Wild Camp in the UK with a motorhome or campervan for free!

Ever wanted to go wild camping in your campervan or motorhome in Scotland, England or Wales, but weren’t sure on the rules or how to find free places to stay?

This post shares everything you need to know about motorhome and campervan travel and how to legally wild camp in the UK.

Wildcamping is one of our favourite ways to spend time in our camper- especially over the school holidays when campsites can become overcrowded. It’s something we plan every UK road trip.

It’s also a great way to explore the local area- I often use the motorhome parking apps to find overnight stops near me which are perfect for a quick weekend getaway.

I remember when we bought our very first motorhome- it seemed impossible to find all these amazing locations to stay overnight. HOW did people find free parking for campervans or motorhomes? Is it magic? (Spoiler- it’s not magic)

Wild camping sounds (and is) idyllic… but if you’ve never done it before it can definitely be intimidating.  Heck, is wildcamping even legal in the UK?

Don’t worry- it’s not as scary as it sounds and hopefully by the end of this post you’ll feel confident to go off for a little adventure.

We’ve wild camped in our camper all over Scotland, England and Wales (still waiting to try Northern Ireland!) and it’s our favourite way to spend the evening and explore the country.

Today, I’m sharing all our favourite tricks to find free overnight parking for motorhomes and campervans, in whatever area you want to spend time in.

What is wild camping for motorhomes?

Wild camping is literally free overnight parking. That’s it. My parents often laugh at me- they consider wild camping to be up a mountain with a tent, but when it comes to motorhomes or campervans, parking in the middle of nowhere with no services, electricity or anything else is often referred to as wildcamping. You can call it free parking or free camping if you prefer.

Planning a UK road trip? We’ve been touring the UK in our van for 2 years- watch the video below for some destination ideas and inspiration!! >>

What are the campervan parking laws for wildcamping?

Well, that depends on where you are. I go into this in greater detail below, but the short answer is: in Europe, you (generally) have a lot more freedom finding free overnight motorhome parking spots than you do in the UK. Sorry to say but it’s true. I break down the current camper wild camping laws for Scotland, England and Wales further down the post.

Wild Camp in the UK with a motorhome- Our first-time!

I remember the first time we considered wild camping in our van. I was absolutely TERRIFIED- I seriously thought we were going to be either murdered in our beds or woken up at 3am and moved on by the police (complete with a criminal record). Honestly, I’m not sure which one scared me most!

It all started when we headed off to Scotland for a week‘s holiday… and we didn’t have a plan. This was difficult for me because I am a PLANNER. The whole concept was totally alien and honestly not that much fun- I spent most of the day worrying about where we were going to stay for the night.

When we did find somewhere to stay I worried we were doing something wrong. I barely slept (although some of that had to do with the lorries which used our quiet side street as a rat run during the night- live and learn!)

But as the new morning dawned, here is exactly what happened on our first night of wild camping….. NOTHING. Not a thing. Nobody cared, nobody commented. It was a little anti-climatic- and yet completely free-ing. And the more we did it, the easier and more fun it became.

So if this is you, please rest assured. Less than 3 months after than first night, we merrily wild camped our way around Europe without any issues whatsoever. In fact, it was one of the best holidays we’ve ever had!

In 2018 we spent 5 weeks in Denmark, Norway and Sweden- and only stayed in a campsite for one night!

How to Wild Camp in the UK with a campervan- Practicalities

Ok, first things first. There’s no point planning a wild camping trip if your van/ motorhome/ vehicle isn’t set up for it. There are a couple of things to check first:

Water

Consider what your water requirements are. In the motorhome, we carry 95 litres, which is enough water for 3/4 days if we’re very frugal- but that does include a quick shower for each of us every day. There are some great solar devices which can store water on your roof so it warms up as you drive- allowing you to have a nice hot shower when you park for the night. We also carry a collapsible container like this, which is GREAT if we decide we want to stay away from civilisation for a little longer:

Waste

Consider your…errr… bathroom set up. Motorhomes are easy- but even with a bathroom/ toilet installed you need to make sure it has enough space to take …. anything you put into it. No point camping in the middle of nowhere and then realising the toilet is about to overflow & needs emptying.

