Snoozing in a Cornish Bell Tent: a review of Higher Pendeen Camping
I don't know if you've tried to book accommodation in Cornwall recently, but it's safe to say it's a) not easy and b) frequently expensive. I was faffing about looking for a single night of accommodation in mid-September and coming up massively short. I was off for a quick research trip for a book I'm writing for Summersdale but, since I'm not JK Rowling and Summersdale isn't a giant multinational paying me expenses, I needed to keep it cheap as chips. So to speak.
I didn't want to pay £120+ for a Premier Inn—as much as I'm always game for a comfortable bed in a convenient location—and 99% of the campsites I looked at didn't actually allow tents.
As I zoomed in on the Japanese Garden I was hell bent on visiting, a little campsite hopped out of the map: Higher Pendeen. It rung a good old fashioned bell. The campsite and I have been following each other on Instagram for a while and it was not only just a couple of miles from the garden, but also looked like the exact place I needed. Friendly, nice views, no frills, not extortionate.
I sent them a message, asking if they had a pitch free for one night—always a risk in Cornwall in summer(ish) because multi-night bookings are much better business for campsites. But authors are poor and time-constrained. Liz, Higher Pendeen's ultra-friendly manager pinged me back and offered me a night in one of their bell tents for the same price as a pitch (which were all full), and asked if I would post about in on Instagram if I liked it.
Well folks, I liked it so much I didn't just Insta it, I've written this post because I want you too to know that you can still camp like it's the good ol' days. And within a 10 minute walk to a beach!
Camping Like We Used to (sort of)
I was brought up in a tent. Not literally, but you know what I mean. My sister and I shared a tiny ridge-tent we called 'Saggy Maggy' on our many camping jollies whilst cycle-touring around the UK and its neighbours, France and Spain. The campsites we rolled up to were grass with a small block of toilets you shared with crane flies. We ran rampant around those places, exploring pockets of woodlands, star-gazing and reading by torchlight.
It's not that those places don't exist anymore, they're just increasingly difficult to find. I get excited when I see 'camping' advertised, but so often find it's only four caravans or iterations of, or that it's cabins. More and more, campsites are accepting tents less and less. Which makes sense, I suppose; there's only so much you can charge for someone to erect a bit of ripstop nylon in your field.
The thing is though, whether I'm camping for a night or a week, the campsite isn't necessarily where I want to be spending much of my time. Sure, I love wonderful campsites, but I use them for overnight purposes, and rarely hang around much in the day time. So a holiday park is not for me.
A good campsite in my book is one that has everything you need conveniently close to a whole heap of places you want to visit. Aka, beaches, mountains, rivers, woodlands, hills, Japanese gardens...you know.
Higher Pendeen Camping
Higher Pendeen is a tiny campsite half a mile from the beach at Mawgan Porth on Cornwall's rugged, northern coastline. It's part of Gluvian Farm, a small family farm tucked in the folded landscape. With just a few pitches for tents and two large bell tents, the campsite is certainly small.
We arrived in the dark on a Saturday night, knackered from the day. We parked in the field next to the campsite, with a small collection of other campers' cars and made our way into the camping field. Half given over to wildflowers and unmown patches of life, it almost feels like camping in a large, wild garden. Our bell tent glowed softly in the moonlight, a pair of solar lights resting on the picnic table next to its doorway.
When I unzipped the door flap and peered inside, I couldn't believe how big it was. There was a double bed plus two single beds with enough floorspace for an awful lot of belongings plus a family game of Twister. I went outside, I went inside and, as it transpires, Higher Pendeen has a TARDIS. I switched on a bedside lamp, a demijohn filled with tiny fairy lights, and the tent was softly illuminated.
I hadn't known that you could stay in a bell tent without all the *ahem* bells and whistles. To be honest, I've never really looked into it before, but when I have seen them available, they've usually come with all sorts of furnishings, like holiday homes made of canvas. And I suppose they sort of are.
