Cornwall
Working farm campsite on the St Agnes Heritage Coast, ten minutes from Chapel Porth
Beacon Cottage Farm is a working family farm on the Heritage Coast at St Agnes, set high on the slopes below St Agnes Beacon with long views out over the Atlantic. It is deliberately uncommercialised — no pool, no clubhouse, no entertainment — and is consistently rated among the best small campsites in Cornwall for exactly that reason. The pitches are spread across several small fields and a walled paddock, divided by stone hedges and hawthorn, which gives both shelter and a good deal more privacy than an open field.
The location is the main draw. Chapel Porth, a National Trust cove with a well-known café and dramatic cliffs on either side, is a walk of about ten minutes down the valley. The South West Coast Path runs along the top, past the Wheal Coates engine house — one of the most photographed relics of Cornwall's mining heritage — and on towards Porthtowan and St Agnes Head. The village of St Agnes, with pubs, a bakery and a couple of good restaurants, is a short drive or a longer walk inland.
Facilities are simple but well maintained: clean shower and toilet blocks, electric hook-ups on many pitches, a small shop for basics, and dishwashing and laundry areas. There is a 2.5-acre field set aside for exercising dogs, which are genuinely welcome here. Pitches start from around £28 a night, and the site is open from Easter through to the end of September. Because it sits high and close to the coast it catches the wind, so bring proper pegs and guy lines and pick a pitch with a hedge on the western side. It suits walkers, families with older children and anyone who wants dark skies and the sound of the sea rather than a swimming pool.