To ask how to go camping and enjoy it..?

[Alittlenonsensenowandthen]

Just come back from camping and yet again feel like it's more a test of human endurance than a holiday. I see others on the campsite seemingly enjoying the torture. What am I doing wrong?!

I've come back with spots on my skin, extreme tiredness from not sleeping and a boot full of muddy things for processing.

Let's be honest I'm never going to enjoy it, but I am genuinely curious for those that do enjoy it, what am I missing?

I only like it at festivals or properly wild.

Blow up mattress
Ear plugs
Ideally black out tent but definitely eye mask

3-5 nights max

sack it off if raining

Oh yes how did I forget earplugs! Not so much for noisy campers as I tend to avoid those but to drown out the sound of noisy farm animals!

We have ehu an ice maker, kettle and toaster and a toilet tent. I'm currently sat outside drinking icey cold gin and crocheting in the sunshine

-Three night rule
-but allow a week so you can pick the best weather days
-go with friends
-ensure kids are also friends
-barbecue one night
-eat out once
-campsite must have a shop
-and nice loo block
-quiet campsite - cool camping type thing, also not hours away so you can come home easily if need be
-allow a day for packing

Let the family stay in a tent, & perhaps visit you in your nearby hotel.
And stay there until all their dirty laundry has been washed & ironed.

Ps good beds!

Sleeping tablets, eyemask, pillow, separate compartment with no other people and a peeing contraption fashioned from a large empty peanut butter tub and some incontinence pads. This makes it tolerable for about 2 nights. Oh and not having been on holiday for at least 6 months before.

I adore camping, but many wouldn't count what I do as camping. I won't go without electricity. A lamp for each room, fairy lights as well in the main section, a kettle, a toastie machine and usually my slow cooker too. I have a raised double bed and take a proper double duvet and pillows plus throws. The table has a cloth and all floors have carpets. It's wanky af and many campers look down on us (we have often had comments from them about not "real" camping and why bother if we do all that!)

The things I enjoy most are the slow slow pace- now the kids are teens we spend whole days sitting around the campsite reading in the day and playing cards on the evenings. Minimal phone use means we just connect more. Sometimes long walks. I love cooking out on the bbq or campfire when it's dry. I equally love a weekend of toastie variations if it's wet.

I need the toilet at least once a night and it's worst part of it rains but I throw on a dressing gown and crocs with an umbrella and head torch and just dry my feet when I return. And it's actually nice to get back in the dry warm bed and cosy up in the dark listening to rain on canvas. It's worth it for the overall holiday certainly.

I also won't go if it's to be raining when we set up. Set up takes two hours and it won't work on wet and muddy conditions- I'm fiercely strict about no kid and shoes in past the awning to keep the tent nice and that's not possible when setting up in the rain. Rain after set up is fine by me.

I love camping but...

Only in decent weather, I don't mind the odd shower but constant pouring down is miserable.
I Only go for 3 nights, any more the novelty wears off.
Go with good friends with kids of similar ages to yours.
Make sure your sleeping arrangements are comfy and warm.
(Night wees in bucket if its raining, a nice walk to the toilets if dry.)
But there is nothing better than sitting outside by a fire in the evening, toasting marshmallows and drinking wine. Bliss.

Alcohol and hard-core drugs.

I love camping! But agree that good weather is the make or break.

Probably unhelpful but I'd sooner stick pins in mu own eyes that camp in a tent.

My parents have a touring caravan - they have done it for years and that is far more relaxing anf enjoyable than a tent. So, save for a caravan? Their current one is amazing- fixed bed in the bedroom, proper oven, full sized fridge, heating, air con and most of all, warm and dry!

Or, you could do something like eurocamp tent in South of France? Already put up for you, with beds etc. Nice weather is pretty much a given.

I would if I could but can't afford to not camp. Ideally I would have a holiday in a plush hotel but with three kids that's not going to happen. The kids really enjoy it so I'm doing it for them really.

I think you have to start with asking yourself why you are camping?
Is it because it’s cheap?
Is it because you enjoy being outdoors/close to nature? Or the places you want to go are really only accessible by camping?
Is it because you think you “should“?
Once you know why you are camping, you can work out how to improve it! Personally I love the slower pace of life, turning off technology & my mood definitely lifts when I spend time outdoors! I will wear the same outer clothes for a few days – who cares if they are grubby when I’m camping? Get home, load of washing in the machine – no more difficult than coming home from a hotel holiday, usually less washing :)

1. Don't do it.

2. If you do do it, don't do it in wet weather, windy weather, very hot weather or with young children.

3. Only do it within easy driving distance of home, so it's easy to change your mind.

Small sites that limit the number of campers. Organic farm type places with a nice farm shop, meadows with high grass and a few pitches mowed in at a good distance from each other. Good quality washing facilities.

I hate it. Refuse to do it unless it's glamping with an actual bed in the tent. Fortunately my DH feels the same. Unfortunately the kids are angling for a camping holiday 😩

I go alone - I take books, wine, a decent bed mat (double with sleeping back and duvet), 2 power banks, download films onto my phone, potter around interesting places, eat nice food and chill out - muddy things can be washed

Thanks for all the tips. Thing is...I'm doing all those things. Have a great tent, went with a group of people I love, quiet small campsite, have good sleeping area and paraphernalia etc etc.

Admittedly the weather was a big factor in hating it this time.

The irony is, that I'm quite an outdoorsy person who enjoys slower pace. But the lack of sleep overshadows all of that and I'm not able to enjoy my days out.

I did grow up camping but as a previous person said, it was fun when there was zero responsibility!

Think I just have to accept that it's just not for me.

Why would I be confident crossing a dark campsite to a toilet block in middle of a field in the middle of the night where anyone could be hiding to attack or kill me!! I know to those used to it that is not the case, and I am sort of jesting, but it COULD happen couldn't it? Let's face it, I wouldn't go out my back door to an outside privy in the middle of my garden in the dark either, there would be a chamber pot or something civilised like that in my room instead. 😂

Do what I do...go alone! I've done two solo camps this summer, just me and my bike. No one else to please then. Amazing.

Bucket! I actually recently upgraded to a portable toilet sized potty with a lid.

Good weather
Fab location
2 nights maximum

I think you either like it or don’t. I love the fact that I have to fetch water or we don’t have a drink, love sitting outside with a woolly hat and big coat, love walking to the loo across a field and everything else that lots of people hate.

@Keykaty yeah ok. Do you worry about the risk of being smashed into every time you drive your car? I bet you don't. It's much higher though.

I'm responding because as mentioned above I love camping and will even go alone. I met someone recently who was quite appalled and disapproving that I would take 'such a risk' when I have kids at home.
"You don't know who could be creeping around."
She doesn't know who's behind the wheel of every vehicle that she passes on the road but she still drives.

Some people have a vivid imagination.