I bloody love camping it is cheap * it is fun and im going tomorrow

[LEMtheoriginal]

Up until three years ago holidays were what other people did. We had taken dd2 on 3 holidays in her ten years. One was a sun holiday the other paid gor with tesco clubcard vouchers in budget caravans. Then she went to school and holidays were even more out of the question due to holiday companies cashing in on draconian rules regarding absence from school.

Fast forward to now and ok our financial situation has improved and we go on holiday at least twice a year. Next year we are planning a trip abroad.

Why? Because one Sunday we were bored and decided to just look around the local camping shop. We bought a tent! £250 and we have a holiday home dont mention the hundreds since spent on stuff we probably don't need and we set off on our first adventure. 3 nights an hours drive away. DD was either 9 or 10 and she cried all the way there because she was scared of sleeping in a tent. Within ten minutes of setting up she was off exploring and made friends and that was it!

We are very British and often return to the same place but tomorrow we are being adventurous and going to north devon instead of south We are taking our bastard dogs who i wont leave with anyone because one is a little gobshite and i dont trust him not to bite someone else if they piss him off and we will set up our little holiday home. Its a last minute booking and im a tad dubious but come evening I'll have had enough gin not to care if we are huddled in our tent in the pouring rain, playing cards or god help us, board games.

The next day we'll put on our waterproofs and head off to explore. We'll clock up a few miles i daresay and visit alot of pubs. My diet and liver wont thank me if the weather improves dd will go swimming itherwise we'll find some dramatic coastline and look for interesting stones. If the rain clears well sit around the campfire and roast marsh mallows and ill read my kindle because my phone battery will have died. Dd may be a bit sulky about hers but i wont care because work wont be able to call me because someone has screwed up in the lab

Dd will be hoping to spend time in the play area and meet other kids her age (doesnt always happen) there a river/stream to paddle in.

The dogs will be alternately ecstatic and muserable.

I will be happy as larry because my holiday during peak summer time will have cost £223 for a whole week. My anxiety after about day two will cut me some slack and I'll be able to face whatever shit life throws st me on our return.

Whats not to love?

We camp a few times a year for some sports stuff and that has been a wet and snowy affair before now! We camp at May half term as far south as we can get and don’t go anywhere for less than three nights! In summer we go to Europe. From a value point of view our stuff has been accumulated over time and has often been birthday gifts but yeah it’s not super cheap but cheap compared to B and B or hotel accommodation. Even a family YH room is usually three to four times more expensive per night. Food I find cheap though, we have some cheap emergency stuff like pot noodle things, take good home baked whole meal muffins and a bag of tinned stuff. I might make flat breads and a beany stew in a Dutch oven or we might have baked onions and cheese with good bread. Angel delight for pudding and a good fruit bowl. Veg tortilla, baked rice and eggs all cooks easily and is yummy but there is always the giant bag of crisps and snack bars.
I do have everything but the clothes ore stored in portable boxes so I could go now and bung them and the tent in the car and have everything from washing up liquid to salt and pepper and spare pegs. Another outlay but much culled from ordinary stuff and made life easier.
Camping in Europe is a real money saver - on every place we looked at was nearly 2000 for a Eurotent set up and 440 for our tent. That was for 17nights at peak season in a big site, we went some where quieter i a beach and well reviewed for 320. A bargain!

@ChiaraRimini there are also lots of independent hostels that can be cheaper and cosier.

Have a loom at the independent hostel guide.

Yes to the YHA again though -love them overnight or weekend breaks. The family rooms are fab and the venues amazing. Have stayed in country mannors and castles and all sorts. Often go with friends and kids can play in acres of grounds for hours and the self catering kitchen makes it all affordable. As a bigger family a meal out is ruinous!

