Calling folding camper/trailer tent owners

[SkankingMopoke]

After many many years of camping in a tent, we bought a folding camper in the Autumn. We managed one weekend away before it got too cold to check everything was in working order. We have picked up a few extra items off the back of the trip that we noticed we needed (eg throws to protect the seating from sticky little hands, and a wardrobe to put in the awning) and little luxuries we always wanted but never had space in the car for when tenting it, such as wine glasses. We've also bought doubles of a few favourite games like Uno to keep in there permanently and save on the pre-trip packing. If you used to camp in a tent but have now upgraded to a trailer tent, what additional 'nice to haves'/necessities did you get for it?

We have a folding camper. We usually go EHU so have a fan heater, toaster, electric kettle and Ikea lamp. Proper pillows. Can't think of anything else. Enjoy!

We got little camping pods to go under the fold out bits, so the children could have their own bedrooms. Pop a camping mattress in there and a clip on reading light/power pack for phones and the jobs a good 'un.

Thank you both!
A proper kettle would be a really good shout. We have a stove kettle, but electric would be much quicker (and we wouldn't have to use our gas ). I'm not sure DH would be willing to get a toaster sadly, as we have a grill already plus there is precious little worktop space. I agree with proper pillows. We have been taking the duvet and pillows off our bed for camping for a few years now and it makes all the difference. So much warmer and more comfy! It comes with a built in fan heater, which was a very welcome addition in October! It felt like the height on luxury turning it on when it got cold in the night, rather than pulling over yet another blanket.

We will definitely be getting a pod each side under the fold out sections for DCs once they are a little older. They are 5 and 7yo ATM, and doubt they would be happy in one for a couple of years yet. The bed they have inside the trailer currently can also be a sofa, but I CBA to keep swapping it about each morning/evening. Eventually it would be nice to evict the DCs to the pods and have it permanently in sofa mode. Do you find your DCs are happy/comfy under there? I wonder if the pods might feel a bit cave-like, and DCs will moan about having accommodation they have to crawl into (not that it would stop us housing them in there )

My kid absolutely loved the camping pods, they were like their own little individual dens. They enjoyed the privacy and the cosiness - and the comfort of knowing Mum and Dad were 'upstairs' in case of emergencies. This was before tablets were popular, so they each had a portable DVD player so they could watch films in bed (hence the need for rechargeable powerpacks!)

My db and siI have a folding camper, my favourite thing about it is the big inflatable corner sofa they have in the awning.

i bought a folding camper last year - a 2001 Conway Countryman that I can tow and put up by myself (if I don't use an awning or sun canopy!). Only managed one night away last year when partner was going through massive mental breakdown so we only had a very disturbed night in it before having to head home. This year I've already booked a campsite for 9 days in June and am really excited . My youngest two have asked if they can come too - they are 23 and 21 and have fond memories of their years when our summer holidays were two weeks in the folding camper albeit a bigger and posher version of mine.

Along with nice wine glasses I would add comfy chairs and blankets so you can sit in the awning/outside once the kids are in bed and read by torchlight or just sit and watch the stars. Be careful about the weight of stuff as its far too easy to load these campers and accidentally massively exceed the towing weight for your car.

My daughter would add 'fairy lights for the awning' to a list of essentials although its not anything I've ever done before

We take our mattress topper and down super king duvet and it is blissful. An electric kettle makes a big difference to making a morning or late evening cuppa (or hot water bottle).
I'd be tempted to take my heated throw now I have one for the evening so I can keep cosy in my big moon chair that I like to snuggle down in

We have one but I’m struggling to think of anything to suggest. We don’t use an electric hook-up so a portable solar panel keeps the battery charged. Awning fairy lights add a bit of atmosphere and I have plans install them inside the camper too.

We keep lots of extras in ours, and it really saves having to pack from the beginning each time. The only bits we don't really keep are 'soft' things like bedding and clothes so it's only that to fit in the car.

We mainly use EHU, so have an induction hob, tefal ingenious pans, small kettle and toaster. We have 3 clip on type lights from ikea which are small to pack in the lockers.

If you have a front storage box you can keep gas bottles, a loo, cricket stumps etc. We keep chairs, tables, the kitchen stuff in the main part. We do also sometimes camp non-EHU so have a gas stove, suitable kettle and solar panels (we keep the solar panels at home).

I also try to keep things like washing up liquid, washing powder, pegs etc and like you a few games, a folder with paper in, pens. We also have an umbrella, hammocks, fleece blankets, hot water bottles, sunshade, firefighting stuff. Basically it's pretty much like a second home for us. Whenever we set it up for the first time, it's so lovely seeing our camping bits again!

