Safari Tent Glamping on UK Farms

What's inside a safari tent on a farm?

Step inside and you're straight into the living room. A Feather Down safari tent (the company calls them canvas hideaways) covers around 45 square metres, which is nearly 500 square feet and roughly the floor space of a small flat. The wood burner warms the whole space and doubles as your cooker, and the fully equipped kitchen comes with pans, plates, glasses and even a coffee grinder.

Off the living area there are three sleeping spaces, and the rest of the layout is built for comfort rather than camping.

• The main bedroom with a double bed and a proper mattress.
• A bunk room for the kids.
• The cupboard bed, tucked behind wooden doors between the living room and the double room. Children love it.
• A private flushing toilet inside, with hot water for washing that varies by farm (more on that below).
• A cool box with ice blocks instead of a fridge. You swap the blocks at the farm shop.
• Bed linen, towels and logs, all included, so you don't need to pack sleeping bags.

Each hideaway sleeps up to six, or five adults and a child under 12.

Outside there's a covered veranda or deck with a picnic table, deckchairs and a BBQ. On a wet afternoon you'll hear rain drumming on the canvas while the kettle heats on the stove, which is half the fun of a glamping holiday. There's deliberately no electricity, no Wi-Fi and no TV, so the evening light comes from oil lamps and candles and the whole place feels cosy rather than luxury hotel. If you're new to it, our guide to what glamping actually is covers the basics.

How big is a safari tent compared with a yurt, pod or bell tent?

Safari tents are the largest kind of canvas glamping accommodation by a long way. Sizes vary from site to site, but this is what you can usually expect:

That extra space is what makes a safari lodge work for families. You get a separate double bedroom, a table big enough for everyone and somewhere to dry wet coats, rather than six people sharing one round floor. It's the most spacious glamping experience you'll find under canvas.

Billingsmoor Farm, DevonMeet the calves, cows, dogs. Sleeps up to 10. Stays from £450.

Check dates

Choosing your safari tent glamping setup: showers and hot tubs

Every farm below has the same canvas hideaway, but the washing arrangements and extras change from farm to farm. You'll see three kinds of hot shower. A farmhouse shower is your own cubicle in a block a short walk away, a private outdoor one sits in its own hut right beside your door, and an en-suite is inside the hideaway itself.

Prices are the lowest stays the farms show, and they rise in the school holidays, so book early for August. If an en-suite matters most, our page on glamping with a toilet and shower sorts the farms by bathroom.

Tents for two, and tents for a crowd

A few hideaways break the mould. East Shilvinghampton Farm in Dorset has one for couples, from £176, and it's the cheapest way onto a farm on the list. At the other end, Billingsmoor Farm in Devon has a canvas lodge that sleeps 10, while Warren Farm on the Somerset hills has an eight-person tenthouse with a bath and a shared barn with pool and table football, which is great for a group of families booking together.

Luxury safari tents with hot tubs

Eight farms have hot tub hideaways. Hollings Hill is the one to pick if you want the tub included rather than bolted on, because every lodge there comes with its own wood-fired hot tub that you light yourself. Manor Farm in the New Forest has metal hot tubs, plus a fire pit and pizza oven beside every tent. At Chesters in the Scottish Borders all four come with a tub, and Pant y March in Snowdonia adds a sauna for four or five people. It's as close to a luxury safari tent as a working farm gets. Compare them on our farm stays with hot tubs page.

Farm life from the tent door

Holiday park safari tents, like Parkdean's on the Isle of Wight, come with electric lights and sockets, pools and entertainment. These come with a farmer. The jobs, the hosts and the nature on your doorstep are the reason to book, and every farm has its own speciality.

Feeding time and farm jobs

At College Farm in Norfolk the kids can bottle-feed lambs in early April, and on a clear night you'll see the stars properly, as the farm sits in an official Dark Sky area. Billingsmoor lets you watch the cows being milked. East Shilvinghampton is the only Feather Down farm where you can walk the alpacas.

For every farm where you can help at feeding time, see our guide to farm stays with animals, and if lambs are the big draw, read up on when lambing season happens before you pick dates.

Play, pools and things to do

• New Barn Farm, Bedfordshire: pony grooming, bike hire for all ages and go-karts.
• Sunninglye Farm, Kent: raft building, with paddles and life jackets supplied.
• Moor Farm: its own indoor swimming pool, open from 18 April to 27 September and bookable in one-hour slots.
• Upper Shadymoor, Shropshire: a water package with kayaks, paddleboards and a hot tub.
• Pant y March, Gwynedd: leave the car parked and walk to the lake for a morning swim.

Don't fancy cooking on your arrival evening? Hollings Hill, Treganhoe and New Barn will all have a hot homemade meal ready if you ask in advance.

Can you take a dog on a safari tent holiday?

Yes, at 13 of the 21 farms. Billingsmoor, Chesters, East Shilvinghampton, Fountain Violet, Foxglove, Gwel Teg, Heydon Grove, Manor Farm, Moor Farm, New Barn, Pant y March, Sunninglye and Warren Farm are all dog friendly. Feather Down's own guidance is up to two dogs per hideaway, kept on a lead, at £30 per dog per stay.

The other eight farms can't take dogs. Our dog friendly farm stays page has the pet friendly details, and it's worth reading the Countryside Code before you walk a dog through fields of livestock.

Where are the safari tents in the UK?

The farms are spread right across Britain, so most families have one within a couple of hours' drive.

South West

Gwel Teg and Treganhoe in Cornwall (see our Cornwall safari tents page), Billingsmoor and Fountain Violet in Devon, East Shilvinghampton in Dorset and Warren Farm in Somerset.

Cotswolds and the South East

Moor Farm, Hollings Hill and Hidcote Manor Farm, where guests get free entry to the National Trust's Hidcote gardens during their stay. Further south and east are Manor Farm in the New Forest, Lunsford in East Sussex (a 15-minute walk to the beach), Sunninglye in Kent and Foxglove in West Berkshire.

East of England

College Farm and Heydon Grove in Norfolk, Layer Marney Tower in Essex and New Barn in Bedfordshire, all handy for a farm stay near London.

Wales, Shropshire and Scotland

Berthlwyd near Aberaeron, Pant y March above Llyn Tegid, Upper Shadymoor in Shropshire and Chesters in the Scottish Borders.

When to go, and what to pack

The season runs from late March to the start of November. For 2026 the last autumn breaks end with a closing weekend from 30 October to 1 November, and booking for 2027 opens with dates from 26 March. Spring brings lambs and long light evenings, while summer is the warmest and books up first.

Nights in early spring and late autumn get cold, even with the stove going.

Cooking on the stove takes a little practice, so have a look at our tips on cooking on a wood-burning stove and our full glamping packing list. Then pick your farm from the cards above, or browse every hideaway on Feather Down's safari tent page. You'll be toasting marshmallows by the fire on your first night!

Compare the farms

Guest scores and review counts are from Feather Down's own farm pages. "Stays from" is the lowest price in Feather Down's feed for a sample stay; your dates will differ.

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