Camping - A lot of hard work?

[laughinggnome]

So we are looking at cheap holidays - newspaper deals, weekends away that sort of thing. Then I thought "Ooooh camping - just need to buy at tent and Bobs your uncle!".

But nooooo - theres airbeds and cooking stuff and crockery and cutlery and clothes and electricity hook up gizmo stuff and then clothes and then washing up bowls and duvets/ sleeping bags and apparantly - get this - Tents don`t even come with a toilet!

Sounds like a lot of hard work for a minibreak!

AIBU? Or am I missing something?

Much to my husbands complete and utter amazement I love camping. I love hotels too but camping is so fab! Quite a lot of packing/unpacking but once I am there I just feel so relaxed. Pottering about, making camp! Kids love it! We went with friends few times last year. Great to leave husbands with kids playing football whilst me and my mate went to wash up with our pots and pans. We took a bottle of prosecco and sat on edge of Ullswater and drank it straight from bottle as the in went down. Have also been with just said-friend and kids and left hubbies at home (they had to work) . It's fun and I feel completely and utterly relaxed. Ps and I wear false eyelashes every day so I am not exactly a mother earth type ;)

Sun went down. Not in went down ;)

im getting one. A 4ft one I think. with the chandelier.

ooohhhh, sigh :)

well i had a bbq for the camp fire, and did stories and we played games......but ds fell asleep around 9ish and i was on my own bored

Fair enoughski. Next time, poke DS till he wakes up again and make him play more games until you're ready to sleep too :o

I appreciate the being bored at home thing, but if you were camping with mates or dh/dp, you could have a great time chatting around the campfire. If camping alone, it sounds like the ideal time to catch up with reading etc. Mind you, I've never camped on my own, it's usually me, dh and ds.

Hard work? Naaah. YY to laid back attitude, big tent and wine. Add a potty and some fleece underblankets and you're laughing.

Besides which, it's a godsend to teachers. All those endless weeks of holidays and no bloody money to go abroad.

You don't get the chance to get bored and lonely on most of the campsites I've been to. Can't even scurry to the loo block at 6 am with bed hair and last night's eyeliner smeared liberally across your cheeks without someone striking up a conversation!

I LOVE camping.

If you met me, in my usual life, away from a campsite you would not expect it. I am every inch your archetypal 'city girl' who likes shoes, bags, nice things and comfort .

What I love about camping it getting back to basics and away from all of that superficial shite. Its great. I do believe in comfort though - so a tent you can stand up in, comforatable bedding (we have campbeds and sleeping bags) and nice food.

Come on over to the camping forum and take a look!

Can I put in yet another word for bell tents and Gelert chairs? They are both divine. I have a picture of some of us lounging like flippin' potentates in ours last summer. I also have a Gelert chair that ds1 stupidly left in my charge when he left for furrin' parts 18 months ago. He's not about to get it back.

But the combination of a seriously divine tent and a top notch chair made me completely rethink my previous aversion to camping.

maybe i should give a proper camp site a chance

like this kind of thing? chair

Have you got friends you could go camping with McHappy?

Yes, Vivi. Mine is ever such a lot like that and I get positively proprietorial over it!

Oooooo

Just found this too - I'm thinking a great birthday present for DP...

Good shout about the friends, Pande. My best friend makes Bear Grylls look like a Paris Hilton so I plan to make sure he is always the first thing I pack.

sadly no, would be willing to take DC on my own as DH is a gamer and he will not go anywhere without a WI-FI connection

Oh heck. I simply know that camping stove is going to be added to next summer's glamping equipment! Great find, Vivi!

I can see I'm going to be up into the small hours tonight rinsing the Cool Camping website.... Any top recommendations site-wise, Pande?

Vivi, I'm rather keen on:
vintagecamper.moonfruit.com

but spend more time than is healthy drooling studying bell tents and other associated bits of loveliness here:
www.belltent.co.uk/

Vivipru, I can vouch for that stove, it's fabulous. Light and small to transport too. We used it in our bell tent for a winter camp between Christmas and New Years, and it was lovely and warm inside.

it is more work than is ideal for a holiday, but it's also truly amazing sometimes. A view you would pay hundreds for in a hotel, and you are right there for £9 a night; velvet blackness, stars, glowing logs, sleeping ten hours in the fresh air. Feeling like shit, admittedly, when crawling out of the tent, but absolutely brilliant after a coffee within 15 minutes and unbelievably relaxed.

Four words, though: duvets AND sleeping bags. And pillows. Six words.

One night only + good weather + booked at short notice = best trips ever. We've had some brilliant spontaneous trips.

A small tent is quick and easy to put up. We have this one direct.tesco.com/q/R.100-8628.aspx

It's probably big enough if you're only there one night, especially if your spare gear is in a car. Suggest you buy as if there's one extra person. eg buy a 3 man tent for 2 people.

If you're away more than one night, or in bad weather, then probably a bigger tent is better eg 4 man tent for 2 people.

A very big tent eg 6 man tent for 2 people isn't a luxury. It's a pain as it takes much longer to put up and is more likely to get cold in the night

One word Eurocamp.

I wouldn't camp if I had to pitch anything :)

I bloody love camping. But then I prefer self catered to hotels as I prefer to do what I want when I want, and camping suits that. I love the setting up of camp, making home etc. We have a whopping trailer tent that was a bargain, but is truly brill. Also a very good fridge, makes all the difference. We first took dd at 6 months, then went again this summer to a fab, very chilled site in Pembrokeshire. We're still debating how to do it when the next appears, as until now dd would be on my front in a wrap from bedtime at about 7, but that place will soon be taken! The tent tends to be very light, so any recommendations on how to darken the tent for children's bedtime would be appreciated.

We had a campervan and a motorhome before, but with dogs and babies this is easier space wise. In a few years we may swap back, dh doesn't feel very cool with the trailer tent!

Oooh, I do agree with getting a good big tent, but make sure you can put it up!

I'm now after last nights camping excitement, it transpires my BF's DW has vetoed camping this year due to PFB. Understandable, but they were the ones originally being all gung-ho about taking her. DP and I will still go, but it won't be as effortless fun without our resident Bear Grylls