Wolford Woods Wild Camping: A Perfect Cotswolds Weekend Escape

James
Jun 16
5 min read

Updated: Jul 28

wolfood wood cotswolds camping review

Wolford Wood Quick Summary

Wolford Woods is a back-to-basics wild camping site near Moreton-in-Marsh in the Cotswolds, set across meadows and ancient woodland with fire pits and good facilities, five minutes from The Bell pub.

Campsite Scorecard

Location ⛺⛺⛺⛺

Setting & Views ⛺⛺⛺⛺⛺

Facilities ⛺⛺⛺⛺

Value for Money ⛺⛺⛺⛺

Food & Drink Nearby ⛺⛺⛺⛺⛺

Peace & Quiet ⛺⛺⛺⛺⛺

Price per night: 22 a night, 8.5 for children

Hook up: No

Dogs welcome: No

Campfires: Yes

Nearest town: 40 to 45 mins walk / drive 5 mins

Best for: Tent / Solo / Couples / Groups

Nothing beats a quick, one-night camp on a really hot summer's day in the UK. For this trip, I packed up all my essential motorbike camping kit onto the Royal Enfield and hit the road. My mate Davo met me there in his car with all the gear to make pizzas.

The Campsite we chose: Wolford Wood wild camping near Moreton in Marsh

We met up at Wolford Woods wild campsite which is just by Moreton in Marsh Cotswolds. If you’re like me and hate big commercial campsites with hundreds of people and kids running about everywhere, this place is right up your street. Wolford Woods wild camping.

It’s a back to basics style site with a strict "no trace" ethos, spread across 40 acres of meadows and ancient woodland. It honestly feels like wild camping, which I love, but you still get decent facilities. Its not proper wild camping but its as good as its gets in this area.

The Setup: It’s heavily spaced out, and you’re totally free to choose your own pitch right out in the wild flowers.

The Cost: £22 per adult for camping.

The Facilities: They’ve got good toilets, showers, and a big shared kitchen area with a fridge, kettle and sinks. You can also rent fire pits on site.

The Cabins: They do have 4 different style cabins to hire if you want a bit of luxury, but camping is always my preferred choice.

Wolford Woods: There’s a massive woodland right next to the site for big walks, and you can even do some foraging and wildlife spotting if you’re into that, i am.

Tip: They keep wheelbarrows by the entrance for you to haul your gear over to your spot. This was a lifesaver for us, because we were planning to cook pizzas from scratch later and had a fair bit of kit.

The Local Pub: The Bell Inn

The day we got there was a boiling hot summer day with clear skies. Once the camp was set up, we headed straight into Moreton in Marsh to hit the local pub. We went to The Bell and honestly, I think it’s the best pub in the area. It's a proper old school Cotswold pub right in the middle of the village, full of locals, with good beers and ciders and a great beer garden at the back that does pizzas. The local fish and chip next door always seems to very busy especially on a Friday evening maybe next time.

The Food: Fire-Fired Pizzas & Wings

After 3 or 4 beers, we headed back down the road to the campsite to get the food sorted. Davo brought his Totalcool fridge 45L plugged into his Anker powerbank, which kept the beers and all the fresh pizza ingredients perfectly cold.

We got our Gozney gas pizza oven up to temperature, and I rolled out the homemade 24 hour fermented dough into balls let them rest a bit while prepping the toppings and having another cold cider, naturally.

The pizza ovens we love. Gozney pizza ovens for sale

We made two different styles from scratch:

The Burger Pizza: A homemade tomato sauce base topped with ground local burger meat from the butchers, red chillies, chopped gherkins, red onions, herbs, mozzarella and a drizzle of special burger sauce. It came out a little burnt but tasted absolutely brilliant.

The Spicy Meat Pizza: A traditional homemade tomato sauce base with salami, 'Nduja sausage, olives, mozzarella, red chillies, and fresh basil. Excellent flavour, even if the shapes weren't perfectly round!

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We also tossed some hot buffalo wings into the oven just to pick on. They were okay, but I overcooked them a bit. The oven was still to hot.

making pizzas cotswolds camping review
making pizzas cotswolds camping review

We had a great afternoon and evening just chilling out, looking at the stars at night with hardly any noise from anywhere. It was the perfect little escape from any city life.

Morning After: Lynwood & Co

After a great sleep in the tent, we packed up our gear after a decent lie in and went back into Moreton in Marsh. We stopped at Lynwood & Co for a flat white coffee and picked up some fresh sourdough bread to take back home.

The Verdict: Wolford Woods wild camping

Would I stay here again? 100 per cent. It’s a great location, near a couple of good towns Chipping Norton isn’t far away either. It gives you that raw, wild camping feeling but has good facilities.

Overall 8.5./ 10

The Non-Negotiables: Small Kit That Makes a Big Difference

It’s the small details on a trip that make the biggest difference between a smooth setup and a headache. Whether it’s getting proper coffee on the move, avoiding a pitch-black stumble across a quiet campsite at night, or getting a fire roaring without fuss, these are some of the bits of kit I never go camping without:

🔦 Energizer Vision HD+ 260 Lumen Head Torch, Super Bright LED, for the 3am toilet run when the curry's kicking in

☕ AeroPress Original Coffee Press – 3 in 1 Brew Method, 3-in-1 brew method, unbeatable travel coffee kit that permanently lives in the van.

💨 Flextail Portable Air Pump, Not only does it make quick work of topping up the airbed and stoking campfires, but with its built-in light and USB rechargeable battery, it eliminates the need for extra lanterns and bulky manual pumps.

🔥 200 Firelighters – Ecoblaze Natural Firelighters , ands-down the best natural firelighters you can buy for getting the BBQ and fire pit going effortlessly.

Planning your next weekend escape?

Wolford Woods is our go-to for a genuine, rustic wild camping feel. Check out where it ranks on our complete guide to the best places to camp in the Cotswolds for more tried-and-tested pitches, farm shops, and local food spots.