Hole Station

As you're settling down for the night it will seem incredible that Hole Station takes its name from the railway station that once operated here. If you're used to camping on featureless expanses of single hued grass, Hole Station will be a revelation. Pitches nestle in clearings amongst a canopy of trees that allow you to pretend you're wild camping, and an adults only policy plus a ban on music, TVs and radios completes the tranquility.

On our visit the ethos was explained as both a project to restore the woodland and a demonstration of how we could live on the land a little more lightly. For example campfires are encouraged but you're firmly directed to the proper supplies of firewood; dead wood deliberately lies on the ground to create the habitat necessary for a healthy, living wood. At every turn the site's presence is designed to enhance the landscape, not detract from it. This is carried through into compost toilets and a washing up area made from recycled pallets. Indeed if you're an occasional camper you can save the purchase of your own tent and rent one pre-pitched with its own covered cooking area, several of them now given a proper cabin feel with tarp shelters over the pitch. The site provides campfire grills for hire and bikes too. The scene is enhanced by chickens, goats and horses, and there's a simple little on-site cafe serving breakfast.

Dartmoor is a few miles away with Bude a 30 minute drive, and it's worth wandering out to the local pubs and the nearby gin distillery for a leisurely G&T. For a nightcap grab a torch and head to the Golden Inn, 10 minutes down the path of the old railway and full of friendly locals and good ale.