Gloucestershire by campervan: the Cotswolds and Forest of Dean

Last checked November 2026.

Gloucestershire runs from the Forest of Dean and the Wye Valley on the Welsh border, across the Severn Vale with Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury, to the Cotswolds in the east. The Cotswolds National Landscape, at 790 square miles the largest Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, lies mostly in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. For a campervan the catch is overnight parking. The councils’ car-park orders across the county ban sleeping in a vehicle, and Forestry England locks its main car parks in the Forest of Dean at night. The good news is that there are plenty of campsites, and several are open all year.

Where you can and can’t stay overnight

There’s no general law in England against sleeping in a legally parked van on a public road, but local rules are common and you have to read the signs. Council car-park orders, traffic orders and public spaces protection orders (PSPOs) all restrict it, and a council can direct people living in a vehicle on a roadside or other land to leave; ignoring the direction, or coming back within three months, can mean a fine of up to £1,000. There’s no right to wild camp in a vehicle anywhere in England: you need the landowner’s permission. The National Trust doesn’t allow overnight parking at any of its places. More in wild camping and free camping.

Breaking a car-park order gets you a penalty charge notice. Council by council:

Gloucester: the city’s car-park order bans using a car park, or a vehicle left in one, for sleeping, camping or cooking. Motorhomes can park by day in the Westgate coach and car park, taking two spaces and paying for two tickets, but overnight parking isn’t allowed. At Westgate the height barrier (2.3 m) is open from 7am to 7pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 5pm on Sunday. Most other city car parks have a 2.03 m limit or lower.
Cheltenham: the borough’s 2020 car-park order bans sleeping, camping, eating or cooking in any council car park, and using a campervan or other mobile home as a dwelling there.
Tewkesbury and Winchcombe: the borough’s order bans using a car park or a vehicle in one for sleeping, camping, cooking or washing. Station Road, Rails Meadow, Oldbury Road and Vineyards in Tewkesbury have height barriers. Motorhomes can use the other car parks if all the wheels fit in a bay, and there are a few larger spaces at Spring Gardens and Lankett Lane. If you use more than one bay, you buy a ticket for each.
Cotswold district (Cirencester, Bourton-on-the-Water, Stow-on-the-Wold, Moreton-in-Marsh and Tetbury): the council’s 2018 order bans using a car park or a vehicle in one for sleeping or camping without the council’s written permission. The car parks stay open overnight, but only for parking. In Stow, large motorhomes that won’t fit a normal bay can use the coach bays in the Maugersbury Road car park, paying the normal charges, but overnight camping isn’t allowed.
Forest of Dean district (Coleford, Cinderford, Lydney and Newent): the council’s order bans using a car park or a vehicle in one for sleeping, camping or cooking.
Stroud district: check the rules on the car park’s tariff board before staying.
Forestry England in the Forest of Dean: the car parks at Beechenhurst, Mallards Pike, Symonds Yat Rock and the Forest of Dean Cycle Centre open at 8am and close between 5pm (November to February) and 9pm (May to August). Overnight parking isn’t allowed and the barriers are locked at night. Forestry England can add a £50 parking charge for overnight camping where it isn’t allowed, or for parking outside the opening hours. Its byelaws ban putting a caravan or tent on its land, or parking there between sunset and sunrise other than a short roadside stop, and it doesn’t allow wild camping anywhere on its land. Its 2026 campervan stopover trial didn’t include the Dean, and it has ended.
The National Trust: its car parks, such as Dover’s Hill above Chipping Campden, don’t allow overnight parking.

Vans used to stay overnight in the Forestry Commission car parks in the Dean, where some gates were shut at 7.30pm with the vans inside. Forestry England now locks the barriers at night and doesn’t allow overnight parking at all. The car park by the Pittville Pump Room in Cheltenham is a council car park, where sleeping in a vehicle is banned, and the car park on Dover’s Hill belongs to the National Trust.

Campsites

There are campsites all over the county, and Bracelands, Cirencester Park, Moreton-in-Marsh, Tudor Caravan Park, Briarfields and Mayfield Park are open all year. The Caravan and Motorhome Club’s sites below all take non-members. Members of the Caravan and Motorhome Club and the Camping and Caravanning Club can also use the clubs’ small certificated sites, which take up to five vans and are often on farms. Since 2023 pop-up sites in England can open for up to 60 days a year and take motorhomes and campervans as well as tents. Brit Stops members can stop a night at farm shops, pubs and other hosts that welcome self-contained vans.

