The Ultimate Summer Escape is This Queer Camp in France

June 15, 2026 Merryn Johns

Imagine a world where your childhood Summer camp memories get an aristocratic upgrade—with queer joy.

Welcome to Quamp Château, a centuries-old sanctuary tucked into the rolling hills of the French countryside and reimagined for the LGBTQIA+ community.

For many LGBTQIA+ folks, childhood summer camp meant learning to mask our authentic selves as we conformed to peer group expectations and structured routines. For some of us, these patterns continue well into adulthood. But a new travel experience reinvents the concept of identity-forming camp for contemporary queers. Quamp Château takes the best of summer camp nostalgia and mixes it with the grandeur of a French country estate as a respite from today’s socio-political woes. Far from the pressures of everyday life, campers—or should we say, quampers—get to craft, create, connect, and celebrate queer culture and chosen family under the roof of a stunning, historic château.

But don’t expect to see a rainbow flag draped over the rampart of this medieval castle. The core concept of Quamp Château is more nuanced than that, as inferred by the subtle logo and color branding, which are discreet, nostalgic, and vibrate with pan-gender joy.

Formerly owned by the French aristocracy in Southwestern France, L’Abbaye-Château de Camon is a magnificent 10th-century former Benedictine monastery nestled in the picturesque, fortified, medieval village of Camon in the Ariège region of the Pyrenees. With views of snow-capped mountains and overlooking the ‘village of a hundred roses,’ it has been classified as one of France’s Most Beautiful Villages.

“I mean… It’s a novel!” says Tegwen Evens (they/them), Founder of Quamp Château. But while this destination may seem fictive, magical, and maybe a tad out of reach, it’s real, and designed to be a transformative place—the backdrop for who you are and want to be.

About Privilege: Royalty Meets Radical Inclusion

Tegwen, backed by the family business that also owns the women-only Camp Château, has developed this concept to reclaim queer joy in a safe, adults-only, European setting. If you’re uncomfortable with notions of privilege and inherited wealth, or storied white European culture, it’s important to recognize Quamp’s intention to recontextualize these resources for contemporary queer use, while preserving part of the history of a revolutionary nation that decriminalized homosexuality in the 18th Century and legalized same-sex marriage in 2013.

“With the residency program and tiered pricing, we’re trying to make it more and more accessible,” says Tegwen. “But crossing a border is privileged; paying for a program to take fun classes and eat regional food is a privilege.”

Travel is a privilege, as is the ability to purchase any fare and cross borders. But let’s be real: How many travel experiences that we can choose are as transparent as this? Plus, the rich history behind the artifacts and giant stone structure of Quamp Château may hold the ghosts of queers in years gone by.

Camon’s Abbey had Benedictine monks wandering the halls, reflecting on prayer and embracing the values of early Enlightenment culture. No doubt, some of them were queer, or believed in the values of natural rights and human freedom of that period. The other château, in Béduer, held nuns and nobles, some of whom are known to have been queer.

For Tegwen, the connection to both properties runs deep. “My grandmother had a home in [Southwestern France] that I would visit when I was younger, and I felt it was the only place I could actually recharge and feel the processing and recovery from stress.”

What might the region be able to do for all of us then? It’s about much more than “give a drag queen a real castle and let’s see what happens,” says Tegwen. Today, bothchâteaux-forts are far less reminders of the feudal system and more symbols of how to create community, both within the structures and through local communities via employment, various initiatives, and fundraisers.

“Our version of reclaiming the building and its history is supporting what local French people in the region want to see that building have,” explains Tegwen. “And that, for me, is an accepting vehicle for a need that does exist.”

Availability, space, and time are privileges repurposed for radical inclusion.

“It’s hard to find access to queer community, and it’s hard to find new friendships in adulthood,” says Tegwen. “My dream is for Quamp to be a place for those seeking community in our differences and for those who are sick of feeling different and want to go on a vacation and reclaim the comfort of a white cis-het man in a castle.”

Happy Quampers: The Human Element

“I can’t NOT be myself… I’ve tried,” says Tegwen, who is Ace and bisexual, intersex and nonbinary. “I want my hairy belly to be set free! I would love to swim without feeling like I’m being stared at like I’m a zoo animal.”

This is no small motivation for Quamp Château. Tegwen’s mission to create Quamp stems from a desire to create a space where they can be fully themselves—the bare minimum a healthy human requires, but something that’s not always offered to our community, even while on vacation. Poke around online, and you’ll find more than a few examples of travel companies, resorts, cruise brands, and tour groups that profess to be LGBTQ+ but are, essentially, dominated by gay cisgender men, a couple of lesbians, and possibly a trans person on the periphery. Slapping a rainbow flag on everything doesn’t mean it’s actually welcoming or inclusive. That takes work and intention. The result for Quamp Château is a place to meet “campy queers who want to meet quampy queers.”

Tegwen, who also has a life as an artist in Berlin, has shared their vision with a team of queer women and nonbinary co-creators who also shape each season.

“With the help of Erica, Megan, Valerie, and an anonymous member E. (for safety), I was able to lead the website design, curriculum building, booking flow, resource management, etc. Erica and E. led the residency program flow and design; Megan led the social media strategy and development, with me on content creation; and Valerie and I designed the newsletters and user engagement/research.”

