Camping in Houghton on the Hill

There is no wild camping in England without the landowner's permission, and that applies as much to the farmland ridges around Houghton on the Hill as anywhere else, so any stay here means booking an official site. The good news is that the countryside immediately around the village is genuinely well suited to it: rolling arable and pasture land, ridge-and-furrow fields left over from medieval farming, and quiet lanes that make for easy cycling and walking once you have pitched up. Fox's Furrow, a small site set into the Leicestershire countryside close to Houghton, offers pitches from around £24 a night for two people alongside glamping pods, while a separate glamping site just outside the village itself occupies a two-acre field on a medieval ridge-and-furrow site, popular with walkers and cyclists who use Leicester's bus links to get into the city. Further afield, Country Bumpkin Yurts offers luxury glamping on a working farm, and sites further into Rutland add vineyard views to the mix for something a little different.

The terrain here is gentle rather than dramatic — rolling hills rather than proper hillwalking country — which makes it comfortable for family camping and for anyone bringing bikes, though the exposed high ground around Billesdon Coplow can be blustery even when the valleys are still. Ground tends to be at its firmest from late spring through to early autumn, and most local sites operate seasonally across roughly this period, so it is worth checking opening dates before planning a trip outside summer. Glamping pods and yurts extend the season a little further either side for anyone put off by a tent in changeable weather, and several sites in the area are geared specifically towards that market with fixed structures, proper beds and their own log burners. Given how close Houghton is to Leicester, camping here also works well as a budget-friendly base for a city visit, with the countryside quiet enough at night to still feel like proper rural camping despite the short drive into town. As with any farmland site, stick to marked pitches and access routes, keep dogs on leads near livestock, and always ask before lighting fires, since open ground fires are not permitted on most sites regardless of season.