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Wild Camping, Dorset, Fires allowed! Wild Camping, Dorset, Fires allowed!
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Sleep and Eat, Europe Sleep: Hotels, B&B, rest stops, wild / free / bush / organized camping, helpful people, rest stops etc.
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  #1  
Old 21 Apr 2008
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Wild Camping, Dorset, Fires allowed!
Just spent a weekend here:
Steeple Leaze Farm , Steeple Campsite review

Great wild campsite. £5 per person. Very few facilities (no showers for instance), but a fantastic ambience. The farmer allows you on his fields and you are free to rummage for dead wood, or he will see you some logs. for your evening CAMPFIRE! Great.

We were there on a wet weekend, but had a wild old time round the campfire. There were maybe 10 other tents there, but we had a huge field to ourselves. Theres plenty of nices walks to do, and for the more adventorous you can get to the sea. Also this pub is a few miles away:

Square and Compass, Worth Matravers, Dorset, BH19 3LF - pub details # intheevening.com

And this sells some great ciders and is in a lovely spot. Small inside, but plenty of outside seating.

Lots of other nice parts of Dorset nearby. We had a first class weekend

Note: I'm not a biker, so can't actually say if this campsite is bike friendly, but at a guess it would be. But the pub had a few bikers turn up and no one batted an eyelid.
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  #2  
Old 21 Apr 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CornishDeity View Post
Also this pub is a few miles away:

Nice report CornishD.
It was all going great until I read the quote! - a pub needs to be on the doorstep for a campsite to have any chance of meeting the minimum specification.

May be campsites should get "stars" for various facilities, on the site and in the immediate area.
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  #3  
Old 21 Apr 2008
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Byo
ha yes

This place is most definitely a BYO.

But the pub does a great pasty and a pint of extra strong cider gets rid of hangover.

Oh, when I said BYO I think I meant BYO wife - who put me to bed when I was too drunk and drove me around when I was too hungover, and then drunk again!

Gotta love her!
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  #4  
Old 22 Apr 2008
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Question
Quote:
Originally Posted by CornishDeity View Post
Just spent a weekend here:
Steeple Leaze Farm , Steeple Campsite review

Great wild campsite. £5 per person. Very few facilities (no showers for instance), but a fantastic ambience. The farmer allows you on his fields and you are free to rummage for dead wood, or he will see you some logs. for your evening CAMPFIRE! Great.

We were there on a wet weekend, but had a wild old time round the campfire. There were maybe 10 other tents there, but we had a huge field to ourselves. Theres plenty of nices walks to do, and for the more adventorous you can get to the sea. Also this pub is a few miles away:

Square and Compass, Worth Matravers, Dorset, BH19 3LF - pub details # intheevening.com

And this sells some great ciders and is in a lovely spot. Small inside, but plenty of outside seating.

Lots of other nice parts of Dorset nearby. We had a first class weekend

Note: I'm not a biker, so can't actually say if this campsite is bike friendly, but at a guess it would be. But the pub had a few bikers turn up and no one batted an eyelid.
How can it be wild camping if you pay £5 to someone?
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Old 22 Apr 2008
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depends on your definition of wild I suppose
I used the term wild to mean that you are just in a farmers field, with none of the normal facilities. It is 'in the wild' if you like. Just the way I like it! I don't mind paying a farmer a fiver dfor that, especially as he allows you to gather firewood.

The only facilities there are a couple of toilet blocks. the bare minimum.

Sorry if I confused you. I think someone mentioned the use of the term 'free camping' to indicate camping at no cost. ........

Hope that has un-confused you
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Old 22 Apr 2008
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Wink Wild, bush, free .......
The term in Grants' rewrite of the "heading" is bush camp, as in:- "Accommodation, Camping, places to bush camp, whatever"


I'll have to try camping in a bush sometime

ps It is pretty wild in the centre of most UK towns and cities, any Thurs, Fri or Sat night, but it is certainly not free.
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Old 22 Apr 2008
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Originally Posted by Walkabout View Post
I'll have to try camping in a bush sometime

ps It is pretty wild in the centre of most UK towns and cities, any Thurs, Fri or Sat night, but it is certainly not free.
I'd have to disagree, have 'wild camped' in the centre of town on a few occasions in my youth, including in a bush! Not only was it free but on one occassion I found the ideal spot, settled down for a night and woke up in a clean well appointed room where I was served breakfast, all without a charge. Well, not a proper charge, just a caution.
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Old 25 Apr 2008
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Wink Yep, I've slept in the gutter as well, all due to drink
Quote:
Originally Posted by henryuk View Post
I'd have to disagree, have 'wild camped' in the centre of town on a few occasions in my youth, including in a bush! Not only was it free but on one occassion I found the ideal spot, settled down for a night and woke up in a clean well appointed room where I was served breakfast, all without a charge. Well, not a proper charge, just a caution.
I had in mind the price of in the town centre pubs, but glad to hear that something is free!
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Old 25 Apr 2008
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I camped there last year. I didn't have a woodfire (used a stove) but I still can't get the woodsmoke smell out of the tent and the equipment.
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Old 13 Aug 2008
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Tim, why would you want to remove the smell of woodsmoke? surely it's better than the smell of bodies and tent?.. toby..
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  #11  
Old 6 Oct 2008
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Quote:
Steeple Leaze Farm , Steeple Campsite review

Great wild campsite. £5 per person. Very few facilities (no showers for instance), but a fantastic ambience. The farmer allows you on his fields and you are free to rummage for dead wood, or he will see you some logs. for your evening CAMPFIRE! Great.
This is outdated ,the farmer asks that people refrain from collecting wood on site.
see here....Campsites allowing campfires
Last edited by pyewhacker; 6 Oct 2008 at 11:46.
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  #12  
Old 11 Sep 2012
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2012 update for this campsite
Hi, we are going to this campsite on Friday and having spoken to the owner, the latest is that they charge £5pp/pn and bundles of logs for fires are available for £5, which are apparently delivered to your camp.

Nothing beats proper free camping in the wilds but with so many rules and regulations these days, it's really hard to find good places that aren't miles off the beaten track where someone official isn't going to 'piss on your bonfire', quote some directive at you and tell you to move on.
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