Traditional, old school camping for lovers of the great outdoors, appropriately set beside an old school in the Shropshire Hills.

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The Old School Campsite

UK England West Midlands Shropshire Bishop's Castle

A small camping and glamping site in the Shropshire Hills where on-site activities ranging from arts to adventure sports

If Bear Grylls and Kirstie Allsop went in to business together they might come up with something like The Old School Campsite. By English standards it’s remote; “a 10-minute drive from everything,” according to owner Stuart. He’s the Grylls of the place, with a background in the military and outdoor education, while his wife Rachel, a former art and design teacher, is more Allsop – with a touch of adventure thrown in. Stay at their campsite and, in addition to a place to pitch your tent, you’ll be able to join their range of art and adventure activities: from crochet to climbing, batik to bushcraft.

Camping and glamping pitches are tucked behind a former school house, now home to Stuart, Rachel and their two children. It’s hard to think of a more appropriate place for this pair of teachers to combine their camping and creative-outdoor education businesses. And though the 19th-century classrooms have gone, the teaching continues with lessons now taking place on the site’s climbing wall or in Rachel’s studio. Situated in the Shropshire Hills, almost atop the Welsh-English border, it offers a taste of Wales’ great outdoors in a location that’s conveniently connected. And, once you’re on site, it’s just a short stroll to the top of Corndon Hill from where you have views to the area’s most famous peaks and plateaus, Stiperstones and the Long Mynd included.

The campsite is open to all (though large caravans and motorhomes might find the site’s dimensions tight) with grassy pitches for tents, electric hook-ups and dogs welcome. Glampers can choose between a furnished bell tent (there are three in a small separate meadow) or the glamping caravan which has its own shower room and toilet. With an on-site shop selling the basics, as well as organised activities and easy walking in to the hills, there’s no real need to go elsewhere.

Having said that, if you do fancy exploring further afield, you can go kayaking or mountain-biking with Stuart, Rachel or one of their other instructors – or go it alone to discover the sights. Big-name attractions, including Ironbridge Gorge, are within reach but there are plenty of pretty villages, market towns and smaller attractions closer by. The Shropshire Hills’ Bog Visitor Centre and Snailbeach Lead Mine are good places to start and both are, of course, about a 10-minute drive from site.

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Details

Facilities

12 of the pitches have electric hook ups. 1 shower (50p), 2 toilets, BBQs. Glamping bell tents are kitted out with a futon-style double bed and camp beds with duvets, pillows and linen provided. Each has electric hook-up with an electric heater, a 2-ring gas stove for use outside and a box of cooking equipment, tableware and washing-up essentials. Outside, each tent has an awning, dug-in firepit and a picnic table. The glamping caravan has a double bed and 2 singles, all with linen provided, a kitchenette, cooking equipment and tableware as well as an en-suite shower room and toilet. The site has a small shop, a washing-up area, a laundry with a washing machine and tumble dryer as well as a communal-use freezer. There’s also a chemical disposal point on site. Campfires are permitted in off-ground fire pits.

Suitable For

Campers, glampers, campervans, caravans, motorhomes, dogs are all welcome. We are a small family run site in a quiet rural community so if you are a large group, having a celebration or hen / stag you need to book the site as a sole hire, thank you.

Nearby

Creative Outdoors is Rachel and Stuart’s own arts and outdoors education specialist offering all sorts of activities on-site from jewellery making and printing to climbing and archery and off-site activities including kayaking, canoeing and mountain biking. You can also head off on walks in to the Shropshire Hills straight from site. The Bog Visitor Centre (01743 792484) is 4 miles away with information on the area and local walks. Snailbeach Lead Mine (07716 116732) is 7 miles to the north. A similar distance south and a drive of 15 minutes gets you to the market town of Bishop’s Castle where there are cafes, shops and galleries. For a Welsh market town, hop over the border and head for Montgomery (11 miles away), which also has a model car museum and a ruined castle. Powys Castle (01938 551944) is 12 miles away. The Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway (01938 810441), Shrewsbury, Wroxeter Roman City (01743 761330), Hoo Farm Animal Kingdom (01952 677917) and The Ironbridge Gorge Museums (01952 433424) are all within an hour’s drive.

