Troytown Farm, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly
Best for local food and sandy beaches
Camp out in style on the Isles of Scilly’s only dairy farm, in immaculately appointed bell tents, overlooking a white sandy beach. Tents sleep two to four people and come with pots, pans, a camping stove, proper crockery, cutlery and utensils, plus a cool box and free ice-pack service. Pre-order a hamper from the farm shop for farm-reared pork and beef, plus the creamiest dairy produce from Troytown’s Jersey and Ayrshire cows. The un-homogenised milk, live yogurt and decadent ice cream (30 flavours, but hard to go past the clotted cream) are worth writing home about. Local shops and honesty boxes are replete with seasonal fruit and veg, apple juice, free-range eggs, local crab and lobster.
How to get there: Ferry from Penzance to the main island of St Mary’s (2 hours 45 mins) for cracking views of the Cornish coast, plus the chance to spot dolphins and basking sharks. Then take one of the thrice-daily water taxis to tiny St Agnes.
Price: It costs from £510 to rent a bell tent for four people for seven nights, or from £63 a night.
Feather Down Moor Farm, Gloucestershire
Best for experiencing a working farm
This is child heaven, but for adults it’s a particularly foodie stay. Set in the glorious Gloucestershire countryside, Moor Farm is a quiet, get-away-from-it-all place but with plenty for everyone to do. The kids can be kept busy with farm chores, and there’s a swimming pool if it’s warm. Spanking-fresh eggs can be collected in the communal chicken coop (as long as the hens are feeling happy), and you can buy a breakfast hamper in the farm shop with excellent bread and great produce. The rose veal burgers are standouts – ideal for barbecues.
During the week there’s wood-fired pizza night (with cider). The farmer’s son, Mathew, is a trained chef and he hosts events including hog roasts and Double Gloucester cheese tastings. The canal into Gloucester is a walkable distance, with boating and fishing available, along with a number of pubs, including the Ship Inn gastropub.
How to get there: Accommodation is in safari-style Canvas Lodges with wooden floors, kitchenettes and outside stoves. Choose a Frills Lodge for an ensuite bathroom, veranda and barbecue.
Price: Prices start at £439 for a four-night stay in a Frills Lodge; all lodges can sleep a maximum of six people (five adults and one child up to 12 years old) and include a double bed, bunk bed and cupboard bed. A three-night weekend stay costs from £295.
Woodland Tipi and Yurts, Herefordshire
Best for making dens and Sunday lunch
Choose from six traditional yurts and three Sioux Native American tipis scattered through woodland, all decked with proper beds, cosy rugs and wood-burning heaters. This is a real dingly dell, discreetly fenced in, so it’s safe for children to roam free, with a hippy festival aesthetic and 1950s caravan kitsch-style share-kitchens. It’s shady in the woods, so pack fleecy layers even in summer. There are materials for den-making, giant tyre swings, towering trees to climb and trails to explore. Hooting, low-flying owls bring some Harry Potter magic, while parents can fall under the spell of holistic therapies in the woodland treatment room. Order a seasonal veg box from Carey Organic at the neighbouring White Thorn Farm and discover the secrets of cider-making at Westons Cider Visitor Centre. There are three good pubs within easy walking distance; for Sunday lunch, the aptly named Cottage of Content is a must – try the roast topside of Hereford beef.
Price: A three-night weekend stay costs £295 for a tipi sleeping four to six, £310 for a yurt (four to five people), and £330 for a yurt (four to six).
Big Sky Tipis, Sussex
Best for star-filled skies
Check into one of eight Sioux tipis, hand-painted with traditional Native American designs and decked out with beanbags, faux fur rugs and proper beds. They’re set in a two-acre meadow, part of 23 acres of meadowland, fields and woodland, five miles from the East Sussex coast. You can cook breakfast on the campfire (or gas stove; all utensils and crockery are provided) with home-produced, free-range sausages, bacon and eggs. Local pubs, which are about a 20-minute walk away, include the Lamb Inn and The Farm @ Friday Street. Despite the digital-age name of the latter, it’s set in a 17th-century farmhouse. Big Sky’s site was selected for its lack of light pollution, so – weather allowing – expect plenty of starry nights.
Price: Tipis sleeping four to six start from £100 for two nights.
Port Lympne, Kent
Best for a camping safari
An early adopter of the trend for family attractions to offer accommodation, Port Lympne Safari Park recently added tree houses to its glamping set-up of eco pods, safari tents and lodges. Set on a tree-lined escarpment, the new cabins come with a fully kitted kitchen-diner (milk, biscuits, tea and coffee are provided), a bathroom, two bedrooms and a wrap-around wooden terrace, from which rhinos, zebras and giraffes can be seen roaming the Kent ‘savannah’. On a clear day you can also see the outline of France across the Channel. Don’t want to self-cater? Enjoy a glass of sparkling rosé in the private clubhouse for tree house guests, then dine either in the estate’s eccentric red brick manor house (where Churchill used to hold decadent soirées) or at the Giraffe Lodge, which overlooks Port Lympne’s watering hole. Watch buffalo and wildebeest gather to drink as you enjoy a four-course, African-inspired dinner cooked on an open fire pit. Rise early before the park opens and watch your rhino neighbours having their breakfast as you enjoy yours.
Price: Tree houses sleeping four cost from £409 a night (two-night minimum stay at weekends), which includes access to Port Lympne Reserve and sister zoo Howletts, and safari trips.