Woodsman Kent Wild Camping

The camping arena and the amount of wood available

Some odd objects in the camping area

This site is the ideal place to 'wild camp'. The woodland camp site is a little walk from the road so you are not disrupted by any traffic nose making it very peaceful, in fact I only heard the birds and an occasional 'baa' from the sheep during my whole stay. The woods itself is very nice with tall trees and the floor covered in bluebells.
I would highly recommend this site and am looking forward to revisiting soon!

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What great value!! And pleanty of firewood to last the whole night, such a great trip.

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It's a beautiful, well-kept forest, in a lovely area. Completely quiet in the evenings with very little car traffic. Near lots of hiking routes.

Arriving in the evening makes it very hard to find the exact area to camp in. They have used a system of paint on trees which is extremely difficult to see at night, and it's not very well marked. The parking area across the road is no longer allowing cars to park there overnight, so we had to park our cars on a narrow stretch next to a road, which isn't ideal.

We used the forest to shoot a music video and had the most amazing experience. It's a truly magical place with the most beautiful scenery.
Michael who owns the forest was so helpful and kind, he made the whole day run smoothly and helped us build fires and everything.
Would highly recommend this place for any outdoor activities, it's wonderful!

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fantastic place to stay , will definitely be booking again very soon, I met the owner Michael while I was there very nice gentleman.

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Camped out in a new hammock on a rainy night, was brilliant. Walked from Pluckley station to the main gate in about 40 minutes, followed the map to the site (the manager will email it over after you've booked), had a wander around and found a great spot to set up about ten minutes later. No fire, but had a bite to eat, a couple walks in the dark, and settled down for a rainy but extremely excellent night. Didn't see a single other soul during my stay.

The site is bare bones and there's only a couple of spots where I could get any phone reception, but what better way to get away from everything. The scenery is great even on a miserable overcast winter's day, and there's a few landmarks to find around too. I didn't see much wildlife but heard *plenty*. I can't wait to go back and find out what it's like during the other seasons.

In terms of civilisation, you can sometimes hear the gentle shhhhh of cars on the roads, but it's really quiet, the only sound that really gets through is the occasional distant toot from the railway, which I kinda liked as it added to the atmosphere.

There's also farm shop (Pluckley Farm Shop) on the way from Pluckley station to the site that has a great selection of food and drink of all types and other camping supplies if you're a bit under prepared like I was.

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Everything, great wild camping experience without the worry of getting caught. Left to your own devices in glorious Kentish woodland.

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This is about as close to wild camping as you can get in the UK, as far as I can tell. You walk into the woods, pick up some of the supplied firewood (take some sort of bag to carry it), then find yourself any place you like within the area marked on the supplied map to make camp.

At a location like this, what you get out of your stay is really up to you. The woodland is pretty typical of the south of England. If you've ever thought about stealth camping but didn't want the worry of being caught or moved on, this place is ideal.

Perhaps due to the time of year, I didn't see a single other person whilst I was there. Although I was completely alone, I didn't feel vulnerable since I knew I was allowed to be there and also, while in my tent, had anyone approached, I felt confident I would have heard them from some way off, due to the leaves and branches littering the ground. All I heard was the breeze through the trees, numerous animals and the distant sounds of civilisation far off in the distance.

I would also say, make sure you come prepared. Other than the supplied firewood, everything else is up to you. For example you will need to take your own food and water. You will need tools. For example an axe for processing the firewood. A knife of course for the various tasks around camp. Plus the means to start a fire and some sort of shelter.

I'm not aware of any other camping location like this. Long may it continue. Leave no trace.

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