The not-so-Dark Side - electric hook ups

[Mammonite]

We have just booked onto a campsite in France for the summer holiday and for an extra 20 euros booked the electric hookup because I just couldn't face struggling for a whole week with the coldbox and iceblocks in hot weather. We have never used EHU before; DH is going to sort out the electrical side, so what else do we need?

is this the right sort of coldbox? We don't have a huge amount of space but would normally take a Thermos type coldbox.

I don't want to go mad with fan heaters and hair straighteners but what about a tent light for the evenings? Anything else? (Although if DH brings his laptop and spends whole night on facebook doing work I will chuck it over the side of the ferry)

Yes, that's the right type of coolbox. Have you actually got an electric hook-up - www.gooutdoors.co.uk/mobile-mains-kit-p155317, for example? You may need a two-pin adaptor to go on the blue end that goes in the post. Some French campsites have the same blue plugs that we have in the UK, some only have two-pin and some have a mixture of the two. Also, sometimes the distance from the tent to the socket is more than 25m, but I think in that case the campsite will often have an extension lead.

Why not take fan heater and straighteners? You've paid for the electric. What about an electric kettle (only to be used when nothing else electric is plugged in)? Toaster? Phone chargers? Battery chargers?

You just have to be careful what you plug in at the same time. You can't use a kettle and a fan together, for example, as that will trip the electric and it might not just trip yours, it might trip the other four off the same post.

Have a lovely time in the heat!

Thanks! You see we have been diehard non-EHU campers for years and I feel like it's a slippery slope to having wardrobes and carpets. Not to mention we barely have room in the car for our usual kit never mind anything extra. Chargers will definitely be helpful though. Any suggestions for a light?

DH is an electrician so going to sort out all the electric side, no problem. The campsite ask for a 50m extension lead.

You can get all different sort of lights. You can get long ones a bit like fluorescent tubes, or we've got one (in a folding camper, so canvas top) that's called a caravan awning light. It sheds a lovely colour light. I would go to a camping/caravanning shop and look around and ask to see some lamps on.

I have to say that we went away for the weekend last weekend with friends and they had a fantastic Camping Gaz light. It was nicer and brighter than our electric one, but, as I said above, you've got the electric, so use it.

We caved in last year and are not turning back from the EHU. When its wine o'clock, I'd rather it was appropriately chilled. We have that coolbox and it is just fine. We take a light for the tent - we need to find one that will hang from the tent roof - last year was very "mood lighting" as we took our table lamps at the last minute...

Well since our (Outwell) tent already has the fittings for a light to be hung up it's no surprise they sell the light too

(The Outwell family are creeping up on us I can feel it)

OOH _ we have an outwell now ... thanks Mammonite ...

Dh has gone and bought electrical hookup. I am fuming. I like having lanterns and headtorches. And it's great getting the kids away from electrical gadgets, even if it's just for a few days.

But you can still refuse to take electronic games Pixel. We manage so much better with EHU and a camping fridge (daren't risk eating out when camping as I'm coeliac and the thought of getting caught short on a campsite..., and I hate food shopping every day), but I won't let the kids take gaming gadgets.