I love camping too - a week now until our holiday and I can't wait. we have a trailer tent, and have just upgraded from our £350 ebay buy to a newer one (also from ebay) which means we sleep off the ground on lovely beds under our down duvets with a giant awning with zipped in ground sheet and carpet.
We choose campsites without entertainment but quiet natural ones with good showers/loos/washing up. And I love wild swimming so we are going to a site with a lake so I can bimble around and ds can kayak/swim

B and m do a good foldable one mine cost 10p yep 10p when they were having a clear out

We're just back from 10 days camping in the south-west. Admittedly we lucked out on the weather as the temperatures were perfect with a sea breeze; we didn't have to put a coat on once for cold or wet We've even packed the tent up dry so won't have imported a load of slugs like the last time we were at the site 😂

The DCs (5&7) had a brilliant time as there was plenty of space to let them play out safely and plenty of other children to play with. That meant we could genuinely relax properly for the first time since we had them. Much more relaxing than being contained in a hotel room or scruitinising the poolside on the Mediterranean holidays we've done.

We have invested in kit and have the capacity to store and transport it, but over the years it pays off. Our 7 year old has managed to rack up about 70 nights camping in his life so far! Some kit like our sleeping bags are pre-DCs. We did a big upgrade a few years back for a trip to France with 8 man tent (for 4) and cookstands, tables etc. I can wild camp and do minimalist for a weekend, but it is worth upgrading the space and comfort for more than a few days. A National Trust membership also gives good value days out if you're in an area where they have lots of sites.

Too often people struggle because they are under equiped for British weather. We've seen families rock up for the first time in a fairly minimal tent and have a horrid night just in a sleeping bag on the groundsheet not realising they need something underneath for warmth and comfort. My back has now reached the camp bed stage. Despite thermarests, some pretty basic and lumpy campsites last year made me accept some limitations.

You can never have too many blankets

JynxaSmoochum

Amen people think they can rock up with £100 tent from Argos and a cool box go camping and then wonder why they have a shit time the best thing to do if you want to try out camping

Is hire a ready tent from a camp site they have every thing in them including beds and the tents already erected

We discovered camping this year. I bought a cheap tent from Aldi and went for a couple of nights at a local site by the beach. We enjoyed it and borrowed a larger tent from my parents (used once around 20 years ago) and we've used it to break up the journey to my in-laws by staying a couple of nights in Yorkshire on the way down and a couple of nights near Chester on the way back.

We are smitten (we've been lucky with the weather) and now have several ideas for camping holidays. We'd never really had holidays before other than just visiting relatives.

I think we'll need to get a portable toilet for future trips as my DS isn't great about public toilets and I can imagine would be even less keen in bad weather. Do campsites usually have somewhere to empty the contents /do you just take it to the loo?

Just have to figure out how to jenga it into the car...

If you start out with a cheapy/poor tent then whether or not you go on to become a camper is entirely down to the weather and the site you first try.
I'd always recommend that the first time you go with friends or at least borrow kit rather than spending. Buy second hand rather than brand new (as you'll get so much more for your money) but get someone with a little experience to go with you/look over your purchase before you pay anything...it's exactly the same premise as buying a car. You can spend lots on a new one, less on a good second hand, similar on a poor new, or get jipped on an old banger. You need someone with some experience to tell the difference between the last 3!
If you are lucky with the weather (or a weekend camper who doesn't bother going if it's going to be grim) then all you need is: a waterproof tent with mallet and pegs, a decent bed for each member of the party, bedding, a handbag stove, a spare canister of gas, a kettle, a pan, a sharp knife, a wooden spoon and a tin opener/bottle opener/corkscrew combo. A mug, plate, bowl, cutlery per person, a cool box or bag. warm clothes. a hat.That really is all you need to start out if you don't need to accommodate bad weather. Then over the next couple of years you buy a few extra bits ( a light for the evenings, some comfy chairs, a little table). The trick is to not go bonkers: just buy the occasional thing that will be useful or that you feel was missing on a previous trip. Just small investments each year and in a few years you will have optimized your kit for you.
We have 5 DC, and couldn't get all the kids in one car so camped with 2, but we never had a roof box or trailer. so 2 bootloads for 7 people for a week in all weathers. Never had electric hookup. Never needed it!

@Andtheresaw great advice. But if you don't have 2 cars or (1 large car) you will struggle to do family camping. As a single parent with 3 kids and a small car there is no way I could fit everything in.

So my point is that camping may seem like a cheap holiday option but you can only afford it if you can afford a car big enough to transport you all plus all the kit. If you are camping in U.K. that means a big tent plus awning to cook in plus cooking kit which is all £££ ...but maybe the car big enough to transport it all is actually the sticking point!

