Canvas and Campfires - a Wheelchair Accessible Camping Experience

 

Sheep and pig visit our tent!

Camping is something we had considered over the years and we had checked out a few camping shops along the way, to see how camping may work with Miss S as a wheelchair user. It isn't an absolutely impossible task to try traditional camping but there are so many considerations and practicalities that ultimately, each time we’ve discussed it, looked in to it a little more, we’ve not gone any further along. For instance, it would need to be the right tent, one Miss S could physically get in to in her chair, one big enough to stand up in so we can transfer her and have enough space for Miss S get around and that’s before we start to think about what she’d sleep on, how we can get her comfortable enough, warm enough, etc. With so many considerations we just didn’t get round to looking at traditional camping any further. 

We first came across Canvas and Campfires after reading about the visit fellow blogger Simply Emma had, around the time Canvas and Campfires first opened around 2019. Reading of her experience of staying in the fully accessible Enfys tent, inspired us to try it out ourselves some time! We finally, following lockdowns and surgeries, got round to booking it last June (‘23) to visit this May half term. 

 

Canvas and Campfires is located close to Lampeter in the Ceredigion region of Wales. We had visited Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire previously, around 7 years ago but it was our first time to this part of Wales. Our journey should have taken around 4.5 hours (before stops were added in) but as expected, Friday traffic going in to a bank holiday weekend caused us some delays and we ended up diverted off the M4 and on to some interesting alternative, very minor routes with single track roads in places. We were relieved to arrive, pretty much dead on the 5pm arrival time! Our return journey home, was much more straightforward! 

 

We had looked at the Enfys’s virtual tour many times before visiting and every time the kids had a question we would go back and check the virtual tour for answers! We were excited to try camping out but wow (!) the tent in person was exactly as we had seen in the virtual tour but even more impressive in person. Ellie and Dan the owners, really have thought of EVERYTHING! Here is a run down of the features of the tent...

 

Features of the Enfys tent:

To get to the tent - 

Parking space right next to the tent 

Ramped decking to the doors 

Decking with seating area 

Sliding (!) solid doors to enter the tent 

 

Living area - 

Sofa and arm chair with coffee table 

Large dining table specifically designed for wheelchair users to fit under

Wood burner with endless supply of wood 

 

Kitchen area - 

Roll under sink for wheelchair users 

Pull out work tops 

Everything you need crockery wise and to enable you to cook with

Fridge (!) 

Portable gas stove 

Oil, coffee, selection of tea bags, homemade jam, marshmallows and skewers! 

Roll under sink and pull out worktop

Sleeping areas - 

Essentially 3 sleeping areas / bedrooms!! 

Main ‘bedroom’ with either a super king or two single beds, which even has bedside tables with lamps!! 

Second ‘bedroom’ with bunk beds and light 

A third sleeping area has very cleverly been created with a cabin style double bed in the living area. 

Main sleeping area

 

Wet room - 

All other amazing features aside, the wet room was a massive selling point for us, in terms of comfort for Miss S and it was pretty good to have a toilet and shower in our tent for the rest of us! The wet room was huge - large shower area with a fold down shower seat and toilet and sink. The sink was just the right height for Miss S in her chair also. 

 

Other tents / options available at Canvas and Campfires:

Dyffryn - this is the other accessible tent available, which like Enfys is larger and also features a wet room. Parking is available close by rather than next to the tent. 

Other options (not accessible) -

Seren, Afon and Aderyn are all safari tents which have a toilet but shared shower facilities. Seren even has a hot tub. We were told that Enfys and Seren are their most popular tents.

The Little Cowshed - aimed at couples, this a cosy alternative to the safari tents and also features a hot tub! 

 

 

Other info:

There is a very detailed accessibility section on the Canvas and Campfires website! 

Canvas and Campfires kindly offer a 10% discount for disabled guests booking a stay. The discount code can be found under the accessibility section on their website.

Equipment can be hired, such as hoists from a local mobility company.

The site has it's own honesty shop with a selection of food items to purchase as well as board games to borrow.

Animal rounds are offered every morning at 8am, apart from Sundays. Parts of the farm would have been tricky for Miss S to access in her power chair, so owner Dan, kindly treated us all to a visit from all the sheep and two of their pigs, right up to our tent! This was a highlight of our visit. We also had Noodle the cat come in for a snooze on one of the bunk beds too! 

Noodle in our tent

Honesty shop

Out and about:  We were provided with a folder full of information of the local area and there was an accessible attractions section, which was brilliant. We only had two full days so we were looking to mostly chill out in the peaceful surroundings, especially on our first day as the weather was so good. We did have a quick visited to Aberaeron on the Saturday afternoon which seemed a nice little town. On the Sunday, it was raining on and off, so we headed to Lampeter, the closest town and had a lovely Sunday roast in the Black Lion. 

 

Conclusion:

Seeing Emma (of Simply Emma), who also uses a powerchair enjoy a visit here along with the amazingly detailed information Canvas and Campfires provide on their website, gave us the confidence to visit ourselves. We could see we Miss S would be able to access everything in her power chair and it was lovely to see her zip in, around and out of the tent. We would all love another visit some time, we will just need to book for a longer stay next time!