Go Wild Camping in a Motorhome or Campervan

Modern life can be all-consuming. Sometimes there is literally no escape from the loudness, the lights of technology screens and the lack of privacy. Messages are constantly pushed into our faces, whether through digital hoardings, televisions, PCs, laptops and tablets, radios or mobile phones… There’s also very little escape from the fact that you are contactable for pretty much 24 hours of each and every day. It’s a relentless world!

Whatever happened to the sense of freedom that being ‘below radar’ brings? How do you find something you can enjoy doing which switches you off from all other constraints and demands on your attention? It’s quite a feat to find anything close to that in these hugely interconnected days – but you can.

What Is Wild Camping?

Wild camping is, quite simply, and as the name suggests, camping in the wild. Exactly how wild depends on the individual circumstance, but in general you will pitch up or park up somewhere other than on a designated campsite – and certainly away from other people. This could mean you camp in woodland, on a mountainside or in a field, and you go off-grid and back to basics. In other words, in some way you reconnect with nature, leaving all the bleeps and bright screens behind, as well as the overbearing responsibilities of interacting with other human beings for most of each day.

Wild camping in campervans or motorhomes is the act of taking your vehicle to a remote spot which has no access to such as running water or electricity. In effect you will be in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nature. It’s also sometimes referred to as motorhome free camping or off-grid motorhoming.

Where Can You Wild Camp in the UK?

Large swathes of land in England are privately owned and so, strictly speaking, wild camping is against the law. The same can be said of Wales and Northern Ireland. Current legislation does not give people access to someone else’s land. You should not park your motorhome on ‘wild camping’ ripe land without getting the permission of the land owner.

If you wild camp without permission, you are committing a civil offence. The chances of being arrested for this are relatively low, but you will certainly be requested to vacate the land. If you comply with the request that is likely to be the end of the matter, but if you are repeatedly ‘caught’ then it could ‘go further’ and you will end up in court and be fined for trespassing.

We don’t condone trespassing, of course, or anything else that does not comply with the laws of the land. However, you will find that if you seek permission of the land owner to wild camp / park on their land, many will allow you to do so as long as you remain respectful of the land at all times. It may be ‘wild’ camping, but don’t ‘go wild’. This means no crazy rave parties or large campfires or handbrake turning in your motorhome, which will damage the condition of the land it is on. The most important ‘rule’ of wild camping is that you should leave the land you have been on in the same condition it was in when you arrived.

What Are the ‘Rules’ of Wild Camping?

Although there is not an official list of rules that you must comply with when wild camping, there is a generally accepted code of conduct which people adhere to. It’s a way to keep the standards within acceptable boundaries, and to ensure that wild camping doesn’t become a free-for-all of careless and destructive behaviour which damages the countryside. Much of it is common sense.

1. Don’t litter! Take all of your rubbish away with you. Every last piece of it. Don’t leave anything behind which wasn’t there when you arrived.
2. Only ever light fires when it is completely safe to do so, and make sure that they are always small, with no danger of getting out of control.
3. Don’t remove or damage anything in the natural surroundings. In other words, try not to move or take away rocks, logs or flowers.
4. Reduce impact! Keep your group small. Don’t wild camp in one spot with eight people as that is eight times more the likelihood of causing damage or having a negative impact.
5. Move on! Don’t stay in the same location for more than a single night.

Here at Spinney, we believe that your leisure vehicle is more than just a vehicle. It’s the key to a better way of life – even if you only step through for a weekend or a week or two here and there. Wild camping ups the ante on the sense of freedom you will gain from having your own campervan or motorhome. You can check out all of the vehicles available from us by browsing our website, and if you would like to speak to someone we will be more than happy to answer any queries if you get in touch. Happy (wild) camping!