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Back-to-basics, natural camping with campfires encouraged and easy walks to the local attractions in Frome.

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Camping in Nature at Vallis Veg

UK England South West England Somerset Frome

Back-to-basics, natural camping with campfires encouraged and easy walks to the local attractions in Frome

Vallis Veg is like a camping version of The Good Life. Well, sort of. When you pitch your tent beneath the dappled shade of an ash tree, and explore the self-sufficient set up of this vegetable-growing, seed-sewing and life-bestowing campsite, you can’t help but envisage a haphazard Tom and Barbara strolling out to meet you. Thankfully, though, the farcical happenings of the classic sitcom are left to the realms of fiction. Life here may be good, but it’s also wonderfully easy.

Vallis Veg is a back-to-basics, tents-only campsite with rustic facilities. The individual woodland pitches are each surrounded by green and growing young trees and provide a sense of privacy. The leafy site sits on a slight slope but the camping spots have been carefully flattened out and have a light covering of woodchips to ensure some extra comfort.

The ethos of the place can’t help but suck you in. If you don’t like a little dirt beneath your fingernails, then it’s probably not the one for you, but even the most disinterested of gardeners can’t help but look on the stripes of the campsite’s vegetable patch with envy. You can order a veg box ahead of time and owner Cordelia is a wellspring of knowledge on where to go locally to stock up on wholesome, tasty goods.

Frome, for starters, is a pleasant walk away and full of independent food shops. On Cheap Street in the centre of town, Frome Wholefoods and Sagebury Cheese, are excellent and The Old Bakehouse is perfect for breads and cakes. But, if you follow the East Mendip Way along the river in the opposite direction, the walk to Mells (7km round trip) is particularly beautiful and similarly rewarding. Along with taking in the most beautiful stretches of the waterside, the route passes the remains of an ironworks just outside the village, a traditional settlement that’s home to an excellent café, a gastro pub and The Walled Garden, serving superb stone-baked pizzas.

Our Coronavirus Booking Guarantee

Book with complete confidence at Camping in Nature at Vallis Veg with the I Love This Campsite Coronavirus Booking Guarantee. We guarantee the following clear policy for your booking:

A low deposit of 30% to secure your booking
Balance due 30 days before your holiday
Complete flexibility to move bookings up to the end of 2021 in the event of Coronavirus restrictions
Due to the flexibility provided we are unable to offer refunds
This guarantee supersedes any other policies

Click here to read the full terms

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Facilities

Facilities are basic; compost toilets, mains drinking water (cold only), no showers at present. Campfires are permitted, with bags of wood available for sale. Forest School days are sometimes offered onsite for kids (organised by Shared Earth Learning – check their website for details). Occasionally we offer tours of the site on Sunday mornings, which we will advertise on our information board.

The whole site is 18 acres. We bought it in 2003 and planted a range of trees and shrubs. Our aim is to make the land productive, biodiverse, climate friendly and people-friendly and we are happy with how our project is progressing. Chris has written a book about our vision of a future with many more small farms. It is called 'A Small Farm Future' by Chris Smaje.

Some of the projects onsite are: the vegetable garden - you can email info@vallisveg.co.uk to ask about getting a box on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays, although we can't guarantee that there will be veg available. We have allotments for local people to grow their own veg. SELco run therapeutic forest school and gardening sessions for a range of people through the year. The site residents grow their own fruit and veg and we sometimes have a few livestock. We are thinking about new ways to make our land more productive and experimenting with planting perennial plants which may develop into a new business in the future.

Every year we see more wildlife here and this is a source of much pleasure for us and we hope the campers who visit. The trees and other plants onsite change every year too - sometimes dramatically! This winter (2020 to 2021) we have cut down many of the Ash trees around pitches 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 because they have Ash Dieback. This had profoundly changed the feel of these pitches and we are hoping that the rest of the vegetation in this area will grow quickly to give some cover and to give the sense of being enveloped in nature. Things to look out for are ... grass snakes! - we often have lots of these, they are harmless and beautiful. Owls! Including a white barn owl who glides regularly over our site in early summer. The tawny owls are can be very noisy but we've never had complaints about the racket. Weasels, toads, frogs, woodpeckers and any many other birds.

