As we venture into 2024, it's time to update your adventure lists with the latest roundup of the best hammock-friendly campsites across the UK. This year's selection promises diverse landscapes, improved facilities, and even more serene spots to string up your hammock and relax to the sounds of nature. Our hammock friendly campsite guide will take you on a trip around the UK, giving you an insight into the magical hammock camping experience. If you’re thinking about trying an alternative to the conventional camping trip or maybe want to enhance your camping break by taking your hammock too. Either way, grab your hammock and read on...
Hammock camping is still a virtually unknown and fledgling method of camping; however, sleeping in the great outdoors in your hammock is becoming one of the fastest growing camping trends. - Interested in the benefits of sleeping in a hammock?
More and more campsites are latching on to this and now offer camping pioneers like you an opportunity to experience the many benefits of hammock camping while staying on the right side of the law. Bearing in mind with the exception of Scotland… real wild camping is just a tolerated “illegal act” everywhere else in the UK.
A fact that might not put off the purists out there who will be only too quick to tell you there is nothing that compares to ‘Wild’ camping, at one with nature and its surroundings in complete isolation experiencing that all important adventure. However, it’s not for everyone and that’s just fine, those of us which still want some creature comforts, a bit of company and that all important reassurance we are not trespassing.
A hammock friendly campsite can offer the perfect solution, providing the wild camping experience you’re seeking with the all important safety net that comes with a recommended site. So we have put together our top ten hammock friendly campsites that have gone out of their way to offer you just that.
Before we continue with the hammock camping sites below... be sure to check out Tree Tents here. The Tree Tent camping experience completely changes the way we think about camping outdoors and definitely worth checking out!
So let’s head off around the UK in search of that hammock friendly site…
An award-winning, sustainable woodland retreat in South Somerset.
Hammock Camping and Tree Camping at Wytch Wood
Being a woodland campsite, Wytch Wood is pleased to welcome tree tents of all kinds to our corner of Somerset. We are lucky to have some beautiful mature specimens of Beech, Oak, Alder and even some sturdy Willow trees which can support 2- and 3-point suspended tents.
If you’re a fan of hammock glamping, then this is definitely your spot! Although they allow “go Green” camp fires, there is a kitchen available for suburbanite campers, as well as compost toilets and showers.
You can enjoy water sports such as whitewater rafting or take your wild experience even a notch higher by sharpening your hunting and stalking skills at the Ace Woodland Paintball site which is only a five-minute walk away.
Visit Ace Hideaways
This 4.5-acre semi-wild hammock camping site is just amazing for those coming from busy cities looking for fresh air and vast open space to let it all out! Haggs is mainly divided into two pitches; the small woodland area is down the valley where hammock lovers can set up and the open well-maintained grassy pitch (with wild flowers at the edges) which is ideal for tent campers who love neighbours.
The campsite may, however, feel a bit crowded for some people since you can literally see everyone and everything from your tent. Well behaved canines are welcomed must be kept on a lead though.
The bunkhouse is also available for groups who feel more comfortable behind four walls. Haggs also welcomes caravans and motor houses to this breath taking spot with plenty of sprawling grass for children and adults alike to frolic in safely.
Visit Haggs Bank Bunkhouse And Campsite
If you’re looking for an easy time on rugged terrain and some little WW1 history knowledge then look no further than Dreamy Hollow camping site. A network of WW1 trenches covers a large chunk of the 7.5-acre camping site located only 10 minutes away by car from the Northern Norfolk coast.
Hammock lovers are at home in this scenic woodland environment full of beautiful trees with approximately 15 private and individually named pitches to choose from.
Caravans are unfortunately not allowed but small camper vans definitely are. With hot showers and flushing toilets, this is still a great wild camping hot spot.
Visit Dreamy Hollow Woodland Campsite
The Coed Tyle Crwn camping site is 70 acres of rustic woodland open to the public all year round. Nestled neatly between the Brecon Beacons and the Black Mountains, the Coed woodland campsite is as natural as it gets! It’s a jungle out there…and just the right environment for wild camping enthusiasts. Pitches are scattered all over the place and there are clearings where tents can be pitched.