The interpersonal balance is generous: 8-16 residents, 24-28 quampers, and 5-8 core team members. The team meets weekly and invites fortnightly ‘town hall meetings’ open to the public and monthly polls for feedback to ensure ‘happy quampers.’

“The part I’m most proud of is the residency program—the opportunity for people to contribute to the curriculum. We keep having awesome ideas and saying, ‘no… this decision needs to be made by the quampers.’ Our community is too unique and creative, and making sh*t up is half the fun.”

Love and Express Your Special Needs and Preferences

Staff are queer-inclusive, first-aid qualified, and emergency services are available if needed. Instead of onsite mental health professionals or counselors, there are awareness teams, modeled on Berlin’s co-operative urban culture. They provide spaces for physical recovery, sensory sensitivity, conflict intervention, and more during a personal crisis.

“We have a Berlin awareness organization working with us to set up training before the session for all residents and attend the session for additional help if anything occurs,” shares Tegwen. “Let us know what you need, and we’ll always ask ourselves how we can make that possible.”

Special requirements are catered to, such as vegan, vegetarian, celiac, and low/no fodmap diets. For neurodivergent folks, there are sensory-friendly chill zones, low lighting, gentle music or silent options, and outdoor dining options for the immunocompromised.

There are wheelchair-accessible (ground-floor) rooms, and some classrooms are accessible, but differently abled campers should be aware that some areas of the property are not yet fully or easily accessible. Quamp encourages people to reach out with their specific needs to info@quampchateau.com so we can help them assess if it is the right fit for them.

The Quamp Experience: A Goofy Fairytale Come True

Tegwen will be on-site and lead some of the most fun activities, such as European in the Pool (skinny-dipping after dinner), Lipaoke (karaoke meets lip-syncing), Show & Tell Museum and Spill the Tea (social moments of sharing and mutual care), plus the chance to get crafty and create your own Flag. There’s also: “Gay theater games and shenanigans, the opportunity for ritual building for anyone to join in, splishy splashy goofy times, and silly little field trips to horses, or goats, or markets,” says Tegwen. As we go live, the program is still being finalized.

Here’s what Quamp will actively avoid: Elitism, legacy families, in-groups. Unity and gaiety are embedded in the core quamp values, while new traditions are supported, and small rituals and games that you co-create daily are encouraged.

“Wholesome, sweet, group bonding activities where there’s lots of opportunities for mutual care and vulnerabilities,” says Tegwen, who is proud of the diverse and quirky program.

“We have so many ideas, and then we realized, the queerest thing is to make it up yourself. We saved a lot of opportunities and space for residents and quampers to make up their own classes and do their own things because—even if we want to name the bunks, we want the quampers to name their bunks.. Queer people find their own way and we want to give opportunities for them to feel empowered making their own decisions.”

“We are quiet and loud, campy and taking naps. Let’s take a break from growing, hiding, or defending ourselves and just go to f***ing summer camp. This is a summer camp, not a collective, networking event, group project, or protest. We stick to our values, and then they will stick to us!”

“This camp is our love letter to the queer community,” says Tegwen. But don’t let the Q-word make you think that Quamp is a predominantly young space. Quamp knows there are people in their 70s coming in 2027 and people in their 20s. .

Do’s, Don’ts and Quamp Etiquette

It’s important not to assume that Quamp operates with the rubbery boundaries of your average gay bar or Pride tea dance. “Boundaries make trust; trust makes community,” says Tegwen. Freedom and good vibes follow.

While Quamp’s website has all the FAQs, things you should know before you go include:

It’s not a young kid’s space. It’s not a party space, and not a hook-up or drug space.

“We’re playing Dungeons & Dragons in a medieval dungeon and doing pretend fashion shows at the pool,” says Tegwen.

All fun aside, though, privacy is so important that Quamp accepts alias bookings and requests that you ask consent before taking photos or videos. Candid group photos—or selfies in the vicinity of nudity—are against quamp rules.

“We don’t check passports or pants. ALL genders are welcome, and rooms are mixed with one Quamp team member in each bunk,” advises Tegwen. “When we say ‘Quamp is Queer & Camp,’ we mean LGBTQIA+.”

Other terms also apply: QUILTBAG (Queer/Questioning, Undecided, Intersex, Lesbian, Trans, Bi, Asexual, Gay), or GSRM (Gender, Sexual, and Romantic Minorities). There will be a name tag station where you can label yourself with whatever applies to you. You might not, and that’s cool too.

“We expect everyone to respect someone’s pronouns, and consider it human to make mistakes, hurtful to not try, and good to get it right,” says Tegwen. “We do have some community-building tools like ‘ouch, oops, whoa,’ and recommend ‘walking away’ if something is not the vibe.

“No one doesn’t belong,” says Tegwen. “But the people who will have the best time will be the people who scroll through our website[LINK] and get really excited and have a good feeling in their tummy. Or the ones who feel their eyes sparkle and butterflies in their stomach and are willing to take the leap. Actually, you don’t belong if you’re anti-LGBTQIA+ and think smiling is lame.”

And if you’re fretting that you’re too old, too cis, too lesbian or too gay for Quamp, Tegwen shares an observation from core team member, Erica, who said: ‘If you come to this Quamp, that’s a pretty gay thing to do, so you’ll probably be the right fit.’