Gumber Farm
Arundel, West Sussex

"Lift up your hearts in Gumber," declared the writer Hilaire Belloc. Given how crowded the south-east of England is now, the fact that Gumber Farm and its campsite is still an inspirational oasis of calm is all the more remarkable.

Deep in the heart of the deer-filled woods on the 3,500-acre Slindon estate you can plop your tent on a small patch of green beside an old flint barn (now a bunkhouse whose kitchen and lounge are open to campers – a boon in wet weather). Here only the bleating of sheep and the swooping of swallows are likely to disturb your reveries.

The nearest parking space is 1.5 miles away so be prepared to walk or cycle in, or do it the stylish way on a horse (there's a paddock available). Around the estate you'll come across bronze-age burial mounds, a Roman road, a Victorian folly and a dummy airfield from the second world war. The South Downs Way also runs close by, but the chances are you'll be content to sit back and soak in the serenity.

Apr–Oct; £10 per adult per night, under-16 £5; 01243 814484

Daneway Inn
Sapperton, Gloucestershire

Sheltering in a little wooded crease in the Gloucestershire countryside, and almost all that's left of the hamlet from which it takes its name, the Daneway Inn is one of those perfect hideaway pubs other people brag about discovering, but which generally remain irritatingly impervious to one's own attempts to track down.

Originally built as three cottages for navvies digging out the nearby canal, it's an unpretentious haven of real ale and friendly banter. And if you have any mental images of pub campsites, erase them now because this is like nothing you'll ever have come across before.

Richard, the landlord, refers to the Daneway Inn experience as "camping sauvage" and one look at his field confirms it. The grassy sward that stretches back along the erstwhile canal is delightfully untamed.

For a marvellous day, wander along the Wysis Way – which handily passes across the campsite – only returning in the evening for some hearty pub grub. Not so sauvage after all, perhaps.

Mar–Sep; from £10 per tent per night; 01285 760297

Pinkhill Lock
Witney, Oxfordshire

Most of us, alas, will never be able to afford to live on a private island on a river. However, that's not to say we can't all have a taster.

In one of the most inspired pieces of joined-up thinking ever to have broken out at the Environment Agency, several of its islands in the Thames host tiny campsites. There's just enough room on this one for the lock-keeper's house, his beautifully kept garden and a small copse, one part of which is the tiny, five-pitch campsite.

You can, of course, walk through the trees to watch the pleasure boats and barges negotiate the lock, but you might just prefer to stay tucked away by your tent listening to the soothing splish of the river slipping over the weir and gazing out over Oxfordshire fields. There's no road to the lock, and only campers who make it here by walking, cycling, paddling or rowing are admitted, so don't even think of rocking up in anything powered by an internal combustion engine. Take that, modern life!

Apr–Sep; from £8 per tent per night; 01865 881452

YHA Skiddaw House
Near Keswick, Cumbria

Camping at a youth hostel? Yes, I know, but once you're over the initial shock it makes perfect sense, and there are now a number of YHA hostels with their own little campsites attached. However, there's only one that offers seclusion in the grand style.

Skiddaw House is not only the highest hostel in Britain (it's 470m up, fact fans), it's three miles along the Cumbria Way to the nearest road and only accessible on foot or (at a pinch) bicycle. A remote former shooting lodge, it's completely offgrid and the nearest neighbour is two miles away.

The hostel's campsite is a tiny patch of grass inside the ruins of what may once have been a stable. If so, the horses had a cracking view – all the way down a long valley flanked by the hills of Great Calva and Blencathra. There are board games and a piano in the hostel's lounge, and a library, which includes children's books. But best of all, no mobile reception. Now that's getting away from it all.

Mar–Oct; £8.50 per person per night plus £3 YHA membership fee per person per night or £14.35 per year; 07747 174293

The Buzzards
Kingsland, Herefordshire

If it weren't for the fact that Latin is a long-dead language, you could be forgiven for thinking that the phrase multum in parvo (much in little) was coined specifically with The Buzzards in mind.

This biodynamic smallholding covers mere 16 acres, but is packed with joyous diversions, so once the ever-friendly owner Elaine has directed you to the small, sheltered campsite, the difficulty lies in deciding what to do first. There's the badger hide to be visited, a bluebell wood filled with more bats than seems either likely or possible, and then you simply must visit Barbara to scratch her ears (it's OK, she's an amiable Tamworth sow). Wander through a copse to a mere and you can commune with grebes, coots and moorhens. Or you could simply go to ground in the camping field and await a visit from one of Elaine's three sociable cats (so ring ahead if you've a dog).

For the ultimate in seclusion, however, head for the place where the stone was hewn to build The Buzzards' 300-year-old farmhouse. The small quarry has now been deftly turned into a separate little campsite – for a single tent.

