It looks like the busiest season ever for campsites but there should be space for everyone – Telegraph.co.uk

Spring has sprung, and its a bit springier than usual. The birds are singing with extra chirp, cherry blossom trees are bright with bloom, and buds are bursting open with a flourish. The annual opening of the natural world is enhanced this year by our own national reopening, as bars, restaurants and shops come back to life. As the bank holiday weekends race towards us with the promise of newfound fun and freedom, one sector of the hospitality industry has an extra-bullish bounce: camping is set for a breakout year.

Campsite owners across the country are busy cleaning, repairing and sprucing their campsites to be ready for what looks set to be the biggest UK camping season on record. Theres an expectant buzz in the air, as bookings are bounding in like never before. On the Cool Camping website alone, bookings are up by over 500 per cent this year compared with 2019, so the buzz is very real, with a new wave of holidaymakers set to embrace UK camping for the first time this season. Admittedly, uncertainty around foreign travel has added to the staycation surge, and the interest in camping in particular.

The fact that a UK camping holiday can cost less than pre-travel Covid tests for all the family must surely be a factor in peoples minds as they cost out the options. And then theres the traffic light system. Being stuck in expensive hotel quarantine when the traffic lights suddenly change is not the dream end to any holiday. Removing that possibility makes everything less stressful.

So a domestic camping trip is the answer for many of us this year. It certainly seems that the nation cant wait to find freedom among the woodlands and fields not surprising given the confines within which life has operated for so long. The pleasure of being outdoors is now appreciated fully, when previously it might have been taken for granted. The inevitable result is that camping is on the cusp of a boom. People want out, and theyre busy booking up their personal slice of fresh-air-filled happiness.

Thankfully, there should be plenty of space for everyone, as the increase in demand has been accompanied with a similarly vast explosion in places to camp. Planning regulations have been relaxed on temporary pop-up sites, allowing them to open for longer without a full campsite licence, thus making them viable for more land owners.

Hundreds of these pop-up sites will be dotting our great landscape with camping pitches and boutique bell tents, opening up incredible, scenic places for campers to enjoy. Farms, stately homes even schools and rugby clubs are all making use of the opportunity to host campers. Many will be offering simple pitches and basic facilities for bring-your-own-tent campers, but others involve larger operators who are known for providing glamping accommodation at festivals, now redirecting their tents and expertise to offer luxury holidays in places around the UK.

Its not just pop-ups on offer, either. The past year has seen an increase in applications for new campsite licences, as land owners pivot their businesses to match a renewed interest in camping. Some have also been able to secure government grants to invest in building more permanent structures, such as treehouses or woodland cabins as part of the Covid recovery programme.

So it seems a bigger, more permanent revolution in UK camping is under way, changing the landscape of Britain forever. This is all great news for us happy campers. We have the privilege of being able to discover and explore new corners of our countryside that have previously been out of bounds; to camp in places that have never been camped in before. Its one of the better side-effects of this pandemic, up there with extended family walks and getting to know the neighbours.

With the May long weekends coming up, its the first opportunity weve had in a while to dust off the canvas, stretch those pegs, and perhaps experience some of these new openings. The campsites are ready for us, and it looks like many of us are raring to go. Even if the roadmap to the wider post-pandemic holiday landscape is not yet clear, a canvas spring is already upon us. And I, for one, cant wait to get out there.

Jonathan Knight is the founder of coolcamping.com. The latest edition of Cool Camping Britain is out now (Punk Publishing; 16.95)

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It looks like the busiest season ever for campsites but there should be space for everyone - Telegraph.co.uk