About our site

Set in a secluded 4 acre area surrounded by high hedges, backed by open public land and away from the nearest roads or houses, the ‘Swanage Bijou Camping’ site at Kirkwood Park is by far the closest camping area, and an easy level walk to Swanages town centre with shops, bars and restaurants, the lovely sandy beach with safe swimming, the Swanage Steam Railway station, and the pier.

The camping area is tents only (no car access), and, while we recognise this means moving your gear up to 40 meters (free barrows are provided!), this means no car radios, no lit roadways through the site, no early morning engines starting up and no worries about kids mixing with traffic in the camping field.

The surrounding 20 acres of fields are public open parkland space for kite flying, dog walking and ball games with a free modern children’s adventure play ground and free new skateboard park only 60 meters away.

We aim to provide 'camping as it used to be' without fussy rules.  You pick the pitch that suits you best so you can group with friends if you like. Our one important request is that our guests show respect to each other and our neighbours. We are against late night noise with simple guidelines that we expect you to adhere to - hushed voices from 11pm (10 by the ablutions) - and SILENCE from midnight.  We also request children and dogs to be resonably hushed until after 8am as not everyone wants to get up at dawn!  If they have too much energy we ask you to take them to the park next door to work off steam!  We are a pretty easy going lot, but the site is staffed at night to assist with these guidelines. Young, single sex and multiple tent groups may be requested to provide a returnable quiet pledge bond.  We hope you get a good nights sleep as a result!

Simple but clean facilities are provided on site with seven lit, mains connected toilets, seven free hot showers (with no charge for use and plugs for ladies hairdryers etc.) and hot water washing up facilities. You can blow up air matresses and freeze ice packs for free.  We recharge your mobiles in the reception (at your risk) for £1 a go.  Maps and info on walks and things to do are available in the reception and we are always happy to help you choose what to do with your day.

Want to camp but don't have a tent?  Orgainse your own luxury bell tent through Swanage Bijou Glamping  We provide 5 meter bell tents fully furnished inside and out for a very comfortable stay for up to four adults, or two adults and three children, without the need to put up (or take down!) your own tent.  

The burning of small open fires and bar-b-q's are allowed by your tent on a raised steel tray provided free (but with deposit) by us. For obvious reasons fires must never be lit on the ground, attended to at all times, dwindling from 11pm and extinguished by midnight.  They must also be located at least 3 meters from any tent.  We may have to stop fires when conditions are either very windy or very dry.  Reasonably priced campfire packs are for sale in the reception.

Important notes:- Swanage Bijou Camping is a temporary ancillary camping operation attached to Swanage Golf Games, with facilities and areas operated on that basis.

We prefer car movements to be kept to a minimum out of courtesy to our neighbours. We are so close to the town centre and sandy beaches that we hope you will prefer to walk as it is easier, greener, cheaper and healthier!  Under normal summer weather conditions a grass car parking space (separate from the camping field about 40 meters) is provided with each tent booking. 

All bookings must be made on-line prior to your arrival and are to be for a minimum of two or three nights, unless we opt to over-rule our own policy for you - sorry we are not a one night stand party site!

Access to the camping area is by foot only.  We advise you to carefully consider the 40 meter (approx) walk over rough ground to and from your tent prior to booking and do not recommend this site if you have any member of the family who cannot easily walk this distance in the near dark!

We consider it important for tourism in Swanage to have as little impact on the environment as possible and so we present every arrival with a recycling bucket and monitor waste to ensure that every camper undertakes the simple but important task of sorting out their recycleable materials.  We recognise that your stay is about relaxing and kicking back but ask you to take a few moments to care for your (and my!) childrens world!  Last year the recycling got to a respectable 60% of all waste so please help us to break that record this year!