What's in a name? Ten unusually named campsites

A rose by any other name, penned the Bard, would smell as sweet. But as Anne Shirley earnestly points out to Marilla in Green Gables, that doesn’t always work. ‘I don’t believe a rose WOULD be as nice if it was called a thistle or a skunk cabbage,’ the red-headed one declares. Quite so, Anne with an e. Quite so.

Names are of the utmost importance, which is why we’re heartily glad none of us are called Hortensia or Wolfgang and why we’re offering condolences to anyone out there who is indeed called Hortensia or Wolfgang (don’t even get us started on names like Kyleigh or Jordyn). So, in celebration of all things named well, here are ten of our favouritely-named Pitchup.com sites. No skunk cabbages here…

Grannie’s Heilan’ Hame Holiday Park , Highlands and Islands : We bet visits to your gran were never as fun as this, even if she did follow you out to the car upon leaving and conspiratorially fold 50p into your palm. Not a small croft-type site but a heaving holiday park, Grannie’s has activities for all ages, including DJ workshops for teenagers, pool, Jacuzzi, bar, sauna…all on the beachfront and with pitches from £12. Bring it on, Grannie.

Snooty Fox , Pembrokeshire : Pubs have great scope for great names (ours, when we finally win the lottery, will be called The Severed Arms). The Snooty Fox at Narberth in Pembrokeshire is a family-run pub with a log fire, pool room, home-cooked food and real ale. And a campsite: pitches for tents, tourers and motorhomes start from £10.

Hedgehog Corner Exclusive Camping , Dorset : One for curling up at. Hedgehog Corner is at Lyme Regis, a few minutes’ drive from River Cottage HQ and in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, with the fossil hunting of the Jurassic Coast a couple of miles away. Tent pitches start from £15, are generously sized and come with their own picnic table and use of fridge freezers. And the local pub is within walking distance.

Toadhall Caravan Site , Suffolk : We might call our future mansion Toad Hall. Or Rivendell. Probably Toad Hall. Anyhoo, this site shouldn’t have you feeling ratty, as it’s in a part of Suffolk with enough to do to keep the family out of mischief for weeks: it’s a quick drive from here to Ipswich, Felixstowe and the Saxon burial mound of Sutton Hoo, with the Rivers Orwell and Deben close to hand too. Pitches start from £10 for tents, tourers and motorhomes.

BlueBell at Birdsong Garden, Northumberland : Free biccies? And a double hammock? And a glamping van in a secluded garden where yours is the only pitch? Yes please. BlueBell is a Dandy Riva van kitted out with a double bed, microwave, kettle and toaster, and is peacefully set at Alnwick, less than five miles from the Northumberland coast. Nights in BlueBell start from £45; if glamping vans with no-one else on site is your thing, also have a look at Ty Gwyneth Romany Caravan in South Wales , a gypsy caravan in a private garden from £50.

Wattle Hill Oast , East Sussex : Sausages and eggs produced on site – to be fried up of a morning over the fire pit outside your luxury furnished bell tent, complimentary hamper on arrival – and a lift to your pitch in the back of the Wattle Hill Lundy. Oast lovely. Wattle Hill Oast also has an indoor pool and sauna, and is 25 minutes from the beach at Camber Sands. A bell tent sleeping up to four adults or a family of six starts from £120.

Under the Milk Wood , Pembrokeshire: Dream like Dylan Thomas from a pre-erected bell tent on a Pembrokeshire farm, with a ‘posh glamper’ option available for 2013 including Welsh wool blankets and real bed. There’s 10% off this posh glamping from 1 May – 31 October this year, with 23% off standard tipis for the same dates and up to 33% off bell tents until 30 April. Welsh glamping well-named bargains – among our favourites.

Racquety Farm , Powys : And another! Although this is strictly speaking one of our hybrid sites as it’s in the book town of Hay-on-Wye, also in Herefordshire (confused? This is the place to buy a secondhand atlas). Just inside the Welsh border, the rollickingly-named Racquety Farm has furnished geodomes in orchard, meadow and woodland settings, with dogs allowed, campfires allowed and wood available. Prices start from £82.

Happy Jakes Touring Park , Glamorgan : We’re sensing a pattern with these imaginatively named Welsh sites. This one is at Barry, home of Stacey in the BBC’s Gavin and Stacey as well as Mad Nessa and Even Madder Uncle Bryn. (There’s a Gavin and Stacey tour in Barry for fans of the show, where you can sit in Nessa’s chair at the amusement park and stop off at Nessa and Dave’s caravan home. Tidy.) Happy Jakes is also fifteen miles from Cardiff and a few miles from the Glamorgan Heritage Coast, with tent, tourer and motorhome pitches from £10.50. That’s lush, that is.

Magical Camping , Norfolk and Suffolk : Simples, but effective(s). More bell tents and tipis here, this time on Norfolk farm meadows half an hour away from both Norwich and the Norfolk coastline. Magical Camping’s bell tents and tipis come fully furnished and fitted down to the carpeted floors and cutlery: fire up a barbie outside your pitch or hire a fire bowl from the Norfolk owners. Meals can be produced magically using our method: simply go for a walk then feign surprise on returning that your fellow campers are dishing up. As if by magic…

Finally, as we're feeling in chucklesome mood, we'll add a bonus eleventh site: Sandy Balls Holiday Centre in Hampshire , an award-winning New Forest park with pool, pub, gym, sauna and all manner of activities to get stuck into on site including laser combat and bug hunts. Although your first activity will probably explaining to the kids why you particularly love the name...

Want to start your own campsite or caravan park and got a clever name all saved up? Let us know below.