Newbies: buy ALL your kit you'll EVER need in one go at the very start....

[ampere]

... or risk your camping set-up looking like a mobile refugee camp .

You'll have, say, a pale green and grey tent, a pale blue awning, a forest green and navy wind break, a burgundy gazebo.

It'll not please you to look upon though each constituent item is the last word in tech and design- and will have cost at least £250 apiece....!

I speak from experience.

And what is wrong with a bit of colour?

I did buy the main essentials in one hit,but keep buying random crap kit.

Me-'Ooooooh pretty folding stools,bit Orla Kiely in style..must have'

Yes, but it makes you look like a proper camper if you have lots of mis-matched stuff. Rather than a "all the gear - no idea" sort of person

Colour, yes, Notting Hill Carnival does central Wales?... non.

So, surprise, you think my ill assorted kit coveys and air of experience?!

Oh, how I fool them all!

I bought our tent on the proviso that it would fit the half price 'kids' room' I found on the internet.

I think thatw as a bit stupid.

ha

I'm with Suprise. I like seeing a mismatched set up. Looks like the folk have been at it for a while and chosen each bit of kit for function and practicality rather than how the whole thing looks.

Campsite we just came back from today was virtually a sea of Outwell sage green. I know they are good tents but a bit of variety is a good thing.

We use DH's 25 year old plastic mugs and plates alongside our brand spanking folding chairs and 10 year old cooker. Have no awning/gazebo though as we have the perfect tent [smug emoticon].

We were told that we were "proper campers" by a group of kids this week because I was knitting by the light from citronella candles in terracotta pots. They were were bemoaning their proper lamp and windbreak.

I would have swapped in a hearbeat as I was only knitting by candle light because we'd run out of batteries in our lamps and the car is way to small to cram in a windbreak as well!

We've accumulated stuff along the way for practicality and it's ability to fit into an old fiesta with a small roof box!

Nah - get it over a period of years. Make sure you've got some random hand-me-down stuff from the 1970s (stolen from parents/in-laws) for authenticity.

Then you will avoid the syndrome we experienced last week, where we were one of six adjacent Outwell tents all in matching colour-scheme and looking shiny and new. DD2 kept trying to go in the wrong tent LOL!

(Ours was the nicest, though )

We use the orange melamine plates and mugs I used when camping as a child.

I've mentioned it on here before but one plate, one mug and one bowl still carry the letter M painted on the bottom from when I took a set to guide camp.

My tent, utility tent and tarp are three quite different and not at all matching shades of beigy/creamy/green. The anal nerd in me fretted about this for a while last week and I wondered if I could fit the utility tent in the washing machine so I could dylon dye it navy to match the base panel of the Cabanon.

I had to give myself a good dose of the old as it should not really matter and that is not what proper camping is all about.

We're a mismatch sort.

We have a fantastic set of billies from DH's grandad, and besides the sentimental value, I have never seen a similar set. There's 3 pans, as usual but also a colander and chip pan nestled in. Fair enough, we've not had the courage to use the chip pan but it's useful for salad or holding other bits.

And we also have some new stuff- Cobb, tarp etc.