Fire it up - sites with campfires allowed

We asked…and you answered. ‘What should we write about next?’ we pondered on our Facebook page , and ‘Sites with campfires allowed’ came top. (Well, along with best truly budget sites – here you go .) Assuming that the rain holds off for an hour or two this summer, here are some campsites and caravan parks around the country where you can scorch your supper in style:

The Hideaway at Baxby Manor , N Yorkshire

Hiding away with chilled-out gamping and camping is a good place to start, especially with just 40 pitches on a six-acre field (and all by a 110-acre farm). The Hideway folk have the site up to be as environmentaly friendly as possible, with rain water used for loo flushing, a biomass straw pellet boiler for hot water and LED lights used in the shower block. Bag a luxury bell tent with its own firepit outside from £75 a night, or pitch up in your tent from £18.

Etherley Farm , Surrey

If you’re into campfires (not literally, we hope), you really can’t go wrong with this site, which not only mentions Prometheus and Zeus in its site info but which also has produce from its farm available for your barbie. (If you think ‘Prometheus’ here refers to the recent film, go to the back of the class.) You can also get wood for your fire on site and there’s a shop nearby so it’ll be easy to fully stock up. Once the embers have died, take a look at the many things to do around the area, from the country’s biggest vineyard Denbies Wine Estate to the Fishers Adventure Farm Park, as well as a few foodie pubs. Pitches are available for tents, tourers, motorhomes and campervans from £15 a night.

Idos Camping , Pembrokeshire

This site has a bit of everything, including a range of ways for you to get your fire fix. You can bed down in the wooden nomad camping pod or the Cloud House carpeted yurt, with Dutch ovens available for both to set over your campfire, and a log burner for the yurt with logs available on site. There’s also a dedicated barbecue area, a sha red outside kitchen, and a hot tub. Yes, a hot tub. And a surf shop, coffee bar, pet chickens, Harry the goat and Larry the ram. Nearby, you’re about half an hour’s bike ride from the beach and you can try surfing, coasteering, archery, golf, horse-riding or a load of other activities before staggering back to base and sparking up your campfire. Prices start from £50-62 a night.

Alpine Grove Touring Park , Somerset

If you’re bringing children with you on your trip (handy for collecting the firewood), Alpine Grove should be a good bet to keep everyone happy. Pitches are hidden in the woods for plenty of secret den building, and there are firepits for hire to bake the potatoes on. There’s a children’s play area with giant trampoline (we said children’s play area), heated outdoor pool and bikes for hire to try the disused railway line path between Chard and Ilminster or the loop of the South Somerset cycle route which goes right past the site. Standard pitches are available for around £13.50 per night, with electric pitches for two people and a car from £18.50. For extra luxury, book the Alpine Grove heated Deer Lodge with log burner, from £256 for three nights sleeping up to five.

Namparra Campsite , Cornwall

It’s on the Lizard Peninsula, you can pitch up anywhere you like and you get to have a campfire. Three good reasons to very much like Namparra Campsite, even before you take into account that the owners will dig a firepit for you or lend you one of the free chimeneas for you to spark things up in style. There are also goats, ducks and moorhens on site, as well as Molly the pig who’ll happily take a Molly Bucket of your vegetable leftovers. Nearby there’s the Cowshed Bar for local scrumpy, all sorts of sports including sailing and golf, Kennack Sands beach within half a mile, and plenty of attractions including the National Seal Sanctuary and Trebah Garden. It’s around £12 per night for the non-electric pitches and there are also marked electric ones available from £15, from Saturday to Saturday only in peak season.

We’re assuming by the way that you actually know how to build and light a campfire, but if not, here’s the lowdown . If you get into a flap when the fire won’t light and you’re starving hungry, we’ve always found that a plaintive look at the folks pitching up next to you normally gets things sorted once they realise you’re not angling for some of their dinner, but are instead a citified moron who can’t light a fire that’ll stay burning for more than a minute. But at least they’ll get to feel superior, and you’ll get to eat. Don’t forget to offer them a burger.

General campfire cooking tips can be found here , although for the sake of your own self-esteem and sanity we’d recommend bypassing any thoughts of dinner being homemade nettle and bacon soup followed by freshly caught lobster, and going straight for the tinfoil meat and veg and potato parcel instead.

You can also filter all our sites with campfires allowed to tailor-make the perfect fiery break: take a look for example at campfire sites where dogs are allowed , or which have spectacular scenery or which have a beach nearby .

And if you want to keep your food packing for the trip to the absolute basics, we also have campfire sites which sell local produce , or which have a farmers’ market or fishing nearby . (And, not that we don’t have faith in your firestarter abilities, but we have campfire sites with restaurants and takeaways too. Just in case.)

Finally, we even have sites where campfires are allowed and which are also naturist . Although it’s probably best not to combine the two. Ow.