Tell me everything about camping...

[MrsPiddlewink]

Somehow I have agreed to going camping this year. I've put it off for about 5 years.

We have nothing.

What are the essentials?

There are 5 of us (DH is very tall) + dog. Kids aged 3 - 9. Will a 5 berth tent be big enough? What features should be looking out for? Do we need a carpet?!

Please give me your tried and tested tips to make this experience as bearable as possible!!

Two season is probably not warm enough. We had 3/4 season and I still took blankets as well. The last time we went we took old duvets and put those on top as well (July in Yorkshire). If you use airbeds it is worth putting a blanket underneath your sleeping bag, on top of the airbed, because it can be very cold at night.
Don't fall for those all in one deals. From what I have seen the sleeping bags aren't that great and sometimes the tents aren't either.
My all time favourite camping shop is Winfields in Hull because they have so many tents on display (more than Go Outdoors) camping equipment. outdoor clothing etc. (No use if you live in Cornwall obviously, but if you happen to be in Yorks/ North Lincs it is worth a look).

kim147, an MN camping weekend would be brilliant! We would end up divided down strict battle lines - belltent-and-bunting glampers one side of the field and hardcore no-frills fairy-lights-are-the-work-of-the-devil types down the other. Such fun!

I got my tent on eBay for £30 (boasty boasty ). It's a mint condition Cabanon canvas frame tent- takes me half an hour to put up on my own and 20 minutes with help, is incredibly solid and doesn't flap or rustle. I try not to get The Smugs on a windy camping trip when I see a row of lightweight tents all billowing and flapping, and mine just....standing there. It was also tall enough to accommodate 6'2" exP. It's bigger and heavier than a similar sized lightweight tent, but that's what cars are for, no?

I always take loads of duvets, and pretty much make nests. Have hardly ever suffered from the cold whilst camping, but perhaps that's because I would never ever go to a site that didn't allow open fires. Cooking over a campfire/ kids toasting marshmallows is half the fun.

YY to fairy lights and assorted tat- tents can be spartan, so adding a few nice touches is good. We seem to have acquired an impressive collection of vaguely woodland themed tat- dragon flies on springs, flower fairy lights, mushroom nightlights, an enormous plastic toad . WRT floor coverings, my tent didn't come with anything, but I use a nice sturdy tarp, and bring some of my nice rugs from home to cover it- sheepskins too, if I can fit them in the car. Lovely to sit on round the fire!

YY to a dedicated camping box- mine lives in the car year round (because I don't have a shed). And also to a dustpan and brush to get rid of all the dried grass.

The only thing I really covet ATM is some kind of folding shelf/ storage device, because too much of the food and equipment is living at ground level, which is unsightly and takes up too much space.

PS- re: wee buckets etc- are we the only campers who make sure we have a space next to the hedge and just irrigate the vegetation at night?!

Kids are usually OK on roll out camping mats, rather than expensive SIMS, if you don't want to splash out on all the enormous expenses all at once. Decathlon have good thick ones with a foil layer to keep heat in.

We manage with one or two of the 5l water containers from the supermarket and then just re-fill it.

You don't need mats and SIMS.

StubbornStains: Decathlon have a good collapsible kitchen cupboard thing atm, too - cheaper than many others and looks good and sturdy. It's about £34 but not currently shown on the website - the £60 double size one is though.

I am also wondering about one of those as the catering chaos gets a bit extreme in our rather minimal set-up. But car space is a big issue.

Good point about the car space- previously, I've only had one child to worry about squeezing into the car (walled in with loads of stuff), but am expecting another one soon....he's going to have to go on the roof, isn't he? .

Will have a look at the Decathlon thing, cheers.

If you have a back garden, I suggest your very first camping trip be a Saturday night in it. And really do it. Prep and eat all food out there. Treat the bathroom indoors as if it is the toilet block at the campsite. If your children are to small to be sent down the hill aline, then just as you would there, organise a group potty break. A group toothbrushing and bedtime wee.

You need a bigger tent than people, vecause you will have stuff too. If your older kids are closer to teens than infants, you could get a 5 berth AND a 3 berth and let the older two have the smaller tent. In another year or two, the kids can all have the bigger tent and you and DH can sleep alone.

Get a pavilion (or whatever you call the the sideless tents here: picnic cover, sunshade, ramada, rain cover) the kind that just folds up on itself is great. Face the doors of the two tents into it. Between the tents and the oavilion, you have space for cooking, eating and playing, even if it rains.