Area	Campsite	Details
Forest of Dean	Bracelands Campsite (Forestry England), Bracelands Drive, Berry Hill, Coleford, GL16 7NN	Tel: 01594 837258. Open all year, over 400 pitches, with and without hook-up. Book ahead
Forest of Dean	Whitemead Forest Park, Parkend, Lydney, GL15 4LA	Tel: 03301 230374. Holiday park with gravel hardstanding touring pitches, indoor pool
Slimbridge	Tudor Caravan Park, Shepherds Patch, Slimbridge, GL2 7BP	Tel: 01453 890483. Open all year. By the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, with an adults-only area
Cheltenham	Briarfields, Gloucester Road (B4063), Cheltenham, GL51 0SX	Tel: 01242 235324. Adults only, open all year. Pitches from £34.50 for two with electric
Cheltenham	Cheltenham Racecourse Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), Prestbury Park, GL50 4SH	Tel: 01242 523102. 16 April to 13 September 2027. Mostly hardstanding, vans up to 12 m
Tewkesbury	Tewkesbury Abbey Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), Gander Lane, GL20 5PG	Tel: 01684 294035. 19 March to 1 November 2027. Vans up to 10 m. Floods occasionally
Winchcombe	Winchcombe Camping and Caravanning Club Site, Brooklands Farm, Alderton, GL20 8NX	Tel: 01242 620259. Late February to early January (26 February 2027 to 3 January 2028). Hardstandings with hook-up, motorhome service point
Cirencester	Cirencester Park Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), Stroud Road, GL7 1UT	Tel: 01285 651546. Open all year. Vans up to 9 m
Cirencester	Mayfield Park, Bagendon, Cirencester, GL7 7BH	Tel: 01285 831301. Open all year
Bourton-on-the-Water	Bourton-on-the-Water Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), Cheltenham Road (A436), GL54 3BU	Tel: 01451 850249. 25 March to 27 September 2027. Vans up to 8 m. No toilet block. About 5 miles from Bourton, with a bus stop outside
Guiting Power	Cotswold Farm Park, GL54 5FL	Tel: 01451 850307. Pitches with electric, water and grey waste; entry to the farm park included
Moreton-in-Marsh	Moreton-in-Marsh Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), Bourton Road (A44), GL56 0BT	Tel: 01608 650519. Open all year. Vans up to 9 m. Walking distance of the town

Seasons are the 2027 dates the sites publish, and they change every year, so check before you travel.

Getting there and driving

The M5 runs up the Severn Vale past Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury, and meets the M4 north of Bristol. From South Wales, the two Severn bridges have been toll-free since 17 December 2018.

The A417 between Gloucester and Cirencester is being rebuilt as the Missing Link. The road moved into its final layout in September 2026, but single lanes remain while work carries on into 2027, with overnight and weekend closures. Follow the signed diversions rather than the sat nav.

There are no clean air zones in Gloucestershire, but if you come from the south you may pass two nearby. Bristol’s charges private cars and vans £9 a day if they don’t meet the standard (about Euro 4 petrol or Euro 6 diesel). Bath’s doesn’t charge cars or campervans registered as M1, but campervans registered as vans (N1) pay £9, and larger motorhomes in the private HGV tax class pay £100, or £9 if registered with the council before you travel. Run your registration through the gov.uk vehicle checker.

Motorhomes up to 3.05 tonnes unladen have the same speed limits as cars. Heavier ones are limited to 50 mph on single carriageways and 60 mph on dual carriageways. Across the Wye in Wales, the default limit in built-up areas is 20 mph. In the Cotswolds, watch for signed width and weight limits on the lanes and bridges.

Gloucester

The county city, with its cathedral, docks and the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal. Motorhomes can park by day in the Westgate coach and car park (two spaces, two tickets). The nearest campsites are Briarfields, between Gloucester and Cheltenham, and Tudor Caravan Park at Slimbridge.

Cheltenham

A Regency spa town. The Pittville Pump Room, signposted from the racecourse, has a nice park next to it and is about a ten-minute walk into Cheltenham. Its car park is in the council’s car-park order now, so sleeping in your van there is banned, and it only takes vehicles up to 2.5 tonnes unladen.

