If the thought of camping with the kids fills you with dread, you may be swayed by these fantastic glamping options. What about sleeping in a converted train carriage, or a traditional tipi? The kids will love the excitement and adventure, while you can put your feet up and enjoy all the fun on offer. Go glamping in the UK for your next family trip – you won’t regret it!

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Weekends in a field don’t have to be a distant memory when you have kids. In fact, the UK’s array of glamping opportunities make it easier than ever to experience the best of the outdoors in style.

There is nothing quite like a holiday under canvas, where life can be simple and stress-free. However, the added luxury that glamping offers can be just the tonic for everyone to get the best out of their holiday. We’ve rounded up some of the most unique places you can go glamping with the family around the UK.

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Go Glamping With the Kids in the UK

Felin Geri, Wales

Guests can bask in the Welsh countryside at luxury glamping site Felin Geri, and enjoy a luxury-filled holiday with family. Situated near beautiful beaches, rolling hills, adventure sports spots and historic castles, families will find something for everyone to enjoy. The luxury safari tent site boasts the perfect setting for a memorable family break.

Whether exploring the local area with the whole family, joining owners Alan and Jane as they fire up the pizza oven or playing games in the tent’s cosy living area, guests will be treated to warm Welsh hospitality while soaking in the scenery that surrounds them.

Three of their popular safari tents can sleep up to six people comfortably and feature a king-size bedroom, a twin bedroom which can be made into a double and a full size double cabin bed. The tents also feature an open plan living area, including a fully equipped kitchen, and a spacious lounge and dining area which leads to a veranda, perfect for a pre-dinner drink. Each tent has its own shower room and separate toilet.

They have also recently introduced a new safari tent: Camnant that accommodates up to eight people, with a king size bedroom, a twin-bedded room, a full size double cabin bed and a bunk bedded room, making it ideal for larger extended families or small groups. Camnant also offers extras including your own fridge, a shower room with toilet, an added toilet cabin at the rear, and there’s even a dishwasher and private hot tub!

Port Lympne Reserve, Kent

Set within Port Lympne Animal Reserve, the glamping experience on offer is an animal of an adventure. The luxury tents come fully equipped with all the amenities you could want, including wood-burning stoves, full sized beds and some that offer the benefit of your own private attached bathroom (so no traipsing across a field equipped with torch and loo roll!).

Choose from 19 different experiences, including Bear and Giraffe Lodges, camping pods, shepherd’s hut or luxury tents which each sleep up to eight guests. Imagine watching the cheetahs play while you sip your morning cuppa!

There is a playground for younger children, a clubhouse restaurant for breakfast and dinner, and the opportunity to take an evening safari during your stay.

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Cornish Tipis, Cornwall

How about a stay in a tipi for a family getaway this year? Cornish Tipi Holidays provide the most idyllic setting with a nearby lake, perfect for wild swimming, and an open fire to cook up your breakfast. This has to be every child’s dream to stay in such a fun space with 40 authentic North American tipis standing proud in the Cornish fields.

The tipis and tent pitches are dotted about this secret 20 acres clothed in ferns and bluebells, oak and meadowsweet. For wildlife lovers there are an abundance of bluebells and dormice, Red Admirals and shy woodland Jays for you to spot.

The tipis come in small, medium, large and even extra-large, with the latter sleeping up to 12 people.

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Dome Garden, Forest of Dean

Stay in England’s largest forest, the Forest of Dean, and settle down in one of 11 luxury domes. With en-suites, wood fired showers or baths, and comfortable sleeping space for 5-8 people they are fantastic spaces for a family – quirky, inspiring and full of fun.

With a deliberate decision to keep WiFi at bay, the Dome Garden is all about reconnecting – finding time to relax, to read, to enjoy each other’s company, and maybe spend some time around the fire meeting others while you cook your food. If your children have more energy to run off there are rope swings, zip wires and even a secret tree house.

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Cosy under Canvas, nr Newchurch, Powys

Right on the Welsh border, Cosy under Canvas is a tranquil site with five geodes and two bell tents that come complete with wood-burning stoves and fire pits. Using wood-fired showers, compost loos and solar lights they are flying the eco flag and providing fluffy sheepskins, super comfy beds and bags of style.

The geodomes come complete with use of a hot tub to get star-gazing on clear nights. Kids will love the opportunity to try out kayaking or pony trekking locally, or have a go at stream dipping. There are trails, swings and plenty of woodland games to keep everyone occupied. This is a wonderful place for family glamping in the UK.

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The Original Hut Company, East Sussex

Fancy something a bit different? The Original Hut Company offer a quaint and quirky twist on camping with their ‘Shepherd Hut’ type living huts, with a little luxury thrown in to ensure family-friendly camping.

