Woodfire Camping

Woodfire Camping is a gastro campsite on the Westerlands Estate near Petworth, West Sussex, where the draw is as much the food as the pitch. Set on a working farm and stud south of Petworth, in the South Downs National Park, the site looks out over wooded hills, with a track leading straight from the field onto the South Downs Way. You bring your own tent and pitch anywhere on the paddock, or hire one of the large pre-pitched canvas tents that sleep up to six if you would rather not carry the gear. Woodfire is not a site for anyone after mains electricity, a shop or late-night noise: there is no lighting after dark, to protect the area's dark sky status, and quiet is asked for after half past ten. What makes it stand out is the cooking, with hosts preparing locally sourced meals over an open fire most evenings, alongside powerful hot showers and compost toilets kept better than many a proper bathroom. Dogs are welcome on grass pitches on a lead, mindful of the farm's lambs, foals and free-range chickens, though they cannot come into the pre-pitched tents. The West Sussex site opens weekends and school holidays from Easter to the end of September, with camping from £22 a person a night.