Alternatively, consider how you will ‘do your thing’ in the woods/ countryside around you. You’ll need a small trowel or equivalent and a way of disposing of soiled toilet tissue- PLEASE don’t leave that in the woods. Waste (including urine) must be at least 100m and ideally 200m away from any water source.

Small bags designed for dog owners are useful for this- they’re scented and help to stop any smells until you can reach a bin. Or you could have a fire and burn it. Don’t bury sanitary products- wild animals will dig them up.

Consider your grey waste capacity too. Many people empty grey waste (which is water from sink and shower) into the wild. If you’re going to do this, please use products which will not be harmful to the environment and don’t empty black waste except for in approved areas where it won’t do any damage.

For this reason, we tend to empty grey and black waste at the same time in an approved motorhome emptying facility (sadly, there aren’t many of these in the UK so we tend to ask/ pay to campsites to use theirs.)

Fires while wild camping

Talking of fire, there is nothing more romantic than an open flame, as you sit around of an evening and enjoy your secluded spot. HOWEVER: Please ensure the fire is off the ground and doesn’t leave any scorch marks and be sensible- if it’s been very hot and dry the surrounding area is likely to go up with a stray ember and could potentially cause a devastating wildfire. Nobody wants that.

We LOVE our BBQ/ Fire, which is set off the ground and folds flat when not in use. We leave it to cool off overnight (make sure it’s definitely out!) and then it folds away very easily the next day. Such a brilliant bit of kit.

Cooking while wildcamping with your campervan

 We’ve already mentioned campfire, which is an obvious and fun method to cook on, but if you use gas check that there is enough gas in your cylinder. Especially if you use it for heating.

We use our van all throughout the winter and we find one 6kg gas bottle lasts us about 3 days- which is used for cooking, fridge and the heating on constantly nearly all the time (have I mentioned it’s COLD in the UK??) Obviously, it lasts us a lot longer in summer!

NOTE: We’ve tried the ‘light’ 6kg gas bottles and in our opinion and experience we get much less gas out of them than the normal bottles, so we switched back.

Power

We try hard to keep our power useage to a minimum. When we wild camp we make sure we have topped up all phones, ipads, laptops and the wifi dongle as we are driving (using 12v chargers), so we don’t use our precious battery when we’re camped. We’ve just installed a solar panel…. but it’s currently January in the UK so we haven’t had a chance to use it yet.

We also carry a small generator- as an EMERGENCY BACKUP! I refuse to be that couple in a motorhome who ruins a beautifully serene location with a noisy electric engine- but I agreed to it for when we tackle the wilds of Norway later in 2018. We use the bare minimum of lights of an evening, preferring instead to sit & chat by a fire until bed time.

Our electric bed in the motorhome we get down & up with a battery powered drill, which saves our battery loads. We can get at least 2 days camping just on battery power in the summer- haven’t tried two days in one place during the winter yet but I’ll update this when we do!

UPDATE:

We spent 3 weeks exploring Denmark and Norway in Summer 2018- and only stayed in a campsite once (we wanted to use the laundrette!) During that time our power systems worked great! We mainly used an inverter whilst we were driving to charge our laptops and a generator which we used twice whilst we were far away from everyone else. Both worked really well and we highly recommend them!

Supplies

Make sure you have enough water, food, tools, fuel & spare parts if you are going somewhere really remote. Levelling chocks are always useful- don’t be afraid to use them if you need to. We’ve just fitted Hydraulic legs to our motorhome– we’ll see if they’re worth the investment! If you are going somewhere cold & snowy, snow chains or special tyres might be a good idea. Also, make sure your vehicle is in good working order before you set off. Breaking down in a remote car park is not going to enhance your holiday!

Wild Camping UK- How to find free places to stay with a motorhome

Some people just head off into the great unknown without a plan and pull into a convenient lay-by when they find one. I prefer to be a little more organised. (Did I mention I’m a PLANNER?!!) Having said that, I designed an entire route around Norfolk and we ended up in Cornwall instead! So I tend not to look for locations until we’re in the area.

