Bignor Farms Camping at Bignor Roman Villa

Liked Been wanting to visit for a couple of years now but because they only open the camping for August, this was the first chance where me and my friend were both free on the same weekend for going and it was definitely worth the wait!
Absolutely stunning location surround by the South Downs and nestled in between the sunflower maze and vines in the next field. We lucked out with the weather and had the most glorious sunsets and cleat night skies.
The Roman Villa is definitely worth a visit, was bigger and the mosaics were so much more than I was expecting!
Lots of nice walks in the area and whilst the campsite is fairly remote, it's close enough to get to places like Petworth, Amberley and Littlehampton by car.

Disliked My only negative thoughts I have is there could be clearer guidance on cars and fires. From our understanding, you could drive to your pitch to unload and then park the car in the villa carpark (which is next to the field) but some people seem to keep their cars parked by their tent. We also didn't take our firepit with us as it said no campfires, but there did seem to be one group having a campfire each night.

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From the manager: Hi, very pleased to hear that on the whole you had an enjoyable stay at Bignor. Our campsite at the Roman Villa is a pop-up site and therefore only operates during August alongside the Sunflower maze. The guidance is very clear as per the welcome message you will have received. No campfires due to the tinder dry ground conditions at present and vicinity of the villas thatched roofs. When the site is busy or fully booked with families, I prefer not to have cars on pitches however when we only have a few campers on site if someone asked to have their car by the pitch, I have no problem with that l. Those with cars and fire pits contacted me directly upon receiving the welcome message and asked. After stressing the need to supervise a small above ground fire pit to cook or toast marshmallows and to be aware of children on site when moving vehicles I was happy to allow these things to go ahead when the site wasn’t busy. All you needed to do was ask sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Hello, we look forward to welcoming you to Bignor Farms Camping. On arrival please proceed through the wooden gates to the villa carpark. The fresh water stand pipe is at the hedge end of the chestnut paling fence in the middle of the car park. Pitch up anywhere you fancy through the gates marked “Welcome to Bignor Farms Camping”. We don’t have designated pitches. Please move your vehicles to the carpark once you are unloaded. You are welcome to use the villa toilets at the rear of the villa buildings anytime and the portaloos on the camping field are for your use only. The two grey cubicles at the far side of the campsite are hot water showers. Rubbish bins can be found at the gate into the main villa car park. Red lid is recycling and black lid is general waste. No open camp fires please. When the villa is closed the gates will be shut but not locked so you can come and go anytime. I'm in the village so if you have any problems don't hesitate to contact me on this number. Safe journey & enjoy your stay Lisa Tupper Bignor Farms Camping

Liked Lovely, peaceful campsite in a lovely setting. Stayed there with my 9 year old son for 3 nights in Early August. First day we went on a good circular walk up to the South Downs Way, to get our bearings. A glorious view from the top, and then back past the owner's farm.

Went to Littlehampton, Petworth House, and paddleboarding on the river Arun. (We started off from Littlehampton, but I would not recommend that. Hard work and not picturesque at all from the river. If you have a paddleboard/kayak etc, would recommend starting at the Black Rabbit pub, heading down-river to Arundel, and then back to the pub. More picturesque and manageable. Maybe check with the pub first, but should be ok.)

The owner is lovely, welcoming and attentive. Toilets are clean, showers are hot and spacious. Occasionally the shut-off switch shuts off the heating (they mention the wind blowing out the pilot light), but just turn the shower off, and back on again and it fires up again no problem. Simple.

We saved the Roman villa for our last day, and it was fascinating. My son loved it. Fabulous mosaics, attentive & knowledgeable staff.

Very likely to return next year. My son certainly wants to!

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Liked So quiet, such amazing fresh air, lovely showers, clean toilets, brilliant ancient site next door!

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Liked Fantastic views. Peaceful. Clean toilets and showers. Great location. Roman Villa.

Disliked Nothing

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Liked Location very nice close to Arundel and the south coast.

View is lovely

Not overly full - lots of space

Staff helpful when needed

Disliked Showers are unpredictable, states won’t work when windy but generally didn’t work.

Toilets ran out of water so got quite unpleasant. The site did sort it out the following morning but not great.

They did have further toilets nearby but a bit of a walk away

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From the manager: Thanks for your review. I wasn’t aware of any issues with the showers. I check them twice daily during cleaning and both units working fine. No other campers reported any issues at the time of your stay. The wind will knock out the pilot light when gusty but generally no issues (see other reviews). Re the portaloos the hire company promised a service Friday evening before a busy bank holiday which obviously didn’t happen. As you say my husband and I sorted it ourselves first thing the following morning by relocating two extra units and refilling the water reserves. Again no issue when I cleaned at teatime first I knew about it was 9.30pm that evening via text. I’m afraid I couldn’t sort the issues at 9.30pm, I had 2 children at home and husband harvesting until late. We are a two person team so we haven’t got others to help with maintenance on site. The Villa toilets were accessible for the duration of your stay as stated in the welcome message and less then a two minute walk from your pitch. The portaloo issues weren’t helped by users continuing to use them when they are obviously blocked/full/out of water rather than using other available toilets. Think your scores are harsh to say the least compared to others but thanks for your feedback.

Liked Beautiful peaceful spot within a stones throw of the South Downs way, and lots of other great footpaths! The site is easy to get to, small, and minimal fuss. We saw tons of shooting stars and would definitely recommend for a weekend escape :)

Disliked Nothing to say here, it was all lovely!

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Liked Friendly communications and site owner, nice location, clean toilets and hot shower

Disliked Unfortunately a group turned up at 11pm and decided to noisily pitch up next to us, chatting loudly the entire time.

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Liked Great service from our host. Very laid back and accomodating. Wonderful, peaceful location.

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Liked We loved being next to the Roman palace and museum and the activity going on there. Staff there were helpful. It was an idyllic stay with beautiful weather and clear skies, but not too hot until we were packing up. The stars in the night sky were impressive.

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Liked The views are great, nice field to camp in.
Good facilities, hot showers a bonus.

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