UKC

The camp site at Bosherston (Glebe camp site) has shut down. The farm has been sold and the new owners don't want to take on the camp site.

Alternatives are available at St Petrox - http://www.ukclimbing.com/listings/info.php?id=12&t=stay
and Thorne Chapel Bunkhouse and camping - http://www.ukclimbing.com/listings/info.php?id=205&t=stay

Alan

In reply to Alan James - UKC:

Bugger, thats a real shame!

In reply to Alan James - UKC:

End of an era.

In reply to Alan James - UKC:

(Camp)site of one of my best ever climbing trips. Sad news.

In reply to Alan James - UKC:

Shame an end of an era, although it's a few years since I last camped there.

In reply to Alan James - UKC: Thats not good. Stared at Katy Whittaker last time as there, highlight of my climbing career to date.

In reply to Alan James - UKC:


That is a real shame, lots of fond memories there.

In reply to freemanTom (Guildford MC):

"Stared at Katy Whittaker last time as there, highlight of my climbing career to date."

Ey? Sounds a bit weird that.

In reply to Alan James - UKC:

Absolutely gutted.

Chatted to the owner when we were there last year and he was saying that he was trying to sell the place.
He seemed genuinely sad about the possibility of the campsite closing.

In reply to Alan James - UKC:

So many good times had in that campsite. And not all climbing related.

One of highlights of my driving career also happened here - a perfect handbrake turn (in the dark) and through the narrow gate in one fluid fast movement. Sweet perfection.

Fond memories indeed.

RIP campsite.

In reply to Alan James - UKC:
Is the other campsite still open? The Vicar's field I think?

In reply to ChrisJD:

Is this what used to be called the Vicars Field (narrow minibus wrecking entrance, no bogs etc)? Damn shame if so. Many good times had, staggering back from the St. Govans Inn after a grand day out.

In reply to danm:

Glebe Farm and 'the Vicars Field' are one and the same.

In reply to Alan James - UKC:

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

In reply to ChrisJD:

No they're not

The Vicars field is the field up the road from Glebe farm where there are no facilities

In reply to Dark Mavis:

Rockfax gives this Postcode for Glebe Farm: SA71 5DN

Google Maps:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&...

This the camp site with narrow gate, no facilities (tap in corner near entrance), close to Pub.

In reply to ChrisJD:

I'm pretty sure the Glebe Farm site is/was the walled field about 250m west of your 'A'.

Chris

In reply to ChrisJD:

No thats wrong - Glebe farm is the first Farm/campsite on the right as you come into Bosherston.

In reply to Chris Craggs:

Yes it is

In reply to Chris Craggs:

Yep, go to the map and click on Street view - it's all there. The pub's shown in the wrong place on that map though.

Enty

In reply to SCC:

Cried all the way to the bank, I bet.

In reply to Ada:

Well he wasn't going to make much cash selling camping at £2 a night (and in my experience not always collecting that.)

In reply to ChrisJD:

I dont about narrow gates but Glebe farm is not the vicars field and is not the place you linked on the map.

In reply to Dark Mavis:


We are talking about the same place - with the very narrow gate

Google 'A' based on postcode slightly in wrong place - the camping field is the L shaped area to left (sorry I thought that was bloody obvious to anyone who has been there) and I always thought this field was also known as the Vicarage field.

In reply to Alan James - UKC:

My favourite campsite, when not too crowded. Pembroke Septembers wont quite be the same. Very depressing news.

In reply to ChrisJD:


I don't think it is an especially narrow gate, just a very acute right turn to access the track into the field (when heading into Bosherston).

Way back we camped in the 'vicarage' (where the goat used to lurk) and that as where the 'A' is.


Chris

In reply to Chris Craggs:



Maybe you just drive small cars

In reply to ChrisJD:

Nope

Yes the L shaped field to the left IS the Vicars Field. Glebe farm is the farm/campsite left again and "bloody obvious to anyone who has been there".

In reply to Chris Craggs:

... and eat windscreen wipers, tent tensioners - anything made of rubber, in fact...

Just to confirm:

Glebe Farm camping has shut. This is the proper campsite on the right as you enter the village of Bosherston with a very acute turning to access it. This camp site opened a few years ago, I am not sure exactly when but post 2000.

The Vicar's Field is the legendary 'no facilities' camping area which is further up on the right with a narrow minibus-scraping entrance. This is probably the one with many of the fond memories above. As far as I am aware this fell out of use when Glebe opened and certainly last year when we were down there in May, the grass was wild and the field unusable for camping.

I have no idea what the plans are for the Vicar's Field but I doubt it is about to spring back into life again.

Alan

In reply to Alan James - UKC:

So the Vicar field went by the way side ages ago. Time flies.

What next, you going to tell me Ma Weston has shut !

