Camping in East Sussex

We finally managed to get away on holiday somewhere this year.

It wasn’t Disney World but we couldn’t complain too much really as the weather was magnificent.

We camped for three nights at a site called Beech Estate Campsite which is in Battle, Hastings.

It’s one we have stayed at previously (A weekend of wild camping) and is in a great area not too far from the coast and near quite a few adventure parks. It’s probably one of my favourite areas of Britain.

Beech Estate is set within a forest and is a great option if you like the idea of wild camping but want the luxury of a toilet.

The pitches are all large and offer privacy from surrounding pitches along with fire pits. There is a modern toilet and shower block on site but also the option of bucket showers (there’s a hot tap for filling up buckets) and compostable toilets dotted around the site.

If you don’t have your own tent you can hire out a bell tents which comes equipped with beds, picnic tables and all the other camping essentials you’ll need.

We take our own tent and have upgraded from our trusty 2-man 2-second pop up tent which has served us well over the past 10 years (purchased from Decathalon for less than £50) to a Coleman Octago 3-man tent which I do actually love. It’s easy and quick to pitch, roomy inside and has windows all the way around allowing for excellent ventilation, lighting and views.

We generally spend our days visiting playgrounds, beaches and attractions while the evenings are spent sitting round our camp fire, barbequing dinner and toasting marshmallows to make delicious s’mores. Our daughter just loves spending so much time outdoors and getting covered in mud while collecting sticks, stones, pine cones and acorns.

Day one – Hastings

On the day we arrived we spent the day in Hastings at the beach. We had booked a great fish and chip restaurant for lunch called Maggie’s and is definitely worth booking as it does get very busy. It has great views over the harbour and the food and service were both really good.

Day two – Drusilla’s Park

The second day we’d booked to go to Drusilla’s Park. Unfortunately (and maybe because of the COVID19 regulations) we didn’t particularly enjoy our visit but we did love the rainforest themed carousel.

I think had we gone any other year we would’ve enjoyed it, they had a zoo, Hello Kitty themed area, splash pad, nice playgrounds and lots of picnic areas. Normally you would be able to used Tesco clubcard boost to cover the entry fee as well which would make it pretty good value for money.

Our main complaint with the park is that the way they had structured entry to the splash park meant that most visitors were left unable to get tickets and had to wait until 5pm for entry so we ended up wasting several hours waiting to go in. The queues for food were also ridiculous and there weren’t any particularly nice options or much shade available so I would recommend you take your own food as there were a lot of picnic benches.

Day three – Beech Estate

We spent most of the day at the campsite. In the morning we drove to a playground in Battle which has a few different play areas including a wooden castle climbing frame. We could have spent longer there than we did but we’d booked a lunch at Squirrel Inn which is about a 40 minute walk (with little legs in tow) through the forest from the campsite so we had to make tracks.

Squirrel Inn is a reality nice pub restaurant with a large beer garden which has a small climbing frame for the kids to enjoy whole you’re waiting on food. I had the pie and chips which was very good, the other half had a burger which he says it’s one of the best he’s ever had and the little’un had chicken strips with chips and peas (but mostly just ate my pie) which was pretty standard.

After that we walked back to the campsite with the giant stick our daughter found and promptly befriended…

Day four – Knockhatch Adventure Park

Knockhatch Adventure Park was definitely the best day out this year so far. Okay so there haven’t been many to choose from but it would still make my top 10 list of family days out.

My daughter (4.5) and her friend (4.25) had the best day together. We were there from 11am until they closed and everything was literally tailored to their age group.

They were old/tall enough to go on nearly all the rides without an adult which just made their day. The highlights were the barrel ride, the owl display, splash park and the petting farm.

We literally managed to do everything and then we found the massive dragon castle. We all wanted a go on it (adults included) but once up there scared ourselves witless at some of the sheer drops as you look over the edge, meanwhile the children were terrified of the dragon which they thought probably wasn’t real but was real… So yeah, maybe for older children but the sheer scale of it is simply amazing and no idea how we managed to miss it for most of the day.

We took a picnic with us so I can’t comment on the food options but I didn’t see any outlets I would have wanted to try so picnic was the right option for us.

There was a McDonald’s a short drive away, so we got that as we were leaving (expecting our daughter to fall asleep on the drive home). The drive home was only an hour and a half so I will definitely be back to Knockhatch. Bonus for us is that it’s near to our friends who live down that way so a great meeting spot so the girls can have a good catch up.

That concludes our little camping adventure, it was a lovely long weekend getaway and hopefully won’t be the last holiday we get this year!

If you’re just starting out camping then you can view our complete packing list. We generally pack light so it’s not too expensive to purchase everything if you’re just starting out.