What are the camping luxuries or essentials that make all the difference?

[mamapolenta]

DP has always been anti-camping. He's not the greatest of sleepers and has had a few bad experiences in the past. He does, however, love the thought of a future of cheap holidays and is a very outdoorsy person. I think he wants to love camping but I just need to find the key things that will tip it into a good/great holiday rather than a get-me-out-of-here one. My only experience with camping is festivals but for me a tent with lots of space that I can stand up in is the most important thing. Second is choosing the right campsite (which can be a whole other thread).
What are your recommendations or tips? We will be going with two boys (6&4) and we are essentially starting from scratch with gear!

Thank you RedBarrows, that's really useful advice. I hadn't thought about what campsites with EHU would mean for noise and space etc.

I'm going to go against the grain on sleeping bags!
Duvets are fine and indeed lovely if you are camping somewhere warm eg south of France. In this country they let in the cold too much, sleeping bags are more efficient at keeping you warm. It was cold last weekend!
Think about nighttime temperatures before you decide which to take. We use both, depending on where we're camping.
Fridge is essential if you're somewhere warm or for longer than 2 nights, it gives you so many more options for food...and chilled wine!

Our luxury is the largest possible table at which to eat: measure your boot to work out what size would fit. Get a thickish tabletop that size and 'screw in' legs Ika do great ones which can easily be assembled.

Oh, and wine. 😀

I'd start with glamping. A yurt, proper double bed and a pizza oven then gradually get more into camping. Saves you buying most of the stuff too.

I like the outdoors but the instagrammable glam kids in a wheelbarrow pizza oven version. Not the rough it in the rain kind.

We go camping on our bikes so literally can only take a tiny tent, mat and sleeping bag.

But my top top is a beanie hat for night. Keeps your head warm and you can pull it over your eyes when it gets light.

OP planning for and then purchasing camping stuff is lovely, until you come to pack it...

You can buy all the best products in the world to make your camping trip a wonderful experience but if they won’t fit in the goddamned boot and you have to replay camping shite Tetris four times before you set off then it’s NOT worth it. Stuff also gets bigger and more voluminous somehow when you have to pack it up to come home.

By far the most important things when starting out are buying a tent that won’t leak or break in shitehouse British weather, and buying decent sleeping equipment so you are warm and comfortable at night. If you are wet, cold and tired then camping is quite frankly fucking awful and no amount of lovely stuff will improve the experience.

We threw money at a great tent and the best quality SIMS and sleeping bags we could afford and have not regretted those purchases once.

Thank you all. We're going to local tent supplier today for a look. I'll probably be back later full of indecision and asking for recommendations!

Enjoy your look around tents.
Look for:
Sewn in groundsheet, good ventilation to prevent condensation (vents with a little prop held in place by Velcro are good).
If the tent has a sloping front door a little canopy over it or over a side door is good as it stops rain
getting in when you open the door.

Do you like the colour, from the outside and to sit in?

Black out inserts are good if you have young children and a tent you can stand and walk around in is essential I think.

We’re pretty rustic campers and prefer wilder site with no EHU. Our essentials are
Good sleeping bag (Warmer than a duvet) we have the vango aurora which has a brushed cotton inside so is v snuggly

We’ve recently gone back to airbeds from SIMS take up far less space and for us comfier

Proper pillow

Good coolbox (iceytek)

Little gas hob for kettle / pasta

Cobb (like a cooker that runs on charcoal - v versatile but a learning curve to master)

We have a bell tent (v quick and easy to pitch 10 mins max) and it has a wood burner which is nice but a bit of a novelty thing and not great if your kids are little)

Good lights (solar / wind up good Incase your batteries get flat)

I find packing the car the most stressful bit. We could really use a roof box

Robust tent. Extra poles or repair kit for air tents.

SIMs - 10cm. We have Thermarest.

https://www.facewest.co.uk/Thermarest-Camp-Comfort.html?BrandFilter=

Double sleeping bags. We use Coleman brushed cotton. Brushed cotton sheet on SIM.

Tent carpet. Makes such a cosy difference.

Iceytek cool box (prepped for 48 hours beforehand). Lasts 7/8 days with ice pack rotation.

Stove with grill and a 'kitchen' table/larder.

