The village of Monkton Farleigh, if not necessarily posh, certainly strikes the casual visitor as well-heeled. The pub injects a dose of cosmopolitan cool into this quiet chunk of countryside, the village shop is piled high with organic produce and the cars standing outside the neat stone cottages are shiny and German. Even Church Farm is not a farm in the usual arable/livestock sense, but is populated exclusively by horses who roam its 50 acres looking for trouble – but rarely finding it.
It’s a pleasure, then, to discover that there are no airs or graces about the campsite itself. A simple field slopes down a hillside and enjoys a phenomenal vista of the countryside below. In the distance, the Westbury White Horse is caught in perpetual inertia contemplating the Bratton Downs, while to its left rises Caen Hill with Salisbury Plain beyond.
The basic loos and showers are in a large barn that also stables horses – you pass them on your way in and out – which is unusual for a campsite to say the least. However, even that is trumped by the outdoor heated pool, which is available to campers at certain times of the year.
Walkers will relish the jaunt up a hill called Farleigh Rise, which takes off from the north end of the village, while cyclists can drop down to the Kennet and Avon Canal to enjoy a cycle path that stretches from Bath all the way to Reading
