What do you wished you’d known when you started camping ?

[Lardlizard]

Ok I’ve done it once now, well for one night ! but I’m still a beginner really so start from the beginning what do you wish you knew before you started camping ? Any hint n tips ?

Depending on budget and length of stay this might not be useful for everyone (especially with young children) but I like to make sure I have at least one or two advanced bookings for dinner in the nearest pub. It's sometimes necessary to sit in the warmth for a while and not have to cook and wash up. Sounds obvious maybe but I always make sure there's a decent pub in walking distance that does food!

Also in some quiet areas of the UK it can be easy to forget that pubs will get busy and booking is essential if you want food there.

Earplugs as any noise anyone makes is magnified.

Any kind of awning or even a separate pop up tent to store extra or wet clothes makes a massive difference, easy slip on shoes that are water resistant to wear to shower block and wear socks so you can tuck your pyjamas or trousers into them when walking as the shower block floor and probably the grass will be damp. Just that small bit of dampness can destroy your comfort the next bedtime!

Try and get a tent that has little inside pockets for things like glasses, ear plugs, water etc, amazing how quickly things get lost in the dark even in a small space. In a small tent I always missed surfaces!

Don’t even consider doing It in the UK

It will be cold and wet and sites are usually grotty.

France, Spain or Italy.

We've been camping as a family for 10 years now. My kids are now 12 and 14 and I hope they will want to carry on camping with us for a few more years.

I've found :

That expensive self inflating mattresses are worth every penny.

Agree about taking your own regular pillow - much better.

You need a bigger tent than you think ( an 8 birth as minimum for a family of four )

An electric hook up is essential is camping for longer than a few nights.

Ditto an electric camping fridge.

Keep all wash stuff and your change of clothes in a plastic shopping bag as it helps to keep everything dry in the showers.

It's all well and good taking loads of stuff with you to make your tent a home away from home but when a gale hits your cliff top pitch at 2am and wipes out every other tent on the site ,being able to pack up quickly is better. I've scaled right down - the inflatable sofa, the wardrobe and the portable loo no longer come with us.

During the same storm I realised that air tents are stronger in wind and bell tents are indestructible ( our bell tent neighbours slept through and couldn't believe the devastation around them when they woke up)

That it would mean driving a massive estate car all year round just to assist with our annual two week camping holiday.

A washing up bowl with a carry handle gets envious looks from other campers.

A large electric frying pan or multi cooker means you can leave the big camping stove and gas bottle at home and take a mini cartridge type single ring stove instead. We get used to cooking everything in the one big pan ( when we are not using the BBQ)

Electric kettle is a must and being able to make proper coffee is important.

Love camping - gutted that our trip this year had to be cancelled.

You need a bigger tent than you think ( an 8 birth as minimum for a family of four )

This!

We have a huge 8 man tent for 2 adults and a toddler

I am just back from 3 nights of camping with my 6 yo, 2 at a campsite, the first at my parents.

As I wasn’t sure if he would enjoy it, we went quite modest, so went for a 140cm air bed, a blackout out pop up Quechua tent, and sleeping bags and pillows. Food wise, fish and chips from local van then cold, barbecue rained off so we had leftover from walk picnic bits for a second meal. He loved it nonetheless. We were just about warm and dry enough In spite of one afternoon/eve of rain, though cramped, and the blackout tent kept him asleep until 8.

I had mega tent envy of the mother and teenager combo next door with a 6 man tent with sitting room and awning for cooking. But looked it up and it is nearly £1000.

We are carless as central London based,
though wondering about changing this.

Can any experienced campers recommend what my next step should be to gently upgrade our camping experience?

We're pretty hardcore now as often camp for 2 weeks at a time in the UK, although it's taken a while to build that level of endurance

Buy as big a tent as you can afford, we have a 10 berth for 4 of us. Although how on earth 10 people could ever fit is a bit of a mystery

Electric hook-up

Heater/decent lights

Carpet

No wet shoes or clothes in tent

Gazebo on pitch for shade if hot or to sit under if wet.

Foam mat on top of bed rather than under it if nippy.

