Camping at Grange Farm on the Isle of Wight

At this time of year, I like to reminisce about our camping trips. Just looking at pictures of our beautiful bell tent against a gorgeous blue sky is enough to take me back to those summer days, curled up in my pink camping chair drinking coffee and listening to the waves crashing on the shore, the seagulls wheeling overhead, and the kid in the tent next door demanding a snack.

Last year we camped on the east of the Island at Fakenham Farm in St Helen’s. This year we decided to head to the west, and pitched up at Grange Farm, a lovely family and dog friendly campsite on a cliff overlooking a wild shingle beach.

The site is quite large, with I think three different fields to choose from. Pitches aren’t allocated so you can choose whatever best suits you upon arrival. Quite a few across the site seemed to have hookup. The pitches seemed to vary in size - some were marked as maxi pitches with picnic tables, which I think cost more. It’s fairly windy due to the clifftop location - we found that the pitches towards the back and closest to the playground were the least windy, so that’s where we pitched. Also being right on top of the play area is jolly convenient when you have three children, as we could sit outside our tent and keep on eye on them without actually having to be in the playground. It worked out nicely for us as the family pitched in front of us went home after a couple of nights so we had an uninterrupted view of the sea.

Playground pitch.

A tent with a view.

View from our kitchen window :-)

Walking down to the beach - a couple of minutes from our tent.

Static caravans with a ringside seat.

The chine running through the moorland and down to the beach shingle. Everyone on the campsite - kids, adults and dogs - loved walking across the wobbly log bridge.

The beach was almost entirely shingle - I did manage to catch a few minutes where some sand materialised, but the tide seemed pretty high all day round.

Gorgeous sunsets.

Every morning we went for a walk around the site so the doggies could enjoy a morning constitutional and make some friends. We came across donkeys, sheep, goats, chickens and pigs.

Onesies, crocs and ponies.

High on the hills was a lonely goat.

Obviously we travel with our own livestock.

While we were there, a wood-fired pizza van visited the site (the same one that can be found at Freshwater on Fridays), and conveniently parked right outside our tent. It’s advised to order pizzas in advance, which I did via text message. They were most delicious. A fish and chip van also materialised one night - we ordered chips to go with the handmade burgers that we procured from the local village store in Brighstone (which sells everything - masses of fruit and veg, cheese, baguettes, locally baked goods, stamps, wine, Mermaid gin, ketchup - all the essentials) and cooked on our baby Weber. The site itself also has a shop selling sweets and plastic tat galore, along with croissants to be ordered in the morning, biscuits, crisps, milk and so on.

Pizza van.

Fish and chips by the sea, perfect.

The playground was ace - various tractors, boats and bits of fairground equipment plus swings, slides, a wobbly bridge and so on. All slightly hazardous but that’s part of the fun of being a kid.

Grange Farm is gorgeous at sunset thanks to the west-facing location. I had a lovely time wandering around and peeping into people’s tents (folk with bell tents are always happy to show you around) and chatting to fellow dog owners, of which there were many.

One of my best camping hacks is to take a strip of LED ribbon (for hook-up pitches). It makes the tent glow beautifully at night time.

Another favourite camping hack - stick a rubber duck onto the top of the front pole instead of a rain cap :-)

Most mornings I went for a run along the cliff, on the island coastal path, which gave a great view of the site and the beach. How lovely would it be to have one of these static caravans - what a cracking location. You can just about see the tip of our bell tent next to one of the telegraph poles.

I was tired after all that running and it was a hot day, so I had a little lie down on the cliff top amid the wild flowers :-)

The sea in this part of the Island is an extraordinary rust colour - I’ve never seen anything like it.

Miss Penelope adored the beach.

Three furry little beach bums :-) Doggies were allowed off the lead on Brighstone beach, but sometimes I didn’t feel like retrieving Enrique from the sea and Penny the intrepid seagull hunter from the other side of the beach and Cookie from some other dog’s nether regions, so I kept them on the lead.

The children loved playing on the little bridge over the chine, and scrambling up the cliff on the other side.

The doggies loved the chine too.

More hazy beach sunsets.

Our kids made friends with one of the nearby families, and grown-ups, kids and dogs all played together on the beach before heading back up to the site to toast marshmallows over the braai.

We loved Grange Farm - it’s a great location in west Wight, everyone on the site was very friendly, the owners were lovely, the campsite shop and the village shop in Brighstone (a five minute drive away) were super convenient, and the playground/animal combo kept the kids amused. My only complaint was the hot water taps in both the showers and the washing up area had to be held down to stay on, but I’ll take the amazing sea view as compensation.

Thank you for having us, Grange Farm. We’ll be back!