It is apparently technically illegal to camp in England and Wales on land outside of a designated campsite, but as Oliver Burkeman in the Guardian notes, this does have certain significant advantages.
The main advantage of course is not being woken up by screaming kids, people having parties and the noise of lots of 4×4’s churning up the campsite. Instead you could wake up to the odd inquisitive sheep or perhaps a kestral flying overhead and which would you rather chose?
One slight downside might be the lack of warm showers and other facilities, but it seems this is much more about getting back to nature and mountain streams are a very good source of fresh clean water, and quite good for waking up a tired body first thing in a morning.
Overall for those prepared to forgo the slight limitations, camping in the wilds definitely wins out, even if there is a small risk of a park warden finding the tents especially in somewhere like the Lake District. For those wanting to avoid such complications, you could try camping in Scotland where the laws allow camping in many more places especially in the Highlands of Scotland.
Just please remember the countryside code.
Useful links:
Tentastic tents and camping equipment
More conventional UK campsites
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