Take a big field in a prime location, add a handyman and an ex-pub landlady, and the result is Sionna Camping. The field is 10 acres and flat, the location is between the New Forest and the Jurassic Coast, the handyman is Simon, and the former landlady is Donna. See what they did with the name? This place may seem like a simple site but it’s built on love, fuelled by an enthusiasm for camping, and kept clean with an obsessive eye for detail.
Sionna Camping is pop-up camping done well, and that’s not because it’s providing fancy facilities; it’s something more simple than that. It’s because of the 60 extra camping pitches popping up in an area that’s popular in summer — never more so than now. It’s set up in a farmer’s field on the edge of the Dorset village of Burton, ten minutes drive from the southwest corner of the New Forest, ten minutes from the town of Christchurch, and ten minutes from Mudeford beach. Bournemouth is 20 minutes away and, 10 minutes further from the site, is the eastern edge of the Jurassic Coast.
It’s very much a back-to-basics kind of place with portable loos, hand-built shower cabins, open-air washing-up sinks, and plenty of room to run around in. But there’s a little twinkle added by Donna; fairy lights, solar lanterns and a very warm welcome. A lifelong camper, caravanner, and campervan owner, she loves the great outdoors and can’t wait to welcome you to it. So much so, in fact, that she’s popped up a couple of tents for people who don’t have their own. There are two six-man dome tents and a retro house tent which are rented unfurnished, as well as a modern tipi-style tent that’s the glampiest of the lot. Hire this one and everything’s included (except for bedding).
Donna and Simon have made sure all the important things are taken care of, down to your morning coffee. They run a coffee van and bottle bar and have organised easy meals and entertainment for weekends, when there's a bit of a festival vibe thanks to visiting food vans and acoustic musicians who play by the communal campfire. This is a laid-back, sociable site run by laid-back and sociable people; campers themselves who will do their best to make sure you have a good time whether you are camping with your dog, with your family, or your friends. All are welcome here.