Adopt new temporary parenting rules on washing/eating/bedtimes.

Electric hook up and proper camp beds a must. Cadac cooker, expensive but worth it. BUT despite all this we hated the tent and ended up getting a caravan. Now we hate the caravan (didn't realise how much work it would be). Plus we got put off camping last time by a really loud swearing couple who were on the next pitch and a barking dog on the other side. This year it's staying home and we're going to a cottage instead!

Onesies for everyone, inc adults. Any style aspirations can be left at home! Along with any normal bedtime or other routines.

Book an electric hook up pitch and bring a small electric fan heater, it will warm up the tent really quickly just before bed. (And be useful for charging teenagers phones who might otherwise die if disconnected from the hive for more than 20 seconds. Useful for charging torches too though)

One big plastic tub for cooking equipment, mostly bought from charity shops and is a right mishmash of odds and sods- this lives in the shed and makes it so much easier to pack the car up to go/leave.

Go with the flow- it's not a relaxing holiday necessarily but it is a lovely break from the norm.

I have camped quite a bit for long weekends with 3 dc and random add on friends of theirs that I have brought along, company for them. As a single parent it is also nice for me if we are camping with another family with children, I get company too then!

Anyone that likes things to be perfect is not going to like camping I don't think. Sometimes good enough is good enough- you need a pretty high tolerance for things getting a bit fucked up! For me this is the joy of camping- our best memories are of when things don't go according to plan and we have to wing it.

And like ither posters have said- alcohol. Plenty of alcohol, normally drunk between 4pm and 8pm so I can cope with cooking dinner in a lovely warm haze and get all the wees in before bed

We had a folding camper when our kids were young and I used to love the two weeks we spent away. I discovered upon our divorce that my now ex had hated every minute of it . But the kids still say how much they enjoyed it. Post divorce I've had two weeks in borrowed touring caravan (heaven) and two weeks in a 6 man tent - which was heaven until the gale force winds and torrential rain kicked in and I was on my own overnight as kids were at a music festival!

The best bits about the tent holiday was cooking bacon and eggs on the little stove outside in the morning ---yummmmm!!

We always stayed on sites with decent facilities but did use a camping toilet in the awning for when kids (and ex) needed a wee in the night. The worst bits are when everything feels damp - towels, pjs, clothes, walking boots. We found that towels dry really well in the car overnight especially if its been a nice day and the car has residual warmth.

Current OH hates camping (has never been ) but I will be buying a small folding camper next year that I can put up on my own for the occasional solo weekend away and week near the sea with admittedly now adult children.

OP = do it! I have never relaxed as much on a hotel/holiday cottage type holiday as I did camping and the other advantage is that you know you and your family are the only other people to use your beds/sheets/pillows/pots and pans!! Much more hygienic

I got loads of little picnic blankets for £1 or £2 each, the ones with a metallic backing, and I put those in the bedroom floors, as they only did a carpet for the main area of our tent! They are fab and really help when it’s cold!

Buy the biggest tent you can afford! We have a 8 person tent for 4 people.

Buy an air beam tent - it’s absolutely brilliant and worth the money. First time use it withstood gale force winds and flooding of the camp site.

Electric hook up! I will not camp without one!

A camping kitchen (ours was donated to me by my parents - must be 15 years old) it’s great and really does help with meals we eat all sorts when camping.

I also have a camping loo which is bloody essential if you don’t want to wander across a campsite at 3am with small people.

Lots of layers.

Lots of blankets, we each have a sleeping bag and I take duvets and extra blankets. I hate being cold.

Many people hate them but we have a king sized air bed best £50 I’ve ever spent, brilliant nights sleep on that it’s like being in my own bed. With the picnic blankets under it and a blanket on top With a fitted sheet I don’t feel the cold.

As much as the kids love it it’s bloody hard work for the parents

I've never been camping and not sure I ever will. It sounds like my idea of hell

That the only really comfortable way to do it is proper glamping. Anything else is an endurance test that you need to be drunk as a lord to remotely get through.

