Bramble Meadow Camping

You’ll find Bramble Meadow Camping deep in the countryside between Dartmoor and the English Riviera on the South Devon Coast. Although the site’s shepherd’s hut and handful of tent pitches are only three miles off the Devon Expressway, you might wonder if you’re on the right track as you approach down ever-narrowing lanes. But then, between woodland and fields of livestock, a gap in the hedgerow appears and a hand-painted sign on a five-bar gate announces you’ve arrived.

Let yourself in, park your car on the patch of hardstanding and the stress of any journey soon melts away as you enter Bramble Meadow. Home to just one shepherd’s hut and a maximum of four tents pitched at any one time, this place is about as quiet as campsites get – and it’s about as wild as campsites get too. Okay, so the shepherd’s hut is pretty luxurious with its solid roof, double bed, kitchenette and own bathroom but the rest of the site is what you would call back to basics. The only concessions to that are a couple of compost loos and hot water shower, the off-ground fire pits and mown pathways through the grass.

Owner Louise will pop by to make sure everything is running smoothly but other than that you and the handful of other campers (if any are here when you visit) are on your own. It’s the sort of place where picking blackberries, watching the occasional barn owl swooping across the field and cooking on the campfire can occupy whole days. But beyond the field there’s plenty to do.

In the near vicinity, West Ogwell Church (the austere little place you can see from the field) is worth a nose around and Denbury Hill Fort makes for a popular longer walk followed by lunch or dinner at The Union Inn in the friendly village of Denbury. But it’s the middle distance that many will choose this site for: the ten mile radius that takes in the wilds of Dartmoor, the market towns of Newton Abbot and Totnes, and the seaside fun of Torquay, Teignmouth and more.