Camping

A HUGE new family campsite is opening at a historic UK holiday park this summer.

Billing Aquadrome in Northampton is one of the oldest holiday parks in the UK dating back to 1945 when it opened shortly after World War II.

Sitting on 235 acres the resort has everything from a caravan site and funfair to a marina.

And now it is reintroducing its family camping offering for the 2026 season, after undergoing a massive revamp.

In the refreshed family camping area, guests will find 150 electric pitches as well as an amenities block and a play area.

Nikki Rathie, holidays director at Billing Aquadrome, said: “The return of camping for 2026 is something we know many families have been eagerly awaiting.

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“By reintroducing a premium family camping experience, we’re able to offer a much-loved family holiday experience at Billing Aquadrome which complements the other holiday styles on offer.

“This launch marks an exciting new chapter for the park following a year of major investment and regeneration.”

The park is also undergoing a massive £17million regeneration.

This includes new restaurants, the waterside Lake Club, Willow Lakes Aquapark, a BMX pump track, a Himalayan Adventure Golf Course and Adventure Island.

There is a newly opened Zen Den too, for families needing to escape the noise.

By the end of this year, a new indoor entertainment venue will also open.

Campers will also get access to all of Billing Aquadrome’s attractions such as the indoor swimming pool, which has a toddlers’ splash zone and a flume slide.

And guests can also enjoy a programme of activities and live performances including drive-in movie nights, Tough Mudder, an aqua assault course and paddleboard hire.

Guests won’t be charged extra for bringing a dog, having a gazebo or pup tent or any extra equipment.

There is a premium camping experience available as well with 150 electric pitches measuring eight metres by 10 metres.

Bookings for the new family campsite launch on March 26.

However, from February 17, families can sign up to be the first to know when bookings go live.

As part of the launch, 26 families from this sign-up list will each win a three-night break.

When it comes to the cost per night, prices will vary but current pitches available to book on Billing Aquadrome’s website cost from £25 a night during the summer holidays.

If you don’t fancy camping, Billing Aquadrome also has an array of other accommodation types including glamping.

For example, you could stay in one of their static caravans for two nights (midweek) for £129.

And for convenience when staying, there is an on-site shop, hair and beauty salon and a laundrette.

In other holiday park news, UK holiday park with its own shopping village, theatre and golf course plunges into administration.

Plus, the nine most popular Hols From £9.50 holiday parks of last year – as bookings open for 2026.

MY idea of American summer camps comes from Nineties movie The Parent Trap, starring a young Lindsay Lohan.

Kids canoeing at dawn, counsellors blowing whistles like drill sergeants, and bunking up in cute, wooden lodges with total strangers who soon become your best pals.

And let me tell you, it’s just like that.

I found myself in the US state of Maine last August, visiting several real-life camps — including the one where The Parent Trap was filmed.

And even though we are now in 2026, every camp I visited was completely offline with no phones, no TikTok, no Deliveroo.

Bliss.

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Instead, days are filled with canoeing, archery, sailing, lake swims, rope courses, arts and crafts, drama and communal singing — the list goes on.

Despite summer camp being a very American tradition, a huge number of the people running the show are British.

At the camps I visited, these were 18 to 25-year-olds, usually fresh out of school or university, who had flown over for the summer on sponsored visas.

BUNAC is one of several companies that offers this kind of working holiday. Its Summer Camp USA programme employs hundreds of travellers every year.

BUNAC was my host for the week, and talked me through the process of applying, and getting matched up with the perfect camp for one’s skill set and interests. The Brits live on site, work long days and are responsible for groups of children who idolise them.

The kids love our accent — and the Brits love the freedom.

One camp director told me British workers are prized because they offer “a unique perspective”, from across the Pond. Over one week, I watched workers fully immerse themselves in this US right of passage — wearing camp merch, scoffing American treats and making new friends who felt more like family than colleagues.

Many told me the same thing: “It’s the hardest I’ve ever worked but also the best summer of my life.

“The days are long, but the weeks go by so quickly.”

Maine is a popular summer camp destination because of its lakes, pine forests and thriving wildlife.

During downtime and days off, however, workers will often head to the nearby coastal city of Portland — the one in Maine, not Oregon. It’s little but has a great atmosphere with seafood shacks, craft-beer bars and scenes some may recognise from the Netflix teen comedy-drama series Ginny & Georgia.

It’s the perfect contrast to camp life — and the bug spray, bunk beds and lake water.

For many of the Brits working at summer camps it’s their first time in America, their first proper job with responsibility and their first taste of independence from home with their own cash to spend meaning exploring is inevitable.

Visas often outlast the time spent at camp so many workers still have around three weeks left at the end of summer to venture farther afield to bucket-list destinations such as New York and Florida.

Prank war

Nothing quite compares to the time spent at camp, though. Just like in The Parent Trap, there are emotional goodbyes but friends for life are made.

There is, however, no such thing as an isolation cabin such as the one that twins Hallie and Annie were confined to in the movie, to work out their differences after a prank war.

The camps’ real joy comes in the culture — workers I spoke to told how they loved immersing themselves in rural America.

It’s wholesome, chaotic and exhausting all at once. Plus, it’s a great way to organise a long-haul trip if you’re nervous about venturing so far from home, or can’t wrap your head around an itinerary for gap-year travel.

BUNAC plans nearly everything for you, taking away the hard parts.

And although you probably won’t find your long-lost twin, you’ll likely find a friend who remains a surrogate sibling for life — and that’s as good as.