Since we converted our Renault Trafic into a campervan back in 2017, we’ve been on a fair few camping trips – the majority of which have been in the New Forest (as it’s so close to us) and in Dorset. We’ve found that in order to find good campervan friendly campsites in the New Forest, a bit of research is needed – some campsites simply don’t welcome campervans, and you have to be careful when it comes to facilities too. We’ve noticed that quite a few of the campsites in the New Forest that welcome campervans have very basic – or no – facilities, and when you are camping in a campervan it’s normally good practice to do your research to make sure a campsite has water access, electric hook-up if possible and decent toilet & shower facilities, at the very least.
To give you a bit of insight into our camping needs, our campervan is fairly basic when it comes to facilities – we don’t have running water, a sink or toilet and shower facilities. For us, our campervan has served us very well as a glorified bed on wheels, which is exactly what we want for now! We do have a portable fridge and an extra battery inside our campervan, which means we ideally need electric hook-up where available – so the pitches we book normally include a small premium for access to the electric. However, our extra battery does allow us to camp at campsites which don’t have electric hook-up – so we can be flexible on this. Size wise, our van is a short wheel-base, low roof Renault Trafic, making it a very compact campervan – but allowing us to fit into most campsites and car parks.
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We also have our bright orange sheltaPod awning, which we absolutely LOVE – this has been a brilliant accessory since we bought it, and seems to be much better than any other campervan awnings on the market. It’s even compatible with cars if you don’t have a campervan! You can read more about why we love our sheltaPod here (plus there’s an affiliate discount code for you to use if you fancy buying your own one!).
So, onto our recommendations for campervan friendly campsites in the New Forest – all tried & tested by us!
TOM’S FIELD, FORDINGBRIDGE
I’m going to be honest and tell you that this is absolutely our favourite campervan friendly campsite in the New Forest – it offers so much more than any other campsite we’ve visited, and we just love the location! For this reason, Tom’s Field (not my Tom – another Tom!) is often fully booked – so you can struggle to book a pitch if you’re not organised.
Tom’s Field is located near Fordingbridge, in a very quiet area of the New Forest surrounded by horses & cows – of course, if you’ve visited the New Forest before you’ll be used to the roaming animals you see all over the national park. Tom’s Field is only open on weekends from June to August each year, which is one of the reasons why it is in such high demand. The other reason, of course, is their facilities!
At Tom’s field, these are the facilities you can expect to find:
- Toilet / Shower block – separate M & F areas (with 2 showers & 2/3 toilets)
- Hot water washing up area
- Drinking water taps around the site
- Ice pack freezing & phone charging, free of charge
- Onsite shop – including fire logs, fire pits for hire, charcoal
- Community shop each morning – including bread, milk, pastries and other essentials
- Food catering available on Saturday evenings – normally alternating between a pizza van and fish & chips
- Ice-cream van visits
- Unfortunately there is NO electric hookup (we always rely on our backup battery for electric which lasts us 2/3 days just fine)
The campsite is split into two sections – the large, open field at the entrance to the site is for family camping, making it perfect for groups of families to go away for the weekend together. If, like us, you prefer some peace and quiet while you’re camping, at the other end of the campsite is a secluded section which is only for adults – a much more private area to camp in and perfect for couples. As you will have guessed, this is where we always choose to reserve our pitch!
When you book a pitch at Tom’s Field, they allocate a specific pitch to you before you arrive – so there’s no need to worry about whether there will be space. Each pitch in the adults field is clearly marked with a number and the boundaries of the pitch, with plenty of room for your campervan & awning.
We normally take advantage of the food options available – it would be rude not to! On each of the times we’ve camped at Tom’s Field, the pizza van has visited – so we can vouch for how good it is. An ice-cream van also visits the campsite, which is perfect on a hot weekend!
Tom’s Field typically only accepts bookings for 3 nights, but we’ve stayed for 2 nights before and just paid the full price – it’s not too expensive, so it doesn’t bother us too much.
For normal 3 night bookings, the standard price is usually £42 for a pitch, and on bank holiday weekends the price is £54. You can book a pitch online, and payments are all taken at the time of booking.
If you haven’t yet stayed at Tom’s Field, I’d absolutely recommend a visit – we love it there and can’t wait to return.
Visit the Tom’s Field website here.
MEADOW TREE FARM, ROMSEY
Meadow Tree Farm is an adults only campsite on the outskirts of Romsey, and is a fairly new campsite. Most of the time this is a working farm, so if you visit you can expect to see various farm machinery. They are open from May to September, and only offer camping on select weekends – for tents, motorhomes and campervans.
They offer a more basic range of facilities, with a very simple toilet / shower block and hot water washing up. However, they do have electric hook-up available – plus, this is a dog-friendly website, so perfect for anyone who has a canine companion who also likes camping. They also allow BBQs & fire pits if the weather hasn’t been too hot & dry – but they don’t have any available to rent, so if you want a fire you’ll have to bring your own fire pit.
