Camping dilemma since fire alert

[SaturdayGiraffe]

Off camping next week but been told no cooking stoves allowed now - so no hot water, no hot food.
There’s no pub or shops nearby either.

The site is saying we are inside 14 day cancellation so they are charging to move the dates back and we’ll lose full amount if we go elsewhere (although not even sure where else since the phone alert).

Camping with kids, with no hot food or drink - would you do it?

Does anyone know a site where we could cook still?

You can just buy ambient food from Aldi..tons of choices

None of them match up to a warming spag Bol on the hob on a chilling night.

A hot chocolate before bed to warm.

They don’t make that 6am coffee sitting out the front of the tent or hot water bottles to warm up the beds.

It’s not about a bacon sarnie and some burgers. It’s about proper food still and staying warm.

Camping is still supposed to be enjoyable for those who choose it and they pick what they need to make it enjoyable it’s not meant to be a test of endurance 🤷🏻‍♀️

I won’t go without hook up so I’m fine I can use a hob, mini oven, kettle and a fan heater.

100% this!

We recently camped at a super bog standard site for one night... nothing in walking distance other than a pub that opened at lunch.

I so missed my morning, sunrise coffee by the tent. The campsite was fine for the one night we needed it for, but we cut the second morning short as I wanted a coffee 🤣

Wouldn't go for longer than one night with no walkable or 24/7 option for boiling water

Sorry but none of those things compare to other humans being the BBQ item in a wildfire.

All can wait until a better time

So none of us should be cooking at home (the main cause of fire other than arson)?

Ha, a previous neighbour of my flat (thankfully before my time) actually did this.

There are lots of ways the campsite could help. They could designate a communal cooking area that has been made as safe as possible. Use a concrete or gravelled area if they have one, plenty of water buckets around.

They could obtain a large water boiler - like they have in community centres and install it somewhere so that people at least have hot water.

Is cooking in your home within brick walls going to start a fire on tinder dry grass??? Probably not!
Is cooking on a camping stove on tinder dry grass going to start a fire?? Highly likely!!!

Buy a solar powered charger and then you boil your kettle

Oh ain't that the truth! The sensory experience that you look forward to all year a a part of your holiday. Sigh. It's bacon for me, a morning bacon sandwich when it's still cool.

It comes down to I suppose, whether those things are so important to the experience that without them it's not worth it and you'd rather walk away, or whether you're able to roll with the current circumstances, adapt and find other different things to enjoy this time to have the other parts of the holiday you love. And no judgement on either; its that individual person/family's holiday.

A few years ago, you could buy self heating cans of ready made coffee

Can buy ready made cold latte or cold tea

What is wrong with
Bread
Cheese
Salad
Cured meat or tinned fish

Nobody will suffer from not having hot food for a few days

In terms of 'getting by' how long are you going for.

I understand the risk if people are using primus type stoves at ground level.

However we've just returned from a trip with my daughter, son in law and grandson. Caravan and Camping Club in the Lakes. They were using a two burner + grill Camping Gaz unit mounted on a counter height stand.

That seems to present very little real risk.

Me too if used when out they obviously aren't taking them with them after as can be hot for some time. I've heard of people burying them on beaches and other people have stood on them and been burnt.

I know it takes away from the camping experience but see where your nearest Morrisons/Tesco's are with a cafe as they do good value meal options and kids free/£1. Alternatively would a portable power station be any good? They are a bit £££ £150/£200 mark but we have camped with one before and they're really handy. You could boil water for drinks, noodles, cup of soups, canned hotdogs, mac & cheese pots, rice, chill meals in a bag.

People are being obtuse on purpose. Its is just guidance and is not the best worded alert imo as it does say 'should not undertake any activity that could cause a fire' but then gives examples of things with flames.

but the press release before hand is a bit clearer with where the risk is, and saya do not have fires or open flames in dry places, talks about broken glass, cigarettes and not leaving home bbq unattended.

People have different opinions on whether a stove is an open flame but campsites are fine to ban them if they prefer to interpret it as an open flame.

I suspect it’s a small operation that’s got panicked about the government warning and done a kneejerk reaction without thinking it through.

If this is your only holiday and you can’t afford to lose money etc what I would do is go, with the proviso and understanding that if you all get fed up - or if the adults get fed up, if you have excitable young kids like mine who will jump on a ‘bandwagon’ thought - then you may come back early.

Do as others have said, prepare in advance with hot water in flasks for the first morning, take cold food, and treat it as a survival adventure, with maybe a treat hot meal out in the middle. Self heating food too if you can afford it and have the space to pack it!

Seems like the perfect opportunity to win a Darwin award

Good.luck OP. Not being able to have a cuppa is grim. Can you get a battery operated one?

I'm pretty sure at least 50 per cent of people on this thread offering advice never actually camp themselves, and that a decent percentage of them don't actually know what a camping stove is or entails.

Oh I feel for you OP. I understand it can’t be helped and the campsite is being sensible, but it will rather put a dampener on your holiday. I couldn’t contemplate camping without tea, personally. Although if my children were little and still wanted to go, I suppose I’d grit my teeth and get on with it. I hope you manage to make the best of it and have a good break.

Yes I have camped in the last couple of weeks in a tent on motorbikes

We also have a camper van that we have used recently

I was surprised that a camp site was still allowing camp fires when every thing was so dry.
We did not have a camp fire

But we have used gas stove & in van

So am I correct in that the campsite have said no camping stoves allowed? And there are showers but no other facilities?

I wouldn’t want to go camping to a basic site for a week with no option to heat food / boil water. A night or two possibly, bug even that doesn’t sound appealing.
A car kettles, as suggested earlier, are completely crap.

You probably have a very good case to cancel as they are unable to provide facilities required under the Government ban.

You can buy electrical hookups for tents. We used to camp when I was young, had full electricity. Can get them on Amazon for under £20.

But the site needs to have electricity points for you to use them with. I’ve been to quite a few UK campsites where that’s not an option and if the OPs site is a basic one it’s probably the case there, too.