured Dixe and the Tiny Campsite guide because I love his travel philosophy and writing and not because of any financial inducement although I was previously given a copy of the guide to give away in my review.

Tiny Campsites guide of Great Britain by Dixe Wills – review and giveaway

May 13, 2010 by admin
Filed under Accommodation, Camping, Giveaways, United Kingdom

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If the new Tiny Campsite guide by Dixe Wills doesn’t inspire to to head for the hills, valleys and farmers’ fields of England to pitch your lightweight tent and burn bangers over the camp fire, then nothing will. Is there anything better than pitching your tent in a patch of meadow or a leafy glade and then waking up to birdsong and a view of the Great British Countryside? Dixe Wills doesn’t think so and to prove the point he’s written a guide to the Tiny Campsites of Great Britain – I have a copy to give away to one of my readers too. You can choose from 75 sites from all over the UK and all under an acre in size.

Park Farm Campsite from Tiny Campsites

This kind of camping has nothing to do with the rows of caravans, huge tents complete with satallite TV or any level of laid on entertainment, and it’s more back to nature than glamping and more down to earth than cool. This is about getting away from it all and enjoying the great British outdoors.

Little Wenfork Campsite from Tiny Campsites

I met Dixe when we were both staying at Trerickett Mill last summer in Wales, a glorious example of the tiny camping ideal with an old cider orchard to pitch your tent in complete with free range ducks and chickens as well as a charming stone bunkhouse and B & B in the old Mill House. (for those like me who enjoy the great outdoors but find the unpredictable British weather a bit of a challenge.

Through nearby woodland we found a place where the mill stream deepened into a swimming place with an icy plunge pool that made us all squeal. (I use the royal we here, you understand, you won’t catch me in an icy mountain stream but the kids loved it) Afterwards we warmed up by drinking hot chocolate and mugs of tea beside the campfire in an old oil drum that had been thoughtfully provided.

Dixie was doing a tour by bike of the Welsh campsites to include in his Tiny Campsites Guide and was carrying his tent and everything else with him – ah the simple life of a lightweight camper!

But back to the Tiny Campsites guide ….

Porthllisky Farm Campsite from Tiny Campsites

Some guidebooks are heavy on facts, symbols and stars but when you read them you’re left wondering what it’s actually like to stay there – but not this one. Tiny Campsites draws you a pen picture of the place, what it feels like to stay there and any interesting characters you might meet.

As Dixe writes freelance for the Guardian, my weekend paper of choice for inspirational travel writing, each of the descriptions had me wanting to pack my camping gear and set forth immediately. In my imagination I was already listening out for the tawny owls in the woods, watching the sun set behind the church tower and picking sun-warmed strawberries at the neighbouring fruit farm.

For those of you who like to get your facts straight, don’t worry that this is one of those coffee table books full of pretty pictures (although it has a few of those) and not much else of substance. The useful information’s not lacking as each tiny campsite in the guide has a page of contact details, where to stock up on provisions and how to get there by public transport if possible.

If you’re an itchy footed traveller like me, you may be thinking that this rural idyll is all very well but what are you going to do when you get there? The Tiny Campsites guide has that covered too, as Dixe has identified the best local pub for a cosy pint or an home cooked evening meal and a couple of local attractions that you might enjoy if you’re interested in more than just dozing in the shade of an old apple tree. And as Dixe is an avowed eco-traveller who avoids plane travel at all costs, you can be sure that it’s possible to get to all the campsites by bike or public transport, as that’s how Dixe arrived himself.

Balmeanach Campsite from Tiny Campsites

I could definitely see myself using this guide to go cycle-touring for a few days or perhaps hiking from campsite to campsite. Or you could just use it to locate charming little campsites away from the crowds to base yourself and see a bit of the surrounding countryside. As well as listing the campsites in sections and on a map by region, there are thoughtful lists of the sites that would be especially suitable in different categories, such as those for kids, near the sea or adults only.

To give you the flavour, I asked Dixe to hand-pick a few of his favourites for you and here they are. You can enjoy a bit of his delightful prose (that’s why he’s a professional travel writer and I’m a part-time blogger).

