to ask what you are supposed to DO on a camping holiday in the UK??

[BalconyBill]

I mean, I know there's the day setting up the tent and the mornings/lunchtimes/evenings trying to cook for a family over a match, but..

Where's the relaxation? The laying in the sun? The chilling in a hammock? The swimming (in warm water)?

I just don't get it

I must admit I don't find it very relaxing. The kids love it though, well ds1 (14)is starting to object. DH loves it! He just loves cooking outdoors.

I just find it stressful and it doesn't feel like a holiday to me. The whole cooking and washing up thing is tiresome and takes forever.

The midges hate me too, I had to take a week off work once after a night camping. I had been bitten so many times I had a reaction.

I'd rather stay at home than go camping. My idea of a holiday is not having to cook or clean and preferably to have hot and cold running waiters around me although I'm prepared to rough it with a nice buffet instead!

I recently went "camping" with friends by that i mean they had a tent i had a motorhome with a full hookup.
And the kids just loved roaming free over the campsite, that to me was the point.
I loved camping with an en-suite bathroom cooker, microwave etc, they love cooking over their little hob.

My last experience of camping was having to park the car in such a way that the wheels would pin the edge of the tent down against the force 9 gale that blew up overnight and we lay spreadeagled in the tent to stop it ballooning in the air.
The people in caravans were less lucky - the had to evacuate their caravans and spent the night huddled shivering in the toilet block, hoping the roof would stay on...

I hate camping. I hated it just as much in France as I did in the UK.

Sorry. Canvas and I just do not mix.

Sadly my family quite like it so every now and again I grit my teeth and put up with it.

What are you meant to do?

Dream of home. Or of a good hotel in a civilised place.

Altogether now and to the tune of the Pastoral Symphony:

The country, the country, the country gets you down
There's nothing like the country to make you want the town.

I LOVE camping

it is hard work - I put up our 10 man tent single handedly most times - but once you are up and unloaded it's the best holiday

we just CHILL - the kids meet other kids, form gangs and basically disappear for hours, the adults chat and drink wine - food it easy - we do lots of pasta, noodles, beans, toast and fry ups, and it's just a big adventure

As Birds said if you camp a lot you buy decent stuff - I have a huge tent with gives us lots of inside space for when it rains

I always have electric so we have a DVD player, toaster, heater, lights etc. I have a fold down camp bed which is nicer than blow up. We even have a toilet (to save taking DD3 late at night leaving the other 2 alone)

I camp with my female friends and our kids - it's brilliant fun

oh and our last big camping holiday was to Somerset where we spent every day on the beach!

I don't like neither camping nor caravan holidays, unless its organized, with facilities and activities provided, e.g. church retreat, earth first, etc.

We've been camping for years and the children love it (only been flooded out once - 7 months pregnant and water over wellies!).

It is just relaxing and gives them a chance to use their imaginations without the distractions of home. I get to read and relax while vaguely supervising from a distance, walk, paddle and visit castles!

For th record I also enjoy a week or two in a five star new resort!

I think that's the beauty of it, you are forced to relax!

I discovered camping last year and me and DP were instantly hooked. The sunshine was blazing and we would just spend the whole day in the sea on our surfboards then head back to the campsite at about 4pm, fire up the bbq and sip some beers.

Even better if your friends come along too. Nothing beats a drink in the evening sun then staring up at the mass of stars then toasting marshmallows on your fire pit. Love it

Deep sleep? On an air bed when it gets light at 4am!

All of the things people like you can do on any holiday without camping. I think a lot of time camping is spent dealing with camping related hassle factors/organisation

Nothing beats a drink in the evening sun then staring up at the mass of stars then toasting marshmallows on your fire pit. Love it

camping related hassle factors/organisation

I'm getting excited at the mere mention of that. That's part of the appeal!

We do a combination of little trips out to local attractions (beach, railway, farm etc) and that time old tradition of 'watching the kids run around in a field like loonies with any other kids they can find from nearby pitches). Would only do weekends in the UK as if it's wet two nights is maximum tolerance but our DC absolutely love it. We also take puzzles, games etc and it's nice to watch them doing stuff like that instead of endless requests for Netflix etc

Admittedly camping is ace in the dry, and pretty terrible in the wet.
I like:
Lazy mornings with a cup of coffee enjoying the view and just 'being outside'.
Walking.
Hiking.
Exploring new places - towns, villages, tourist attractions. Even the mundane is exciting because it is a new place.
Eating out - fish and chips on the beach, pub dinner, curry because there is always a local curry house in even the tiniest of village!
BBQs are also fun.
Play cards.
Talk.
Read.
Just 'be' and do nothing.

Don't have kids but if I did I would incorporate more chilling at the campsite so they could play because playing with other kids at campsites are some of my happiest childhood holiday memories.

I do 'low work' camping with a rule that I don't wash up. Stuff either goes in a finer ziplock bag to be put into the DW when we get home, or use disposable stuff. Really only go for long weekends and I usually prepare one meal before we go eg couscous and roast veg plus a green salad and take BBQ stuff and eat out the other nights. Take breakfast stuff that doesn't need cooking - cereal bar, yog, banana and mini juice cartons. Take sandwich stuff and snacks for lunches. For breakfast I might premake individual ziplock bags with porridge, magi coconut milk powder and dried fruit in and just add booking water, zip and eat 5 mins later out of the bag (supported by a bowl) to keep to my no washing up rule.

Love love love camping.

Love it too.

Nothing beats it in good weather, but even when it is bad, we bond over a long period as a family playing games and chatting, whereas at home everyone is often doing their own thing.

Don't get me wrong. If I could only have one holiday it would be a far more luxurious affair, but as extra holidays you can't beat it. I would really miss camping.

The camping organisation is part of the appeal for us
That and going to the camping shop to have a look at new things.
I start to get organised a couple of weeks in advance and have a dedicated Pinterest board. Thank God the kids are essentially hippies at heart, give them some other kids to play around with and a big field, they're happy!
There's a particular freedom about camping that you don't get in other holidays.

Love camping, but if its going to be more than 2 or 3 days, it has to be abroad, where the good weather, decent toilet/wash facilities and a nice pool are pretty much guaranteed.

I love it too. We go with at least one other family. So the dc play ball games, paddle in streams, amble about together. We go down to the beach for the day, then come back and have a big barbecue. Sitting about with endless cups of tea/wine in the evening round a fire.

I think what's nice is that everybody has to talk to one another - there are no ipads or tv. The dc are outside all day.

We tend to go for long weekends - I don't think I'd like whole weeks of it.

It's the ever-present possibility of rain that I object to about camping, and obviously this is a bigger problem in the UK than, say, the south of France.

All the sitting about looking at the sky, drinking coffee, chatting aimlessly, reading ... yep, fine, bring it on. But I don't want to huddle in a tent listening to the rain hammering on it.

Also, doesn't cooking while camping involve either tiny stoves that heat one-eighth of your cooking vessel at a time, or real fires that take days to even warm anything through?

I don't camp. Can you tell?

Onlylovers we get around the huddling in a tent listening to the rain thing by choosing a campsite near a decent pub
(And having DVD players on standby in the car, just in case)
We once got caught up in a huge storm at a festival, tents were being blown across the field and all sorts. We huddled down in the car for a while, got out and it looked like Armageddon had hit.. Our cheap 6 man tent was the only one in our little section that was still standing! £30 off eBay well spent

You see, that festival story doesn't exactly encourage me to try the camping life ...

Walls that move. NO.