Botany Camping and Glamping

Back in April we were supposed to go camping in Paris with a trip to Disneyland thrown in. Obviously COVID-19 kicked in and that was cancelled.

As restrictions were relaxed, but childcare still remained to be an issue, we decided to take a staycation at the beginning of the holiday to coincide with Emily’s birthday. When we asked Xander what he wanted to do as a special activity his requests were to build a desk in his bedroom and to go camping. So I booked two nights at Botany Camping and Glamping site then pre-booked tickets to Longleat Safari Park

Botany Camping Site was absolutely perfect for us newbie campers as the staff couldn’t be more helpful if they tried. Glamping and Camping pitches are in separate fields. The staff guide you to set up your tent around the edge of the field so the centre is left empty allowing lots of space for kids to play and give a sense of privacy to your pitch. Another thing to note is that the site is completely electricity free, so if you want to keep electronics charged, then you will need to bring your own portable power packs. This was perfect for us because we were hoping to be encouraged to use this time to really switch off and relax. Don’t get me wrong, we had two portable power packs… one 10k and one 20k. This kept our two phones and one tablet charged for the two nights we were there. Another key point here was the noise curfews. Everyone was expected to be quiet from 10pm until 7am which was just perfect for our little family trip.

Once set up we got ourselves acquainted with the site, where we were pleased to find that BBQ’s were provided to cook food and also have a campfire should you wish. They even provided marshmallows if you wanted them! Also something that was a bonus point… a bus cafe thats was open from 8am until 8pm serving everything from ice cream, breakfast, cakes, chips and coffees. Then, in the evening we enjoyed a BBQ, some board games we took with us and generally just chilling out with the warm night and slight breeze. Xander climbed into his sleeping bag at 8 with his tablet and soon fell asleep. Seeing as this was his first night camping I was surprised that he slept straight through the night and woke up at 6am. One thing we did notice at this point was our lack of large water bottle. So just a tip.. remember to take one of those large 5l squash/water bottle to top up especially if it is really really hot! Thankfully the office had some spare ones that they were willing for us to use so we didn’t have to suffer the trip to the taps every 5 mins to top up our 1 litre bottle.

Once Xander was awake it was our mission to keep him quiet enough for an hour so we didn’t disturb the curfew. This was quite difficult because he was excited about going to Longleat, which was only 5 minutes away. So by 730am Emily and Xander were off to investigate the Longleat woods whilst I sat in the morning sun and did some hand sewing. At 945am we then headed to Longleat for the day (that will be a separate post) and returned at 430pm absolutely exhausted from the heat. That evening we just chilled out recovering from the day and it thankfully started raining (thus cooling down the air) and the breeze picked up. One thing we were disappointed with that evening was not getting the Bus Cafe Thai. We didn’t pre-order it and all portions were pre-sold by the time we got back

Again we were all up at 6am and eagerly awaited the cafe opening up at 8am for breakfast. Pancakes, bacon and maple syrup is literally one of my favourite breakfast so it was a super treat to give myself just before we packed up the tent and headed home.

Summary

Positives

• Large pitches giving plenty of space and privacy
• Access to BBQ’s to cook and light campfires including fuel needed for both
• Bus Cafe and all its offerings
• Friendly helpful staff
• NO ELECTRICITY POINTS
• Plenty of access to water and sinks for washing up.
• Washing up liquid, hand soap and toilet roll provided by the site
• Super close to Longleat Safari Parks
• Close to Warminster for any additional shopping needs
• Easy to find once leaving the A36
• Noise curfew from 10pm to 7am

Negatives

• Have to pre order food on Friday and Saturday evenings
• NO ELECTRICITY POINTS (if you have a youtube obsessed child who doesn’t understand the lack of internet).

I hope you all find this useful if thinking about camping with the family this summer.

See you on Saturday.