12 of the weirdest UK destinations to visit by campervan

From the most beautiful towns and villages of the Cotswolds to the best day trips from London, we love telling you about the best places to visit in your classic car or campervan.

Occasionally, though we’re in the mood for something a little more unusual. With that in mind, here’s our list of some of the weirdest UK spots that you can easily reach in your camper.

We’ve aimed for a good geographical selection so, wherever you’re based, there should be something reasonably near at hand. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, fill up the fuel tank, check the campervan insurance is up to date… and tick them all off the list!

1. Alnwick Poison Garden

Near Alnwick, Northumberland

Next to the fabulous Norman castle of Alnwick is a beautifully laid-out set of gardens, known as Alnwick Garden, open to the public throughout the year. And within this horticultural complex lies the small but completely deadly Poison Garden.

Enclosed behind suitably forbidding black iron gates, the Poison Garden is home to around 100 toxic, narcotic and intoxicating plants. Unsurprisingly, it can only be visited via guided tour. Visitors are strictly forbidden from tasting, touching or smelling any of the lethal flora growing within – and the most lethal plants are kept inside impenetrable cages.

Even so, there are occasional reports of people fainting from inhaling the toxic fumes as they stroll the garden. Not one for the faint-hearted? Perhaps not. Weirdly captivating? Absolutely.

2. The Crypt at St Leonard’s Church

   Hythe, Kent

Underneath a church in the Kentish town of Hythe is the UK’s largest collection of ancient human bones and skulls. Some 1,000 skulls are on display here, along with an enormous stack of bones and skulls over seven metres long and almost two metres high. Historians estimate that the skulls and bones together represent some 2,000 people.

The collection has been here since at least 1678 – when Samuel Jeake, Town Clerk of nearby Rye, noted ‘an orderly pile of dead men’s bones’ in the church. Postcards from the early 1900s feature photographs of the crypt looking much the same as it does today.

But who were all these people, and how do their remains now come to rest in this small Kentish crypt? Theories put forward include Danish pirates killed in a sea battle; slain warriors from the Battle of Hastings; and Anglo-Saxons killed in battle. Others suggest that the bones and skulls may come from Black Death victims.

Whatever their story, these skulls and bones certainly represent one of Britain’s most unusual and unsettling places.

3. Puzzlewood

   Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire

Ever wonder where J.K. Rowling got the inspiration for the gnarled, ancient and malevolent Forbidden Forest that sits just outside the Hogwarts school boundaries?

The answer is Puzzlewood, a deep, dark and labyrinthine woodland in the middle of the Forest of Dean. With its strange rock formations, secret caves and ancient trees, not to mention its thoroughly perplexing maze of interlocking, overlapping paths, Puzzlewood really is the archetype of the centuries-old, forbidding woodland.

It’s also easy to get to in your campervan, being just off the B4228 between Lydney and Coleford. There’s plenty of woodland fun for all the family, including a treasure hunt for Roman coins and a trail of 20 objects, places and faces hidden among the ancient trees.

4. Bobby’s Bus Shelter

   Unst, Shetland Isles, Scotland

What’s fascinating about Bobby’s Bus Shelter is just how incongruous it is. Some background: we’re now on remote Unst, the northernmost inhabited island in the entire British Isles – and here we are, confronted with a rather cosy little bus shelter.On the outskirts of the village of Baltasound, this is no ordinary bus shelter.

Its story is rather heartwarming: local schoolboy Bobby McCauley got tired of long, cold and wet waits for the morning bus, and wrote to the local paper to ask for a bus shelter. Said shelter was quickly built, and soon after, started to gain furnishings: a sofa, a table, a microwave, a carpet. Now, Bobby – and others – had a warm, comfortable refuge from the wind and rain that often lash across the remote island.

Since then, the shelter has been given a different decorative theme each year: space, women’s votes, the Queen’s Jubilee, even an underwater theme.

But hang on: is it worth your while trekking all the way to Britain’s northerly edge just to see a cosy bus shelter? Good question. Thing is, there are plenty of other things to see and do once you get to the Shetlands – such as the views from the lighthouse at Sumburgh Head, or the truly unique experience that is Up Helly Aa, the annual Viking festival centred on the islands’ capital, Lerwick. Just make sure your campervan insurance is up to the job.

5. The Singing Ringing Tree

   Near Burnley, Lancashire

Weirdness doesn’t just have to be experienced visually, of course. In the case of the Singing Ringing Tree, an incredible outdoor musical structure by artists Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu, the strange effects are largely aural, though the sculpture’s quite unique looks do add to its somewhat otherworldly feel.

Built from galvanised steel pipes, this 20-foot sculpture uses the winds that whip through this section of the Pennines to play a variety of tunes – slightly discordant, and spanning several octaves. We don’t often say this, but the windier the day, the better. Your campervan won’t mind being buffeted by some strong winds – although as ever, we’d recommend some specialist campervan insurance before taking any trip like this.

6. Mother Shipton’s Cave

   Knaresborough, North Yorkshire

The extraordinary Mother Shipton’s Cave has a few distinctive features to it. For one thing, it’s thought to be the oldest admission-charging visitor attraction in Britain – apparently, people have been paying to visit the place since 1630.

