...to refuse to go on holiday next year if it's camping again?

[WyrdByrd]

We've been camping every year for about the last 7 years gradually building up to a full week this year.

We don't have a huge holiday budget, so I try to put a cheery face on and have previously ended up enjoying most of it but this year I have just had enough.

Packing/pitching & the reverse is hard work & incredibly stressful as DH is pretty anal about how things are done. He's also over a foot taller than me so trying to erect an 8 man steel framed tent is quite a challenge & invariably causes rows.

Living in the pockets of DH & DD is something I really struggle with. I love them dearly but suffer with anxiety & need my own space to keep it under control. Without that, I get panic attacks which I try to keep under their radar which causes more stressful. I also have misophonia which is absolutely toe curling in a fecking tent!

I don't sleep well at the best of times, and an EMCS plus 3 further abdominal surgeries means I rarely get through the night without needing the loo. I can potter to the bathroom & back half asleep normally,but when a trip to the bathroom requires shoes, jacket, torch, negotiating a double zip tent flap & 200m trek each way that's not possible. At home if I suffer insomnia I'll make myself cosy on the couch & read/watch tv until I nod off - can't do that here as camping chairs aren't so cosy & light in bedroom would wake the others.

I hate only being able to have showers all week. The facilities here are great but it's just not the same...

Finally 'here' is where we've camped for the last three years. It's a great site & location has lovely beaches (which we've managed 3.5 days on out of 17 that we've spent here in total due to weather). We've exhausted the stuff to do otherwise & frankly I'm bored senseless of the place.

DH is not keen on doing anything other than camping because of cost & has already made noises about booking again for next year (he's done it before we've left the last two years, although I'm pretty sure he won't after yesterday's convo).

I get that money's tight but I would rather have a year off going away & do days out next year than 7 nights camping again. Quite happy to consider it the following year in a different location whilst praying our circs change & we don't have to, or do a shorter, more local trip alongside days out next year.

I can't help but feel I'm being UR & selfish. The only alternative that I've found for next year is a cottage which is very reasonable but all the things to do are art/literature/history based which would bore DH rigid.

I think mostly need to vent but if anyone has any solutions they'd be much appreciated.

I adore camping in some ways. The open spaces, the fires, the isolation, the lack of people.

I recently camped with a group of friends and am now reconsidering how we camp. One friend had a trailer tent with built in facilities, another had all the flashy camping mod cons and a huge tent. Another had a caravan. I'm quite seduced by the caravan actually.

You could consider small bunk houses or airB&B. both cheap

Sounds like you're making progress OP. If you haven't read Emma Kennedy's The Tent, The Bucket and Me, I think you'd find it amusing.

Lol Wyrd We could have an anti Mumsnet holiday swap.

Instead of a naice, spotless, spacious, F&B painted lovely house, I offer you a slightly shabby ex LA semi that is well overdue a deep clean and has the noisiest neighbours known to man.

We do have a big garden and a nice view out the back though and are just about within walking distance of Ikea, providing you don't plan to buy anything very heavy.

Where do you live and what can you offer in return?

But seriously, back to your cottage in Mytholmroyd - the surrounding area is lovely and will be a good base. If you or your family were fans of Last of the Summer Wine, you may wish to take a trip to Holmfirth where it was filmed.

You are also well placed to take a trip over to the darkside Lancashire and Manchester - more museums and attractions there.

Self catering can be done in lots of different ways, but will obviously depend on budget.

I like SC because you can do your own lazy breakfasts in the property, have facilities to store lots of supermarket bought drinks/ice creams/sandwich fillers etc , can do BBQs and easy meals some of the time and then eat out in restaurants as your budget allows.

It rarely involves anything that I would really count as cooking and everyone has to muck in with the cleaning up/pot washing if there is no dishwasher. Or let standards slip and don't actually do any cleaning or tidying beyond keeping the kitchen usable until the last day.

Work I can do a somewhat decrepit 30's semi a few miles outside of Brighton with lovely neighbours, two friendly guinea pigs & a potentially interfering MIL dropping in .

Wyrd I could literally have done you a house swap - I am about 20 miles from where you've stayed, you would have passed me on the way to st Ives! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the area, if not your camping. Question is, did you get a decent pasty or no?

The Devon one is: www.crealymeadows.co.uk

you should be able to check out prices and availability online, and if you do it as if you're going to book, once its in your 'basket' you can see a site map and select a pitch number. We had pitch 44. There are two large family bathrooms at each toilet/shower block, plus an accessible room, I didn't use this so I'm not sure if the accessible one had a bath or just a walk in shower? They also have medieval/safari style tents which are already erected and equipped with some stuff, but those are a little further from the toilet block so may not be as convenient for you. Possibly better insulated against sounds of others, and with a separate sleeping area, but you'd still hear noise from anyone else in the same tent as you, I would assume. Obviously the campsite is next to the theme park, but you're not obliged to go in there and from what I've read its an easy short drive to other local attractions and beaches. Your DD might enjoy one day in there, and during Devon school holidays the soft play, bar and food bits of Crealy are open for campers to access at no extra charge, we found this very useful with smaller children and rainy evenings!

Yorkshire sounds like a great idea. I'd like to go one year, there are canal boats (though they'd stretch the budget) and I'd love to go to York.

I wonder if you could manage a long weekend camping near a beach as well? Not the usual place but somewhere a lot closer to home, minimal gubbins, fish and chips for tea. It might be just the compromise your DH needs to make him embrace your ideas rather than going along with them grudgingly.

We have friends in Yorkshire and Derbyshire so now you have got me planning. Great holiday thread!

Crealy looks awesome! I'd really love to stay in one of their mediaeval glamping tents .

DH feels that in a few years time DD will not want to come on holiday with us (she's nearly 11 now)

Well if he insists on you all camping in the same location year after year point out that neither of you will want to go with him much longer!

I do sympathise. Even if you were staying in some nice cosy cottage I think I would be a bit pissed off at holidaying in the same location 3 years running. Part of the attraction of a holiday for me is exploring a new location.

Could you get a camping loo, a tent which is easier to put up, a tablet and headphones to watch telly if you can't sleep and a different site so you aren't bored?

Part of the attraction of a holiday for me is exploring a new location.

I think that's a huge part of the attraction for me too. I didn't mind going back the second time as by the end of the first week we'd identified lots of stuff to do that we didn't have time for the first week, but by this visit we were really reliant on good weather to explore different beaches and it just didn't happen.

Combined with the general camping issues and worrying about my dad it was a recipe for disaster really.

I love the toilet bucket someone linked to earlier, and think it would be a good idea to get sims and sleeping bags (DH was keen to get sleeping bags this year but I was reluctant - idiot!) so I can relocate to a different part of the tent if I can't sleep and still be cosy without worrying about waking the others.

DH has also said that if we do a camping holiday again we'll go to a site without evening entertainment so DD isn't putting pressure on in that department which drove me crackers this week, and if we go back to Cornwall sometime, we'll go to a completely different area so there's lots of new things to do.