Camping in Chard

Chard sits on the edge of the Blackdown Hills, where rolling ridges, deep lanes and quiet farmland make for classic South Somerset camping country. As with anywhere in England, wild camping is not legal without the landowner's permission, so pitching up on open countryside or common land around Chard without first asking is best avoided — stick to licensed campsites and CL/CS sites, of which the wider Blackdown Hills and neighbouring West Dorset have a good spread, from simple farm fields to more established touring parks. Many of these are family-run affairs set within working farmland, offering a genuinely rural, unhurried alternative to the busier coastal sites further south.

The terrain around Chard is gently hilly rather than dramatic, with patchwork fields, hedgerows and pockets of ancient woodland such as that around Castle Neroche giving campers plenty of walking straight from the tent. The Blackdown Hills' network of quiet lanes and bridleways also makes the area well suited to cycling between pitches and villages, and its inland position means campsites here tend to be a little more sheltered than exposed coastal ground.

The best camping season runs from late spring through to early autumn, roughly May to September, when the days are longest and the countryside around Forde Abbey and the Blackdown ridge is at its most colourful; the ground can also stay heavy after wet Somerset winters, so shoulder-season pitching benefits from a site with good drainage. For those who would rather skip the tent pegs altogether, glamping has taken hold across this part of Somerset and Dorset, with shepherd's huts, safari tents and converted farm buildings increasingly available on the same farms that once ran purely as touring sites — a comfortable way to enjoy Chard's countryside setting without sacrificing a proper bed or bathroom.