To do this I use my phone or ipad and require either 3G or a wifi signal. If you’re going somewhere really remote (like London) you might need to do some advance searching. If you need the internet whilst you’re driving, we highly recommend the Alcatel Wifi dongle. We’ve used it all over the place and rarely had a problem finding a signal. We use the yellow one, but there is now a newer version which is getting great reviews.

Motorhome parking Apps

I use three apps to find free overnight motorhome parking. Each app has its pros and cons, and I’ve listed them in the order I tend to check them.

Searchforsites

The best app for motorhome wildcamping in the UK is searchforsites.co.uk, which we really like due to its ease of use and wide range of various options. Most places have photos and a review- which we find really helpful when picking a location. However, this site is a PAIN to use on a mobile phone, especially if you could go anywhere within a 20 mile radius and are looking for options.

Each time you come back to the main map you need to search all over again. For that reason, we use it most when looking for free overnight parking spots nearby, so it’s fairly easy to find them,

Searchforsites.co.uk is FREE to join and works really well across the UK & Western Europe for wild camping sites.

Park4night

The other motorhome parking app we use is park4night.com. This site is FREE to join & use and works across Europe- it’s actually our preferred option to use in Europe, as most of its users are based on the continent. It lists a lot of car parks and approved motorhome overnight stops, which is useful if you need something with hardstanding and not too far off the main roads.

Campercontact

Again, I tend to use this motorhome parking app more in Europe instead of the UK, but it has one feature I love- you can narrow down your options by length or height. As we spend most of our time pulling a trailer, it’s really useful for us to know which free overnight spots won’t be suitable for us. It also has several options which aren’t listed on the other two apps.

I tend to check all sites, read the reviews, look at the photos and then pick somewhere. Most sites have a postcode so we put that into the Sat Nav and off we go!

Britstops

We recently went wild camping in Wales with our motorhome and some friends- and they swear by Brit Stops. Brit stops is a collection of farms, pubs, breweries and other businesses, which often allow motorhomes to park for free overnight on their land, in return for the hope of some sales (food, drink etc) the next morning.

We have never used it ourselves, but the book is only £28 in 2019, so if that’s something which appeals to you, check it out and let me know how it goes. Some of the locations sound amazing!

Motorhome pub stopovers

The other option is to find pubs which allow/ encourage motorhomes to stay over. Many pubs will allow campers to stay in their car park or even in a dedicated field for free, as long as you eat in the pub that evening. Seems pretty fair to me! You can use the motorhome parking apps above to find good motorhome pub stopovers near you.

Watch the video about how we find Wild Camping for Campervans & Motorhomes

This video shows you how we use the motorhome parking apps and how I find free overnight parking places near me.

Motorhome Wild Camping in the UK – our routine

Depending on what we’re doing will depend on how we look for wild camping places. If we’re heading into the countryside for a weekend, we’ll look for remote car parks or lay-bys which won’t have much noise or passing traffic. We will read reviews and try and avoid areas where boy racers hang out or where anyone has experienced crime.

If we’re just stopping on the way to somewhere else, such as on the way down to Cornwall, we look for places not too far off our chosen route. Again, we try to pick somewhere quiet that’s not by a busy main road. After that first night in Scotland, when our poor van shook violently & woke us up every time a truck went by, we’ve never parked up by a main road again!

UPDATE… yeah, we forgot about this rule whilst we were in Norway and spent an awful night parked up next to a road which was busy all night, with trucks rushing past and shaking the motorhome- even with the legs down! Never again… at least until the next time!! ? 

Campervan Travel and Free Camping with a motorhome in the UK- the legalities

So, after all this advice, is it even legal to wild camp in the UK in a vehicle? The honest answer is….. kinda.

Wild camping in England & Wales in a motorhome

Pretty much every piece of land in England & Wales is owned by someone, and you DON’T have right of access onto their land without their permission. Therefore if you are asked to move on, you need to do so. Wild camping is also prohibited on Open Access lands (shaded orange on Ordnance Survey Maps) and in most National Parks.

