Camping in Buckden

Buckden Camping sits right in the village on a working farm that has been run by the same family since 1994, offering simple tent pitches, a Caravan and Motorhome Club certified site, and glamping pods for those who want a roof without a hotel bill. Its position directly on the Dales Way, and a short stroll from the Buck Inn, makes it a natural stop for walkers doing the long-distance route from Ilkley to Bowness-on-Windermere, as well as a good base for tackling Buckden Pike or the loop out to Cray and Hubberholme. As with anywhere in England, wild camping without the landowner's permission is not legal in the Yorkshire Dales, however remote it looks on the map, so pitching up on open fell or riverside land without asking first should be avoided; the National Park has very little tolerated wild camping and rangers do patrol popular spots.

The terrain around Buckden is proper Dales limestone country: steep-sided, thin-soiled, and exposed once you climb above the valley floor, so tents and pitches are best kept to established sites in the sheltered dale bottom rather than the tops. Ground can also turn boggy quickly after rain given the underlying rock, so a pitch with good drainage matters more here than in gentler parts of the country. The most comfortable camping window runs from late spring to early autumn, when the meadows are green and the becks manageable, since winter conditions at this altitude and latitude can be harsh, with the high fells around Buckden Pike holding snow long after it has cleared lower down the dale. For those who want the setting without the exposure, the glamping pods at Buckden Camping and similar small-scale glamping elsewhere in Upper Wharfedale offer a warmer alternative while keeping the same views over the river and the fells.