Campsites near farmshops
John Sootheran reveals 13 top sites with great local produce close by
Buying fresh local produce means enjoying delicious meals on tour
CARAVANNING IS FOODIE heaven! One of the joys of touring is the food we get to eat – caravan- and barbecue-cooked meals, and especially local produce from the region you’re visiting. Many parks have shops selling local produce, and some also have full-on farm shops nearby. We’ve listed 12 of our favourites here.
Somerset
▪ Cheddar Mendip Heights C&CC Site & the Priddy Good Farm Shop This spacious C&CC campsite is in a fabulous location at the top of Cheddar Gorge, and close to many of Somerset’s best attractions.
Handily, if you turn left out of the gate, you’ll find the Priddy Good Farm Shop just up the road. (It’s near the charming village of Priddy – geddit?)
This is a working farm, and inside the shop you’ll find a wide range of the best meats you’ll ever taste, the livestock having been raised on the farm. We had steak for the barbecue and it was delicious.
PGFS is also famous for its tempting pastries, award-winning pies and unbeatable scotch eggs.
Recently a café has been added to the shop, and its breakfasts are supposed to be brilliant. The staff are super-friendly and helpful when it comes to recommendations, too.
Cheddar Mendip Heights C&CC Site Priddy, Somerset BA5 3BP
Tel 01749 870 241
Web campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk
Priddy Good Farm Shop
Townsend Farm, Priddy, Wells BA5 3BP
Tel 01749 870 171
Web priddygoodfarmshop.co.uk
Bedfordshire
▪ Top End Farm Caravan Site and Farm Shop
This open, level and verdant campsite is immaculately kept and offers roomy pitches, great facilities and a fun play area for the kids. It also boasts the best farm shop in the area, with fresh, local produce arriving daily from farmers and grocers.
Tasty fruit, vegetable boxes, quality-reared meats and free-range eggs are on offer, and you can be reassured that the ‘food miles’ have been minimised. Top End Farm Shop also stocks a range of general food, household essentials and daily newspapers.
Top End Farm Caravan Site and Farm Shop Colmworth Road, Little Staughton, Bedfordshire MK44 2BY
Tel 01234 376 426
Web topendfarm.co.uk
Cambridgeshire
▪ Sacrewell Farm
Sacrewell Farm is ideally situated for anyone undertaking a long tow north or south, as it’s less than a mile off the A1 at the A47 junction, just north of Peterborough.
The flattish site offers electric pitches and has many facilities, which it shares with the ‘activity farm’ next door. The site also has a farm shop and café.
The shop sells lots of high-quality brands, although they are not necessarily local ones. These include Grasmere meats and pies, Marshfield Farm dairy ice cream, Mrs Bridge’s preserves and Driver’s pickles.
The free-range eggs are laid locally and the Two Chimps coffee is blended in the bordering county, Lincolnshire.
Right next door is Riverford Organics, the boxed organic produce people. You may be able to arrange a delivery to your van door!
Sacrewell Farm
Thornhaugh, Peterborough PE8 6HJ
Tel 01780 782 254
Web sacrewell.org.uk
Leicestershire
▪ Tomlinson’s Camping & Farm Shop Get back to nature at Tomlinson’s sevenacre-meadow campsite near Nuneaton. The site offers tranquil, off-grid camping close to the Battle of Bosworth historic site, with a fishery next door and the Ashby canal walks close by.
Tomlinson’s well-stocked farm shop is a bonus for meat-lovers, with a huge variety of local and home-reared meats on offer – beef, lamb, rare-breed pork, free-range chicken, briskets, steaks, mince, chops and fillets
– and great-value barbecue packs, too.
This back-to-basics site encourages campfires and barbecues, so get ready to sizzle some delicious bangers, burgers or steaks over an open flame.
Cheese, milk, cream and farmhouse butter from the dairy are also available, as are to-die-for cakes, bread and pork pies from the bakery.
