So beautiful and tranquil is this campsite that
people travel from as little as three miles away to
stay here! It’s also a great base for exploring the
Cotswolds, with Cheltenham in one direction and
the honey-coloured stone of Stanway, Stanton and
Broadway in the other.
The site is pretty well equipped, with a great
farm shop and café. But as Hayles is a family-run
fruit farm, you can also take the opportunity while
you’re here to do some PYO (pick your own),
starting with strawberries and other soft fruits in
May, plums in August and apples and pears through
to October.
The vibe is laidback in the extreme.
There’s a six-acre field where you’re more or less
free to pitch wherever you like, and everyone rubs
along nicely, with plenty of fresh Cotswold air to
breathe in and field space in which to throw a ball around, or just stretch out to read the paper.
There’s a slight slope to the field, but young fruit
trees have been planted to create shade, shelter and
interest,so all in all it’s very pretty.
At dusk,listen
and look out for the locals – roe deer, muntjac
and foxes – before stoking up the fire and doing
a spot of stargazing. There are firepits, with wood for sale from the campsite shop, which also sells
all manner of excellent produce, including (natch)
plenty of fresh fruit and really good local cider.
As for the surroundings, they’re glorious, with
plenty to do, including easy access to the
100-mile-long Cotswold Way, which runs from
Chipping Camden to Bath. The nearby Cotswold
Farm Park is great for kids, but really the best way
to experience Hayles Fruit Farm is to hang out
here and do, well, not much at all.