At Cheltenham Racecourse the Festival runs from Tuesday 16 to Friday 19 March 2027, when the Club campsite on the racecourse is closed; it opens in mid-April. When it is open, you can’t arrive on a race day and vehicles can’t move during racing. Book well ahead for Festival week.

Tewkesbury and Winchcombe

Tewkesbury is an old town on the Severn. Tewkesbury Abbey and the town centre are a short walk from the Club campsite on Gander Lane, which floods now and then, so check the river levels in wet weather. The Spring Gardens and Lankett Lane car parks have a few larger spaces for motorhomes.

Winchcombe has Sudeley Castle, about a ten-minute drive from the Winchcombe Club site at Alderton.

The Cotswolds

Honey-coloured stone towns and villages on the hills east of Cheltenham.

Cirencester is the main market town. The Club campsite is next to Cirencester Park, and campers can get a pass for free access to the park on foot.

Bourton-on-the-Water has the model village and a motor museum in an old water mill. The council’s Rissington Road car park has 192 spaces, charging from £4.40 for 2 hours to £10.60 for 10 hours between 10am and 8pm. The Bourton Club site is about 5 miles away on the A436, with buses into the village.

Stow-on-the-Wold, on the Fosse Way, has farmers’ markets and antique shops. The Maugersbury Road car park has coach bays that large motorhomes can use by day; the Fosseway car park is free.

Moreton-in-Marsh has a street market on Tuesdays, and the Club site is within walking distance.

Chipping Campden is where the Cotswold Way starts, 102 miles to Bath, and its Market Hall dates from 1627. The Cotswolds National Landscape’s walk leaflet sends walkers to the free parking in Back Ends.

Dover’s Hill

From Chipping Campden, take the road towards Weston-sub-Edge. At the crossroads on top of the hill go straight on, and after 200 m turn right into the National Trust car park. There are great views from the edge of the Cotswolds, looking over towards Stratford-upon-Avon and Birmingham. It’s the setting for Dover’s Games, the Cotswold Olimpicks, with shin-kicking and a torchlight procession down into Chipping Campden, on the evening of the Friday after the spring bank holiday. There’s no overnight parking.

The Forest of Dean and the Wye Valley

The Forest of Dean lies between the Severn and the Wye. Forestry England has a fair number of decent-sized car parks here, with charges by day (free for its members) and barriers locked at night:

Beechenhurst, on the B4226 Coleford to Cinderford road near the Speech House, for the Sculpture Trail.
Mallards Pike, halfway along the road between Parkend and Blakeney.
The Forest of Dean Cycle Centre, with waymarked cycle trails and bike hire.
Symonds Yat Rock, the viewpoint above the Wye. Parking costs £8 for the day, or £2.50 if you leave before 10.30am.

Bracelands, at Berry Hill near Coleford, is the place to stay in the forest. It’s open all year, and on a clear night the dark skies are good for stars. Whitemead Forest Park is at Parkend.

Slimbridge

WWT Slimbridge is the wetland centre founded by Sir Peter Scott, by the Severn south-west of Gloucester. In winter thousands of birds spend the season there. It’s open every day except Christmas Day, from 9.30am to 4.30pm in winter and to 5.30pm in summer. Tudor Caravan Park, on the canal 800 yards away, is open all year and has the Tudor Arms pub at the gate.

More on England

England by campervan
Wales, across the Wye and the Severn bridges
Herefordshire, the next county north-west
Worcestershire, the next county north
Oxfordshire, for the eastern Cotswolds
Avon, for Bristol and Bath
Campsites
Wild camping and free camping
UK campervan hire

Sources: off-street parking places orders of Gloucester City Council, Cheltenham Borough Council (2020), Tewkesbury Borough Council (2015), Cotswold District Council (2018) and Forest of Dean District Council (2012, varied 2025); the councils’ car park pages; Forestry England car park pages, parking code of practice and campervan stopover page; Forestry Commission Byelaws 1982; National Trust; Cotswolds National Landscape; National Highways (A417 Missing Link); gov.uk on the Severn crossings, clean air zones and speed limits; Bath and North East Somerset Council and Bristol City Council clean air zone pages; Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994; The Jockey Club; WWT Slimbridge; the Caravan and Motorhome Club, the Camping and Caravanning Club and campsite websites; checked November 2026. Know of a change? Tell us in the comments below.