Gimme Shelter – Mick Jagger under canvas
作者Mick Jagger is going camping! Well, yurting (yes, that’s a word). The large-lipped one has recently announced his intention of bedding down in a yurt at Glastonbury this year rather than going for the usual rock ‘n’ roll option of a five-star hotel. To which we say woot. And welcome. And don’t forget the loo roll.
Sir (also very rock ‘n’ roll) Mick says he is yurting ‘for the whole weekend’ and also that he thinks he will find ‘more cool places to hang out’ than his daughters Jade and Elizabeth. Well, of course you will, Sir Mick. You’re a famous rock star, after all – everywhere you go will be a cool place to hang out, given that people will be hanging onto your every word and probably providing your champagne. We would bring you champagne too if you hmmmed a bit of Paint it Black around the campfire.
Still, the cockles of even our cynical hearts have been warmed by this addition to the camping and glamping fold (see also: celebrity campervanners and Boris Goes Camping ). We’re pleased to hear too that Sir Mick has been camping before, setting up tents with his children in the Caribbean (which he describes as ‘the same as Brighton - there's just less chance of bad weather’. Quite.). And he’s been camping in France as a child, albeit in a very English manner:
‘We went camping all the time when I was a kid. Camping in France was our family holiday. And we brought baked beans with us, as we didn't trust that fancy foreign food. We were so totally English.’
To which we say, there is really nothing wrong with bringing Proper Beans on holiday when venturing outside the UK. And teabags. For the love of Og bring teabags, lest you be reduced to the overseas horror that is 'English breakfast tea', served without even a drop of milk. Barbarians. Anyhoo, all this considered, it’s only a matter of time before Mick – and possibly the rest of the Stones – are camping for real, wild camping in the depths of Scotland , snuggling down in a lakeside camping pod in Wales or staying in a gypsy wagon with full English breakfast delivered to the door .
And, by happy coincidence, we’ve just received an email from a Pitchup.com user new to camping who’d like to know about peaceful sites more suitable to some older campers and glampers. So in that spirit and in the spirit of the Stones, we bring you some Pitchup.com camping themes and peaceful campsites/parks where Sir Mick might get some satisfaction. You could even say these sites are Campin’ Jack Flash…
Play With Fire : Mick can heat up the baked beans at one of our 465+ sites with campfires allowed , and filter this search with tipis, yurts and wigwams to keep up the glamping Glastonbury theme. If he wants to stick to Somerset, he can book a bell tent or tipi and make some sweet music at Keens Cottage Camping in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the heart of Exmoor National Park, where guests can sit around the campfire and watch the stars, or even book in for music lessons if they’re not yet famous rock stars. If Glasto puts Mick off sleeping under canvas, Keens Cottage also has a luxury caravan for hire from £70 a night.
Midnight Rambler : Midnight rambling is an often unexpected side effect of festival-going due to getting lost on the way back to one’s yurt after a heady sample of the local brews. We also have a hefty helping of campsites in a walkers’ paradise , which again can be filtered with tipis, yurts and wigwams as well as other glamping options like camping pods , or with parks with caravans or lodges for hire.
If Mick’s cycling, motorbiking like a rock star or otherwise travelling light, the fully-equipped caravan at Chy Carne Camping and Touring Park in Cornwall should be just the (festival) ticket, and if he’s trying to save money (ha), the caravans at Devon’s Branscombe Airfield and Camping start from just £25. Both parks are listed as peaceful.
Rain Fall Down : Glastonbury is famous for its mud baths, and, as camping out in the rain might not be everyone’s cup of tea, we recommend looking for a holiday park or campsite where the essentials are all undercover. Mick can look for sites with a bar or clubhouse (natch), with an indoor swimming pool or with an on-site restaurant/café : Bucklegrove Caravan & Camping Park at Cheddar is one of our dozens of parks with all three , is also listed as a peaceful park, and has insulated and well-equipped luxury camping cabins from £50 a night. For wet weather camping, Mick can pick up some tips in our rainy camping checklist .
Wild Horses : Mick’s no stranger to horse-riding, as he played outlaw Ned Kelly in the eponymous Australian film of 1970. Sadly, the film ‘ was not very well received and ended Mick’s career as an actor ’. Awww, and he looks so brooding in the pics. Given that he was so panned by the critics, Mick may not want to try horse-riding again, but if he does want to get back in the saddle we have hundreds of sites with horse-riding nearby , again filterable by peaceful parks , sites with tipis, yurts and wigwams and dozens of other features as well as by date, price and user review.
We’d book Mick into Caalm Camp in Dorset , where there are luxury heated yurts with their own private heated shower room steps away, on a peaceful park with two equestrian centres nearby, a fishing lake on site and with campfires allowed. A four-night stay at Caalm Camp starts from £355-445 for up to six people.
Bonus song: Mother’s Little Helper : Not quite what the Stones meant when penning this song about little blue pills, and possibly not one for Mick any more now that his kids are (mostly) growed up. But if Mother or Father (or auntie, uncle, gran or granddad) need a little help on their camping break, they can look for sites with a kids’ club , take a look at our guide to ten top holiday park s or look for family-friendly sites , where there’s usually a play area or other facilities to keep young campers occupied. (If this is absolutely not your idea of a peaceful holiday for retired folks, here’s our guide to adults-only camping and caravanning .)
We’re sending this blog to Sir Mick forthwith, and hope to see him on one of the above campsites this summer. You can’t always get what you want? Yep, we think you can.