Pitch-up for frills-free camping in Cornwall: Children will love this wild eco-friendly break at Bosavern farm

  • Bosavern Community Farm isn’t quite wild camping – but it’s pretty close
  • Its basic set-up is a wonderful way to relax and get back to nature
  • Nearby there’s surfing beauty spot Sennen Cove, and sleepy town St Just

By Roger Wilkinson For The Daily Mail

Published: 08:27 GMT, 9 August 2016 | Updated: 16:10 GMT, 29 November 2016


Bosavern Community Farm, near St Just, is about as far west as you can go on British soil before you fall off a cliff and into the Atlantic.

It is a deeply green, not-for-profit working farm, growing fruit, vegetables and herbs, and raising chickens. The income produced enables its volunteers to visit schools, spreading the word about ethical farming — as well as hosting regular community events.

Rugged beauty: Sweeping views from the top of Cape Cornwall, near Bosavern campsite

Rugged beauty: Sweeping views from the top of Cape Cornwall, near Bosavern campsite

Camping here is quite the opposite of glamping — not quite wild, but as close as you can get. The field could do with a haircut and has just one cold tap. And if it rains, your only refuge is ‘The Hive’, a room above a barn with chairs, tables, board games, kettle and sockets.

The toilets, christened ‘treebogs’, are a pair of booths with deep pits beneath.

You sprinkle a generous handful of sawdust on top. Inside each is a framed picture of a similar set-up in Pakistan, headlined ‘Twinned’.

My boys were even more miffed to learn there’s no hot shower — though the camp has now got a temporary gas-heated one and a solar-heated shower is in the pipeline.

Even so, such Spartan provisions do not seem to bother the rest of the children holidaying in the little enclave — Bosavern has space for just ten tents. They delight in joining egg-gathering and Cornish new potato-picking sorties, or wandering at will over the farm’s 34 acres.

Make a splash: Eye-catching surf spot Sennen Cove (pictured) is not far from the farm 

Make a splash: Eye-catching surf spot Sennen Cove (pictured) is not far from the farm 

Make a splash: Eye-catching surf spot Sennen Cove (pictured) is not far from the farm 

And there’s plenty to do in the area. Within a ten-mile radius of the farm is the incomparable Minack open-air theatre, the surf spot Sennen Cove and the artists’ hamlet of Lamorna. 

And if you are carless, St Just is only a ten-minute stroll. Here is a town in miniature, largely free from tourist tat, with fine pubs, fish and chips, village-baked pasties, a post office and a cash machine. 

 What else do you need? Fed and watered, you can pop into the tiny parish church, whose incense-infused bare granite walls house Cornish saints. Peace at last.

Travel Facts: Book your own break in Cornwall 

Camping at Bosavern (bosaverncommunityfarm.org.uk, 01736 788454) £7 per night for adults and £3 for children aged 2-17. Open July 2-24 and August 1-31.

Bring your own tent. Book at pitchup.com. 

 

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