Marshwood Farm Camping

The golden rule of camping at Marshwood Farm is: ‘don’t forget your torch’. On a moonless night out here in rural Wiltshire it gets dark. So dark, in fact, that the area has been classified as an International Dark Sky Reserve. To the likes of you and I who just want to pitch a tent somewhere pretty near Stonehenge, what does that mean? It means, firstly, that in order to protect the dark skies there aren’t any lights to show the way to the loo – hence the advice on torches. And, secondly, it’s an amazing place for stargazing.

Marshwood Farm Camping is not only under protected skies but on protected land too; in the Cranbourne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It’s a landscape of rolling hills, chalk grassland, rivers and ancient woodland and it has one of the lowest population densities in the south west. You’ll certainly have no neighbours out here, save for the farming family who run the place, their 400 sheep and fellow campers.

There are just six camping pitches and two pre-pitched bell tents in the main family-friendly camping field. Then, a little more tucked away, just up the track are two lovely shepherd’s huts for couples. These are fully equipped and each have their own compost loo and shower shack outside, so you can stay secluded if you want to. The main field is more sociable, with a shared utility barn featuring hot showers, flushing toilets and a kitchenette. There’s space to sit undercover here too, great if it rains or if it gets too hot out in the south-facing field, which is a bit of a sun trap in good weather.

So back to that packing checklist; you’ve got your torch, you’ve packed your camping kit and you’ve even thrown in the suncream. If you’ve got an English Heritage Card you won’t want to leave that behind either. All of history seems to be here. There’s Elizabethan Longleat and medieval Waldour Castle. There’s the Gothic cathedral in Salisbury with Iron-Age remains and Roman ruins nearby at Old Sarum. And, of course, we’re leaving the best to last; less an elephant in the room than a megalith on the Salisbury plains: Stonehenge. It’s the best-known prehistoric monument in Wiltshire and the world and it’s just 13 miles from the campsite. No-less-mysterious Avebury is not far off either. How they got there is anyone’s guess; one to ponder under Marshwood Farm’s dark and starry skies.