Camping on the Back of the Wight

In short: the Back of the Wight is the Island's south-west coast, from Brook through Brighstone to Chale, with the Military Road running along the clifftop. We list 11 campsites here, almost all of them small, farm-based or both. Come for surf at Compton, fossils on the beaches, the downs behind and very dark skies; don't come expecting a pool or an entertainment bar.

What the Back of the Wight is like

This is the emptiest stretch of the Island's coast. The Military Road (the A3055) runs along the top of soft, eroding cliffs from Freshwater Bay to Chale, with fields and a few farms on one side and the open Channel on the other. Every mile or so a chine, a steep little ravine, cuts down to the beach. Inland, the chalk downs rise behind a string of stone villages.

It feels remote for somewhere so small. There are no towns, no street lights along the coast and few buildings, which is why the sunsets and the night sky are so good. It is also exposed: a south-westerly blows straight onto the clifftop fields, so bring proper pegs and a tent that copes with wind.

The villages each have a page: Brook, Brighstone, Shorwell, Chale and Chale Green. Brighstone is the biggest, with a village shop, a pub and cafés among its thatched cottages. See every Back of the Wight campsite together.

Where to camp

On the clifftop

Grange Farm is the best equipped site on this coast: a family-run farm above Grange Chine where you choose your own clifftop pitch, many looking straight out to sea, with a shop selling fresh bread, free showers, a playground, camping pods and a path down to the beach. Next door, Brighstone Holiday Centre is a 1930s holiday camp with chalets and big fields for family tents and rallies, and the Coastal Path at the bottom of the site.

Further east, Chine Farm is a large, quiet, no-frills field on the seaward side of the road with very roomy pitches and a reputation for peaceful nights and stargazing. Near Chale, Paradise Cottage CS is a two-acre members' site with, unusually for a CS, showers and flushing toilets.

Small farm sites and pop-ups

Inland, the choice is tiny farm fields. Thorncross Farm has hook-up and water on every pitch and a carp lake, but no toilets, so it suits vans. Meadow Lakes at Limerstone has five pitches beside trout and coarse fishing lakes (no dogs).

In the summer holidays three pop-ups open. Chapelfurlong Farm at Hulverstone has sea views, campfires and the Sun Inn five minutes' walk away. Troopers View outside Shorwell has big unmarked pitches, bell tents and a bus stop at the gate. Kingston Smallholding is a few off-grid pitches on a goat farm, with a firepit on every pitch and free firewood.

Glamping

Warren Hill Camp is a dog-free site on an old dairy farm at Atherfield with just six bell tents and a shepherd's hut, a shared barn kitchen and fire pits by the pond and in the woods. Camp Corve near Chale has bell tents and tent pitches in a car-free woodland glade, plus an indoor skatepark in the barn.

Beaches and fossils

The beaches here are long, sandy or shingly, and backed by cliffs, reached down chines or steps. They are wild beaches with no promenades, so check the tide before you set off along the shore, keep away from the foot of the cliffs, which slip regularly, and take care in the water.

• Compton Bay: the Island's best-known surf beach, just west of Brook. Compton Farm, a quarter of a mile away, is in our West Wight listings. See campsites near Compton Bay.
• Hanover Point: at low tide, look for dinosaur footprints in the rock ledges at the eastern end of Compton Bay.
• Brook Bay: a fossil forest of fallen trees shows in the ledges at low tide.
• Brighstone Bay: miles of beach below Grange Farm and Brighstone Holiday Centre, rarely crowded.
• Chale Bay: the far end, under Blackgang: long, empty and very exposed.

This coast is one of the best places in Britain to find dinosaur fossils. See the fossil hunting guide.

Walks and rides

• The Coastal Path runs along the clifftop the whole way: 8 campsites here are within a mile and a half of it. See the Coastal Path guide.
• The Worsley Trail starts in the downs above Brighstone and crosses the Island to Shanklin.
• The Shepherds Trail runs from Carisbrooke over the downs towards the coast near Atherfield.
• The Hamstead Trail starts at Brook Bay and heads north to the Solent, and the Tennyson Trail follows the ridge above Brook.
• The Round the Island cycle route passes through, and Thorncross Farm is right on it. Brighstone has bike hire.

For a short walk from Brighstone or Hulverstone, go up onto Mottistone Down to the Longstone, a standing stone from an ancient burial site, with views along the whole coast.

Pubs, shops and days out

The pubs are village pubs: the Sun Inn at Hulverstone, the Three Bishops in Brighstone, the Crown Inn at Shorwell, and the Wight Mouse Inn at Chale. Brighstone and Shorwell have village shops; for a big shop, Freshwater and Newport are each a short drive.

For days out there is the National Trust's Mottistone Gardens, Blackgang Chine, the old cliff-top theme park at the Chale end, and St Catherine's Down above it, with the medieval lighthouse tower locals call the Pepperpot.

Getting there

For Brook and Brighstone, the Lymington to Yarmouth ferry is closest: about five to eight miles to the campsites. The Chale end is roughly equidistant from all the ports, and a drive of about 10 miles from Fishbourne. See taking a tent on the ferry.

Buses are thinner here than elsewhere. Southern Vectis route 12 runs from Newport through Shorwell, Brighstone and Mottistone to Freshwater Bay and on to Alum Bay, and route 6 serves Chale on its way from Newport to Ventnor. In summer the Island Coaster runs the length of the Military Road. Troopers View and Meadow Lakes are among the sites with a stop nearby.

Who it suits

• Families who like simple camping: big fields, beaches and rock pools, and campfires at some sites. See farm campsites and small sites.
• Surfers and fossil hunters: Compton and Brook are on the doorstep.
• Stargazers: see dark-sky campsites and the stargazing guide.
• Walkers: the Coastal Path and four inland trails.

It suits less well if you need a pool, a bar on site or a supermarket nearby; look at the West Wight or Ventnor and the south instead.