New to camping advice

[Icantbelieve]

Family of 4 plus dog. 5 year old and 3 year old.
All tips welcome. Never camped before don’t know where to start.

Also advice on destinations. We are in Yorkshire

Just to give some direction to the advice - What equipment do you have so far? When in the year were you thinking of going? Are you looking UK only or would you consider pet-passport areas overseas?

Get an electric pitch !

Make sure tent is fully waterproof and doesn't leak rain in, have lots of warm clothing when the temperature drops at night, have back up food in case gas cooker doesn't work, depending on where you are camping take an old Nokia that can be kept on for days without charging in case of emergency. Take lots of comfy things to sleep on and keep any flames away from the tent at all times. Oh and remember where the ropes are for the tent so you don’t trip over them at night

Hot water bottle.

Off the ground camp beds not air mattresses.

Flip flops/crocs to wear to/from showers

Don’t go to far from home just in case you have a rubbish time or even if you have a good time but are all exhausted! Two hours drive is plenty when you want a nice bed and decent shower
Cook as little as possible - pub or fish and chips for tea. And have something you can feed them first thing like brioche or similar that gives you time to wake up and make a brew
Take some outdoor toys like ball, bean bags etc and bikes

If you don't have a Nokia phone then take an adaptor so you can charge from your car cigarette lighter (or maybe your car is newer than mine and has a usb socket). I always take an Anker power bank - the bigger ones last 4-5 days and can charge two phones/ipads at once. Though it is of course better to avoid screens when camping.

If you have kids then it can be fun to have a camp fire (roast marshmallows, etc). Some campsites allow this and some don't, so look out for one that does if you want one.

We seem to end up going to the supermarket every day when camping (haven't have a gas powered refrigerator), so worth looking for a site not tooo far away from shops.

If you get sick of camp/bbq food then there's always the pub for lunch/dinner or supermarket/wetherspoons for a cheap brekkie.

Wind brakes are good not just against the wind but for fencing in an area around the tents so the kids don’t escape. Parasol incase the sun is out is also a good idea. Deckchairs are a for send to.spare car battery if there is space to run electric things and not worry about killing your car battery.

Camp beds are ok but can let cold air under you so you will feel cold air beds anyday

Start by going somewhere where you can hire a ready pitched tent.

Practice putting up your tent and taking it down more than once before you go. And then practice it again.

Those plastic backed picnic blankets under your SIMs (self inflating mattresses).

Solar powered fairy lights inside so when you need the loo at night, you don't have to put a light on inside the tent.

Good storage for clothes, food and everything else. It's rubbish living out of plastic bags.

Get electric book up, kettle, tea/ coffee for the morning! Lifesaver
I also keep a plug in cool bag (car) for the first day with foods like cheese, bread, fruit, butter to have a quick & easy meal for the kids.

Blow up beds, battery or car operated inflator thing and Get a porta loo ... getting up in the night with kids, and they will wake separately, is not fun. Camping is great fun however. Might be because I take wine.....

PS: think carefully where you want the dog to sleep... Dogs and fairness don't mix well!!
(Mine usually sleep in the crate which is in the back of the car... window down for plenty of air.)

... should read "dogs and air beds" !

My advice is dont....

Air beds are fine but can be cold underneath so we have a sleeping bag we open up and sleep on top of, then we have our duvet on top. We had a couple of months around france and Spain then a couple of months going round Australia. Brilliant time. Hope you have as much fun as we did.

Upgrade to a caravan.

