Don’t expect the wow-factor to hit you as soon as you arrive at Teneriffe Farm. On first impressions it’s just a very pleasant place to pitch up, hemmed by farmland, and with a blaze of Atlantic blue peeking above the hedges. Beyond this there are no obvious frills, save for the swings and slide of the children’s play area. But that’s just the point: camping should be a simple pursuit, and it’s always best if your focus is on nature, starry nights and the Great Outdoors. And Teneriffe Farm is a perfect place for all three.
Close to the Lizard National Nature Reserve, 10 minutes on foot from the South West Coast Path and a 40-minute stroll from the pretty harbour of Mullion Cove, the location is a gem. The acquisition of this cliff-fringed site by the National Trust a few years ago was part of a project to breathe life into the landscape by re-joining the neighbouring land and running a viable farm where there hadn’t been one for years. The result, today, is that tenant farmer Will Watson and his family comendably manage a herd of hardy Dexter and Red Devon cattle alongside the campsite – the herds’ wind-blown, browny-red figures grazing on the cliffs and fields beyond the camping meadows.
Along with the exceptional location, Teneriffe is widely recognised as one of the National Trust’s most important farms for nature conservation. Rare plants – rushes, ferns, liverworts and wild asparagus – thrive on the cliffs’ thin soils, while Will annually sows plots of bird seed, which act like living bird tables, attracting flocks of skylarks in their droves. No surpise, then, that the campsite has the same magnetic effect on nature-lovers.