Food & Drink

You can stock up on the basics or treat yourself to a smores kit, pail of ale or basket of bubbly from the campsite’s own shop. There’s also a convenience store in the village of Stiperstones, 7 miles away. The farmers’ market at Bishop’s Castle, also 7 miles away, takes place once a month (third Wednesday) and there are plenty of shops and eateries including Thyme Café – recommended for scones, cakes and lunches. There’s also a café at The Bog Visitor Centre (01743 792484). Pontesbury (10 miles away) has takeaways including Zenna Chinese Restaurant (01743 791848) and Balti Spice (01743 791848). If you’re heading to Shrewsbury, Eat at Eight is recommended.

Open

All year (except February).

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The Owner Says

The site is close to the Welsh border and on the edge of the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, so expect lengthy walks through pretty hills and dales as well as splendid views all around.... and plenty of peace and quiet next to firepits in green fields, setting the barbecue smouldering for dinner and taking in the starry night sky.

The site is approximately 2 acres in size and, although small, has been described as 'a gem of a site' by previous guests and is well equipped for your needs.

We have grass camping pitches as well as touring pitches with electric hook ups for campervans and caravans. We have a stone and brick built building containing toilets, wash basins and shower, available for all visitors. Separate washing up facilities with both hot and cold running water. A chemical waste disposal point is available. We have on site BBQs for your use. You can have relaxing evenings watching the sun setting, while listening to the birds singing as dusk descends, then as the darkness falls you can gaze at the wonderful display of stars in the night sky. Directly accessed from the site, you can be immersed in the wonderful Shropshire countryside within seconds.

By day, stroll over to the site’s activity centre for a host of arts and crafts workshops: guests can embrace their artistic sides with silver jewellery, felt, knitting, enamelling or batik workshops on site, to wrap up stays with handmade souvenirs to boast about back home. If that sounds too laidback, spend time at the activity centre chatting to owners Rachel and Stuart instead. They’ll help guests to organise rock climbing days, paddleboard lessons, canoeing trips on the Severn and the Montgomery Canal, and mountain biking excursions on the trails nearby – or venture out solo on wanders along the long-distance Shropshire Way, which passes within minutes of the site.

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Accommodation

3 bell tents, 1 glamping caravan and 18 pitches (12 with electric hook up).

Ellesmere Glamping Bell Tent

Bell tent Sleeps 5 6 Available

Our largest glamping bell tent sleeps 2-5 people with beautiful views of Corndon Hill

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Large Grass Tent & Touring Pitch

Grass pitch with electricity Sleeps 5 7 Available

9m (L) x 7.6m (W) pitch with 16 amp hook up. Room for 1 vehicle. BBQ available and fire pits permitted.

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Extras

Fire Pit Kit

Logs, kindling, fire lighters and long matches. All you need for an evening around a roaring fire. Please collect your wood on arrival from the marquee and collect a Fire Pit from by the house.

BBQ Kit

BBQ charcoal, firelighters and long matches. All set for a delicious BBQ. Please collect your charcoal on arrival from the marquee. BBQs are on most pitches already but you can also collect free standing ones from by the house.

Location

Contact The Old School Campsite, Shelve, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY5 0JQ

Show Map

Getting There

From the A5 take the A488 towards Bishop’s Castle. Stay on the A488 and go through Pontesbury, Minsterley and Hope. Stay on the main road and you will pass an ‘Old School’ brown sign. Stay on the A488 for another 1½ miles and the campsite is on the left-hand side (opposite the fishery) with a grey flag at the driveway.

The nearest railway station is at Shrewsbury. The limited 553 bus service runs from Shrewsbury to Bishop’s Castle with a bus stop just outside the campsite.

