History
Peter and I (Sarah) moved into Sunnymead Farm in 1994. The farm had ceased trading, the house run down and the land was overgrown with no fences at all.
We know a little of the history of Sunnymead Farm, though it may not be entirely correct as our knowledge comes from old photos and stories from local people.
Sunnymead farmhouse was built in the 1930s by a local farmer, and at that time was called Upper Bickenbridge. During the second world war it became home to American troops who were based in North Devon and carried out training exercises on the beaches here and the burrows at Braunton.
The officers were housed in the farmhouse while the troops were housed in a row of Nissan huts along the north boundary of the land.
Sometime after the war Upper Bickenbridge became a chicken farm, and much of its land was sold off. I can remember as a child being driven past on the way to Woolacombe, and thinking how wonderful it must be to live there.
To our knowledge it carried on trading as a commercial egg-producing chicken farm up until the late 1980s. We understand it was then that the name was changed to Sunnymead Farm.
Back in 1994 we both worked elsewhere so getting the place into shape was a long project. By 2001 we had two additions to our family in the way of our two sons and we had to take a long hard look at our finances.
Deciding we did not want to move meant that Sunnymead Farm had to start paying its way. We noticed how the majority of camping sites at the time in this area seemed to be catering for those who want pools, entertainment and children’s clubs.
Whilst these sites can be brilliant if you want lots of commercial entertainment,
we also knew that it is great fun to get back to simple old fashioned camping especially in the spring and summer.
So Sunnymead Farm camping and touring site was born. We started with the Camping & Caravan Club, but due to our regular campers upgrading to more caravans than tents we went through the somewhat arduous and expensive task of gaining full planning permission from the local authority and the site as it is now started in 2009 and we are still to this day the only small site in the Woolacombe area that is licensed by the local authority.
Every winter we financially invest back into the site making improvements based on feedback from our guests, and in 2016 we were delighted to be awarded 3 pennants from the AA and only a year later we were awarded 4 pennants, which we maintain to the current day, each year the award is based on our facilities and the improvements we have made each winter.
We have tried to take everything we liked about the small campsites that we stayed at when our children were small, often taking along our dogs too and incorporate them into Sunnymead Camping and Touring Site, one of which is in paddock 1 where you can see the play area from each of the pitches, we really hope you love it here too.
picture circa 2013
