Camping in Faulkland

Camping around Faulkland means making the most of the gently rolling Somerset countryside between Bath, Frome and the Mendip Hills, rather than the village itself, which has no campsite of its own. As with the rest of England, wild camping on open land is illegal without the landowner's permission, so anyone wanting to camp near Faulkland should book into a proper campsite or, where allowed, ask a farmer or landowner directly rather than pitching up unannounced. The good news is that this part of Somerset has a reasonable spread of small, independent campsites and farm-based sites within a short drive, particularly around Frome, the Mendip Hills, and the villages towards Radstock and Shepton Mallet, many of them family-run with a handful of pitches rather than large commercial holiday parks.

The terrain here is mixed: gentle pasture and gapped hedgerows immediately around Faulkland, rising to the harder limestone ground of the Mendip Hills AONB a little further north, where there's better walking but thinner soil and more exposed camping. Most campers choose sites in the lower, more sheltered farmland near Frome or towards the Mendips' southern edge, which gives easy access to walking routes without the full exposure of the plateau itself. Surface water is limited in the karst limestone of the Mendips, so those camping in that direction should plan on carrying water rather than relying on streams.

Late spring to early autumn, roughly May to September, is the most comfortable window for camping in this part of Somerset, when evenings are milder and the ground is drier underfoot; the region gets its share of rain across the rest of the year, and clay-heavy fields near Faulkland itself can turn heavy going in winter. For anyone who would rather skip the tent altogether, glamping options — bell tents, shepherd's huts and similar fixed-roof pitches — have become increasingly common on farms around Frome and the wider Mendip area, offering a comfortable middle ground between a hotel stay and full camping, usually with better facilities than a basic pitch and a shorter list of things to bring.