Glamping and the Night Sky

The two are a perfect couple: a timber Wigwam® Cabin and a dark sky crowded with stars!

You can peep at the planets, gaze at galaxies and study the stars while gathered round a campfire, hot chocolate in hand and a warm, comfortable cabin waiting just for you! And with 84 sites to choose from, you can enjoy the night sky right across the UK.

Bring your binoculars with you and investigate a world that can be truly awe-inspiring.

Wigwam® Holidays Moffat, Dumfries and Galloway: now in a part of the world that has Dark Sky status – low light pollution means the Milky Way can be magnificent. This site also has Wigwam® Cabins with super verandas – an ideal place to position a telescope!

An item on most bucket lists is experiencing the Northern Lights. Created by charged particles thrown towards Earth from the Sun, this spectacular show is rare but worth the wait. Wigwam® Holidays Shulista Croft on the Isle of Skye is one of several sites from which the Aurora Borealis, to give the lights their official name, can be viewed from October to March.

Britain is blessed with a number of observatories that are used by scientists and visitors to stargaze like never before.

The Kielder Observatory in Northumberland is perfectly placed near a number of Wigwam® Holidays locations.

Yorkshire is not only a huge county it is also a place that offers some great glamping and astronomical opportunities!

The North York Moors National Park includes three special places from which to observe the night sky: Sutton Bank, Danby and Dalby Forest, that has its own observatory. The area has a very active astronomy ‘scene’ with the Dark Skies Festival taking place in February and with star gazing nights taking place on the first Friday each month from October to March. Nearby Wigwam® Holidays sites include Wigwam® Holidays Grouse Hill, Wigwam® Holidays Humble Bee Farm and Wigwam® Holidays Sedgewell Barn.

Heading further south means there are additional stargazing opportunities in one of the nation’s youngest National Park, the South Downs, which is also an International Dark Sky Reserve. Wigwam® Holidays Chawton Park Farm is close by.

For the South West of England and Wales, there are so many observatory options you could disappear for the winter, and emerge when the snowdrops start to show in February!

Find out a glamping site for you in Cornwall, Somerset and Wales.

Things to look out for in Autumn …

Meteor Showers

Sometimes called shooting stars, there are two prominent meteor showers in autumn: the Orionids (October 21st); and the Leonids (November 17th).

Planets

Saturn – our Solar System’s second largest planet is visible after nightfall as a bright yellow ‘star’. While stars twinkle, planets do not, presenting a strong and steady light in the dark skies.

Venus and Mars are visible just above the Eastern horizon in the morning sky.

Constellations

As the earth rotates, a number of constellations remain visible throughout the year and are easy to identify including Ursa Major (The Plough); Pegasus (The Flying Horse); and Andromeda (which looks like a large letter W) with its famous galaxy.

Did you know …

On December 11th, it’s 45 years since the last Apollo mission landed on the Moon, back in 1972!

Apollo 17 landed in the Taurus-Littrow Valley, and the moonwalkers were Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt, with Ron Evans in lunar orbit.

These astronauts were the last men on the moon.