In reply to Alan James - UKC:

Thank you

In reply to ChrisJD:
Ah Ma Weston,
Three choices: egg on toast, beans on toast, cheese on toast. No mixing allowed. Cheese and beans wobbled out on two separate plates.

In reply to Alan James - UKC:
As far as I am aware this fell out of use when Glebe opened and certainly last year when we were down there in May, the grass was wild and the field unusable for camping.

Well I, and about 30 others managed to camp there fine last May bank holiday, and I have camped there 9 times in total since 2004 and never had a problem. The chap from the house (?vicarage) just pops out to collect the money in the morning. In fact last year they had just finished installing a second tap further up the field.

In reply to Alan James - UKC:
>

I stayed there for the second May bank holiday last year. They had a sign up about planning consent for a toilet block, and there was evidence of some kind of building work going on at the far end of the field when I walked by in February, plus a new looking sign that said "Camping". The gate is a little wider than it used to be as well.

In reply to katonka:

So the Vicarage Field lives on !!

That's great to hear

(didn't think it was 'that' long since I was camping there)

In reply to ChrisJD:

People were still staying in the Vicars field last summer, and was still as cheap as ever.

In reply to Alan James - UKC:

I first camped at the vicarage on several occasions in the late 70s when the vicar was still in residence. The first CC guidebook had just been published but it was still very quiet on the crags with few climbers about. Nearly always we'd be the only ones camping there on summer weekends. You were allowed to use the vicarage's outside loo and get water from the garden tap. All very civilised.

At that time, the vicar and his wife had a very tame and curious ewe who would follow you everywhere. One morning we were woken up by loud shouting and swearing from my friend's tent next to ours. Coming back suitably hammered from the pub, he'd left the flysheet wide open and he'd woken up with the ewe lying fast asleep next to him!

Anyway, that's his story and he's stuck to it ever since.

He's never been allowed to forget it though and we still take the p*** out of him about it from time to time ....

In reply to Dave Williams:

Cant the BMC buy the campsite from the new owners, and set it up a going concern for us all. Be a good investment wouldn't it?

In reply to Alan James - UKC:

They obviously haven't got an eye for making money. they could have put in some facilities and then watched it roll in.

In reply to icemonster:

Not a bad idea but try getting farmers to part from land.

In reply to Alan James - UKC: http://www.windmillhillcaravanpark.co.uk/tariffs.php

In reply to Alan James - UKC:
This is desperately sad news for a number of reasons. The Glebe campsite was run by Paul and Lee Newberry and was a lovely place to stay, like camping in someones garden. They were(are) first rate peope, and have been brilliant offering an alternative to the shitty field up the road. Paul always kept the grass mown (£100 of fuel a time)and slowly developed the site over the years with numerous additions. He paid for extra Portaloos for the Bank Holiday weekends as he believed in offering a service for the £3.00 a night he charged (unlike the long grass and dog shit,narrow entrance field up the road) Paul and Lee were extremely kind to the campers and my experience was that they lent us pans and even dried our clothes one time. What people may not know, especially those who think he was laughing all the way to the bank etc is that a few years ago Paul was run over and nearly killed by a moving tank target on the range. He broke his back and spent the last few years in constant pain and undergoing regular physio and numerous operations. He has been struggling to keep things going, including the campsite. It actually became more than just a hobby and a way to meet people, it became a source of income to make up for the fact that he couldnt work on the range and had to give up his job with the coastguard. It also had to suppliment the protracted and usual business of getting the MOD to admit to its mistakes when someone is injured or killed on their turf.

What was supposed to be an idylic lifestyle and retirement, was destroyed when he had the accident and I know that running and maintaining the site was become more and more difficult. They effectively became prisioners at the site and in the village, as they struggled to get people to help look after it if they went away.

It is a real shame it has closed, but all of us who have stayed on the site over the years should be totally thankful and grateful for the effort that Paul and Lee put into making it a pleasant place for us to stay.

It is the end of an era which I will never forget and always look back to with appreciation to the efforts and friendship of Paul and Lee and their family.

Wherever they have gone to and whatever they are doing, I wish them all the best.

In reply to BZdavey:

Thanks for that. Never been there but seems that he was a really nice person who should have charged more for the facilities provided.

Perhaps that is a wake up call for those people who think £5 a night for decent facilities is too dear. Now it has gone.

In reply to BZdavey:

Nicely put. I always felt it was one of the nicest campsites i have stayed in in the world. They were lovely people in my experience too, hope they have a happy retirement.
I'm sure all us climbers will just find somewhere else perfectly nice to put our stinky tents up anyway.

In reply to Alan James - UKC:
Driving through Bosherston yesterday there were two fields next to each other offering camping. I didn't pay to much attention as to names etc, but there is definately room for a fair few tents on these sites, a minutes stagger from the Inn.

In reply to mountain.martin:

I camped at the little one at the weekend.

No toilets but a tap.

The national trust provided a lovely toilet just down the road though....

3quid per tent/night was pretty reasonable