This beautiful untouched piece of nature is a perfect spot for hammock hanging since the trees here are so tall and huge they literally touch the sky! Follow small trails around the campsite and have an adventure in the bushes if you’re the exploring type.
The forested area is a mixture of wild strawberries, primroses, anemones, blue bells and wood sorrel among others. Campfires are very much encouraged here and firewood is free for you to collect!
Totally off-grid with no fancy hot water or electricity…only spring water…and the car park is about 300m from the pitches. Try the woodland free-range chicken eggs…they are a delight, and healthy too! All pets are kind are allowed…
Follow small trails around the campsite and have an adventure in the bushes if you’re the exploring type. The forested area is a mixture of wild strawberries, primroses, anemones, blue bells and wood sorrel among others.
Campfires are very much encouraged here and firewood is free for you to collect! Totally off-grid with no fancy hot water or electricity…only spring water…and the car park is about 300m from the pitches.
Try the woodland free-range chicken eggs…they are a delight, and healthy too! All pets are kind are allowed…
Visit Coed Tyle Crwn Woodland Campsite
Campers are treated to some farm fresh produce twice a day (morning and in the evening) with local meat and milk as well as firewood being provided on request.
There’s fresh water, showers, loos and picturesque woodland with nice trees where “hammocks” can have a ball! Children can have a good time here which makes this campsite ideal for families and couples alike.
Campfires only allowed near the river side (alongside the Horner River which runs through the camping site). The breath-taking Exmoor environs are filled with birds, wild Exmoor ponies, red deer and many more forms of wildlife.
With great restaurants and local pubs just a stone-throw away.
Visit the Porlock site for more information on Poole Bridge Camp Site
If you live near London and you need to get in touch with nature (or explore your “beast mode”), then this is where you go….Badgells semi-wild camping site on Kent North Downs offers more than just a night in the woods. There are bushcraft lesions and toilets plus hit showers for the concerning camper.
Spending time here brings back memories from the good old days when you ran around with friends climbing trees or toasting marshmallows in open fires. Badgells is total off-grid and trying out your hammock here is sure to leave you with goose bumps….literally.
The site is also a locally designated wildlife reserve so you can expect to run into a few wild creatures every now and then… or their free range chickens!
Visit Badgells Wood Camping
Wild camping gets even more wilder at the Beech Estate campsite. Adventurous total off-grid campers can find what they want here. Total isolation and lots of forest around you!
There are several pitches around the 600-acre woodland and campers who want to go all out are allowed to venture deeper into the hills….after a quick chat with the wardens of course…
You can have an easy time without worrying too much about legalities and still get the ultimate wild camping experience in a controlled (but somewhat free) environment.
The wardens are happy to help you pick out a spot if you explain to them what you’re looking for. Just remember to clean your campsite when leaving and cover all fires.
Visit Beech Estate Woodland Campsite
This campsite offers both wild and semi-wild hammock camping experience on 68 acres of pure unadulterated woodland. Fun in the great outdoors will never be the same for you ever again after visiting this hidden and peaceful rural campsite and trying your hammock here.
There are communal hot showers, fire areas, laundry room, and toilets. Firewood is also sold at site and there is a communal fridge for those who need it. Dogs are allowed as well. Online reviewers continue to sing praises about Ashbourne.
Visit Ashbourne Woods Campsites
So, as more campsites wake up to the advantages of providing wooded areas for their hammock loving customers, so more opportunities arise for you to enjoy new outdoor adventures across the whole of the UK, without going the whole (“wild camping”) hog or having to tread a tight rope between legal and illegal.
Meaning you too could get closer to nature and experience the sun going down while lying quietly at night, swaying gently, listening to the wild life or maybe curled up with a good book and your faithful head torch. Before waking in the morning to find small woodland creatures under your hammock playing, a unique experience you won’t forget in a hurry.
And all this with the confidence that there is still some creature comforts not too far away…
Check Our Great Range Of Camping Hammocks Here!
Hi guys – thank you for the kind words. Cheers the Eco Camp UK Team.
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Paul Quinney
July 08, 2021
Looking for someone who has hammocks that can offer a scout group a hammock camp experience