Camping chairs. Table to eat from.

Campfire.

Lovely Gin 😄

Thanks everyone. More to add to my list! One question: are inflatable tents that much better than poles? We really have a pole budget and were looking at a Coleman oak canyon for the blackout bedrooms but Aldi have got a very good value inflatable Outdoor Revolution in their special buys this week. It's a bit smaller than the Coleman but maybe I can get an extension for it... any thoughts?

Also is there such a thing as blackout bedrooms sold on their own??

@ScribblyGum can you tell me which sims you have please? Have to spend quite a bit. I'm after the very best after suffering too many cold nights on airbeds. Thanks!

Nothing wrong with poles. Practise putting it up in the garden first. If it’s cheap the poles can be weaker, then avoid going when gales are forecast and pitch sensibly, eg with protection from prevailing wind. That could be down wind of your car

Always size up on tent. If there's 4 of you, get at least a 5 man. Even outwell admit in their website that 4 man tents are not really meant for 4 people living in, they merely have enough room for 4 to lie down.

Inflatable tent - makes the putting up and taking down infinitely easier. It's what we're upgrading to shortly after tent envy in our last few holidays.

Tent with enough area to sit inside with a table for games etc when weather is poor. And a covered porch area for taking shoes off etc.

Black out sleeping areas.

Electric hook up plus plug in cool box and kettle (and toaster if that's what you like of a morning). If you get really chilly you might even want to consider a small fan heater.

Good lighting. Lots of the LEDs are bright white and harsh. Look for warm white. You even get some that you can change the tone.

Decent camp cupboard/kitchen to store all your plates, cups etc.

Deep inflatable mattresses and good sleeping bags (or duvets plus pillows and sheets). I always put a sheet on even if using sleeping bags. Keeps chill and condensation at bay.

Don't underestimate the space it all takes to pack in your car. We have a massive estate car but still need a roofbox. We're looking to upgrade to a covered trailer.

Oh and travel towels. The quickdry kind that pack small. Nothing worse than wet heavy towels hanging everywhere.

Tents with poles are great but harder to put up and take down (a bastard if it's raining). We've found with two kids my DH ends up doing most of the erecting so that's why we're trading up to inflatable. I wouldn't buy a cheap inflatable though as performance is key.

If you're getting an 8 man tent, be extra careful with having enough layers to be warm at night.

Those bastards get cold.

We have amazing airbeds, they are the same size as normal double beds and don't go down.
I would also never go camping without electric hook-up.

Oh and if you get a camp kitchen and intend to do any cooking make sure you get a fire extinguisher. And ensure the kitchen is one with a metal guard at the back to minimise splashes on to your tent. My BIL and SIL's tent is sadly v greasy now as there's doesn't have a guard.

The biggest tent you can afford.
Electric hookup for kettle, cool box and small fan heater.
Decent bathrooms.
A doormat

Tent size is personal and some people ( me anyway) prefer smaller. Height so I can sit in a chair, not stand for example. Easier to put up , less space in the boot and there is a sense of satisfaction at the simplicity, and I get calm from lack of stuff. I may be weird . It even worked when kids were small and it rained.

Our biggest luxury is booking two pitches next to each other, us on one and our teens on another in their own tents, they were asked if they wanted to share but wanted separate tents, dd had a 4 man and ds had the 3.

Dh wanted a fridge which was great, then he decided to get a freezer as well. Was worried about running so much off our ehu so the freezer lives in dd's tent.

When ds decided he didn't want to camp anymore we upgraded dd to polycotton to keep her happy. Had a polycotton already for dh and me so knew how good it was, so she now has an Outwell Troutlake 4 with a front extension, got it off ebay for a very good price, its a very cute tent.

Carpets make a huge difference, I like the older Outwell ones with the thick pvc backing the newer ones seem flimsy to me.

Mandatory fairy lights on my front canopy but dd banned me from having them on the flashing setting

Warm boots and socks - there is nothing so nice as fur/fleece lined slippers and merino wool socks.

A really warm hoodie for evenings sitting outside. Doesn't matter how warm it is at some point a warm hoodie becomes vital.

I have a few hot water bottles kept in the camper van - very handy for cold nights.

A portable toilet! So much better than having to walk through the campsite to the toilet in the middle of the night.