Camping in Aston-on-Clun

Aston-on-Clun sits at the edge of the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and camping here means proper hill-and-valley scenery without the crowds of the Lake District or Peak District. As in the rest of England, wild camping remains illegal without the express permission of the landowner, so campers should stick to licensed sites — of which the area has a good, if select, choice. The long-established Wayside Camping and Caravan Park sits barely two miles from the village on the B4368 towards Craven Arms, with a mix of grass and hardstanding pitches, electric hook-ups and a genuinely quiet, family-run feel; it makes an excellent, well-placed base for exploring the Clun valley, Ludlow, Bishop's Castle and Church Stretton, all within about fifteen minutes' drive.

The terrain around Aston-on-Clun is classic Marches country: gentle river valleys giving way quickly to steeper, open hills, so pitches tend to be sheltered in the valley bottoms while the walking climbs fast onto exposed ridgeline above. This makes for a good contrast between cosy, wind-sheltered camping and genuinely big-sky hill days on the Long Mynd or around Clun. The camping season generally runs from March to October, mirroring the opening dates of most local sites, with the driest and warmest window from late May through to September; late May also happens to coincide with Arbor Day, making it a popular and atmospheric, if busier, time to pitch up nearby. Given the region's reliably damp spring and autumn weather, waterproof kit and a decent groundsheet are worth the extra weight.

For those who prefer a roof over their heads without giving up the outdoor feel, glamping options are increasingly common throughout south Shropshire, from shepherd's huts and safari tents to converted farm buildings on working smallholdings around Clun and Bishop's Castle. These tend to combine easy access to the same footpaths and river valleys with proper beds and wood-burning stoves, making them a good shoulder-season option when a canvas tent might feel like a stretch. Whichever way you camp, the pace of life here is slow, the night skies are properly dark, and the Kangaroo Inn in the village is never more than a short walk or drive away for a pint at the end of the day.