What IS gastro camping?

It’s the best of the two worlds we love – eating good food and camping! So simple! So obvious! And yet, so rare. 

We’ve found places that do pizzas or get street food trucks in, but nowhere seems to be doing our proper old-fashioned hospitality and  hearty,  home-cooked food (all over live fire) using local and seasonal ingredients. So  we needed to give it a name.  Everyone knows what a gastro-pub is, so the easiest shorthand to explain what we do is ‘gastro-camping’!

Tell me more!
Well. What could be better than sitting down to a delicious meal with friends and family in glorious, relaxed surroundings? No need to worry about babysitters,  designated drivers, getting home; it’s all just there. All the best bits, with none of the stuffiness or formality that eating out can sometimes come with. There’s a sense of ritual and occasion, but it’s all utterly relaxed. Kids come and go, no-one is worried about table manners and if you want to lie in the grass and have a snooze after you’ve eaten, go ahead! 

It began when Griff decided to start cooking stew for campers on Friday nights, knowing from experience that the packing, getting there from work, putting up a tent (usually with a row) and then having to produce a meal is enough to test the most patient of souls. 

Read what The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Times, BBC Good Food and Countless Other Campers have to say about our food!

I’ve heard about your Feasts – is that the same thing?
No  – we cook breakfast and supper every day for our campers but our Feasts are  ticketed one-off dining events where we collaborate with some amazing chefs – see our Feasts page.

So how does it work?
In advance: We’ll contact you a week or so before your stay with the menu for the nights you’re staying and ask for your orders in advance to avoid waste. We cook one meat and plant-based option each evening – no need to choose; a joy in itself. Prices range from between £10-20 per portion and we do half portions at half price. You don’t pay in advance – you can run a tab for everything while you’re with us; wood, food, drinks etc and settle up when you leave. Very much like a posh hotel. 

Onsite: Once onsite, you can book a time to eat with us on the day you’re eating (we don’t take advance bookings because the best-laid arrival timings oft go awry). You bring all your own plates, cutlery etc and wash them up after – stuff like this means we can keep costs and waste down. You can sit wherever you like – back at the tent; with others or separately at our tables; on the grass – it’s camping!  We’ll always try to do a bit more in case the delicious smells lure some late-comers, but once it’s gone, it’s gone. 

Do you cook at all your sites? 
Yes – our two regular sites, Chapel Field in East Sussex and Westerlands in West Sussex, both have exactly the same offering. To find out about the food at our smaller, exclusive hire site, the Round Hill in East Sussex, get in touch through the contact form or give us a ring!