So, just how spidery is camping?

[bitingfairy]

I'm hoping that you can help me allay a fear reservation I have about camping so that I can start to get obsessed organised with buying a tent/other equipment and take my family on holiday later this year.

Before we had our DCs, me and DH would go on nice holidays in hotels, or self catering with lots of good restaurant meals. More recently we've had self catering hols without lots of restaurants! (with DD, now 7), and now we have a 9 week old DS, are broke and it's looking like no holiday again this year (didn't manage to get away last year either).

Neither me nor DH has ever been camping. DH is sceptical, but I think it's probably the only way we're going to get a holiday for the next few years, and I've been spending hours on the internet doing a bit of research about what we'd need etc

I've found a Vango Icarus 600 with carpet , footprint and canopy for £300 (seems a reasonable price) so all I need is a final push to buy it.

I'd only be planning a couple of 1-2 night breaks to start with, but my main concern before I start is just how spidery is it going to be? I'm rubbish at insects and although it's not a phobia, a lot of bugs is probably enough to put me off (memories of a trip to Florida when ants got into the house and there were hundreds of them in all the clothes/suitcases etc ).

So should I buy the tent or give up on the idea and look out for the next offer in The Sun for cheapo caravan hols?

Very spidery, and quite mosquitoey too, if you dare to leave the UK.

I've not found it too bad really.

We had one trip the end of last season that was very earwiggy but apart from that it's been ok.

Wasps have been the biggest problem, they drive me nuts!

You'll be fine. Camping is great and a carpet makes all the difference

I have never seen a spider when camping. A few small flies, the odd wasp, thats it.

Plus, if you keep your bedrooms zipped up during the day, you will be bug free for definate at night.

Spiders aren't insects.

i share your irrational fear concerns over spiders!
We camp a lot. As long as you have the inside zip sections on the tent and keep them done up religiously- big rule for the kids! You will be fine!
And keep all clothes and shoes inside there at night.

We have never really had them in the tent. If you do, they are very wispy, long legged grass ones but these dont freak me too much.
Spiders dont eat food that you keep in the tent ! Wasps, beetles and ants do! This is what you will see. These dont bother me in the slightest.

You are far more likely to see spiders in the toilets!!
IF you choose a good quality site with daily cleaning of shower block, then you should be fine.
Its the smaller farm type sites where they dont see the need to sweep the 10 year old cobwebs down that you get big black hairy buggers.

Do you know what tho, camping isnt really that much cheaper than a shorter spell in a holdiay home... still gotta buy all the food!

Thanks everyone. I'm not too bothered by the flying beasties spiders have too many legs!

I'm not expecting it to be really really cheap but since we're tied to school holidays prices for self catering seem to be upwards of £600/week (plus food etc) and in peak season most only book week long stays. Caravans are slightly cheaper but still nearly £400 for 3/4 nights. Looking around I'm seeing a wide range of prices for but even with EHU they aren't £100/night - I've seen between £16 - 28/night - does that seem right?

Besides, I'm feeling a bit like I've missed out, having never been camping myself. I'd love to be able to give the DCs some happy holiday memories of outdoors trips :)

Has the tent the inside zip up sections? If so, keep them always zipped and no spiders. I share your irrati

i am terrified of spiders. I HATE them

I also love camping and in all honesty the tent is not at all spidery, even less so if you have a SIG (sewn in ground sheet).

I make sure the tent doors are never open unless walking through them. (We have an insect net door as well as tent material so can still get fresh air in when its hot.

If the doors are always closed (mesh bit) then there is NO WAY an nasty creatures can get in.

My bedroom door is even more always closed. This compartment is sealed to unless door opened.

Just ONCE i have woken up to see a spider that was somehow in my tent and on the wall of the cloth bedroom pod, but on the outside of the bedroom, not IN the bedroom. (not nice if you hate spiders like i do, but it hadnt got 'in' to me. (a friends got it out)

so with a SIG and very careful monitoring of open doors tents dont have to be spidery at all.

However then there are the toilets. These vary with the campsites. (I HATE spiders and look for them whereever I am just in case) Some sites are better than others.... Most are no worse than an avergage public toilet, and many much much better, with barely a trace of a spider or a web. Bare in mind outside, near grass / fields etc, there are almost always a couple of small spindley ones, somewhere, but really not too bad.

I rarely see spiders in the tent - I guess there's much better places for them to be. It seems to be hoverflies and earwigs that like ours.

Take plenty of insect extraction equipment and wine and you'll have a great time.

You have just reminded me of a stay in the new forest where we had to rescue a family who were terrified of the horses

I have never in 26 years of camping seen a spider in my tent!

Does no-one on here call them loofahs anymore?

I am terrified of spiders too and I don't really like most insects either. I've been going camping now for about 10 years and although I've seen a few (in the toilets etc.), it hasn't put me off.

Take plenty of wine then you won't notice them .

Buy (as someone else said) a tent with a sewn in ground sheet and an insect 'door' and you'll be fine. Just become fanatical about people shutting the doors.

I've seen more spiders in my laundry room than I've ever seen in my tent!

Agree with everyone else. I have a Vango 500 (also with a sewn in groundsheet) and no beasties seem to get in.

This is reassuring :) Now I just have to decide on a tent - the more time I spend looking, the more confused I get

I think there are more spiders in my house than I've ever seen in a tent.

Spiders have never been a problem for us but wasps have, we usually take along a couple of wasp catchers and we fill them with cola/beer and catch the beggers if they are really annoying.

AutumnWitch, don't get me started on those new forest ponies! we are not in the slightest afraid of horses (all DC's ride) but they are terrifying and actually attacked me! I was left with blood dripping from the bite wounds on my back and the poor kids were in shock.

We hadn't approached them and were not eating though I was carrying a picnic in a a bag.

Be warned!

The hooved rats ponies are far more scary than the spiders when you're camping in the New Forest. I got kicked HARD by one.

Things I didn't like about camping as a girl:

Bugs
Claustrophobia
Dampness
Too cold/too hot
People being sick in my tent.
Field poos

Modern tent technology deals with all of these things. Except the last two, but I just have to get over that!

I'm also horribly afraid of spiders - proper phobic, but have been camping for a few years now and have never had one in the tent. I insisted on a sew-in groundsheet and try to keep the bedrooms zipped up - sorted.

Definitely have many more in the house than ever seem to have been in the tent!