And another thing...always have a practice run at putting the tent up. No matter how easily erectable they claim to be, you don't want to be in a cold field at twilight gazing in a mystified way at the instructions.

Worse: you dont want to be in a field at twilight and discover the fucking instrctions are missing.

You will need alcohol.

It rains. And rains. And rains.
It's cold
Some twit with a guitar playing late at night
Other twit with radio on. Loud.
Laughing (or worse) from tent. Even across the field
Kids up with the birds just as guitar man goes to bed.

And they charge a fee to let you do this.

I do 1 night and then need 3 to recover.

Also - what do you do about hair?! Mine is awful without dryer + straightners

Just cover it up. Keeps it clean and out if the way of grabby twigs, open flames, or stivky marshmallows on sticks. Use baseball hat or kerchief if you need a ponytail or braid t the back, if your hair is shorter, anything that makes you feel cute or warm & doesnt need removing to put up your rain hood.

Mehsmum - as it happens, it was a typo for Christmas tree fleece onesie.

Imagine a seven-foot red fleece dumpling (it has a pointed hood) with a five-foot Christmas tree appliqued to the front (inc glittery baubles).

Now here's the brain bleach.

If you want to go cheap Decathlon and Go Outdoors usually cover most things.

If you want quality (but actually generally affordable in most cases) then I'd really (really really really really) recommend www.alpkit.com

They do especially good sleeping mats and headtorches/torches.

They are generally more for your experienced camper but the sleeping mats and torches would do a beginner well for a good price. They are often out of stock, but this is for a reason and its worth being patient. Their customer service is brilliant and they are British and support British manufacturing. (What's not to love there ?!)

I'd also recommend these waterproof daysacks (they do a couple of slightly bigger sizes too). They really do keep things dry even in the worst weather because they don't have zips where the water often leaks. To seal them you roll up the top and then clip them which makes them great for travelling in general even in cities as pickpockets can't just pop their hand in whilst you have it on your back. They are £22.50 - £25 depending on the size you go for (they do 20 - 30L bags), so not terribly expensive and a suitable size for campers who aren't going to be hiking with tonnes of equipment. Oh and you can fold them up into your hand luggage if necessary.

Word of advice about tent and tent size. The bigger your tent, the more it takes to heat it. This is one reason why serious campers have little tents; its not just because they are lighter and easier to carry. So if you have a big family tent it will feel colder at night than a little dome tent. So its worth considering your sleeping bags/extra blanket with that in mind.

If you are wet and cold it makes any camping experience ten times worse (not to mention depending on where you go and what you do, potentially dangerous) so making sure you don't get wet and cold in the first place is the key bit. It sounds like stating the bleeding obvious but take a half decent, waterproof coat as the number of people who don't is staggering. Ditto, appropriate shoes even if you are on a 'nice sheltered' camp site.

The three camping essentials are gaffer tape, string and extra bin bags as they can usually be used to solve most camping disasters one way or another. That and money and direction to the nearest pub and B&B!

P.S. There are few words to describe how much I hate camping!!!!

It's hideous.

One of us ALWAYS gets a D & V bug. Without fail. And someone pukes in the sleeping back at 3am.

Awful.

*bag

Sorry if I'm repeating...

We've found this campsite website www.ukcampsite.co.uk useful for reviews. Definitely stay somewhere with good reviews for the toilets/showers

Get a good quality cool box and you can also fill it with ice to keep it cool (and you can use the ice with drinks). Sites that will freeze freezer packs is also good. I make chilli and freeze it, its then easy to reheat (mix with a microwave packet of rice) to make a really quick meal, plus keeps milk cool on the way there. We also bought a small travel BBQ and then cooked evening meals on that. Don't be afraid to eat out, have pastries for breakfast etc, all things that make the week easier, it is a holiday after all.

A camping kitchen is good for keeping food away from critters and ours has a little top to it where you can chop/prep food. Take a washing up bowl and ideally a folding drainer to stack it when using the washing up station.

Flip flops or crocs are essential wear for getting to/from the bathroom and also to wear in the shower. Take a plastic bag (like a beach bag) to hang on the back of the shower door to keep your clean clothes/towel/shampoo in etc. There might only be one hook to put everything on and you don't want your PJs to end up wet on the floor.

