GLAMPING | We Reconnect With Nature & Ourselves While Glamping at Idyllic Treheli Farm

July 27, 2020 Shell Robshaw-Bryan

Glamping, Homepage Feature, Sponsored Product/Stay

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With travel restrictions in Wales finally lifted, we were looking forward to heading down to the Llŷn Peninsula to spend a few days beside the sea in a Stargazer bell tent at Treheli Farm. Read on to find out more.

Lockdown has been a hard slog for all of us and being confined to home and my local area had me feeling like a caged animal. As we regained our freedom little by little, so my desire to roam free and in particular to swim in the sea, grew ever stronger. Although the Welsh coast is well under 2 hours away from home, Wales, of course, had been closed to tourists for many months.

Treheli Farm entrance — ***The entrance to Treheli Farm***

Our long weekend glamping break at Treheli Farm was scheduled to take place just a few days after travel restrictions in Wales were lifted and knowing I would soon be waking up to the sound of the ocean was one of the things that helped keep me going.

Road trip time

To make the most of our 3-night break, we decided to set off a day early, making for a leisurely and even shorter drive down from Cheshire to North Wales. We stopped halfway at a hotel, waking the next morning more relaxed and already well and truly in holiday mode.

Stargazer bell tents at Treheli Farm — **Stargazer bell tents in the Glade area at Treheli Farm**

We meandered towards the Llŷn Peninsula, an area we both holidayed in as children, but hadn’t visited since. I have fond memories of the seaside towns of Porthmadog, Criccieth and Abersoch and have particularly vivid memories of a cottage I holidayed in as a young child of no more than 7, a holiday that as a family we have come to fondly remember as “the one where a bull escaped from a field and dad had to chase it off the lawn”.

As we picked our way down the peninsula the tantalising glimpses of the coast felt even more special after so many months confined to Cheshire. I feel like I spent most of lockdown dreaming about swimming and craving expansive views of the horizon and the salty-sticky sea air.

Treheli Farm Stargazer bell tent we stayed in — **The Stargazer bell tent we stayed in**

The coast for me is always a special place. It’s somewhere that makes me feel as though I can breathe again. Just as open water swimming helps to ground me, gazing out across the sea and listening to waves calms me and invokes a somewhat poetic and dreamy state.

It was this sense of stillness, of space in my own head that only comes when I spend a prolonged time immersed in nature, that I’d been looking forward to most and even the grey sky and drizzle couldn’t dampen the calm happiness I felt creeping up on me as we draw ever nearer.

A breathtaking arrival

We arrive shortly after 3pm, park up and stretch our legs, walking into the camping field which looks directly out over Hells Mouth Bay with sweeping views of the Atlantic.

Hells Mouth Bay, Treheli Farm — **The beach, just a few minutes walk from the bell tents**

You can look at photos of places online and read as many reviews as you want, but there’s nothing quite like seeing something you’ve been looking forward to seeing with your own eyes. We hold hands gazing out at the ocean, feeling an immediate deep sense of contentment, both uttering “wow” in unison.

Chilling beside the fire — **Chilling beside the campfire**

We make our way towards the farmhouse, passing a row of bell tents facing the sea, wondering which one will be ours. We’re met by owner Mark, friendly, chatty and down to earth and he shows us to a totally different area tucked away, called the Glen and the Glade where 4 Stargazer bell tents are located.

Bell tents at Treheli Farm — **Looking from our tent up to the other bell tent in the Glade area**

Overuse of superlatives can come across as fawning or even insincere, but both areas have a truly magical feel to them. The location of the Stargazer tents is more secluded than the rest of the site, indeed, during our stay in the Glade the other tent was kept vacant and on one day, the only person we saw was Mark checking in on us and delivering logs for the fire on his quad bike and a couple of people a few hundred metres further down the beach.

The other Stargazer bell tent area, the Glen is open and rugged with spectacular views of the bay and 2 tents spaced well apart and positioned to optimise the views. The second area, the Glade where we stayed, is a little more enclosed and unusually for the coast, it has a woodland feel to it, surrounded by trees.

The views whilst perhaps not quite as uninterrupted, are still extremely impressive and being able to wake up in the morning and look straight out onto the sea without even leaving my camp bed I have to say, was pretty special.

Treheli farm view from tent — **Lying on my camp bed, this was my view from inside the bell tent**

No matter whether you choose a glamping bell tent, or are camping at Treheli Farm, the view remains the star of the show and the coast at Treheli has an easy ability to endlessly draw your eye and attention.

The Stargazer bell tents are specifically designed to make the most of the views with panels you can see through located in the ceiling, so unlike regular bell tents, you don’t need to have the door open to be able to see outside, helping you feel more deeply immersed in your surroundings.

Beachcombing & local gin

During our stay we took a few trips out, Pwllheli on one day and on another, Abersoch where we picked up a bottle of local(ish) Aber Falls gin, along with a selection of Welsh cheese.

We spent our evenings beside the campfire drinking Gin, grazing on cheese and crackers, talking and gazing up at the stars before snuggling up in bed and watching a downloaded Netflix movie on the tablet, before switching off and falling asleep to the gentle sound of the waves lapping at the shore below us.