Sited on the lovely family-run Quarry Farm in the tiny village of Bodiam in East Sussex, near Camber Sands, it’s like staying in a deluxe beach hut. Guests are free to fish in the nearby River Rother which offers a perfect habitat for all sorts of flora, fauna and wildlife. A short stroll across the fields and you reach the local pub, The Castle Inn, serving Kentish Ales and great homemade food. Across the quiet road from the pub you will find Bodiam Castle, which has a moat, turrets and battlements.

The four huts are all luxuriously decorated and heated with a wood-burning stove and powered with solar panels. If you fancy really getting away from it all, these huts are the place!

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Secret Meadows, Suffolk

Secret Meadows in Suffolk provides an eclectic range of options for every taste – luxury lodge tents, gypsy horse caravans or maybe it will be the Hobbit Box that takes your fancy. Set in over 100 acres of wildflower meadows, woodland and ancient trees this is a great place for the family to really enjoy the countryside.

The luxury tents sleep six and come with king-sized wooden beds, sofas, dining tables and wood-burning stoves, while the beautiful gypsy caravans sleep four with beds, candle lighting and woollen blankets. The Hobbit box is a luxury converted horse box sleeping four with handcrafted wooden furniture and a Middle Earth theme.

For children there are bush-craft activities and opportunities to meet the animals – you can even hire a chicken coop to have next to your accommodation to feed, look after and collect eggs from during your stay. Not only will glamping at Secret Meadows be a treat for the family, but you can feel good at the same time by supporting The Sinfield Nature Conservation Trust who run the site.

Glamping at Chessington World of Adventures

The luxury campsite next to the family-favourite theme park makes for a great family break option: enjoy the rides then spend the night in a safari tent, with dinner in a new safari-themed restaurant, exclusively for glamping guests.

Open from the end of May to early September, the 31 standard tents and four premium tents come complete with wooden flooring, proper beds and linen, power sockets and free WiFi. Extra luxuries in the premium option include a separate sleeping area for kids, outdoor furniture, fresh towels and more overall space.

By booking a stay in one of the Explorer Glamping tents, you benefit from a host of extras, including two days for the price of one in the park, a hot buffet breakfast, exclusive access to the themed restaurant, access to the Wild Asia area after the theme park closes, exclusive fast-track access to the park for the first hour of opening, access to evening entertainment in the on-site hotels, plus use of the swimming pool and gym.

The Dandelion Hideaway, Leicestershire

These vintage-chic ‘canvas cottages’ with Aga-style ranges and luxury bathrooms are a wonderfully unique experience where you can enjoy the luxury of truly sumptuous glamping in the heart of the Midlands.

With just six cottages there is a treasured, intimate atmosphere making for a perfect family getaway. In the farmyard, there is also a charming, old-fashioned honesty shop, offering local produce and gorgeous gifts. The location is handy for family attractions in Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Warwickshire, but kids won’t want to stray too far once they’ve clocked on they can help collect eggs, milk cows and groom Shetland ponies. There’s also a pizza oven and BBQ for all those family favourites. 

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Coalport Station Holidays, Ironbridge, Shropshire

If quirky is your thing, staying in your own converted railway carriage in the middle of the beautiful World UNESCO Heritage Site of Ironbridge is certainly that. With two converted carriages sleeping up to six, they have all the amenities you need, from a kitchen with washing machine to the lounge with comfy sofas.

Once you look out of the window into the countryside and beyond, you will feel as though you’ve stepped back in time. The carriages are situated on a closed bit of the line and you will feel like you’re having your own Famous Five adventure as you go for a ramble down the track. What child wouldn’t love a stay in their very own railway house?

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Talton Lodge Kitchen Garden, Warwickshire

You can stay in the house or lodge barn on this working smallholding, set in 20 acres of parkland, woodland, orchards and gardens. Big and small kids will love the intriguing combination of luxurious yurts, a North American inspired tipi, an orchard wagon and a fabulously unique tree house-boat – all enclosed in a cosy Victorian walled garden.

Talton Lodge has the ultimate secret garden that you can just disappear into. The campsite (or, more appropriately, ‘glampsite’, as it’s not a bring-your-own-tent place) is in a Victorian red-brick walled garden, with everything you’d expect – veggie patches, raspberry bushes, chicken coops, an orchard and a babbling brook.

There’s plenty to do, including cookery classes, swimming, fishing or canoeing in the river, apple-scrumping, or helping feed the poultry and rare-breed pigs. With advance notice, owner Olivia, who in a previous life worked under Gary Rhodes and Fergus Henderson, will prepare meals from home-grown and local produce.

