Review: Digeddi Wildlife Campsite near Hay-on-Wye
We spent two nights at Digeddi Wildlife Camping near Hay-on-Wye at the start of June 2023. If you’re considering a stay on this riverside campsite, here is our Digeddi Wildlife Campsite review.
The campsite offers traditional tent pitch camping and also has a few glamping options.
First time camping? Check out my camping tips and camping checklist here.
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Table of Contents
Campsite location
Digeddi Wildlife Camping is perfectly positioned on the banks of the River Wye, just five minutes’ drive from Hay-on-Wye close to the Wales / England border.
The River Wye is the reason to stay at Digeddi. Pathways lead from the campsite directly to two natural pebble beaches which only campers can access.
It’s an hour’s walk into Hay-on-Wye – which we did – but I would recommend driving if you have little children as the walk is along country lanes with no footpath so you have to keep a look out for vehicles. If you have bikes, it’s a pleasant and scenic bike ride along the lanes. The main road is busy with poor visibility so not great for cycling with kids.
What’s the river like at Digeddi campsite?
The shallow water (during our early summer visit) near the shore was calm and inviting and perfect for kayaks and paddle boards. It was also rather cold so we were glad to have our wetsuits.
If you paddle up stream, the water deepens but the current is gentle. We all paddled quite a way without too much difficulty. The campsite is roughly midway between the village of Glasbury and the town of Hay-on-Wye.
There’s a canoe hire outfit in Glasbury which offers half and full day trip canoe hire. Half a day will see you get comfortably from Glasbury downstream to Hay – a journey of around 5.5 miles. The company will pick you and the canoes up at the end and drop you back to where you started.
There’s a small and tame (during June “rapids” section of the river near the pebble beach which was fun for the kids to ride over. It was shallow during our visit – sone heavier kayakers got stuck on the rocks after navigating into an area which was too shallow.
What’s Digeddi Wildlife Camping like?
Camping at Digeddi is a peaceful and back to basics experience. The campsite is set on a 17 acre working farm with lots of horses plus several other animals – including donkeys and goats.
Each generous grassy plot has a fire pit and most plots feel pretty private with unmown sections of grass separating many of the areas.
You have a choice of camping in the elevated fields which have views of the river or you can pitch up close to the Wye for easy access to the water. We opted for the latter as we had several paddle boards in our group.
It was quite breezy on the campsite but sheltered down on the river’s sheltered pebble beach. It was lovely sitting on the beach in the sunshine watching the birds flitting across the water.
This isn’t the kind of campsite where they pack you in – there are tents dotted across fields and there is plenty of privacy.
Our camping area was big – we had a campervan and three big tents but still had space for the kids to kick a football around. There was also enough space for the kids to have a big game of it, chasing each other around the site and seemingly (I hope!) not disturbing our neighbours.
Facilities at Digeddi Wildlife Campsite
You stay at Digeddi for its access to the river. The campsite facilities are pretty basic. However, each plot has a fire pit and there’s a delivery of logs each evening you should you require them.
Pros and Cons
The good bits:
- The access to the river – we had amazing weather so we were all in the water for hours.
- Peaceful site – it’s great that the owners haven’t decided to pack in hundreds of campers (like some of the other sites we passed nearby) – there’s plenty of space for more people (but not the infrastructure!).
- Scenery – everything is green and lush and the river is stunning.
Worth bearing in mind:
- If you like mod cons and a fancy shower block, you’re better off going somewhere else. The toilets near our pitch were portaloos which were a bit stinky.
- It’s a walk of about 3 minutes to the “main” toilets and the showers, of which there are just two of each (we only had to queue once though). The showers are in a converted horsebox and there’s a separate little bathroom for the glampers to use.
- There’s no hot water for washing up but we boiled kettles of water on our stove and managed that way.
Things to do near Digeddi Wildlife Campsite
- Visit the town of books, Hay-on-Wye
- Go canoeing or paddleboarding on the River Wye
- Walking and biking – the scenery is stunning and there are plenty of great walking and cycling routes to explore.
Final thoughts on Digeddi camping
Despite the dodgy loos, we loved our stay at Digeddi – the sun shone and the river was amazing.
We paid for our stay at Digeddi Wildlife Camping.
