Old Bidlake Farm: Hassle-Free Camping in the Dorset Countryside

Looking for peaceful camping in Dorset this summer? Nestled in the heart of the Marshwood Vale, Old Bidlake Farm offers a back-to-basics camping experience with modern comforts.

Summer camping in the Marshwood Vale means long evenings, dark skies and the kind of quiet that's hard to find elsewhere in West Dorset.  Old Bidlake Farm sits right in the middle of it, run by Emily and Simon since they took over in 2023.

The smallholding runs to 8.5 acres, with just eight pitches and a deliberately light-touch approach to the land.

There are no hot tubs and no electric hook-ups, and lighting after dark is kept to a handful of solar lamps, enough to find your way back from the showers without drowning out the stars. They've also been working with the Dorset Wildlife Trust to turn parts of the smallholding into a haven for local wildlife.

It isn't glamping, and Old Bidlake Farm makes a point of saying so, but comfort still matters here. Each of the eight pitches comes with its own rocket stove for cooking over an open fire and a picnic bench, while a communal field shelter on the meadow offers a covered dining spot, complete with table, cutlery and cookware. The Barn houses the rest: two kitchens, two shower rooms, four flush toilets, and a campers' snug stocked with books, games and a couple of leather sofas.

They weren't looking for a campsite when they found it. Married in 2021, the pair had spent a couple of years exploring the South West for somewhere to settle and build the kind of community-rooted project they'd both been working toward. The tip came from family: their daughter-in-law Ellie sent them details of a smallholding in the Marshwood Vale on a March morning in 2023. Encouraged by friends, they drove down to see it for themselves, and fell for it the moment they arrived. By the start of September that year, they'd taken on the land and Old Bidlake Farm was theirs.

The kitchens are where the hassle-free claim earns its keep. The barn kitchen comes with a hob, a small oven, a microwave and crockery, along with complimentary tea, coffee and hot chocolate, milk included, so there's genuinely no need to load the car to the roof. There's also a wash-up kitchen with recycling facilities, a covered dining area that seats 12, a Lotus charcoal barbecue and an Ooni wood-fired pizza oven, with wood pellets stocked on site too. Bridport is around ten minutes away by car, and the Jurassic Coast roughly fifteen, close enough for a beach day without losing the morning to the drive.

The pair brought their own backgrounds to what they've created at Old Bidlake Farm. Emily, a massage therapist and reiki master, and Simon, a former woodwork teacher, opened the on-site Potting Shed for treatments, meditation classes, sound baths and spoon carving workshops, alongside the usual business of pitching a tent and lighting a fire.

A few practical things worth knowing before booking a stay in the Dorset countryside this summer: there's a minimum two-night stay, group bookings are capped at three pitches, and dogs aren't allowed on site, aside from Rosy, the family's own cocker spaniel.

It's the kind of place that asks you to slow down, whether that's over a meal cooked on the rocket stove, a sound bath in the Potting Shed, or just an evening watching the Marshwood Vale fade to dark. It's built for a summer reset in the Dorset countryside.

Old Bidlake Farm, Bridport, West Dorset
oldbidlakefarm.co.uk