The bell tents are High Pendeen don't come with bedding so you have a choice: bring a sleeping bag or bring sheets, duvets etc. We brought a sheet, sleeping bags and pillows which makes sense for one night. I like this approach as it cuts down the need for the campsite to do a load of laundry. The site is very much geared towards sustainability.
Before bed, we stood outside and marvelled at the stars. We get pretty good stars where we live on the edge of Dartmoor, but not like this. The stars above the campsite were in full flaunt mode like I haven't really seen since I was sailing offshore. We stood there for ages, naming constellations and admiring Jupiter flirting with the moon. The peace up there was magnificent.
I love arriving at places in the dark so I can look outside when I wake up and get the full impact. When I stepped out of the bell tent in the morning, I got a face full of glorious Cornish landscape. It's funny, living in Devon. You so often overlook Cornwall because we've got a decent chunk of two coastlines, two national parks and a lot of landscape for ourselves. I often think Cornwall is just a craggier version. But really, it's very different. The way the hills lie is different, the folds of the valleys, the rock, the wizened trees and the wind-battered churches, it's all different.
Cornish campsite mornings
Only in the morning could I see the full extent of Higher Pendeen's wilding. The field is lined with unmown grasses and wildflowers and large central chucks of land are the same. It's basically accommodation managed by bees, butterflies and all the other creatures that see a blade of grass as quite a long journey. It's glorious.
As we were considering a second coffee, Liz turned up, ushering a playful retinue of horses and dogs along the track beside the campsite. The farm originally belonged to her in-laws and now she and her husband run it themselves along with the campsite. She's a devoted camper originale, just like me, someone who wants a grassy campsite that you share with nature and little else.
It's so wonderful to not only meet others who relish this wild-not-wild-camping but those who are actually doing something about it. I imagine it was a pretty brave decision to keep the site as half-wild as it is, on this absolutely prime slice of Cornwall real estate — you can walk to the beach in less than ten minutes. Another might've mown the field and jammed fifty pitches in.
But that's the kind of person Liz is, a woman with integrity, a vision and a real love for the outdoors.
Higher Pendeen Camping: everything you need to know
My only regret about staying here was that we didn't get to stay longer and explore the area. But if you're looking for a back-to-basics wild-not-wild campsite, I think this is probably right up your street.
How many pitches?
This might change season to season, but for this summer there were four camping pitches and two bell tents. Yep, that's right, it really is that little!
What's the toilet/shower situation?
All the pitches share one composting toilet and one gas-powered shower. That sounds like a dangerously low number, but the site was full when I was there and I never had to wait once. I didn't use the shower but the toilet was the cleanest campsite toilet I've ever used. They're both in the corner of the campsite, along with a freshwater tap and basin. You need to use environmentally-friendly shower gel/shampoo/washing up liquid etc.
Is it mighty expensive?
I don't think so, especially not in Cornwall. This year, for up to two adults, the 6 m camping pitches were £30 a night, the larger one £32 and the bell tents £70. You can add extra people for between £4 and £15 a night depending on age and whether you're camping or bell tenting.
Is it family-friendly?
Absolutely, depending on who your children are and whether you've promised them a games room, an arcade and a swimming pool or not. If you have children who like to scamper about the landscape, run down to the beach and cause mischief, watch horses and goats trot around nearby and generally have a Famous Five adventure, then Higher Pendeen campsite is perfect.
What's nearby?
Newquay is 5 miles south west, Padstow is 10 miles north. Mawgan Porth beach is half a mile west and the Trevose Head Heritage Coast lies just north west with its abundance of fantastic beaches like Harlyn, Constantine and Treyarnon. The start of the Camel Trail begins in Padstow and is a fantastic cycle route. There's also an absolutely straight up hands down amazing pizza place in Wadebridge called Woody's Pizza. I'm not kidding, we ate there on our way down and it's fantastic.
And lastly, before I go eat a huge pile of roasted vegetables, there's the Japanese Garden just down the road in St Mawgan. And it's utterly blissful.
Thanks for reading and I hope you get down to Higher Pendeen soon! If you've got any wild-not-wild campsites you love, please do put them in the comments!