Campden Yurts, Cotswolds

Campden Yurts is a hillside smallholding-turned-glamping site offering simple, comfortable, family-friendly holidays. Where once goats, ponies and chickens roamed and rows of vegetables grew, there now sit two spacious 18ft yurts, each accommodating up to five people.

A wood-burning stove, rugs, sheepskin throws and fold out futons dot each interior, while a main double bed boasts views up through the central crown window to the stars above. In addition, each yurt has its own private bathroom, and they also share a well-equipped kitchen room.

Despite this excellent self-catered set-up, owner Jane particularly likes seeing guests outside their yurts, where tripods and grills are provided for a more authentic cooking experience. Campfires are very much a part of the Campden Yurts experience and if you really fancy taking it up a notch, there’s even a cob oven you can use, lighting a wood-fire inside and cooking your own pizzas.

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Glamping Festival Style!

Feeling festive? Why not take glamping to the next level amongst a host of family-friendly activities? Designed for families and children, and certainly more than just a kids’ tent in the corner, family festivals like the ones below are becoming increasingly popular and provide the perfect opportunity for an unforgettable family experience.

Geronimo Festival, Arley Hall, Cheshire

Aimed at children under 13 and their families, Geronimo Festival is all about playing, learning and creating magical memories. With children’s favourites like Justin Fletcher and Mr Bloom already confirmed, there are a huge range of activities to enjoy.

Previous years’ activities have included daily circus skills workshops, meet and greet with giant tortoises, a silent disco, wheel of chance adventure, and crazy antics with the sock wrestling federation – what will your family try?

With glamping and camping added as options from 2018, don’t miss out on a magical adventure in 2019 at the festival affectionately known as ‘Glastonbury for Kids’.

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Deer Shed Festival, Baldersby Park, North Yorkshire

Pitched as the festival that makes kids the main event, Deer Shed Festival promises to be the ultimate family festival experience! Combining music, comedy, sporting activities, spoken word, literary book club, science, workshops, cinema and food, you’re guaranteed to have a whole range of things to explore throughout the weekend. From human hungry hippos, circus workshops and den experiments through to musicians and slime workshops – there is something for all the family.

Treat yourself to some tribal luxury at Deer Shed 2019 with cosy canvas camping in Tipis and Yurts, or go back in time with some vintage camping cotton canvas tents from the 70s and 80s, make any event or festival camping experience one to treasure.

Camp Bestival, Lulworth Estate, Dorset

Ask anyone to name a family-friendly festival, and Camp Bestival is likely to be a name you hear quite a lot. The spin-off of the infamous Bestival, Camp Bestival is the award-winning family-friendly version, with a host of activities and performances suited to a younger audience.

Learn circus skills, experiment with paint and glitter in Art Town, slide your way through soft pay in the under 5s tent, compete for the best family jam title in the UK Festival Air Guitar Championships, or check out the line-up on the main stages.

It doesn’t disappoint for glamping either, with fully furnished luxury cloudhouse yurts and lotus belle tents – solid beds and phone charging points included! There is even a dedicated pamper yurt, as well as deluxe accommodation in Winnebagos and a pop-up hotel.

The Big Feastival, Alex James’ Farm, The Cotswolds

Combining top-class food with live music, you already get an idea of why The Big Feastival has made our list of favourites. Food is definitely at the heart of this festival, so you won’t be surprised to see a stellar line-up of chefs demonstrating top grub over the weekend, along with big music names.

There’s loads of family fun to enjoy too – you can enjoy the festival’s signature vintage funfair complete with a Helter Skelter and dodgems, let the kids lose in the treetops and become a Greenleaf tree climber, sample the amazing street food, or head to the vegetable patch and teach your little ones about the journey from field to fork. It’s a feast of family entertainment.

The glamping field features first rate amenities, including reception area and 24-hour concierge service, bar and chill out area serving snacks, kids cinema tent, pamper parlour, and quality showers and toilet facilities.

Just So Festival, Rode Hall, Cheshire

With families and woodland spirit at its core, the Just So Festival will get the whole family involved at every opportunity. This laid-back festival is a family treat beyond your wildest dreams. With a love of stories and childhood escapades at its heart, prepare to step out of your day to day lives and into a wonderland of world class literature, arts, theatre, dance, music, comedy and creative pursuits. It takes audiences (of any age) on a unique expedition of mischief and mayhem, to lands full of magical midnight feasts, campfire singalongs, raucous pillow fights, hidden retreats, and top notch food and drink.

With stunning boutique camping options available for your glamping pleasure, they seem to have everything, well, Just So! With a wonderful selection of yurts, bell tents, vintage tents and camping pods, staying in the heart of the festival area is a real treat to ease your way into the most memorable weekend.

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Would you ever go glamping with your kids? Leave a comment below and let us know – we’d love to hear from you!