Then there’s the story behind the place. It’s reputedly the birthplace of Ursula Southeil (1488-1561), the eponymous Mother Shipton, a legendary soothsayer and prophetess. Southeil’s alleged predictions included the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, as well as the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Various historical sources state that she was born in the middle of a violent thunderstorm, with a hunchback and bulging eyes – and that, instead of crying, the newborn babe cackled.

Next to the cave is the Petrifying Well, an eye-catching geological phenomenon, where the water appears to turn objects to stone. Long believed to be some form of magic or witchcraft, this process is actually due to the water’s high mineral content.

If you’ve a little time to spend in the area, the nearby North York Moors contain some bewitching scenery. In fact, the Moors were one of our chosen Yorkshire road trips elsewhere on this blog.

7. Eyam

   
   Derbyshire

The story of the Derbyshire village of Eyam is a somewhat tragic one. During the outbreak of bubonic plague that occurred in 1665-1666, the villagers famously quarantined themselves to prevent the disease from spreading, in one of history’s most eloquent acts of self-sacrifice.

That gesture undoubtedly brought some benefits to the country at large, preventing the plague from spreading even faster. Within the village itself, however, the death count was high: estimates vary but most agree that the majority of the villagers perished.

The inhabitants of Eyam developed some practices that resonate with our post-COVID times. For example, merchants from the surrounding area would deposit food, clothing and other essentials at the boundary stones of the village, for the locals to collect. The latter would leave payment at the same places, in the form of pound notes soaked in vinegar, as this was believed to have antiseptic properties.

8. The Dark Hedges

   
   Ballymoney, County Antrim

This avenue of beech trees in County Antrim, Northern Ireland was planted by the local Stuart family in the 18th Century. The trees have since grown, in various fascinatingly gnarled and wizened shapes, right over the Bregagh Road, off the A44 near Ballymoney, forming a kind of tunnel or vault.

The ethereal, unworldly scenery has been much admired and photographed – and was even used as the Kingsroad in the hit TV show Game of Thrones.

9. Mary King’s Close

   
   Edinburgh

The ancient city of Edinburgh is full of ghosts, legends, oddities and generally fascinating weirdness. One of its most off-kilter attractions is Mary King’s Close, a 17th Century (or older) subterranean street right underneath the city’s iconic Royal Mile.

Once a busy residential street, the Close was evacuated and sealed up at the start of the 20th Century, only to be accidentally rediscovered by workmen.

As if its subterranean location weren’t eerie enough, the Close is said to have been the focal point for a number of murders and hauntings. Whatever dark secrets it harbours, Mary King’s Close is a uniquely compelling place – and a key stop on any tour of Scotland’s capital.

10. Museum of Witchcraft and Magic

    Boscastle, Cornwall

If you want an overview of witchcraft and its changing role in British history, you won’t do much better than this small but fascinating museum right by the harbour in the pretty North Cornish village of Boscastle. Home to a wealth of witchcraft-related artefacts, the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic explores these esoteric arts and their roles in British history.

This is serious, academic stuff, not mere sensationalism. The Museum documents centuries of British magical beliefs and practices in depth, comparing them with other belief systems around the world from ancient times up to the present. Fascinating recent exhibitions have included Poppets, Pins and Power: The Craft of Cursing, and Washing with the Gods, a selection of magic soaps from Spain and Latin America.

By the way, an hour’s drive further down the North Cornish coast, you’ll find the delightful seaside town of Newquay. Which, as we’ve noted elsewhere on this blog, is an excellent place to visit in a campervan.

11. The Crooked House

    Dudley, West Midlands

The West Midlands town of Dudley and its surrounding areas saw a fair bit of mining during the 1800s. One consequence of this extensive underground activity can be seen at The Crooked House pub, which began subsiding on one side soon after the mining commenced.

Condemned as unsafe by the 1940s, the building was slated for demolition until some enterprising local brewers bought the pub and set about making it safe by means of buttresses and girders. These also had the happy effect of retaining The Crooked House’s engagingly lopsided appearance.

One side of the pub is now around a metre lower than the other, and the whole building is full of eye-catching optical illusions, adding to the bewildering effect.

12. St Govan’s Chapel

    Bosherston, Pembrokeshire

According to the tales, St Govan (possibly an Irish monk, or possibly the Gawain from the Knights of the Round Table) washed up on the southernmost tip of Wales sometime in the early 7th Century.

Pursued by pirates, the monk / knight found some shelter in a ravine in the rocks that – so the story goes – miraculously opened up for him, then closed again, keeping him safe. Suitably inspired by this miracle, Govan decided to remain in this remote, forbidding outpost for the rest of his life, devoting his time to preaching and teaching.

Some centuries later, a tiny chapel was built by St Govan’s followers, clinging to the rocks on this dramatic stretch of coastline, where their leader had found shelter all those years before. Some say that Govan himself is buried beneath the altar.

Whatever the legend behind the Chapel, it’s an extraordinary location – a miniature place of worship clinging to the rocks on a majestic stretch of the South Wales Coast Path. Nearby you’ll also find the idyllic beach of Barafundle Bay, deservedly included in our list of best picnic spots to head for in your campervan.

Explore the weird and wonderful in your camper

Owning a campervan gives you freedom to head out and explore any of the weird and wonderful places we’ve mentioned here.

Some of them are located in rural or remote areas so ask about adding breakdown cover to your specialist campervan insurance.

Call us for a quote today.