There’s a timeless quality to the countryside around this pop-up campsite, set in the agricultural flatlands around the River Deben. The site is a mile from the nearest road and the closest landmark is a beautiful, isolated church with a 13th-century round tower. It’s no wonder they used a track on the farm to film scenes for Netflix hit The Dig. The quiet lanes, the river, the birds… it's a cinematographer's dream.
Suffolk Wild Camping is, in fact, one of two campsites on Lodge Farm (the other, Wild Riverside Camping, is a few hundred yards away). This campsite is the newer and slightly more secluded of the two, set further back from the riverside and separated by a flank of deciduous woodland. Campers arrive to a parking area then walk to their pitches, spread across a long narrow field that means you’ll walk anything from 50 to 250 yards depending on where you choose to plonk your stuff. The result is vehicle-free safety for kids, who can run amok and make general fun for themselves in all the space. There are porta-loo-style toilets and bowser tanks for water but little else besides, including no showers. There's a reason they chose to call it 'wild camping'.
Despite the isolated feel of the campsite, once you do make your way back down the farm track, past All Saints Church and along the country lanes, you’ll find plenty of interesting attractions on your doorstep. It’s 20 minutes to Woodbridge and half an hour to Orford and Snape Maltings, while National Trust-owned Sutton Hoo – focus of The Dig and one of the most important archeological sites in all of England – is just 15 minutes in the car.
Equally, of course, you can forget the car altogether and go for a stroll instead. It’s a five minute walk from the campsite to the river, where you can wander along the bank to a pleasant beach and carry on to a popular riverside pub with a sun terrace overlooking the dinghy-dotted estuary. The food is good and the fish and chips are exceptional, though, if you prefer to cook back at camp, campsite-owner Jonathan also sells milk, bread, freshly caught fish and the farm’s own vegetables directly to campers. Timeless pleasures indeed.