We hope you enjoy your stay!

Suitable For

Tents only (occasionally the odd, small campervan is allowed), couples, families, quiet groups (in their own field) – yes. Caravans, motorhomes, noisy folk, dogs – no.

Nearby

It's a short and pleasant walk to Frome (01373 465757), its compact size belying the range of activities on offer. There are two theatres, ample pubs and cafés, a cinema, several great music venues, a museum and more. Head to the library for tourist information. On the first Sunday of each month The Independent Market has become a bit of a draw – a colourful and eclectic range of stalls with a buzzing atmosphere. In the very centre of town, the innovative Share Shop sometimes runs free craft workshops (though it's worth a visit anyway). Elsewhere, walkers can head in the opposite direction treading the East Mendip Way to a beautiful bridge at Great Elm. From here you can either carry on to the village of Mells, or join the Macmillan Way south towards Whatley – and on to Nunney, with its own castle (03703 331181), a fab pub (01373 836458) and a small café.

Food & Drink

There are lots of independent shops in Frome, including two butchers in Badcox. H.E. Williams (01373 462797), which is down a little side street and whose family has run the business for approaching 100 years, is a great option, while Cayfords (01373 462701), again a long term family-run affair, is another great choice. Both are about 20 minutes’ walk from the site and on the way into town. For pubs, The Griffin (01373 467766), on Milk Street, often has live music and games nights and hosts a microbrewery onsite. The Three Swans (01488 682721) is at the top of Cheap Street and is also very popular. The Lamb and Fountain (01373 463414) at the bottom end of Castle Street is a third pick, wonderfully unpretentious and a little more undiscovered. The River House cafe has delicious food and a very small outdoor area overlooking the river behind the main street. The Fat Radish restaurant serves excellent food at reasonable prices as does Bistro Lotte and the Rye bakery has two outlets - both unique and ethically run with pastries you really must taste! The best Indian takeaway I have ever tasted is cooked by Mahesh of Lungi Babas and delivered by electric bike.

Open

May to October

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The Owner Says

At Vallis Veg we love natural camping spots and we love campfires. These are what we aim to offer our campers. Our site is not a conventional site with lots of tents squeezed together in a flat field. We are a small farm and the camping is little bit wilder – we have levelled spaces among our young trees and on our grassy slopes.

IMPORTANT: READ THE ESSENTIAL INFORMATION AND TERMS AND CONDITIONS BEFORE BOOKING AND FOLLOW THE WRITTEN DIRECTIONS ON OUR COOL CAMPING LISTING CAREFULLY TO AVOID DISTURBING OUR NEIGHBOURS

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Location

Contact Camping in Nature at Vallis Veg, Vallis Veg, Egford, Frome, Somerset BA11 3JQ

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Getting There

Please note that we are Vallis Veg, not Vallis Farm.

From Frome: Follow the A362 West through Frome, past a graveyard on the left and then a row of shops on the right. Then take the first exit at the mini roundabout. Continue over the crest of the hill and down the hill out of town.

Take the first right onto Elm Lane. After 200m the road turns sharply left, but you need to go straight on over the old cattle grid (past a sign to Vallis Farm) and start going up the private road.

You will pass a small car parking area on your right, and go up the short, steep hill.

Look out for the Vallis Veg sign by our entrance. Turn right up our track before the cottages. Please don’t go past the cottages, the neighbours don’t like people going beyond the gate.

Frome is served by trains from Bath Spa, Bristol and Weymouth and by a bus service (the D2) from Bath. The train station is about 2 miles away and the D2 bus stops a short walk from the site, so if you are coming by train it may be easiest to get off the train at Bath Spa, walk a minute or two down the road to the bus station, and catch the D2 bus to Frome. The closest bus stop to the site is at the top of Broadway, just before the Royal Oak pub.