Icantbelieve I was only joking. I camped a lot as a student and when my eldest was younger and we camped abroad too , not doing it again though, have three more kids and cant do it now. My advice is get a carpet for the inner part of the tent that can be shaken out to try and keep some of the floor area clean. Table, chairs, get a couple of camping lights that can hang from the tent. comfy beds for the adults (kids don't tend to care), Little fairy lights as its quite nice in the evening. Camping stove, camping plates, bowls, cutlery and remember a basin for the dishes. Take something you can hang towels on to keep them dry. As for your dog you will need to keep him on the lead, campsites don't allow them wandering around off lead. So take something you can tie him up to or take his crate. Plenty of games for the DC , Frisbees, ball, take there scooters ...its hard work...so wine glasses are a must

Thanks. So far I have a sleeping bag! So haven’t got far with the idea. I like the idea of starting with a ready pitched tent

Look up Ready Camp

There's nothing worse than being cold and/or wet when camping. I always take one more change of clothes than I think I will need, and have got a warm onesie. Woolly hats are great if you feel chilly in the night, but I sleep on a camp bed with a roll mat on, then a blanket, then a sleeping bag, then another blanket or two on that. I will add that I do camp in fairly extreme weather though!

One rule I do have is no shoes in the tent - I have either crocs or slippers to change into - so you don't get all your kit muddy and wet.

Another rule is don't let any of your stuff touch the side of the tent. This will prevent water coming in.

Look for a tent with an HH of at least 5000mm. Also one that isn't single skin as condensation is a bugger.
Air mattresses can be cold unless you put a reflective sheet under them or, better yet, get the Vango Comfort mattresses as they are foam filled and self-inflating.

Loads of good tips above.

Also, don't take suitcases or holdalls - the blue IKEA-type bags are much easier to pack and squash - one for each person with clothes, a towel and wash bag etc.

Look out for bundles of camping stuff on FaceBook groups and eBay, people often get rid of kit for next to nothing.

The plastic/foil backed picnic blankets make food carpets in sleeping areas and give you an extra layer of insulation.

If you are going somewhere with electric hook up (EHU) take a kettle. I'm a much nicer person once I've had my coffee.

And yes, have a trial run - 2 nights no further than an hour or two away from home.

And if you like it, make a list of all the things you took and needed. You can keep adding to it but means you'll always have a 'master list' for packing.

Prepare to discover camping kit that you never knew you needed!

Blue ikea bags, I each, for everyone's clothes etc.

Plastic/foil backed picnic rug for sleeping area to reduce heat loss into the cold ground.

Wooly hats for sleeping in (seriously!) to keep heat loss at a minimum.

Put on an extra layer after dinner, BEFORE it gets cool. I tend to put on a thermal layer under my "daytime clothes" to sit around relaxing, and then when I change and put pjs over the thermals later on, I am not letting cold air get onto my skin just when I want to be cosy for sleep.

Carpet for living space is really a great idea - but until you know if you want to camp, get a mat like you'd use at your front door (a rug one, not a scratchy coir one) or an empty cardboard box you bring your food in flattened out - to make a mat at the entrance to the tent. All boots etc get changed as you walk in, and crocs/flip flops for indoor use.

Bring cards to play with if it rains and you are confined to the tent. (Try and find somewhere that has a tv or games room, and/or local entertainment options like cinema or even nice coffee shop for juice and a bun, in case of bad weather).

Fill a kettle with hot water when you go to bed - either an immediate brew or faster to heat the water for the brew in the morning makes a big difference! If you are cooking on open fire, always use spare time when not cooking to boil kettle for washup water/flask/hot water bottle in bed etc purposes. And boil water for cooking rice/pasta/potatoes etc in the kettle first as it really does heat up faster and saves your gas.

Lots of camping kit doesn't need to be specialized camping kit. I have an Ikea plastic tub that holds my "kitchen" (for camping and self-catering cottages combined - I need firelighters more when camping and dishwasher tablets more when renting a cottage!). It has some proper camping gear, but regular wooden spoon, set of Ikea plastic cooking cutlery (very cheap but handy for non-stick camping pots - spatula, whisk, slotted spoon, tongs), tin opener, corkscrew, silicon oven-mitts, Ikea kids plastic plates (big lip so great for sloppy dinners for all) and glasses etc. And then camping sporks, pots, pan, kettle, "Granpa's fire fork" etc.

Head torch each, and a few hand held torches, as well as a lantern for the tent. And spare batteries. (At night, I turn 1 headtorch to shine through our 10l water barrel to make a low but sufficiently bright lantern as a camping hack I'd seen somewhere).