Open all year; from £10 per pitch per night, £1 per adult per night; 01568 708941

Bouncers
Wickham Bishops, Essex

As anyone from that neck of the woods will tell you, there's far more to Essex than Dagenham. Indeed, travel to the north of the county and the countryside is positively Suffolkian.

And in case you are in any doubt about just how bucolic it can get, for a small fee Bouncers' owner Ann will collect you from Witham station in her pony and trap. Her campsite is spread across a smallholding boasting seven acres of woods and just 10 pitches, so there are plenty of nooks and crannies to hide away in. You can even bring a hammock and string it up between the 300-year-old trees.

No tent? No problem. There are two large tents available, or you can splash out on the two Gypsy caravans and cook your supper in the cauldron over an open fire. Just one word of warning – if it's peace and quiet you're after, you might want to avoid 9–10 July, the one weekend a year when the site plays host to open-air opera.

Easter–Oct and Christmas/New Year; from £12 per pitch per night (1 adult), £4 per extra adult per night, £3 per child (under 16) per night, pre-erected tents from £20 per night, Gypsy caravans (sleeps up to 5) £80 per night; 01621 894112

Middle Ninfa
Abergavenny, Monmouthshire

It's pretty hard to miss the Blorenge. Look straight up from Abergavenny and there it is – a bold outpost of the Brecon Beacons. Halfway up the hill's precipitous slopes clings the smallholding of Middle Ninfa ("charcoal burner" in Welsh, but I expect you knew that). Blessed with just a handful of small pitches, you can either pop your tent up in the garden or climb up to one of the three isolated wild spots. Here you sit in your eyrie commanding the whole Usk valley – it's quite a buzz. In the morning, if you're lucky, you'll get a visit from the two gentle horses that graze the hill.

There's a compost loo, and plans afoot to install a solar-powered shower. A short trek upwards leads to a nature reserve hidden away in the trees where you can sit and ponder beside the pond. And should that seem like too much hard work, book a session at the wood-fired sauna.

Open all year; £5 per person per night (bunkhouse sleeping six also available – ring for prices); 01873 854662

Outer Bounds
Llanrhystud, Ceredigion

If ever there were an antidote to all those soulless campsites that model themselves on car parks, this is it.

A lovingly landscaped parcel of land hosting just half a dozen pitches, Outer Bounds is planted with shrubs and even redcurrant bushes, and entirely surrounded by trees, so hiding away comes easy. Fancy a room with a view? Simply nab one of the upper pitches and you'll see all the way to Cardigan Bay. And if you do feel an urge to be sociable, there's a communal firepit and a sheltered dining table that's long enough to seat an army (all right, a platoon).

Off piste, the blue-flag beach at Llanrhystud is four miles away and there's a veritable web of local footpaths and cycle trails to explore. But it's the oddities back on the site that really make Outer Bounds: the venerable well, the pair of coach seats that do for a bench and the miniature stone circle. Every campsite should have one.

End Mar-Oct; £6 per adult per night, £2 per child (3-10) per night; 01974 272444

The Lazy Duck
Nethy Bridge, Highland

Taking its name from the host of ducks that live there – fans of aylesburies, carolinas, mandarins, pintails and whistlers, roll right up – this tiny independent hostel half a mile up a forest track on the edge of the Cairngorms possesses one of the most entrancing campsites you could wish for.

Red squirrels zip around the edge of a bijou glade that hosts no more than four small tents. Hammocks loll about between Caledonian pines, a chimenea stands ready for the evening's fire, while tealight lanterns light the campers' shelter. Beyond the wildflower garden lies a juniper moor with mountain views. Such is the tranquil nature of the place that it's hard to believe that the village of Nethy Bridge, half a mile away up a forest track, actually exists.

But perhaps the highlight of any visit is the Australian bush shower ( don't worry – it's warm) tucked away in the woods – getting clean has never been quite so exhilarating.

Apr–Oct; £10 per pitch per night (one adult), £5 per extra adult per night; 01479 821642

Blinkbonny Wood
Haddington, East Lothian

When the directions to a campsite start relying on smaller and smaller villages as landmarks along the way, and end with a plaintive plea not to use a satnav, you can be pretty sure a bit of privacy awaits you.

Such is the case with Blinkbonny Wood – 100 acres of Japanese larch, Scots pine and Norway spruce cowering beneath the mighty hulk of the Lammermuir hills. There are just four pitches – either on the edge of the wood or, for lovers of solitude, in a glade within.

Proudly rustic, this is not a site for pampered campers: there's a composting toilet, a firepit and some logs to sit on, but no shower and no standpipe. Water is available from the owners, but – hey! – you're camping, and washing is so last year. All the time you'll save can be put to use drinking in the extraordinary views across the Firth of Forth and to Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, 20 miles away but another world entirely.

Open all year; £5 per adult per night, £2.50 per teenager (12-18) per night, under-12s free; 01620 825034