Reviews

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Rated ★★★★★ over 15 reviews

★★★★★

Lovely, friendly site

A really lovely site in a beautiful pay of the world. It's run by the ever helpful Stuart and Rachel. Our family really enjoyed the opportunity to test out a range of paddle sports with Stuart (other outdoor activities and a wide array of craft courses are also available). The kids loved playing football with their neighbours every evening and we took full advantage of the stone baked pizza and bacon breakfast rolls! I'd definitely recommend

Jun 9, 2021 by Emma Knight Verified Review

★★★★★

Weekend stay

Cannot recommend enough. Location is fantastic, the site is small enough to not feel crowded but plenty of space for the kids to play. Pizza was fantastic and so were the bacon sandwiches. The hosts are amazing, friendly and so helpful. 5 stars for sure!

Jun 7, 2021 by Charlotte Thornton Verified Review

★★★★★

Fantastic short break

We stayed in the Ellesmere Bell Tent for three nights with our young dog. The tent was beautifully clean and equipped with everything you need to cook and eat, the electric heater was a welcome addition too as it did get chilly at night. Beds were comfy and the lighting in the tent was by fairy light which gave a lovely ambience. We sampled the wood fired pizzas on Saturday night, which were delicious and also the chocolate crispy tray bake which was to die for! The site was very family friendly and all dogs have to be kept on leads on site. We had a couple of long and beautiful walks direct from the site and even made it to the Miner Arms pub for a cold pint (about 45 minutes walk). Overall a brilliant short break glamping/camping destination which I would have no hestitation in recommending to others.

Jun 7, 2021 by Laura Pell Verified Review

★★★★★

Lovely, well organised campsite.

We had a lovely couple of days at the Old School Campsite. The facilities are very clean. It has everything you could possibly need from a campsite. The owners have adhered to all the Covid rules and communicated these to us effectively via an email before we arrived and with signage on the site. The owners were friendly and accommodating. We were lucky enough to arrive on a Thursday night when they were serving homemade pizzas! We had a lovely walk up to the Stiperstones on the Friday which was accessible directly from the campsite. The only thing I would warn about is that I am with O2 and had no network or internet on site and the WIFI signal was weak (not necessarily a bad thing sometimes). My husband was with EE & had signal. However, a well deserved 5 stars & would definitely like to visit again.

Sep 29, 2020 by sharon Skillen Verified Review

★★★★★

Clean, well organised, covid friendly, good eco credentials

Easy to organise details of out stay online. Carefully thought out for social distancing/ covid. Very quiet. Excellent location for walking on the Long Mynd. The owners have worked hard to make a delightful site.

Sep 11, 2020 by Trina Mckendrick Verified Review

★★★★★

Wonderful stay

The old school campsite is a lovely little campsite! Staff are excellent, accommodating and helpful. Toilets/showers are spotless. We really enjoyed our trip and plan on coming back - highly recommend pizzas and bakery! Beautiful!

Sep 1, 2020 by Emily Rogers Verified Review

★★★★★

Wonderful campsite

We had a fabulous time at the old school campsite. The owners made us feel so welcome. The facilities were clean and had everything we needed. We had a great time rock climbing and there were many more activities that could have kept us occupied for days. The breakfast baps were delicious too. Looking forward to our next visit...

Aug 29, 2020 by Simon Williams Verified Review

★★★★★

Lovely campsite

We had a great short break at the old school campsite. Facilities were lovely and clean, and we really appreciated the warm showers. Our morning rock climbing with Stu was great fun and the range of activities in offer will have us coming back another time. Oh, and the breakfast baps were delicious!

Aug 29, 2020 by Simon Williams Verified Review

★★★★★

Lovely relaxing stay

Had 6 days and it was lovely The owners are very friendly and make u feel very welcome We felt very safe knowing all the covid restrictions were in place and hand sanitizer bottles everywhere Out 3 granddaughters played lovely with their daughter so relaxed watching them all play together We had pizzas on the Thursday and they were gorgeous We also ordered an easy breakfast on our departure day which was lovely so we could pk everything away early The area is beautiful and within 10 mins i could find shops pubs take aways Fire pits were available to use u just needed to buy wood We enjoyed a fire every night Definitely going to rebook again Thank you

