Sloeberry Farm

Planning a glamping site may seem simple at first – buy some accommodation, fill it with the most luxurious items you can find and install some plush facilities – but the reality of blending these comforts with the back-to-nature camping ethos is easier said than done. How refreshing it is, then, to find a site as subtly sublime as Sloeberry Farm in West Wales – a place where glamping is done right.

The first thing that strikes you about the place when you arrive is the sheer space of it all. The buttercup-dotted meadows and naturally irregular lines of mature trees seem to have been left to their own devices. Bushes bulge and tiny birds flitter along the hedge lines. For children, the exploration opportunities are endless.

The accommodation, meanwhile, seems to fit within the space just as a harmoniously as a herd of cows might have done some years ago. There's a handful of creamy bell tents, with a firepit, picnic table and deck chairs outside giving it all a very classic camping look, while a couple of timber cabins occupy a separate space. Four ginormous canvas lodges, meanwhile, are built of wood and a forest-green canvas that camouflages them among the surroundings. The immediate appearance is of a good old-fashioned farm campsite with ample space to roam. Little wonder then that Sloeberry Farm was awarded the prestigious Gold Award by Visit Wales in 2019.

Bell tents feature mattresses, duvets, cooking equipment and old-style lanterns, but the canvas lodges are the real stars of the show, with log-burning stoves, mezzanine bedrooms and, outside, private wood-fired hot tubs. At the back there’s an en-suite washroom and each has it’s own private shower, plus there’s a BBQ for enjoying some alfresco dining out on your veranda.

All of the bell tents and cabins have access to the toilets and gas-powered showers hidden in traditional-style wooden huts at the bottom of the meadow. There are also plenty of interesting finds dotted around the farm. For starters there’s the small, private lake, glistening delightfully when the sun is out, where you can watch pond skaters darting across its surface and dragonflies zipping overhead. There’s also a lovely old, tin-roofed barn in the farmyard itself, its corrugated metal partially rusted, as if a giant orange crayon has been run along its surface.

From the farm you can join local lanes and footpaths heading down to the coast – it's about a three-mile walk all the way down to Aberporth beach. Or you can drive there and enjoy a walk along the coastal path instead. The choice is yours but when you stay at Sloeberry Farm you’re certainly starting in the right place!