Fire erupts from the Dell restaurant and bar at Hampshire’s Cedar Valley campsite

A fire broke out overnight at the restaurant, bar and café based in the Cedar Valley Glamping and Camping site in the Meon Valley in Hampshire.

The source of the blaze is currently unconfirmed, but campers reported hearing the rush of gas escaping followed by a loud explosion. 

Cedar Valley consists of four luxury cabins, a converted 1960s horse box and a safari tent, as well as two campsites. 

The campsite also features a popular restaurant, bar and café known as the Dell which was the location of the fire in the early hours of this morning. 

The Dell dining area is open to both overnight guests and the public. It is made up of an old double decker bus, a vintage rice horsebox and a safari tent which offer guests a pizza restaurant, bar and café. 

Just after 3am there were two loud bangs and an explosion which echoed across the neighbouring campsites. 

First responders arrived at the scene at 3.20am and shortly after the blaze was under control. 

The restaurant had been busy operating as normal earlier that night between 4pm and 9pm, serving woodfire sourdough pizzas and paninis, as well as local ales, cocktails and wine on the sunny Saturday evening. 

No one was harmed and damage was limited to the safari tent and horse box which houses the pizza ovens and bar. 

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service said the incident was not being treated as suspicious: “Petersfield, Horndean, Havant and Bordon crews were called to a camp site fire at Cedar Valley, Petersfield at 03:00, on 4 August.

"The marquee was destroyed in the blaze which is believed to have started in a pizza oven, and was stopped using hose reel jets. The horsebox which contained the pizza oven was also destroyed in the fire.

“Fortunately, there were no casualties involved. The incident stop message came at 06:45.”

One guest who was camping in the neighbouring field told The Caterer: “I awoke to a bang and what sounded like gas escaping and then a second louder bang that stirred people in the campsite. Looking across at the bar from the opposite field you could see the fire with flames rising 20 or so feet in the air.”

The business is owned by husband and wife Jack and Emily Tyrwhitt-Drake who created the glamping accommodation and campsite in 2010, while the restaurant area, made from vintage vehicles restored by Jack, followed in time for the summer season in 2022. 

A statement from the Dell on Instagram said: “We are devastated that our safari tent and pizza ovens burnt down in the early hours of Sunday 4 August. We are closed until further notice, but will be back.”