Real Campfires are back …

… at the heart of camping at Barefoot!

“…the real camp fires provided a great end to each evening, it was quite a sight to see all the fires burning around us in the darkness…”   Mike and Shelley,  30th May 2013

We’re delighted that since 2018, following the firewood ban in 2016, we’ve been able to keep real campfires burning again at Barefoot.

We make sure everyone has access to a campfire area – whether that’s individually or for your group.

Campfires need to be treated with respect – so if you’re going to have a campfire, you’ll need to follow our Campfire Code:

Campfire Code

(reviewed and updated Feb 2025, reviewed with minor updates Jan 2026)

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    • Remember, campfires maybe lit and in use at any time of the day, not just in the evenings, and embers and ash may still be hot, even when the fire itself is out.
    • Warn your children of the dangers of campfires and hot embers, and keep a close eye on toddlers around any campfire.
    • Do not allow your child to wander onto someone else’s pitch where their campfire may still be warm.
    • Only firewood purchased on the campsite may now be used for campfires.
    • Light campfires only in existing campfire areas. Even if you have a fire-pit with legs, the heat from the underside will still singe the grass, so please, stand these in your campfire area.
    • If you plan to have a campfire, consider where you pitch your tent: Don’t pitch too close to your campfire area!
    • Kept your campfire to a manageable size and under control at all times and ensure that any smoke does not annoy other site users.
    • Under no circumstances should you use an accelerant on your campfire such as BBQ fuel, petrol or diesel Kindling and firelighters are available for purchase on the campsite.
    • Please do not gather wood from the hedgerows around the campsite: Apart from unseasoned or damp wood generating too much smoke, wood left to decay naturally plays an important part in the lifecycle of insects. Willow also has a tendency to spark which may leave pin holes in your, or someone else’s tent!
    • Never leave your campfire unattended and make sure it is fully extinguished before you go to bed or leave site: A gentle breeze can soon ignite dying embers.
    • Update Jan 2026:  Grass fire-beaters are located in the campsite office porch
    • Update Jan 2026:  Every pitch is provided with rubbish and recycling caddys which can be uses as fire buckets in an emergency. A water stand pipe, suitable for filling buckets, is located in each riverside camping field and by the staff sink opposite the office. On self-check in weekends, caddys to use as fire buckets will be located on the office porch under the fire beaters.
    • Helpful advice on campfire safety, lighting, maintaining and extinguishing your campfire can be found at: www.campfiresburning.org
    • If you want to cook over your campfire, we have a limited number of racks and used grills available to borrow.  Please enquire.
    • In very dry conditions the building of campfires may be restricted.

BBQ Code:

(reviewed Feb 2025, reviewed Jan 2026)

BBQs are encouraged, but please follow a few simple guidelines:

Grass damage from cooking equipment

    • Please light your BBQ in your campfire area: The small stands provided with instant BBQs are NOT adequate to prevent them scorching the grass.

 

 

        • Please DO NOT place BBQs on the wooden picnic tables.

Why Campfires were banned at Barefoot in 2016

It was with great sadness that, in July 2016, we suddenly had to ban firewood campfires on the campsite following a complaint of smoke. This was partly due to some campers a) bringing their own unseasoned firewood and b) gathering unseasoned wood, branches and twigs from the surrounding hedgerows. We did also find evidence that some people were bringing other wood products to burn – pallets, DIY waste, old garden furniture! etc. (Something which has always been strictly prohibited).

Because we knew that many campers came to Barefoot because we allowed campfires, we offered refunds to everyone camping that first weekend of the ban so that they could book elsewhere.

One of our campers who decided to come regardless, suggested it might be worth us trying smokeless logs, manufactured in the UK from renewable clean wood residues. Not living in a smoke-free zone I wasn’t aware of these although they were available locally, however, they proved hard to come by in the summer and we only managed to find a few packs. Ben and Ruth also brought what they could from London and we shared the packs around the campers that weekend.

The Hotties certainly lived up to their name and generated great heat and importantly – without smoke! We finally managed to find a supplier and bought in several pallet loads to see us through the rest of the season.

Thank you Ben and Ruth – you helped to keep the campfires burning at Barefoot that summer!

Finding a supply of Hotties meant we could keep the campfires burning for the rest of 2016 but although the they were safe to cook over and were certainly ‘hot’ they just weren’t quite the same as a firewood campfire:

They don’t produce the glowing embers of a real campfire, and although some campers did say they liked not getting smoke in their eyes, others really missed going home with the smell of smoke in their clothes and hair.

Biggest drawback though is that you can’t cook over them, unless you’re using a crock-pot.

In 2017 we carefully managed the campfire situation on a weekend by weekend basis with a combination of seasoned firewood from sustainably managed woodland in Appleton; smokeless ‘Hotties‘, and kindling from untreated reclaimed timber produced by ‘Raw Workshop‘ – a social impact project who employ, train and support people from local communities who face prejudice and barriers to work. We also sourced Flamers Natural Firelighters – natural renewable, untreated wood shavings dipped in wax.