Tresseck Campsite & the village of Hoarwithy - a beautiful spot on the banks of the river Wye

I thought I would write a little piece about a beautiful campsite we stayed in on a gloriously hot weekend in 2014. Before I ramble on I should say that this is a very basic site with limited facilities so, if this is your thing, read on. If you prefer more order, marked pitches, underfloor heating in pristine toilet blocks and so on, this site will not be for you.

Tresseck Campsite is located in the heart of the tiny village of Hoarwithy in Herefordshire, just a few miles north of the lovely market town of Ross on Wye. The site itself is located on an old river meadow and has plenty of flat, open space to spread out in.

 The facilities include cold running water and portaloos - that's it! There are no showers, washing up facilities or site shop, but the joy of this site lies in it's location right on the banks of one of the most beautiful rivers in England with direct access to launch canoes.

The river Wye is the only river in England, to the best of my knowledge anyway, that anyone can paddle on without needing any form of permit - that's got to be a good enough reason to give it a go and exercise a centuries old right of navigation.

Tresseck campsite is only licensed to accept tents. Dogs are allowed and, more importantly, so are campfires! The owners even come round in the early evening with bags of logs for sale (not unreasonably, they don't want you chopping down the native hedgerows). The other thing that appeals to us about this site is the proximity of a very nice pub, The New Harp Inn that is found at the site entrance. Booking is advisable, the food is good and it is only a short stagger back to your tent afterwards!

When we stayed we arrived late Friday afternoon and spent a wonderful evening sitting on the banks of the Wye, cooking our dinner over an open fire (marinated butterflied leg of lamb for anyone who is interested). We drank copious amounts of wine and slept soundly with the noise of the river lulling us off to sleep. The following day, after a hearty fat-belly breakfast, we loaded our canoes with a picnic lunch before heading off at a leisurely pace for Ross on Wye.

We had an unexpectedly exciting journey that involved rescuing a young girl who had gone swimming with friends and had been swept away by the strong current and was, when we came across her, clinging to reeds on the opposite bank with no obvious way of getting back! Having successfully paddled her back to her friends we continued towards Ross on Wye.

Shortly after a very lazy lunch at a lovely little spot with an area of beach for skimming stones, we encountered our second drama - a very large lamb that had fallen in to the river and was trying valiantly to get back to a very agitated mother. The bank was too steep at this point and the lamb was clearly tiring fast. After a futile attempt to describe our location to the West Mercia police control room, we decided we had no choice but to get the lamb out on our own. An hour later and we were still trying! Eventually we did manage to get our dog lead around it's neck and haul it up the bank - it doesn't sound too difficult but it weighed a bloody ton and struggled violently throughout! I am pleased to say that mother and baby were reunited and we were rather chuffed with ourselves. That night, we treated ourselves to dinner in the village pub!

On the Sunday, we visited the rather unusual church in the village. Hoarwithy church was originally a chapel built in 1840. It was, by all accounts, a rather ugly building. When William Poole was appointed vicar of the parish in 1854 he decided that he wanted to “beautify the chapel”. Before his appointment he had travelled extensively in Italy and had got rather carried away with all things Italian. He was obviously a man of considerable charm and influence because he managed to persuade his parishioners to pay for the church to be titivated. The result was the impressive Italianate Romanesque and Byzantine building that you can see today. A gem in rural Herefordshire with fine views from the top churchyard of the church and countryside. Inside there are wooden carved choir stall figures, marble columns and altar with lapis lazuli with the central cross made of tiger-eye, and a fine window at the apex of the cluster of windows on the west wall. Over the altar there is a wonderful mosaic of Christ in Glory. It really is a bizarre thing to find in a tiny village in rural Herefordshire!

I plan to ramble on some more about the river Wye in future posts because I love it but, for now, I hope that this post might have influenced you to visit this beautiful area of the country sometime soon.