Camping in Marbury

Wild camping is not legally permitted in England without the landowner's permission, so any camping trip near Marbury means booking a proper site rather than pitching up on the meres or canal banks, however tempting the views. The good news is that this corner of Cheshire, on the border with Shropshire, has a genuine campsite on its doorstep: Marbury Camp and Lodge, a small glamping and touring site set on the former Duchy of Lancaster estate near Combermere Abbey, just outside the village itself. It offers grass pitches for tents and caravans, some with electric hook-up, alongside furnished glamping pods for visitors who would rather not bring their own tent.

The terrain around Marbury is gentle and low-lying, shaped by the glacial meres and mosses that give this stretch of the Cheshire-Shropshire border its distinctive character. Campers based here are well placed for walking around Marbury Big Mere and the Quoisley Meres Site of Special Scientific Interest, joining the Llangollen Canal towpath at nearby Wrenbury or Whitchurch, or tackling a stretch of the 34-mile Sandstone Trail. Fishing, quiet cycling along country lanes and birdwatching around the reedbeds are the natural pastimes here rather than anything more boisterous, which suits the peaceful, rural mood of the area.

Late spring to early autumn is the most comfortable season for camping, when the ground is drier and the meres are busiest with breeding wildfowl; the rural lanes around Marbury can become soft and occasionally flood after heavy winter rain, so a caravan or motorhome trip outside the summer months is worth planning around the weather. For anyone who prefers solid walls and a proper bed without giving up the outdoor feel, the glamping pods at Marbury Camp and Lodge, or similar pod and shepherd's hut style stays elsewhere in the district, offer a comfortable middle ground between a tent and a hotel room, with the same meres-and-mosses scenery on the doorstep either way.