We meet the owners of an award-winning site that is ideally situated for walking, cycling and birdwatching
This family-run, adults-only campsite, close to Suffolk's heritage coast, is located in four and a half acres of pleasant parkland setting. Run Cottage offers 45 pitches, all having electric hook-up, with some pitches being fully serviced with 16A electric, fresh water and grey water connections. There are also six hardstanding pitches, the rest being on grass. The site has a toilet and shower block, a washing-up area, laundry facilities, plus a dog exercise area. There's attractive landscaping throughout, with flower beds and an ornate lily pond.
Run Cottage is ideally situated for walking, cycling and birdwatching. and the village shop and pub are both within walking distance. The site is just one and a half miles from a shingle beach and is six miles from the famous Sutton Hoo Anglo-Saxon royal burial site.
Owners, Andy and Michele Stebbens, told us more…
How long have you been running your campsite?
We have been running the site for the last 23 years, and the second generation of the Stebbens family, Stewart (our son), and his wife, Sarah, have now joined the team. The whole team lives in the village of Hollesley and takes great delight in sharing with their guests their local knowledge of the best places to visit.
Tell us about your site and how it first began
We had the opportunity to buy a piece of land within the beautiful village of Hollesley in 1998 and proceeded to build our family home there. Shortly after, as avid caravanners, we decided to start a small CL site with the then Caravan Club to enable others to enjoy the stunning Suffolk coast. Initially, Run Cottage was a small five-van site which was successful and in 2002 we won the regional CL of the year. In 2005, an opportunity to acquire more land from a local farmer came about, which we snapped up.
With a lot of hard work, we expanded to a 22-pitch site, which proceeded to win further awards. In 2012, another opportunity arose to buy an adjoining piece of land which we went ahead with, and Run Cottage became the 45-pitch site that it is today – and it continues to win awards.
Over the years Run Cottage has naturally expanded and more facilities have been added and updated along the way, such as the addition of our glamping pods and our fully serviced pitches, of which we now have 20.
What did you do before starting the site?
Prior to Run Cottage, Andy was the village blacksmith and ran a su
