If there were an annual award for 'English campsite with the greatest diversity of accommodation', the owners of Aide Garden would be permanently practising their acceptance speeches and making mental notes not to blub on discovering that they've triumphed over Angelina Jolie again.

The sheep-rearing Town Farm family-owners have enjoyed living here for generations regardless, and have opened their land to campers looking to extol this part of Bedfordshire, too. Their vast camping field is behind a barn. Tents can be pitched at the foot of Ivinghoe Beacon, where the famous Ridgeway Walk starts its journey to Wiltshire, or overlooking the Vale of Aylesbury.

If campsites had their own Zodiac signs, then Debden House's would be Libra. It manages to pull off a unique balancing act between size (this place is huge, taking up 60 acres of prime Essex countryside) and privacy. Backing directly on to vast Epping Forest, with its magnificent ancient trees, flower-carpeted meadows, mirrored ponds, and abundance of wildlife, the campsite is divided into seven fields.

If you've been searching in vain for years for a campsite that offers its own pony-and-trap taxi service, then search no more. Get within a few miles of Bouncers Farm - to Witham station, say -and, for a small fee, Ann will collect you and your fellow campers and take you clip-elopping down narrow country lanes to her lovely woody site in the surprisingly bucolic Essex countryside. Greenies will also be happy to note that there are discounts for those who get most of the way to Bouncers by some form of sustainable transport.

The cockerel may crow or the goats may mutter as you enter Palace Farm, but that's as noisy as it gets here. It's a quiet old place, off the beaten track (but not far from some very worthwhile places to visit) and with a 10pm quiet rule that's largely respected.

The soaring white cliffs of Folkestone and nearby Dover are infamous. Welcoming yet overwhelming, the cliffs are nothing short of spectacular. And because cliffs like these need an equally spectacular viewing spot, the Camping and Caravanning Club created Folkestone campsite.

Named after an old (and sadly long-since departed) rescue hen called Welsummer, Med and Laura Benagounne's campsite is the epitome of laid-back cool - not something, admittedly, that you immediately associate with Kent. A multicoloured windsock hangs from a tree, chickens roam free, and acoustic instruments and fireside singalongs are the order of the day - or rather, the night.

You can instantly tell that more than the average amounts of thought and love have gone into Bedgebury Camping. It's the little extras: a communal dpi tor camptire gatherings and general hanging-out; the cute little wooden compost toilet blocks, hand-built by owner Jim; the camptire starter packs, which include straw bales to sit on in addition to the more predictable logs, kindling, and marshmallows. Small things - big difference. And it's a big site, too.

Back in the days of knights and armour the little village of Battle was but a blip on the map. Then came that fateful day in 1066, when a bunch of French fellas dragged their boats on to English shores to wage war on the Saxons. After one king's-eye of an arrow shot, the Norman Conquest was complete and Battle became one of the most historically significant towns in England.

Hidden Spring does what it says on the tin: family camping a la fame, squirrelled away in fields corduroyed by vineyards and apple orchards. It's situated near the sleepy village of Horam - which has all you might need from a bakery, off licence, and fish and chippy - and there's a palpable sense of calm that slips over you as soon as you drive up the rutted road and catch your first view of the campsite. It's basic, but good basic, and for a reason too - owners Tamzin and David want their visitors to experience a back-to-nature treat, a place where kids can make dens in the copse, run wild through the orchard, and play hide-and-seek in the woods.