Great Tiny Campsite for Kids

Little Wenfork, Launceston, Cornwall – in an area of outstanding natural beauty, with views of the hills and Tamar valley, this campsite borders an allotment with ducks, chickens and some Gloucestershire Old Pigs who love having their head scratched.

Great Tiny Campsite by the coast

Porthllisky Farm, Pembrokeshire, Wales (Tel 01437 720377) – Close to Britain’s smallest city of St Davids yet the only sound is the odd seagull and the sighing sea. The site’s a short walk from a small harbour with a summer cafe and is right on the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path for cliff top walks.

Tiny Campsite with Great views

Balmeanach Park, Isle of Mull, Scotland – Set in Fishnish forest, this is the place to spot eagles, otters and seals, enjoy the signposted forest walks and the shoreline of the Sound of Mull as well as a spot of drama at the theatre at Tobermory.

Great Tiny campsite for walkers

Foxhole Bottom Campsite from Tiny Campsites

Foxhole Bottom, Seaford, East Sussex – (no sniggering at the back) This site is set in a country park on the bumpy South Downs with a snaking river sliding off into the sea, a shingle beach, a wetland reserve for birds and those national treasures, the Seven Sisters cliffs. There’s a camping barn too and a small discount if you arrive on foot or by bike.

Great tiny campsite for campfires

Park Farm, Whitby, Yorkshire – The campsite is a tiny soft-cheese-triangle of sloping grassland bordered on two sides by a low dry-stone wall, with a hawthorn hedge on the third. A few apple trees give additional shelter and the site is on a farm with interesting cattle breeds. Captain Cook as born in these parts an you can walk up to the Captain Cook monument on Easby Moor for the stunning views.

Since the Tiny Campsites guide arrived it’s barely been out of my husband’s grasp as he dreams of some corner of a farmer’s field that will be forever England. He used to be in the army you know and loves all that outdoorsy, boys-own stuff – gathering wood for the campfire and dabbling in the streams. Me, I’m a little more adverse to being rained on, but after reading this Tiny Campsites Guide even I’m ready to be converted to the joys of an uncrowded patch of meadow or woodland, fresh air and marshmallows roasted over the campfire.

Giveaway – Dixe was kind enough to send me a copy to give away to one of my readers, so if you too fancy being a grown up boy scout then please leave a comment and you’ll be entered in the draw for this giveaway.

Giveaway Update – The winner of this guide, chosen at random, is Michael who I will contact by e-mail. Many thanks to all those who commented for this giveaway.

If you’re already ready to get on your bike with your lightweight tent, you can buy Tiny Campsites from Punk Publishing at Tinycampsites.co.uk, order it at your local bookshop ISBM: 978-1-90688-906-7 or head over to Amazon.co.uk without even leaving the comfort of your laptop. Price is £10.95

If you get a copy, do see if you can spot the photo of the princesses on Page 13!

Photo Credits: All photos copyright Dixe Wills

Friday Photo – A loo with a view – in Welsh Wales

August 21, 2009 by admin
Filed under Accommodation, Camping, Wales

11 Comments

When you next go camping and examine the facilities of your chosen camp site, will a loo with a view be high on your wish list?

We recently took our teen princesses camping at Trericket Mill in Wales, where they run a Bed and Breakfast, Bunkhouse and small campsite in their orchards. Very nice it was too, but the pride of place was for their renovated outside lavvy which overlooked the river and bridge across to the orchards. You couldn’t wish for a more picturesque scene of rural life while doing your business, what with the chickens and ducks running around.

You’d have to be fairly brave to leave the door open to take advantage of the scenery, with the other guests coming and going. There was a sign on the door proclaiming “Ty Bach Yn y Coedwig – Arachnaphobes may not enter”. But there was only a friendly toy spider hanging from the ceiling. If you’re a Welsh speaker do give me a full translation – my Google Translator made a scramble of it. Have you enjoyed any loos with a view on your travels?

This is part of Photo Friday, hosted over at Delicious Baby - Head over to see all the other Friday Photos

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