Aug 17, 2020 by Lesley

★★★★★

Lovely site; very clean and friendly

We stayed for 4 nights at the beginning of August. It was the hottest day of the year followed by huge thunder and lightening storms! In the middle of the storm, the hosts were out checking on everyone, making sure the campers and the site was ok. That’s how you run a campsite!!! The facilities were clean and tidy with plenty of safety precautions in place for COVID-19. The eco-toilets were great as were the family bathrooms. The pitches are a great size with easy access to electrical points and facilities and we had a picnic table next to us. There is WiFi but it wasn’t very strong. It dropped in and out quite a lot, but didn’t affect our stay in the slightest. Location was great - we visited Stiperstones, Shrewsbury and evening had a beach day with only an hour and twenty minutes drive. The nearest shop we found was a co-op in Minsterley which had everything we needed! The only downside was the site is on the A488 which is quite busy. We had a pitch on the road side and were only separated from the road by a fence and hedge. The first night, the noise from the road made sleeping difficult but we were used to it by the next day! All in all, this campsite was excellent! We will be back and would recommend to others!

Aug 15, 2020 by Ceri

★★★★☆

Hardest working Hosts ever!

Such a lovely couple run this little site. Facilities were clean tidy. Loved the fire pit. Stuart and Rachel run all the activities as advertised as well as The on-site Pizza oven. Only downside is it’s a drive to shops pubs etc but we would go again.

Aug 4, 2020 by Herschell Family

★★★★★

Great camp site, great host

What a fantastic weekend regardless of less than fantastic weather. There is a great vibe about the place, our 2 children had the best time roaming free and have not stopped talking about Spy School. Rachel was a great host, even finding time to make us a brew on our first morning. It's a lovely place to visit, highly recommended.

Jul 29, 2020 by Martin S

★☆☆☆☆

Really poor experience. Not helped by the weather!

We booked for 2 days, but ended going home after the first. The pictures on the website completely oversold the site to us. There was no shop of which we could see, despite signage to the contrary. The shower in room 3 which we had been allocated didn't work. The BBQ was absolutely filthy, I'm not sure how anybody was meant to cook food on it(we had pre paid for coal to use it for 2 nights so the least that could've been done was to have it cleaned). The bed was held together with 1 cable tie and 1 broke tie which we had to replace with a bin bag to keen the back board in place. Overall we were extremely underwhelmed and won't be visiting again unfortunately.

Jul 10, 2020 by Mark

★★★★★

Gorgeous site, friendly owners and superb activities

Gorgeous small campsite which is ideal for families, individuals or groups of friends. Good sized pitches and great facilities, especially with the introduction of eco toilets and showers. I've stayed in the bell tents (everything you need, beautifully set up & with the lovely additions of a fire pit and picnic bench) as well as camping "properly". Facilities are great with either option. The owners, Rach and Stu, are incredibly friendly and helpful, providing extras such as maps of the local area and a book swap for those rainy days. The campsite shop stocks a good range of essentials, plus loads of extras you might not realise you need (handmade hats!), and the option to buy freshly baked cakes, pastries and bread is a great addition. Particularly love the focus on eco solutions, from recycling and eco showers / loos, to paper bags in the shop. Would recommend taking advantage of the activities offered by Creative Outdoors, based on the site and offering everything from climbing and paddlesports to jewellery making and engraving. Excellent instruction in all of these by Rach, Stu and their team of skilled instructors, providing a fun addition to your holiday. A small site, packed with activities and facilities to provide an awesome holiday experience. Highly recommended & I will definitely be returning.

Jul 30, 2019 by Michelle Pope

★★★★★

Excellent overnight stay

We booked three bell tents for 6 couples for my husband’s 30th birthday celebrations with friends - we wanted a relaxed and cost effective location close to beautiful scenery and good walks, which was exactly what we got! Each tent was really well equipped with crockery, cooking utensils, tea and coffee etc, and we all had an excellent time. Thank you!

Jun 10, 2019 by Katie Matthews-Male Verified Review