Camping in Cornwall

Cornwall is one of the best camping counties in Britain, with several hundred sites ranging from working farms with a tap and a hedge to five-star holiday parks with heated pools. The terrain shapes the experience. Coastal sites sit on thin soil over granite or slate, so pegs can be hard to drive and a mallet plus a few extra heavy-duty pegs are worth packing. Most clifftop and headland pitches are exposed, and many good sites terrace their fields or plant hedge banks specifically to break the wind. If you are in a lightweight tent, ask for a sheltered pitch rather than the one with the sea view.

Weather is the other reality. Cornwall gets more sunshine hours than most of the UK but also plenty of Atlantic rain, and conditions change fast — a still, hot morning can turn into a 30mph onshore wind by teatime. Bring guy lines, a spare tarp and waterproofs regardless of forecast. Sea mist can sit over the coast all morning in June even when it is clear inland.

Wild camping is not legal in Cornwall without the landowner's permission. Unlike Scotland there is no general right to camp, and rangers do move people on from clifftops, dunes and beaches, particularly on National Trust land. Use a licensed site or one of the small certificated locations run by the camping clubs.

The season broadly runs Easter to the end of October, and the sweet spot is late May to mid-June or the first three weeks of September: warm ground, long evenings, far fewer people and roughly half the peak pitch price. School holidays need booking months ahead for anything near a good beach. Bring layers, a decent sleeping mat for stony ground and cash for farm honesty boxes.

Glamping has spread widely across the county, with bell tents, safari tents, shepherd's huts and pods on many farms. It is the sensible option if you want a Cornish camping holiday in April or October without gambling on the weather, or if you are travelling without space for gear — most come with beds, bedding and cooking kit ready to use.