Is this madness?

[andyindurham]

OK, we have one child, 3yo. Suddenly she's obsessed with the idea of camping, and thinks we should all go on a camping holiday. I've spent one night under canvas (drunk, at a music festival), my wife has never set foot in a tent.

Part of me thinks it can't be that hard to get a tent, find a site near us and let the little monkey try it. Most of me thinks this is a bloody stupid idea and we should stick to renting a cottage and self-catering as usual.

Any advice?

Go for it. I’d choose campsite with nice toilet block less than an hours drive in case of entrench need to go home! Or clamp first in a pod.

Emergency and glamp!

Go glamping, that’s what we did when our kids wanted to camp!

I'm already pretty clear that we won't be going far. Luckily we've got the Northumberland national park, North York Moors and the Dales all within 60-90 mins drive, so plenty of choices.

Hadn't really considered glamping. Not sure how it would fit with our budget, to be honest. Will try a spot of Googling and see what comes up.

There’s a glamping place in Northumberland that often does good deals on Groupon.

If you can borrow a tent and have a garden, you could try spending the night camping in the garden. Would save the expense of getting lots of equipment and then realising you hate it! Although we often went camping with our dc, they still enjoyed camping in the garden.

Do a trial run in the back garden...

I’d choose campsite with nice toilet block less than an hours drive

I'd choose one with a toilet block less than a 5 minute walk...

We did the back garden then bought a caravan for £100! went away in all weathers kids loved it and still talk about it.
Get her a head torch.
Wellys and good water proofs
She will love it
After the back garden try Glamping. Have you tried cooking outside with her?
Its good you are not just dismissing it.

Get some friends involved. It's great if you can go away with a group with similar aged kids. The kids can play together and you can take it in turns to keep an eye on them, share cooking duties and washing up, etc. My youngest has been camping every year since he was 6 months old. We still go on an end of term camp every year with a huge bunch of people but sadly, the days are numbered now though as the kids are growing into teenagers. I would go local and just for a couple of nights to start of with.

Definitely try it in the garden first.

Then go to sites with nice loos, showers etc. And fridges, gas ovens....ok maybe not but you get my drift!

Oh and don’t go for another 4/5 months (if in uk)!

Are you otherwise outdoorsy?

Go for it. Don’t bother with garden trial run. It’d be too tempting to sneak back indoors. Go for two nights as the second night is always better and you have a full day in between the nights. Otherwise with one night you spend a lot of time putting up and taking down tent. And take absolutely fuck loads of bedding so there’s no chance of getting cold. Go somewhere you can get a fire pit and take marshmallows. It’s so much fun (and exhausting) your kid will love it.

And if you can go with a group with other kids, even better.

I'm told that it's all a bit easier these days with inflatable tents and those giant inflatable beds that keep you well away from the cold floor, so go for it if you fancy it...... Glamping on a farm with free range animals and a nightly campfire hit the spot for us though

Thanks for the feedback. We're reasonably outdoorsy - walks in the forests, trips to waterfalls etc - but I grew up in a town and tend to return there in the evenings.

I've found quite a few decent-looking glamping options up here, so that's on the radar. Might take a trip to the shops and price up some camping gear to get an idea of what we'd be letting ourselves in for, then see what we can do. Then frogmarch the little darling all the way along Hadrian's Wall or something until she begs for mercy

This was me 2 years ago! How far away is Helmsley and Leyburn from you? If not far and doable check out

Canadian fields Helmsley for small and family friendly, shop, play area and amazing bell tent restaurant on site. The restaurant even does take outs.

Akebar park in Leyburn is a bit bigger but the park and pub are AMAZING! And it has a stream running through it with fantastic facilities.

I don't even like camping and I hate everywhere but these 2 I can do and actually enjoy. We have a tent btw.

This is a really good site for all things to do with camping: www.ukcampsite.co.uk/

Maybe you could borrow a tent for your first outing and then if you really like it, do some research before the big purchase... if you plan to go away for longer than a weekend, you might need a bigger tent and better equipment. Aldi do cheap camping stuff nearer the summertime and some stuff can be picked up in secondhand shops. I prefer self-inflating mats to air beds. A suitcase gas canister cooking hob thing is useful. You should be able to find a list of essentials on line, here, or on that website I posted.

We took our from few weeks old. But if you don't have any camping gear you should probably try glamping.
Canopy and stars are good but quite pricey

www.canopyandstars.co.uk/

Not tried them but ready camp seem cheaper and
look good.
https://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/Readycamp/locations/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzrKAsIyZ5wIVDLTtCh1WzwRXEAAYASAAEgKZ7DD_BwE

As others have said, don’t spend money until you need to and don’t attempt a first night out until May or June. The garden first is a great idea as you have home comforts to hand if needed, and glamping is a good shout too, as the outlay can be really expensive, it’s not just a cheap tent you need, but airbeds/ rollmats, decent sleeping bags, potentially cooking equipment, gas and utensils, torches, and waterproofs. You also need to plan who is getting up to do the middle of the night walks to the toilet block (especially if it’s raining). Sayin* all that we have camped and caravanned with the kids for 20 years now, and we all love it! Good luck!

Look on eBay for camping stuff. There are lots of people having brought everything then camped a few time’s and decided it’s not for them.

We bought a second hand tent for £30 from a neighbour and sent camping with friends who were experienced campers first, so they had a lot of the gear. The kids loved it so we're looking to upgrade our tent for this year, but I definitely think going in a group made it more fun and as pp said it was a division of labour.

Ask around friends and family if you can borrow a tent, and do an overnight in the garden first. 3yos are notoriously fickle, and will suddenly decide at two in the morning that they NEED TO BE IN MINE OWN BED NOW and scream the campsite down.
Not that that has ever happened to me, oh no.
I didn't have to strike camp and pack the car at three in the morning after an hour of screaming and grumbling from other tents, definitely not...

I'm going to start camping with DD from next summer (when she'll be just turning 4). I'm a single parent so am waiting until DD can actually help meaningfully with setting up camp and can be trusted a bit more not to wander off!

I grew up camping for holidays and I think it's just a brilliant thing to do for kids!