Please tell me how amazing camping is..

[FlippertyJibbit]

Ok, I am a holiday snob. This year, DH is desperate to go camping, I want to get a caravan in the IOW but I'm thinking of compromising and going camping on the IOW.

Please can you explain camping to me in the most simple way possible. I have never been in my 27 years of life and it really hasn't interested me but DH is so excited for it, I want to really get into it too..

I think it's just the no personal bathroom thing, I'm not saying camping is dirty or anything like that at all, I'm just not the outdoorsy type and have never seen the appeal of it.. Please change my mind!!? And whilst you're at it, could you give any recommendations of campsites on the IOW please?

Lots of campsites these days have very clean toilets, the one we like even has underfloor heating. A good place to look is Ukcampsite. The reviews are from campers and are usually pretty honest.

I love the freedom and the fact that the children are more or less free range. If you are going for the first time though, I'd try to borrow some equipment and go closer to home for a weekend.

How about getting electric hookup? Would that help?

There really is nothing to beat cooking and eating your breakfast outdoors on a fresh day, with the DCs running around and exploring. We like Whitefield Forest campsite on the IOW.

Breakfast on site and days out then eat out in the evening. Showers and clean toilets on site.

I was like you, OP, but never camped until I was 36! I always thought 'I go on holiday to be somewhere nicer /more luxurious than at home - why would I want to slum it in a tent?!' I really really love it now though. Dh persuaded me to go when dd was 2 (8 yrs ago) and we've been loads since.

I think what I never realised before I went was that camping is not just accommodation. It is an activity in its own right. And with the right tent, equipment and campsite (and weather ) it is wonderful. I love love love our tent. And we choose quiet, civilised campsites with nice bathroom facilities and no ghastly 'entertainments'.

Don't go except in the summer though, unless you don't feel the cold! We went in Devon one Easter. Jesus - never again! There was frost on the ground in the mornings!

Definitely start small equipment wise and borrow if you can as already suggested. EBay and gumtree are full of equipment from people who bought all the gear and hated it.

Good idea to pick a warm weekend.for your first go if you can, an aim of just stay two nights. You can pretty much put up with anything for that long. Maybe choose somewhere with a pub very close so you have somewhere to relax in the evening if the tent doesn't appeal. Or choose a site that allow fires. Nothing nicer than having a glass of wine staring into the flames.

And don't aim to cook every meal. Just take a cheap stove and pot or kettle and a couple of.mugs to make some tea and go out for breakfast and dinner. Lots of time ahead to get into camp cooking.

Have a wonderful time. It is very addictive. We have just spent a week in France with friends over Easter and had a fantastic time. Our DD and their two children have been camping since babyhood and love it. The freedom we can give them on a campsite is hard to do at home or even on other holidays. They love the independence and we get time to relax too.

I went camping as a child and have wonderful memories of it. When I was 8 ish we moved on to holidays abroad which I LOVED!!!

We have not really been able to afford a holiday abroad every year since having children so we started with a static caravan holiday in Tenby. The following year we went to Ibiza. The following year caravan again...I do LOVE LOVE LOVE holidays abroad but when hubby lost job, we were faced with having no holiday whatsoever unless we tried camping (my hubby got new much lower paid job). We borrowed the kit the first time. Luckily my brother had it all.

We were lucky that the first weekend we tried was a hot one and we fell in love with camping! It forces you to slow down. Life is so fast paced all the time that the first time I went, it took me a while to get used to the nothingness!!! I was saying "shall we go to the beach at 4? What will we have for tea? blah blah blah.." By the second day, I just chilled and realised it was the first time in a LOOONG time I had just chilled.

I sat with a book, watched the children play on the field, had conversations with other campers etc.

We have been a few times now and are planning a lot of trips this year. Abersoch is lovely as on a sunny day, being on the beach there is like being abroad. We stayed in a site down the road from there in Llanbedrog.

The hardest thing to get used to is the lack of privacy in terms of toilet habits!!! I still try to go (2 ha ha) when I think it will be least busy.

I am not outdoorsy. I love the sun and yes, if faced with the choice of a camping trip or a week in Greece I would go for the week in Greece...but I would go camping as well. The children LOVE it. Mine are now 6 and 3 but I went the first time when they were 1 1/2 and nearly 4.

You can make it as busy or quiet as you like. North Wales is beautiful. The sad thing is that I actually live in North Wales (just) and had no idea about its beauty until I started camping.

You just have to throw yourself into it. Don't see putting up the tent as a hassle, treat it as part of the fun. Open a beer while you do it. I love spending time when the tent is up, putting down the rug and making the bedrooms cosy.

Maybe go with friends who already camp for a weekend first somewhere within 1 1/2 - 2 hour drive to test the waters.

I now love camping. I love the smell of a tent (strange I know)...it just reminds me of Summer.

Also, final word, don't try to 'compete' to be a 'proper camper'. We had a stove etc. but didn't cook camping food every night. One night we went for a pub dinner, another night we got fish n chips, we went to morrisons and got a salad and have just bought a plug in tepenyaki grill (best buy ever) from amazon for £20. Gorgeous healthily cooked food and really easy to clean.

Let us know what you decide! x

Yes, I agree with newcamper, it forces you to slow down. You have to go back to basics - everything takes a lot longer to do, but that's the beauty of it.

If it's dry and not too cold it's wonderful; not so sure about when it's peeing down relentlessly, it can get a bit grim.