Oi it's too quiet, I don't like it

[Caerlaverock]

I only came back to be a tent Hun and goad slubber about cadacs but there is nothing doing. [twangs a guy rope provocatively]

Not camping seems to be ore expensive than camping in this house

Since our one and only trip of the year we have bought a new supersized pop up tent, a mini one for ds1, a folding loo, some itty bitty storage bags and I still need to get some vacuum bags!

the camping cupboards are in aldi atm!

I've never hankered after a kitchen stand.

I have a kitchen stand thing. Tis a behemoth of a camping accessory and it gives dh the packing rage whenever I hint I might like to bring it along. Lovely and anal storage-storage when it's at camp, not so much in the boot though.

Don't you think it belongs in the suburban semi form of camping? Along with a sattelite dish and a trampoline, and building a Great Wall of Windbreaks all around your pitch?

Asks Blu, all innocent like....

mmm Don't think the camping kitchen storage unit is quite up there with TVs and the all encompassing windbreak corrale norty Blu, but there is something quite satisfying about having everything organised and just so. Alles in ordnung dh would say.

Once you go minimalist it's first off the list. The floor has to suffice.

From a safety pov I worry about the kids all tearing about round our minimalist set up, stove balanced on upturned log etc - I just wouldn't be able to fit a kitchen stand in the car.

Plus I would have to get a longer gas hose between stove and gas bottle as mine is v short, I don't know why.

I don't do tent carpets, either.

Are you short of hose Blu? That is terrible.

A minimalist floor camper you must remain.

Me either.

Tent carpet = slippery slope -> caravan with antimacassared lounge section.

The pageant with artificial flowers in the window and chatting to vinc and Marjorie about caravan cleaning products

I'm still here but we are mid house extension so life is a bit bonkers at the mo - still we're off to France on the 22nd July for 3 weeks - I chose the date on purpose in a strop at not having got any Olympics tickets

Montpellier currently 34c - well not now it's 8.50pm but you get my drift.

Yy and further down that slope lies what was everywhere in Germany, the rows and rows of the built upon caravan. Proper caravans with the wheels so they could be towed and yet built all around them and upon them were walls (brick) with gutters, fences, gazebos and garden sheds (multiples), gravel paths with gnomes, dazzling arrays of colourful solar lights (please note glampers), wind chimes, dream catchers, enormo bbqs, loungers, chimneas, gardening equipment, lailandi (sp) hedges.....

And under it all was a van that could have been freeeeee. Free as the wind being towed all about and living an exciting life.

and definately no carpets here either - although we are taking 'thin plastic' a la campeurs néerlandais to protect the groundsheet from the scorched earth.

Just realised that I've mixed French and Dutch there - look at me being all continental like.

Can you zip it on the hot temperatures/scorched earth thankyouverymuch.

I might trade the camper in for a boats give then weather

The Vango camp kitchen was the first time I found myself rubbing my thighs in the middle of a shop. At the time we did not need one but since the loss of the shitpot table I may be able to talk DH round. Or else buy one and slip it in the cupboard unseen "what this old thing? Oh I've had it for AGES!" :o

We've cancelled several camping trips due to the weather and are a bit dispirited. We need to check out our new "festival and weekend" tent but keep gettting rained off. We are also fleeing to the south of France in August. But going to Womad beforehand whatever the weather.

we're minimalist though on the tent furniture and carpets.

I confess we have a tent carpet and a cupboard. I find the carpet very handy at the moment because DS is still at the age where he wants us to sprawl on the floor and play with him and his trainset/dinosaurs/jigsaw and it's so much comfier on carpet than cold plastic. Lots of people use blankets which are just simpler carpets that slip about more.

The cupboard isn't as handy as I thought it would be though. It's too high to put the stove on so we might as well just keep everything in the collapsible crates we transported them in.

Very of 34C in Montpellier. The Dordogne was warm some of the time but mostly wet and stormy two weeks ago. Am kicking myself at going too early.

It's a no to tent carpets here but I do admit to taking a dustpan and brush - although it's usually only used for sweeping the tent before packing up - that's my story and i'm sticking to it!

hillbilly I have a dustpan and brush too, is that a shameful thing to admit? Admittedly I don't use it very much as we have a SiG so if I zip the flaps shut no-one can see the mess
I am now worried the dustpan is the camping equivalent of suburban pampas grass

oh, we do take a dustpan and brush to brush out all the bits of twig and sand that come in! Is that the first step in the slippery tent furniture slope?

We take a dustpan and brush and have a crappy wire shelf thing for our cooker to go on. I definitely covet a better camping kitchen but a carpet is a definite no no! Not least because there is no way it would fit in the car but it just feels a bit like a step too far really.

No, dustpan and brush is just very sensible :o

We have a tent carpet. We also have an enormous car so have space for it.

No TV, satellite dish or windbreaks...