Glamping in the UK

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Glamping  in France

Glamping in Spain

Glamping in Italy

   
There can be few more annoying ways of starting a holiday, let alone a weekend break, than struggling to put up a tent in the wind and the rain... or towing your own caravan along Britain's congested roads, or along its narrow twisting but less-congested rural roads, to reach an idyllic spot in the wilds.
  But take the downsides out of traditional camping, and offer warm dry tents or cosy furnished caravans or some original form of cabin, and camping has the potential to become something radically different.
   Enter "glamping".  The term was coined in the USA at the start of the 21st century by reducing the words glamour and camping into a single word. And in the UK, the expression – and with it the fashion – has caught on well.
   On account of its climate and its congested roads, the UK has a long history of cabin-style campsites and seaside caravan parks, traditionally taken up by permanent rows of identical rental units. In other parts, farmers and landowners have long been renting out cabins, even fixed tents, as a way of bringing in extra income. Well before the start of the 21st century, some of these small holiday lets were quite up-market, nicely furnished and well appointed; the practice of glamping existed in the UK quite some time before the word was invented.
   Since the early years of the century, in line with the surge in popularity of outdoor pursuits such as hiking and mountain-biking, glamping has been one of the fastest expanding sectors in the hospitality sector in the UK.  All over the UK, farmers and landowners have invested seriously in furnished good-quality and good-value "light"  forms of self-catering accommodation aimed at city-dwellers in search of a natural break - cabins, teepees, tents, pods, hobbit houses  and even quirky or historic caravans, forms of accommodation that provide an experience that is memorably different from city or suburban living.
    Naturally, in the absence of any formally accepted definition of what glamping is, the rising popularity of the word has led to abuse, with some campsites using the word glamping as an excuse to raise the prices of a few redecorated but otherwise fairly basic mobile homes. One guide now lists close to 1000 glamping sites in the UK.
   
    For the time being, Good-glamping.com does not list glamping sites in the UK, as these can be easily located using Google or another internet search engine. Glamping in the UK is now a relatively mature sector of the hospitality industry. In other parts of Europe, glamping is less-well established, and finding good glamping sites is not so easy. Good-glamping.com makes the job easier, as we have sought out and listed some of the best glamping sites in France, Spain and Italy : other countries will follow.
   On the continent, as in the UK, the word glamping has been abused and has been used by some very unglamorous campsites as a buzz-word to make things sound better and more attractive than they really are.
   For Good-glamping.com, the best and most authentic glamping sites are all small sites located in a calm and attractive natural environment. Our directory pages include only dedicated glamping sites with a maximum of 20 units (and in most cases far less than 20 units), or else glamping opportunites available on small traditional campsites with a maximum of 60 spaces, including fixed units and camping pitches.

Adding new glamping sites to this guide:
Recommend a good glamping site. If you run or have stayed in a small glamping site that you think ought to be in this directory, contact Good-glamping.com with details.  We welcome your suggestion.
Listing criteria. Good-glamping.com only lists dedicated glamping sites with a maximum of 20 units, and small human-scale campsites that include glamping facilities but have a total number of pitches not exceeding sixty.

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