With direct access to the river Thames and a family friendly pub just over the bridge, the Ye Olde Swan campsite and glamping in South Oxfordshire is a great spot for a family camping weekend.
This was the 9th year of a weekend camping with friends and our first visit to this campsite. We were looking for somewhere that could take a large group of 6 families and be close to water so we could go paddle boarding and with a July heatwave, we couldn’t have picked a better weekend!
The campsite is on an island, with the Thames Path running along one side and direct access to the water. If you’ve got young children with you, you will need to keep a close eye on them for safety.
The plots are quite small and marked out and while you book ahead, you can’t reserve a particular spot, If you’re camping as a group you’ll need one person to get there as early as possible to bag your places. We managed to get 6 central plots together and were able to space our tents around the edges so we had space in the middle for a gazebo. There are also plots right by the Thames path so you can sit on an evening and sip your G&T with a river view.
There’s not a huge amount of space on the site to be able to kick around a football, but a couple of minutes walk to the edge of the campsite and over a little bridge and you’ll find a big field you can run around in.
There’s also a private section with a number of tipi style glamping tents, shepherds huts and little cabins too.
The facilities are fairly basic but totally adequate. Not a huge amount of pressure in the showers if there’s more than one person using them at the same time and they could be pretty hot or a bit lukewarm depending on the time of day. There’s one sink for washing up and you have to boil your own hot water.
The huge appeal for us for the easy access to the water for paddle boarding. We started off with one paddle board and over the years, each family have bought another so we can pretty much spend the whole day messing around doing watersports.
You can do a loop around the island that the campsite is on with various little side routes too and it’s incredibly peaceful gliding along. We saw geese, swans and lots of dragon flies. You can also hire paddle boards or kayaks by the hour if you don’t have your own.
Over the river from the campsite you’ll find the Ye Olde Swan pub and restaurant. We wandered over there on the Friday evening after setting up camp for freshly made wood fired pizzas and they also have a wide selection of other pub food favourites from pulled pork burgers to scampi and chips.
We had a fantastic weekend and already planning that this is where we’ll go again next year.
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