Glamping in Bath: The Rise of Exceptional Outdoor Stays in Somerset
Glamping in Bath: The Rise of Exceptional Outdoor Stays in Somerset
- Somerset offers some of the finest glamping in England — the Mendip Hills, Exmoor and the Levels provide genuinely spectacular settings within 30–60 minutes of Bath
- Glamping accommodation ranges from luxury shepherd's huts and treehouses to yurts, safari tents and restored vintage caravans
- The best sites combine exceptional settings with good food — many have on-site restaurants, farm shops or chef kitchens
- Glamping near Bath pairs well with a city stay — a night or two in the Somerset countryside before or after time in Bath makes for an exceptionally complete trip
- Best season: May to September for warmth, though Somerset's mild climate makes year-round glamping viable at the right sites
Why Somerset Works so Well for Glamping
Glamping's growth in England has been rapid and uneven — some regions have done it well, others have produced a rash of mediocre sites with inflated prices and underwhelming settings. Somerset sits firmly in the former category. The county has the landscape, the food culture and the accommodation imagination to support a genuinely excellent glamping offer, and the best sites reflect all three.
The Mendip Hills — the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty that rises immediately south of Bath — provide the most accessible countryside for Bath visitors. Within 30 minutes of the city, the landscape changes completely: limestone valleys, ancient woodland, the dramatic cliffs of Cheddar Gorge, and a quiet that is hard to find anywhere else in the region. Exmoor, further west, is wilder and more dramatic — moorland, red deer, and a coast that runs from Porlock to Lynmouth with barely a road in sight. Further south, the Quantock Hills and the Somerset Levels each offer their own distinct character.
The food dimension matters too. Somerset produces some of England's finest cheese (Cheddar and Montgomery's), excellent cider and perry, good beef and lamb from the moorland farms, and a growing number of small producers making genuinely interesting charcuterie, honey and preserves. The best glamping sites are plugged into this network — on-site farm shops, local breakfast boxes, wood-fired kitchens and fire pits with good local produce laid on.
The Best Glamping Types Near Bath
The shepherd's hut has become the defining glamping accommodation type in the English countryside, and Somerset has some of the best. At their finest — hand-built on traditional wheels, with cast iron wood burners, proper beds, good kitchen equipment and a private outdoor space — they offer a version of outdoor living that bears no relation to camping. The best ones are positioned with care: views across the Mendips, valley outlooks, or tucked into woodland clearings.
Shepherd's huts work particularly well for couples who want complete privacy — they are typically standalone units with their own terrace, fire pit and hot tub. The experience of waking to a Somerset morning, with birdsong and the smell of woodsmoke, is consistently what guests remember most.
Somerset has an excellent treehouse offer — genuine structures built into mature woodland, elevated above the forest floor, with the particular quality of light and sound that only comes from sleeping among trees. The best Somerset treehouses are not novelty structures but well-designed spaces with proper bathrooms, comfortable beds and the kind of details — telescopes for stargazing, rope bridges, wood-fired hot tubs — that reward guests who pay attention.
Treehouses command a premium for good reason: the experience of waking at height in a Somerset woodland, with the forest stretching below, is genuinely unusual. Sites in the Mendips and around the Quantock Hills tend to have the best tree cover and the most secluded positions.
"The best Somerset glamping does not try to recreate a hotel in a field. It does something different — and the difference is the point."
Safari tents and yurts at the better Somerset sites have moved well beyond the basic. Proper beds with hotel-quality linen, rugs, wood burners, en-suite shower rooms, private terraces and fire pits — the better examples offer genuine comfort in striking settings without sacrificing the feeling of being outside. They tend to suit families and small groups better than shepherd's huts, with more interior space and occasional second bedrooms.
The Mendip Hills, the Vale of Avalon around Glastonbury, and the farmland south of Bath all have sites with well-positioned safari tents and yurts. The quality varies significantly between sites — the difference between a well-run operation and a poorly managed one is immediately apparent on arrival.
How to Combine Glamping with Bath
Bath and the Somerset countryside work naturally together as a combined trip — the city and its extraordinary built environment on one hand, the hills and valleys on the other. The two are close enough to move between easily but distinct enough to feel like genuinely different experiences.
A typical pattern that works well: two nights in a Curated Property Bath apartment or townhouse to do the city properly — Roman Baths, Thermae Bath Spa, the restaurants around Walcot Street — followed by one or two nights at a Mendip Hills glamping site, 25–30 minutes south. The transition from the city to the countryside takes half an hour by car and feels much more significant than that.
Alternatively, arriving by car and beginning with a Somerset night — the long view of the Mendips or the Vale of Avalon — before moving into Bath for the city portion of the trip. Either sequence works; the question is whether you want to arrive in the city energised or leave it relaxed.
Distances from Bath to Somerset glamping areas
| Area | Drive from Bath | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Mendip Hills | 25–35 min | Limestone uplands, Cheddar Gorge, woodland valleys |
| Vale of Avalon (Glastonbury area) | 40–50 min | Flat Levels, Glastonbury Tor, ancient landscape |
| Quantock Hills | 50–60 min | Heathland ridges, red deer, views to Exmoor |
| Exmoor | 75–90 min | Wild moorland, dramatic coast, red deer, dark skies |
Frequently Asked Questions
Stay in Bath. Explore Somerset.
Curated Property manages exceptional short-let properties in Bath — the ideal base for exploring the city and the Somerset countryside. Browse our available properties.
View Properties