At Meadow Tree Farm, these are the facilities you can expect to find:
- Basic toilet / shower block with 3 toilets & 1 shower (on our visit, we didn’t fancy the look of the shower so opted for glamorous wet-wipe showers instead…)
- Hot water washing up
- Electric hook-up
- Drinking water taps
There are two types of pitches available at Meadow Tree Farm – woodland tent pitches, which are tucked away & more private, and field pitches for campervans & motorhomes. Electric hook-up is available for both areas, which is an extra £5 when you make your booking.
The pitches are not allocated when you book, but if you book a pitch with electric hook-up (like we did), then you will be guided towards the nearest hook-up point for you set up camp. On our visit, we arrived fairly early in the afternoon and were able to get a good spot right next to an electric point – but the field very quickly filled up, so I’d suggest arriving early.
One of the issues I had with Meadow Tree Farm was the lack of allocated pitches and electric points – as there weren’t that many electric points, other people with campervans & motorhomes who had also booked an electric pitch ended up camping much closer to us than we had expected! Our previous experience (mostly at Durdle Door Holiday Park) has been of 1 electric point per pitch, so this was a new experience for us.
Field pitches for campervans & motorhomes are £20 for a standard pitch and £25 for an electric pitch.
Overall, Meadow Tree Farm is a good, cheap place to camp for a weekend if you’re planning to do some activities locally – for us, it was a good experience but we did find it to feel quite crowded, not very private and a little loud in the evenings. The facilities are also very basic, which is worth bearing in mind – but the electric hook-up is a good perk and we would stay here again!
Visit the Meadow Tree Farm website here.
DOT’S FIELD, FORDINGBRIDGE
Dot’s Field is a lovely campsite, tucked away down a winding lane in the New Forest around 2 miles from Fordingbridge. We really enjoyed our stay at here, but unfortunately on the weekend we had booked to go camping here it was very high winds, which meant we only ended up staying for one night as the weather meant we had to pack up and leave! Dot’s Field is very spacious, with plenty of pitches for tents or campervans and lots of great facilities. It’s worth noting that the entrance to Dot’s Field is very, very narrow (and also hard to spot!) – so you may want to bear this in mind if you have a larger campervan than ours.
This is a family friendly & dog friendly campsite, so expect lots of family groups when you stay. We found the campsite to be very quiet when we stayed here, partly due to the well-spaced pitches and long grass. In my opinion, Dot’s Field is a very well laid out campsite! They also have an excellent range of facilities – but unfortunately, no electric hook-up is available.
At Dot’s Field, these are the facilities you can expect to find:
- Toilets & showers (3 toilets & 2 showers, plus an additional 2 sinks)
- Drinking water tap
- Washing up sinks
- Freezer for ice packs is available
- Onsite shop selling essentials, fire logs, kindling & fire lighters
- Fire pits available for hire
- Freshly baked pastries & fresh coffee or tea is available to purchase in the mornings
- Onsite Pygmy goats & Kune Kune pigs for children (and adults) to meet!
When we visited Dot’s Field, we actually arranged a visit with some friends of ours – and we were allocated a large pitch to share, which was brilliant. The owner who greeted us was very friendly and it was easy to check in & find our pitch.
We were pleased with the facilities here – the toilets were reliable (but sort of outdoors – so be prepared to get friendly with some bugs!) and we didn’t have a chance to try the showers as our trip was cut short. I also don’t remember there being a light in the toilets for the evenings – so make sure you have a good torch.
Dot’s Field is slightly more expensive at £29 per pitch per night, but they do allow you to book 2 nights instead of 3 nights if you prefer – which can be hard to find when searching for campsites! You can book a pitch at Dot’s Field via CoolCamping – which is also a great website to use when searching for other campervan friendly campsites in the New Forest & across the UK.
We’d recommend staying here, and we’d like to return for a full weekend as our trip was cut short. This would be a great place for families or friends to camp at – but they don’t allow large groups of people, similar to most campsites.
Visit the Dot’s Field website here.
CAMPERVAN FRIENDLY CAMPSITES IN THE NEW FOREST
I hope you’ve enjoyed this guide to campervan friendly campsites in the New Forest! We enjoyed our stays at all three of these campsites, and we definitely have more that we would like to visit.
Out of the three I’ve recommended, Tom’s Field is our personal favourite – for us, it does offer the best facilities and beautiful, fairly private adult pitches which is great.
Alternatively, if you’re looking for a good campsite in Dorset, we would absolutely recommend Durdle Door Holiday Park – we’ve stayed here more times than anywhere else, and it’s by far the best campervan friendly campsite that we’ve found. Their facilities are excellent and – best of all – Durdle Door & Lulworth Cove are right on your doorstep! Have a read of this post for more information.
Do you have any campervan friendly campsites in the New Forest or elsewhere that you recommend we try? Let me know – we’re always on the lookout!
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