We have just spent a glorious sunny weekend in Southwold, Suffolk. I have been so lucky with my camping trips this year, I seem to have picked the best weekends, sitting outside the tent at 9.00 on a Monday morning with sun cream already applied and the sun streaming down I could have believed I was on holiday. Then we had to pack up!
I was not expecting too much from the campsite, we had decided to camp here as it was near to the town and although I had been to Southwold many times I had never been able to stop over night and enjoy a full weekend there. Southwold’s South Green is one of my top 5 village greens to sit on a hot summers and enjoy a pint, and we both wanted to enjoy one. Ditch the car!
I had read a few reviews of the site and the main thing that seems to let it down was the toilet facilities. I begrudgingly give them 6 out of 10 for these because there were plenty of them and were kept reasonably clean by the staff, unfortunately some of the other users did not seem to have the same respect but that’s not the fault of the park. The two blocks I checked out though were both in need of a good face lift but everything worked, the water was hot and the first shower I used was very powerful, so I didn’t risk trying any of the others and kept to the same one.
The site has a mobile shop that drives around every morning selling some basics items like newspapers, eggs, milk and juice. You’re only a 10 minute walk from the town though where amongst the lovely delis there is a Co-Op for essentials.
5 minutes walk up the harbour is the Harbour Inn where we had a really good meal of Smoked Haddock, Chips and Homemade Tartar Sauce. A little pricy for the novelty of having smoked fish instead of un-smoked but it was nice for a change. I had been warned that the beer was expensive here but it was no different to our local pub at home and it was a much nicer pint! Also along that stretch of the harbour are some fresh local fish shops including the Sole Bay Fish Company where you can bring your own bread and wine and sit down to a selection of fish and shell fish prepared on site for you – except on Mondays! Instead we bought some Soul and Scallops to take home with us.
It was nice to see other Bell Tents out and about too, especially as they were both very different from ours. One was the 5 meter size which now I have seen I realised it would have been too big for us, the other had the inner tent which I had considered because you can zip up your sleeping area to keep the bugs out but this is camping in England after all not Australia, I can handle a fly or two, I think the open plan tent has much more ‘Soul’.
We were able to light the stove again too which was very exciting as during our last trip we did not get the opportunity. We found some Hemp logs to burn in the fire and they burned so well that when we came to pack up the tent the stove was still warm, no wonder I had been so hot during the night.
Southwold Campsite:
Location: 10/10
Toilet Block: 6/10
Bell Tent Count: 3
Cost £15pn – pitch for 2 Adults