We spent most of our days on the beach exploring like kids. Poking dead things with sticks, including a dried out dogfish and sheep skull, marvelling at the variance in the pebbles (the beach looked like a geologists dream), stacking stones to create mini cairns, swimming in the sea, and generally lazing around doing nothing in particular.

Sunday was our last day and the forecast had promised a drizzly overcast day, but we woke to gently scudding clouds and warm sunshine.

When the days all meld happily into one, you know you’ve had a proper break.

We took our time getting packed down, greedily and somewhat reluctantly drinking in the last of the stunning views before we heard the telltale sound of a motor, signaling the arrival of the truck come to move our gear back up to the car for us.

When the days all meld happily into one, you know you’ve had a proper break and returning home, hazy on the details of which day we went where or did what, we realised just how relaxed and restorative our time glamping at Treheli Farm had been.

The view from our tent — **Stunning views at Treheli Farm**

Treheli Farm Glamping Need To Know & Tips

The Bell Tent Boutique Stargazer bell tents at Treheli Farm are unfurnished, so if you are thinking of booking a stay, you’ll need to take all of your usual camping gear with you. Each Stargazer bell tent has a wooden loveseat and a fire pit and logs were provided free of charge on request.

There’s a little truck that will help you ferry your gear to and from your car, which is a valuable service as the newer Stargazer bell tents are down a hill that can be tricky and tiring to walk up and down carrying heavy camping gear.

Although the bell tents have access to composting loos not too far away, we took our portable camp toilet with us, which made life a little easier, and if you walk up the little hill back towards the campsite, you’ll find a chemical loo disposal point there along with a recycling area.

A 5m bell tent can sleep up to 6 people, but occupancy will depend on the type of camp beds or mattresses you are using and whether you plan to take any furniture, for example, a kitchen unit for storage and cooking. To reach maximum occupancy, we’d recommend using nothing larger than single air mattresses or SIMs and taking no other camp furniture or gear with you.

For a comfortable stay, consider taking rugs for the floor to protect it in wet weather, a hanging lantern, cushions to pad the provided wooden loveseats or your own comfy camp chairs and pretty much anything else you’d usually take on a camping trip with you.

Whilst you can get down to the beach from both the Glen and the Glade, it can be a somewhat arduous descent, but with care, it can be done and it’s only short. Walking from our bell tent, down the side of the cliff to the beach, and carefully navigating the pebbles and rock pools to get to the nearest stretch of sandy beach took us around 10-15 minutes.

For those wanting to switch off and experience true relaxation, this is the place to do it. We’re both on Vodafone and we had next to no signal for most of the time we were there. We adore having no signal (Instagram can wait!) but a few times each day, we would suddenly get a couple of bars and a flood of notifications. If you need to be contactable or rely on a phone connection to stream music for example, it’s worth bearing the weak signal here in mind.

There’s not much within easy walking distance of the site – just how we and the many Treheli Farm regulars like it – but this does mean that we’d recommend bringing food, drink and the means to cook meals with you.

The Glade at Treheli Farm — ***Looking back up at the Glade from the rough track leading down to the beach***

The Glade is surrounded by woodland and is covered in wildflowers and feels a little more enclosed and private, making it the ideal choice for families with young children. The Glen has arguably more sweeping views, but is more open, with the bell tents sited close to the edge of the cliff, making this location perhaps a better choice for couples or those with older children.

Abersoch is very close by and is a fabulous little seaside town with some good places to eat, including Zinc Cafe, Bar & Grill for a great vegetarian breakfast, good coffee, and lovely views of the harbour.

In the little market town of Pwllheli, you’ll find delicious battered fish at Arvonia Fish & Chip shop and there’s a pretty harbour to stroll around too and a decent sized Asda supermarket should you need any supplies.

After a day trip, on your drive back to Treheli Farm, detour to Hells Mouth Bay, park up for free and take a short walk down to the beach to see a different part of the bay and watch the surfers at play.

Further round the bay, close to Treheli Farm we swam in the sea and found it calm and gentle, with plenty of large rock pools ideal for use as paddling pools for younger children.

Glamping at Treheli Farm

Choose from their standard 5m bell tents or 5m Stargazer bell tents.

Stargazer bell tents cost £150 per night.
Standard bell tents cost £100.
A regular camping pitch costs £20.

Find out more about Stargazer bell tent glamping at Treheli Farm.

DISCLOSURE | We were invited to stay at Treheli Farm. We were not paid to write this review.

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Shell Robshaw-Bryan

Editor & Owner at Camping with Style

Shell loves all things travel and outdoors and is a nature-loving, comfy-camping kinda girl. Shell started the Camping with Style blog after a serious snowboarding accident which left her with a broken back. Despite this she used the outdoors and healing power of nature to aid her recovery and she continues to spend time outdoors whenever she can.

From open water swimming, snowboarding and kayaking to hill walks and meditation, Shell shares her travels and microadventures here on the blog and in various publications she's written for, Shell has a particular interest in promoting wellbeing and the many benefits of nature therapy.

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