HOWEVER, there are many places in England & Wales where wild camping is tolerated. Heck, we camped next to Stonehenge for the night and spoke to the security guards from English Heritage at 6am (we were filming the sunrise). They didn’t bat an eyelid at the fact we were parked there, for free, for the night. There were in fact several other vans around and they could easily have asked us all to move if it was an issue…. but they didn’t. Because it wasn’t. (UPDATE- apparently it is now and the Drove is now closed. Sob)

It’s a lot easier to wild camp in the UK if you head for more remote areas- such as Cumbria, Devon, Cornwall (out of summer!), Southern Wales and Scotland. Here landowners are more used to wild campers and much more tolerant- although they still have the right to ask you to move. The practical answer is that most people don’t mind in the slightest as long as you are not on their doorstep, not making noise and not disobeying an obvious parking sign saying ‘no overnight camping’. A bit of courtesy and consideration will go a long way to making your wild camping trips more enjoyable.

Wild Camping Scotland motorhome or camper

Scotland has long been considered much more tolerant of wild camping than the other countries in Britain. However, some confusion exists about the definition of ‘wild camping’. In Scotland (and honestly, probably elsewhere!) wild camping means a tent or even just a sleeping bag, far far away from a road and any civilisation. Camping by a roadside in a motorhome is generally called ‘free camping’.

The Scottish Outdoor Access code which is often quoted does NOT apply to motorised vehicles, so, contrary to popular belief, it is NOT ok to just park a motorhome or campervan wherever you like in Scotland.

Sadly, the pressure on the infrastructure is creating more and more tension between residents, tourist boards and motorhomers. A few irresponsible idiots who leave rubbish and human waste lying around have led to many more restrictions on where you can legally park overnight, and there is increasing pressure to shut down even more places- especially in the heavily congested areas of the Isle of Skye and NC500.

Free Motorhome Camping UK- some basic rules.

It’s a tough one. We love to wild camp (or free camp, if you prefer), but we try to do it far away from everyone else. In the UK, that is becoming more and more difficult to do. At the moment, there are still places where it is tolerated for people to camp overnight, provided they are considerate and responsible, following these simple rules:

• Only stay up to 3 nights in any one place
• Don’t park in fields with crops or farm animals
• Keep well away from buildings unless you seek owner’s permission
• Take away all litter
• Obey local bylaws (especially where you need a permit to park in certain places)

There are some beautiful places to stop in Scotland, especially in the Highlands, and it would be a great shame if these were closed off to Motorhomers completely. Having said that, many places in England are being shut off, so I expect the same to happen in Scotland before too long. Better get up there quickly while you can!

Another TOP TIP for Scotland- do not take your Motorhome into Edinburgh. Under ANY circumstances. You can take kids into Edinburgh, but not Motorhomes. There’s nowhere near enough space!

Campervan Overnight Parking- what to do/ what not to do

• “DON’T leave anything other than tyre tracks” was how it was explained to us- and I love that definition. If we want to keep wild camping, for free, across the UK, we need to respect the land we are staying on and the fact that most of the time we are there with kind permission of the landowner. The more people who leave rubbish/ cause damage, the quicker we’re ALL going to be stopped from staying anywhere.
• DON’T play loud music
• DON’T put up awnings/ permanent structures. You need to look like you are just stopping for a few hours.
• If there is a charge, pay it. It’s still a heck of a lot cheaper than a campsite for a night.
• You can always move. Should other people move in who are noisy/ unsociable or who you just don’t want to be parked next to, then just start the van and move.

How to Wild Camp in the UK- Safety

Finally, a short word on safety. If you are wild camping on your own, PLEASE tell someone where you are going- or tell them where you are when you find somewhere. There are many reasons this is a good idea- and I hope none of them ever apply to you.

I hope the above has been helpful and allayed some of your fears over wild camping in your motorhome. The best thing you can do is just get out there and give it a go. Good luck & if you find somewhere amazing, let me know in the comments below! ?

Enjoyed this post? We’d love it if you shared it on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Thank you!

The post Wild Camp in the UK with a motorhome or campervan for free! appeared first on Wandering Bird.