How to find pubs that let you stay overnight

The best stopovers in Britain aren't campsites. They're pubs with a big car park, a landlord who likes the extra trade, and a walk that starts at the door. Finding them is half the fun of this, and it's the reason Bootstop exists at all. But the library only grows if people go out and find new ones, so here's how we do it.

Start with the car park

The single strongest tell is a car park that's bigger than the pub needs. Country pubs that used to be coaching inns, pubs on old main roads bypassed by the dual carriageway, pubs with a field at the back: all of these have space going spare at night and are more likely to say yes.

On the map, look for:

• A pub on the edge of a village rather than in the middle of it (fewer neighbours to upset).
• A flat, hard-standing car park. Sloping gravel is a bad night's sleep.
• A footpath or bridleway leaving from, or very near, the car park.

Satellite view answers the first two in seconds. The Ordnance Survey layer answers the third.

The stopover schemes

A few membership schemes connect vans with pubs, farms and vineyards that have agreed to host self-contained motorhomes for free in exchange for custom. The best known in the UK is a printed annual guide with a windscreen sticker. They're worth the membership for the first year, if only to learn what a hosting pub looks like.

Two caveats. The hosts can be a bit far apart in the areas you most want to walk, and the scheme's rules (self-contained vans only, one night, eat or drink there) apply exactly as they would anywhere else.

Ask the pubs you already like

If you've walked somewhere and had a good pint afterwards, ask before you leave: "Do you ever let vans stay over?" The worst answer is no. A surprising number of landlords say "we've never been asked, but I don't see why not," and that's a stopover nobody else knows about.

Pubs with rooms, and pubs that do food all day, are the most likely to say yes. They're set up for people staying, and they want the dinner trade.

Read the signals online

Pub websites rarely mention vans. But a few things are worth checking:

• Reviews that mention "we stayed in the motorhome". Search the pub name plus "motorhome" or "campervan".
• Dog-friendly, muddy-boots-welcome pubs. A pub that's happy with walkers is usually happy with walkers' vans.
• Facebook posts about events. A beer festival weekend with a "camping in the field" line means they're comfortable with people sleeping on site.

What to say when you ring

Keep it short and make it easy to say yes:

"Hi, we've got a campervan, just the two of us, and we're planning to walk from the village on Saturday. We'd like to eat with you in the evening. Would you be happy with us parking overnight in the car park? We're fully self-contained."

Fully self-contained means you've got your own toilet and you won't need anything from them. Say it; it's often the thing they're worried about.

Then log it

When you've found one, add it to the library with the things the next person needs to know: whether they expect you to eat, whether to ring ahead, how level the car park is, and how many vans they'll take. Those are the fields on the add a place form for a reason.

And if the walk starts at the door, it'll show up as a combo, which is the whole point.