TRAVEL JOHN'S

Our son and I camped for the very first time for two nights mid-June, in our back garden - I am reading this thread with interest! We definitely found that we slept better once we had stolen the pillows and duvets from our house beds, rather than with the sleeping bags that we had proposed.

But one thing I found was that every time I rolled over in bed (SIM) I half-woke up; and then I needed the loo. I must have peed every 90 minutes from 10pm until giving up at 5am and getting up. Was that because of the bed, because of the cold, because of the novelty? It can't have been fear of needing the toilet, as that was only 20 steps away in my nice warm house! I need to ensure I don't repeat this if we venture to a campsite.

To never ever go again.

Decide what kind of camping suits you - full bells and whistles, or lightweight? We like bike packing, so keep kit to a minimum, pick quiet campsites for a night, and travel on. I really couldn't have half the gear that's been suggested upthread! For me, the most important things are:

• merino thermals to sleep in (especially socks)
• a way to make a decent cup of coffee in the morning (aeropress or a drip filter)
• accept that it's camping and you don't have all mod cons - you're not trying to replicate having your home comforts (because it'd be a bit shit), you're enjoying going back to basics
• don't cook if you can avoid it
• pick your campsite carefully, ideally in France

Keep clothes in the car. Put them into segregated boxes or carrier bags according to clothing type e'g one bag for underwear, one box for bottoms, one for long sleeved tops, one for vests/tshirts, one for skirts etc. easy to select exactly what you need quickly rather than having bags or suitcases in the tent.

Don't skimp on nice things! Rugs, cushions, fluffy blankets, nice lighting, fairy lights, tea lights, comfy chairs all make it cosy among all the rustle plastic!

Don't put the tent up or down when hungry.
Two nights is plenty.
Drink from 5pm to make the whole thing easier.
Keep the kids up til you go to bed.
Use a hot water bottle.
Go with other families.

We love camping, minimum requirements are:
A tent you can stand up in with a big porch.
Proper pillows.
Camp beds.
Tent Capet.
Roll mats AND self inflating beds for DC.
4 season sleeping bags.
Blankets.
Take comfy camping chairs.

If forecast is rainy take 2 sets of clothes for each day. One to wear out, dry to change into. Once cold it's tricky to get warm.

Have one camping evening meal and ensure you're near to a pub/chippy for the rest!

Everything will smell after a week in a tent. It will all need washing even if you didn't wear it at all.

Always take a meal ready for the first night so life is easy after travelling and tent erecting. We normally do a curry and rice.

I don't agree with those you say 'dont cook'! I had a two burner cooker in my folding camper and created some truly awesome usually one and sometimes two pan meals for 5 of us on it!

Learn that tents and awnings are known as "divorce in a bag".
Don't pitch right next to the loo/shower block for easy access to the facilities. Every other camper will use your pitch as a short cut. Likewise don't pitch in the furthest corner.
Likewise don't pitch next to the play area.
Don't take your clean clothes to the shower block when you go for a shower (I always wear a knee length night shirt to and from) as there's never enough pegs and something always gets wet.
Use your car as a storage facility.

@Blobby10 the logic of 'don't cook' is mostly because that means you don't have to wash up . Fish and chips/a pub meal/pizza at least one night reduces the amount of scrubbing at a sink that only runs cold water, when you could be relaxing!

Not to.

We love camping- just making coffee feels like a major triumph! We always take a metal insulated cafetière as rocket fuel strength is necessary. Every day is EXTREMELY long. Buy cheapo cashmere jumpers from ebay/charity shops and wear constantly on top of merino wool everything. Definitely get ready for bed way before bedtime and pop extra clothes on top. Have boxes ready with cooking utensils/torches/lighter/spare batteries/lots of tea towels/cloths/dustpan and brush etc. we have a notebook in the box at the top with all the contents listed as you forget what’s in there so no need to take it all out and check. Lots and lots of socks. Crocs. Eye mask and earplugs- totally essential. A campsite that lets you have fires and friends to share it with. We camp in Scotland and I am notorious for feeling cold but with the right clothes it’s terrific fun.