Dernwood Farm
Woodland Campsite and Luxury Glamping with Delicious Farm Produce & Cafe
Woodland campsite and luxury glamping…
We run a family-owned working farm in the heart of the Sussex Weald offering a woodland campsite and luxury glamping, located between Brighton, Eastbourne, and Tunbridge Wells.
Woodland Campsite
Our woodland pitches and camping meadow sit in the middle of 70 acres of ancient coppiced woodland. We welcome campers who love wild camping with open fires, and we happily allow dogs. Our site accommodates tents only.
The Encampment offers an exclusive woodland camping experience with three pitches surrounding a natural pond, it works brilliantly if you book all 3 pitches as you’ll have the whole area to yourselves, equally the pitches are big enough to give you privacy. It includes its own tree bog loo and a covered washing up area.
Luxury Glamping
We provide a range of gorgeous glamping options. Our bell tents, located in private clearings, feature wood-burning stoves and toilet and shower facilities. At the top of the glamping scale, our safari tent sits in a sunny woodland glade and includes 2 bedrooms & a double cabin bed, a wood-burning range, a hot shower, and hot water, and a fantastic outside pizza oven! This setup delivers the ultimate luxury camping experience.
The Cabin, designed and built by William Hardie Designs and inspired by architect George Clarke, showcases local resources and timber from our ancient coppice woodland. Channel 4 filmed the entire process for the third series of George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces. The Cabin includes a large wood-fueled hot tub, perfect for relaxing together.
The Wagon, our charming gypsy caravan, provides a cozy retreat for two. It features a wood-fired hot tub crafted from a Victorian cast iron water trough. You can soak in the tub under the stars in your private woodland clearing, sitting in the hot tub watching the stars in your secluded woodland clearing will shake off the city blues.
Our newest addition, The Shepherd’s Hut, makes a fantastic family option. It sleeps four, with a cool loft bed for two children and a sofa that converts into a large double bed. Inside, you’ll find a walk-in wet room with a hot shower and running water. The tree-bog toilet, designed to look like a tiny chapel, sits tucked away in the corner of the clearing. Like all our accommodations, The Shepherd’s Hut features a private woodland clearing with a fire pit, outdoor seating, and a table on a spacious deck.
We carefully place all our accommodation, nestled in secluded woodland clearings. Unlike many other sites, we ensure you aren’t crowded into a field with no privacy. Our site immerses you in the woodland, allowing you to reconnect with nature, unplug from technology, and escape urban life. check out the farm map with a virtural tour which gives you a great sense of where everything is on the farm.
As one recent TripAdvisor reviewer put it, “re-wilding the children at Dernwood.” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves!
We welcome dogs to our campsite as long as they pass the tickle test and their owners keep them under control. However, we do not allow any breeds banned under the Dangerous Dog Act.
Home Grown Meat – Perfect for BBQ’s
We produce our own beef from our pedigree herd of Sussex cattle. Our pork is bred from traditional breeds such as the Saddleback, crossed with the Large Black. We also have a small flock of Southdown sheep.
A selection of all our meat is available buy from our shop during your stay. If you would like to pre-order any meat have a look at our options here so that it is ready for your arrival please drop me an email. We always have burgers, sausages and bacon ready to go, but as we are small scale everything else goes in the freezer so if you want steaks etc for your arrival please let me know. Otherwise come and have a good look when you’re here. All our glamping options have tripods and dutch ovens which cook a mean stew, and we always have diced beef braising and diced lamb available.
In our shop, alongside our own meat and eggs, we stock a range of basics to get you through your stay.
Dernwood’s Cafe
Our cafe serves great coffee, milkshakes and loaded hot chocolates, breakfasts/ brunches until 12.30 made with our own bacon, sausages and eggs, (we have veggie options too) and cold snacks available all day all cooked by the lovely Emma! The cafe is open at weekends and then everyday during school holidays. Please visit the cafe page for menus and more informaiton.
Events
Ruby Taylor from Native Hands is again running her wonderful wild basketry and pottery courses – details are on our events page.
We are excited to be running a Woodland Children’s groups again this year with Laura Warren please click here for more information. This is for campers and non-campers like!
