Camp it up - the UK's top campsites

Whisky in a hot tub, wind up gramophones and a night in a Routemaster - there is so much more to modern camping that soggy sausages, says Gavanndra Hodge

For hippies
Belle Tents, Cornwall
Six bell tents, with colourful awnings and proper beds, nestle in this dell surrounded by foxgloves and daisies. There is also a party tent (with bar and sound system), a vegetable patch, chickens who'll provide your morning eggs, a shower block and kitchen tents with a gas stove and fridge. Days are spent with the wild ponies on Bodmin Moor or hunting for King Arthur at nearby Tintagel. Nights will be lost around the firepit, and if you're lucky you'll be joined by the owners Dave and Laura jamming on their guitar and flute.
£240 for an 'encampment' (two double sleeping tents, one kitchen tent) for a weekend (belletentscamping.co.uk)

For woodlanders
Blackberry Wood, East Sussex
This sylvan site has only 20 plots, each in their own glade with names such as Wobble and Boho, as well as a gypsy caravan and a converted Routemaster bus. Campfires are encouraged (but music is not); there is easy access to the South Downs Way and a good pub, The Jolly Sportsman, is a half-hour walk away. The facilities are basic (20p for a shower) but the fairy-tale location makes up for it.
£5 per tent per night and £9 per adult in July and August (blackberrywood.com)

For rugged types
Troytown Farm, Isles of Scilly
Troytown is on a spit of land next to Bergecooth Beach on St Agnes, the most southwesterly of the Scilly Isles. The island offers remote coves with turquoise waters, inquisitive seals and white-sand beaches. Come evening, a barbecue on the beach is hard to beat as the sun sets over the Atlantic.
From £7.50 per person and £1 per tent (troytown.co.uk)

For new-wave ravers
Fell Foot Wood, Cumbria
This is the home of wild woodland raving. Three yurts and two tipis occupy secret glades in a 20-acre forest on the edge of Lake Windermere, but the main event is the ivy-clad stage on which bands play and pancosmic poetry is recited. The next event, Woodland Gathering, on the weekend of 22 July, includes performances by Finnish folk freak Islaja, Mick Flower of the Vibracathedral Orchestra and a band called Skullflower. Recover the next morning under the stream-fed hot shower.
Tickets for Woodland Gathering £35 per person, including camping (fellfootwood.co.uk)

For pioneers
Country House Hideout, Shropshire
Unleash your inner explorer in a canvas construction Dr Livingstone would have been proud of. The 'living tents' have beds, toilets and candelabra, while the 'discovery tents' have all the equipment a nascent botanist requires: magnifying glass, telescope and wind-up gramophone. Ablutions can be conducted in the Victorian hot tub, and for illumination pedal the bike to get the electricity going. The hideouts are based in the grounds of country houses, including Acton Scott in Shropshire, as seen in the BBC's Victorian Farm.
£609 for a three-night weekend in July and August for up to six adults and two children (countryhousehideout.co.uk)

For secret agents
Ecopod Boutique Retreat, Scotland
If 007 were a man of the canvas, you would find him here, reclining on an Eames chair in a geodesic dome overlooking the glorious Loch Linnhe. The two ecopods boast wood-pellet biomass stoves, posh stereos, handmade kitchens and stag antlers; and when you're not drinking the complimentary whisky in the outdoor hot tub, you can try climbing nearby Glencoe or riding across the water (when the tide is low) to Castle Stalker.
£995 for a week in high season, sleeping two (domesweetdome.co.uk)