Of course, standard groceries, including fresh local vegetables, porridge, muesli, jams, chutneys, sauces and pickles can be bought here, too.
Fancy a break from cooking? Nearby Stoke Golding has three pubs serving food, one of which has an Indian restaurant for eat-in and takeaways. Sounds like foodie nirvana to us!
Tomlinson’s Camping & Farm Shop Romerden Farm, Upton Lane, Stoke Golding, Leicestershire CV13 6EU
Tel 01455 212 199
Web tomlinsonsfarmshop.co.uk
Essex
▪ Spencer’s Farm Shop & Campsite Spencer’s site gets very good reviews on Tripadvisor, and it’s not hard to see why. This compact site is sheltered and offers all-year camping, thanks to two new hardstanding pitches – the rest are grass.
As well as showers, drinking water and an Elsan point, you’re just 150 yards from the farm’s excellent shop, with its splendid coffee shop attached.
Inside the shop, there’s a huge range of produce, from cakes, scones and biscuits to soups, jams, chutneys and sausage rolls.
Located close to the A131 between Halstead and Sudbury, Spencer’s store won Essex Farm Shop of the Year in 2016.
If you arrive late on site, or can’t be bothered to cook for any reason, frozen ready meals are also available at the shop in one- and two-portion sizes. They cost from just £3.75 per meal.
Spencer’s Farm Shop & Campsite
Wickham St Pauls, Essex CO9 2PX
Tel 01787 267 977
Web spencersfarmshop.com
Wales
n Thornhill Farm Shop and New House Farm CL
Tranquil New House Farm is a Caravan & Motorhome Club CL with five hardstanding pitches set in a gently sloping orchard. Electric hook-up is available and the site shares its location with the lovely Thornhill Farm Shop (open Monday to Saturday) and Antlers Coffee Shop, so you really do have the best of all worlds.
The farm shop stocks lots of great local produce, including home-baked bread and cakes, preserves, and fresh fruit and veg. Delicious home-reared meats are also available in the butcher’s department (open Tuesday to Saturday), where the expert butcher will help you select the best cuts.
North Yorkshire
▪ Crows Nest Caravan Park and Redcliffe Farm Shop
Crows Nest Caravan Park is just yards from Yorkshire’s dramatic coastline and is the perfect setting for a relaxing break.
To make things even better, only five minutes away is the fantastic Redcliffe Farm Shop, offering lots of traditional fare and other locally sourced goodies.
Grass-fed beef is a speciality and you can also buy totally natural, local, free-range eggs, the sort with delicious orangey double yolks – no tasteless, pale, mass-produced imitations here!
Throw in an on-farm bakery selling pastries and bread, and you’ve got all of the bases covered for a delicious caravancooked feast.
Whoops! Nearly forgot pudding. Check out the ‘home-baked’ deliciousness ‘imported’ from Elizabeth Botham, up the road at Whitby.
Crows Nest Caravan Park
Stonepit Lane, Gristhorpe, Filey YO14 9PS
Tel 01723 582 206
Web crowsnestcaravanpark.com
Redcliffe Farm Shop
Redcliffe Farm, Lebberston,
Scarborough YO11 3NT
Tel 01723 583 194
Web redcliffefarmshop.co.uk ▪ Beadlam Grange Campsite and Farm Shop
Beadlam Grange combines a lovely, level, one-acre campsite and a really fabulous farm shop.
The five-pitch C&CC CS has easy access, and peace and quiet come as standard in the rolling hills of North Yorkshire.
Open from Easter to October, the site has a brand new facilities block, and each pitch has hook-up.
The Farm Shop & Deli are on site and have their own resident butchers, who’ll freely offer advice on the best cuts and the best way to cook the delicious meats on offer.
It would be easier to list the things that you can’t buy at Beadlam Grange, as just about every culinary and beverage base is covered, from local bakery goods and dairy products to those summer essentials, Prosecco and Yorkshire gin!