What makes the best campsite in Scotland? Is it a wild and beautiful location? Clean facilities? Plenty of things to do around the site? A campsite that allows fires? Well in Greenhillock Glamping near Forfar in Angus, I may have a contender for you.
Opening in 2016, Greenhillock has been over 20 years in the making. Once an unproductive dairy farm, landowner Bryan and daughter Katy and husband Stig have turned their fields over beautiful wildflower meadows, in which a small camping and glamping site now flourishes.
With 25 pitches for tents and pre-pitched bell tents (complete with double bed) you are spoilt for choice. Adults only? There is a spot for you. Huge family with a 20 person tent-mansion, you are welcome too. Onsite, the facilities are great, with a Field Kitchen for cooking in if it rains (with lots of advice on things to do around the site) and the prettiest eco-loos I have ever seen.
We visited Greenhillock Glamping for the first time back in May – we loved the site, the eco-conscious ethos (nearly everything is run on a huge solar panel) and the friendliness of the owners, who popped round to say hello, share a beer with us, and talk all things hillwalking, birdwatching and campsite owning.
We had an amazing weekend exploring the sunny Angus Coast, eating fish and chips in Arbroath, exploring Dunnottar Castle, walking on the beach at the stunning Lunan Bay and bagging Mayar and Driesh at Corrie Fee in the nearby Cairngorm National Park. We left promising to come back when the flower meadow, and the site was in full bloom.
As huge camping enthusiasts we were also keen to introduce our niece to her first camping experience – however we were not quite ready to risk our nights sleep on an airbed in our small tunnel tent – we had decided on a more luxurious Bell Tent for her first sleeping outside experience. We were able to pitch our tent nearby and then join the family for long evenings on the bell tent’s decking sat around the campfire.
By day, the campsite was a total haven for kids, with hidden paths cut in between the wildflowers (challenge your kids to find the fairy glen), an art tent, bug den, pond for dipping, and a corner for den building. There are morning wildlife sessions with campsite helper Beth (pop your name on the board in the Field Kitchen) but for the most time, the site is just perfect for informal play – and making up your own adventures.
Mornings aren’t punctuated by traffic noises, but instead by a rather loud morning chorus for the huge number of birds in the hedgerows, a little whinnying and stamping from the horse farm next door, and occasionally a loud cow.
By night, the campsite is perfectly still, and if the weather is for you, its isolation means perfect dark skies for spotting the milky way – and the occasional friendly midge eating Pipistrelle Bat. Being located on the East Coast, we rarely saw a midgie the whole weekend – a total bonus for camping in Scotland in summer!
Greenhilock Glamping is an utter gem and has rocketed up my list of my favourite campsites in Scotland. Camping chair out, coffee on the stove, or wine in hand, and with the grass tickling your feet, life couldn’t be more perfect.
Love from Scotland x
You can book through the Greenhillock Website, or through the Cool Camping website. Visit Greenhillock Glamping. The Greenhillock Wildlife Blog is also a great read.
The travel blogger and photographer behind Love from Scotland
gillianswalks
Wednesday 24th of January 2018
This sounds great for my kids! Question - being in a wildflower meadow, were bees, wasps etc a problem? Thank you.
Kathi Kamleitner
Thursday 27th of July 2017
This looks amazing! My partner is not a fan of camping - hates ruining his back on an air mattress... - but I'm sure he'd be keen to give this a go! My best friend and her partner are visiting us soon, this might be the perfect thing to do!
Tanja
Thursday 27th of July 2017
looks great! I need to try glamping:)