Strawfields Cabins and Camping

Sometimes the ins and outs of a campsite are best explained by the small print. “Please note,” states the essential info on one of Strawfields’ four rustic glamping huts, “You park in the campsite car park, then walk through the fields down some steps and across a tiny bridge to reach Lily Pad.  We are electricity free and do not have lighting on the campsite at night, so torches are essential. Pygmy goats may be grazing in the pond area... our friendly ducks may wander down for a swim... and they have been known to visit guests in the outdoor shower!” In most offices this would be called ‘managing expectations’ but, at Hipcamp HQ, we’d call it building them up. Devon-based Strawfields is just the sort of site we look for when we really want to get away from it all.

With just eight pitches and four well-spaced huts, this is a micro-campsite. And it’s not just the number of campers that are limited. Almost everything here tends towards the tiny. For starters there’s the little stream that runs along one boundary and the cute, tiny frogs that can be found there. Next there are the Shetland ponies, Kune Kune pigs and, of course, those pygmy goats. Okay, so some of the residents are regular sized: the alpacas, the farm cats, dogs, ducks and chickens; but they’re still part of the eight-acre small-holding on which this microsite is based.

It’s about as quaint as it gets with campers directed to pitches in the Poppy Patch, from where it’s a hop and a skip through the Twitty Song Meadow to reach the stream. And facilities are quaint too; basic but just enough. There are three flushing loos, two hot showers and cold-water washing-up sinks, shared by campers and guests in three of the four huts. Lily Pad has its own composting loo and shower. The huts sleep two or four and are found in a separate field. Each has its own charm and is basically equipped for a cosy stay with bedding and linen for the double bed and logs for the stove. Like the rest of the campsite, they’re off grid so don’t forget torches and cooking kit.

You’re likely to meet various members of the five-strong Straw family who run the site during the 9am round-up of the animals or at one of their regular pizza nights. But what to do in between? Apart from the good old-fashioned fun on site, there’s plenty to see and do. Strawfields may feel like the rural hinterland, but it’s incredibly close to some of the best-known North Devon beaches – Woolacombe, Croyde and Watermouth Bay among them. The harbour town of Ilfracombe is just two miles north, with Lynton and Lynmouth close enough for a day trip. Surfing, sightseeing and family-days out are hardly hard to find here but, if the sun is shining on Strawfields, the will to leave might be.