Exactly, Chiara. Youth hostelling probably cheaper for people without a big car or any car.

We just got back this morning after a very quick one night camping trip in the Yorkshire dales. My dd took a friend who had never camped. The girls (both 12) put up their own tent, paddled for hours in the river, rolled around in a field for 2 hours playing with the dog. We sat in the sunshine, had bbq, toasted marshmallows and it was fab. We did have a caravan but felt disconnected from the outdoors so traded back to tent. We may get a trailer tent as a compromise next year.

Ooh I love camping! We are just back and had a bonus 2am thunder and lightning storm thrown in for extra entertainment. It was amazing, we will remember it for a long time! We were only away one night and ate Pot Noodles for dinner and instant porridge for breakfast, so no elaborate cooking palaver (or washing up, apart from sporks) required.

testingmitb did you reserve a pitch there or do you just rock up and hope they have space?

I agree the biggest cost of camping is a vehicle big enough to carry it all in. We did see a lady and 3 DC with a Saxo, something that kind of size, in the Netherlands last year. The amount of stuff that came out of that car was phenomenal. We made life easy and bought a VW T25. Was relatively cheap. Kids sleep in the van on a homemade bed. Also have a homemade table. Me and DH sleep in 4 man tent with en-suite flushing toilet.

Just got back from a week in Wales. Was £210 for 7 nights. Well managed, flat, quiet, play ground, decent shop, in a national park, fab views, walking distant to suberb beach.

We sleep on an air bed with futon mattresses on top in 4 season sleeping bags. Had them 15 years and look like new. Don’t bother with footprint or tent carpet.

We have camped together since 1993 so we have saccumulated kit over time and know our priorities for kit and campsites. For us camping is a cheap holiday and we get to relax as the kids are entertained.

Cooking while camping doesn’t have to be basic or time consuming. I usually make a bolognese in advance and freeze it. That goes in the cool box and defrosts slowly ready for day two. We have lots of one or two pan dishes that we enjoy and take maybe ten minutes to prepare but longer to cook. I tend to get freezer bags and put family size servings of pasta and rice in ready. Spice straws ready to empty in to pans.

I guess the car size is an issue, we have an estate car and huge top box (thankyou ebay) but our car is 21 years old and long paid for (had it 12 years) so we mever had to invest in a bigger vehicle.

We have pared down what we have taken this time and the game of car tetris was most definitely a win. Although we also have a van but its off the road at present. We paid the princley sum of £850 for it (hence it being off the road!)

Well we face a wet set up today which im worried about but its character building innit!

I really want to try camping. I think it will be fun. We have a tent but haven't been yet.

Well...we’re getting ready for the off! I’m full of bounce!
We take two cars - but our tent is pretty big and we do take a lot of gear, including a 10cm SIM for each person (there are 5 of us). We like to be comfortable.

We do have a skeleton set up for wild camping and hiking, with a small tent and minimal gear...but this is a family leisure trip so it’s car tetris and everything but the kitchen sink.

Everyone is excited...first time we’ve had the tent out this year!

Where are you off to pictish? We are on the road and making surprisingly good time.

Eliza just go! There will be places available for the bank holiday weekend. I was unsure when we started but its the best thing weve ever done

We're off! The kids have been in the car for at least an hour before departure as I needed to pack around them!!!

We're going to the Peak District. Have fun campers.

Having a decent tent is essential. If you don't have that, you are pretty fucked tbh. We went camping at Easter one year ( it was cold), but we had a decent tent and kit. All weather sleeping bags, and we put camping mats and groundsheets beneath our airbeds, plus we had a camping heater. Once we had a dreadful storm and our tent survived apart from a slightly bent pole ( replaced).
Family in next pitch, who went with a shit tent and crap sleeping bags did nothing but moan all night because they were cold. Ended up running their car engine ffs and woke us up from our lovely toasty slumber..
I don't get why people complain about being grubby while camping. There are perfectly adequate showers, plugs for hairdryers/straighteners etc. Maybe they are mud wrestling or something...😂.

And I eat more or less the same things as I do at home. Apart from a Sunday dinner, but plenty of pubs/ carveries about.