Find out where to buy fuel for your stove from. Can you get it anywhere or just one shop? Make sure you take enough or know where to get it from. We use a methylated spirit stove as you can buy meths from any hardware store.

Take pegs, you can then peg your tea towel on the guy ropes to dry, especially if it's windy.

You don't really need carpet but definitely take a cheap rug (i.e. a rag rug) for each door way. It will stop wet tracks/dirt getting on the groundsheet and if it is a bit wet/windy, any rain won't get far under the door.

Evenings can get cold, even in the summer. Plenty of layers and a nice warm jumper. We ended up buying windproof jackets on our first camping trip!

Have a brilliant time

I am pissing myself laughing at noisy herons every 4 hours (sorry that was to person on page 1, and don't camp with a dog...

We (as kids with parents) camped for years in Pett Level with a dog (labrador) and campervan and tent. Before then it was a tent and Cornwall in the rain. Fond memories of my step-dad outside campsite in Normandy with lashing rain for days on end and having to dig trenches outside to drain the rain. Parents when off ferry stayed i think near Army base (layby) as couldn't find campsite, were woken by sounds of screams like someone being stabbed to death said my mum.

I last camped somewhere in Oxfordshire near White Horse, they let us have fires but the people who owned the campsite were as miserable as hell. They did do cream teas, pancakes and cooked breakfasts. Worst pub lunch ever (avocado and bacon sarnies with barely cooked, fatty bacon). I slept fine in the open air my 2 friends hated it and will never camp again.

You do need warmth, sleeping bags, camping chairs and also access to eg pub/village - the curry restaurant nearby was a lifesaver. Also practice lighting fires, it took us bloody ages.

Campsite showers on the whole (where we were) were awful. I'd forget about straighteners and just use dry shampoo. You need wet wipes/deodorant too though. Change of clothes essential. and lots of food with energy - energy bars, sugar etc and flasks. You will need them!

oh and earplugs and eye mask block out noise and light. Though I slept like a log in the fresh air.

Disposable BBQ perfect. Cool box and ice blocks essential. And if no-one has said this again - as newbies I would advise not to go to middle of nowhere with a million mile drive from civilisation - you need to be near quite near market town or whatever preferably with supermarket (that sells fleeces etc) and decent pubs. You would not believe what you forget, how cold you get and how grateful you are for a pub. Yes, yes to alcohol and sachets of hot choc/latte drinks etc...

Also we did brave the chemical toilets (there were normal ones a bit of a hike near the farmhouse) but no one liked them much. You can buy your own chemical toilet if hedgerows don't appeal.

You'll definitely need more than a 2 season sleeping bag. I made a huge, elementary error last August was tempted by a new, bargainous sleeping bag. I failed to take account of the 2 season label. In the middle of the night (camping in the South East in theoretically "warm" weather) I seriously considered sleeping in the car. Or even driving home...

I use my trusty old warm sleeping bag. With a single duvet over it. With a fleece blanket over that. With a blanket under the airbed! That way I stay warm and in the unlikely event of getting too warm, can discard the layers. Truly there's nowt so cold as a summer night in a tent in the UK.

Always buy everything bigger and warmer than you think you'll need. Although do be mindful that the bigger the tent, the colder it is. Friends of mine nearly froze themselves senseless in a bell tent during May Bank Holiday weekend last year. Everything looked glampingly lovely. However, they had to have heaters delivered in the end!!

*And another thing...always have a practice run at putting the tent up. No matter how easily erectable they claim to be, you don't want to be in a cold field at twilight gazing in a mystified way at the instructions.

Worse: you dont want to be in a field at twilight and discover the fucking instrctions are missing.*

Also double check if you're using tent pegs etc that they are all there... we had nightmares last time as weren't sure if all were there and I swear my stepdad lost some tent pegs one time and not sure what we did if we bought new or had to buy new tent. thank heavens we had the campervan then.

Oh no! We've headed in a completely different direction again

Please can someone remind me of the good stuff again??!

And poles....Never keep your poles separately! I have neat little telescoping bendy ones which I am positively fearsome about keeping in the tent bag. Only you can buy replacement tent pegs or even improvise. You are stuffed without poles.

OP - there is good stuff but for first timers I'd recommend South of France for very good reason!

Summerisle maybe it was poles that my stepdad lost... I think it was at some point after the French holiday that my parents finally gave up on camping! Sorry OP!