A fire extinguisher would be a really good addition, thank you. Following that train of thought, I will also make up a little first aid kit to keep in there permanently too. We definitely need to assess the lighting situation. The camper itself has enough lights, but we do need something for the awning on the occasions we are treated to EHU. Ideally good enough to read by. I have some solar fairy lights, but they are a PITA to thread around frames unless it is for a longer break.

The front box is already fairly full! We have 2 gas bottles (one on the go and a spare), plus mallet and spare pegs, winder for the feet, and a variety of other bits and bobs like Duck tape and bearers for the feet if the ground is squishy.

We have transferred all the stuff such as pegs, table/cookware, and fleece blankets we had from camping into it, so all good on that front. It also has a toilet on board, so that is covered (no more trekking through wet grass at 6am to take a DC for a wee!). We have pretty good camping chairs already, but keep them in the loft rather than the trailer as they come out for BBQs etc over the summer. They will get slung in the car.

Does anyone have a clothes dryer, or is that a mad idea? In the past we've pegged smaller items to the tent's guy lines and put towels over the car to dry, but are now guy line-free. Where do you dry your tea towels?

Our new outdoor rug arrived today, which I'm really pleased with. It will go on one side of the awning where the wardrobe will be, so I can be lazy and walk to it without need to to put shoes on every time. We often camp on some pretty basic sites with longish grass, so as much as I love wandering around barefoot I really don't want to slice my feet on hidden nasties (and there will be no shoes worn in the camper).

I am toying with getting one of the universal underbed pods: only £25 on ebay. We could used it as a play den for now and hope it makes the DCs warm to the idea of sleeping down there. We have a Pennine Fiesta; does anyone know if they are compatible?

I am also going to add a pencil case and a couple of colouring/puzzle books to the games drawer, so thank you for that suggestion too

We use a big, thick jute rug/carpet in the awning. It’s heavy but doesn’t move around on the groundsheet.

We have a rotary style dryer which I bought from Aldi about 12 years ago. It is really useful and folds down into a fairly small tube. Something like this but it's a good idea to hook 3 pegs over each leg to stop is blowing away.

As well as a first aid kit, a repair kit is a good idea- duck tape, cable ties, screwdriver etc. We also have a very small needle and thread set in a small takeaway box.

@SkankingMopoke fire extinguisher is essential! how come you are guy line free? Our old folding camper had them especially on the awning and tbh in some of the weather we camped in they were essential! We even got one like a seatbelt strap to tie down the awning if it was going to be exceptionally windy - we only camped in May, July and august btw .

@blobby10 neither the camper or awning have them 🤷🏻‍♀️

Our camper doesn’t have them either. There are two on the awning but they aren’t essential. We camp year round.

I'm selling a Conway if anyone wants one!

We had a cupboard in the awning and had a diddy nesspresso on there plus I put the cutlery drawer on there with kettle, toaster, tea caddy and cereals so there wouldn't be continual traipsing in and out. The people we bought it from had a camping cooker and cupboard in the awning so we did that too. Left the pullman cooker at home and then that gives you more work surface. This was our awning. Now gota caravan - very swanky!!!

Love our folding camper. My essentials are heated throw, really good mattress topper (stays in when folded down) and fairy lights (I use pegs to clip them on). I also have young children so keep a fold ip potty. I'm also going to buy a fold up fire pit this year and keep skewers in for marshmallows

@LostArcher

We had a cupboard in the awning and had a diddy nesspresso on there plus I put the cutlery drawer on there with kettle, toaster, tea caddy and cereals so there wouldn't be continual traipsing in and out. The people we bought it from had a camping cooker and cupboard in the awning so we did that too. Left the pullman cooker at home and then that gives you more work surface. This was our awning. Now gota caravan - very swanky!!!

Did you not find the local wildlife tried to snaffle the cereal in the night? We've now got a proper bin, but have been woken by seagulls and foxes going through our bin bags in pervious years. We had our seating and kitchen fitted into the gazebo with our tent set up, but I've never left any food except canned in it for that reason. The trailer's skirts and awning are definitely not wildlife-proof, as on our maiden outing last autumn I stepped out of the trailer to go for a last wee before bed, and very nearly put my bare foot straight onto a hedgehog! (I'm not sure which of us was most surprised!). The foxes would definitely have had the cereal away.

@TheGirlWithGlassFeet

Love our folding camper. My essentials are heated throw, really good mattress topper (stays in when folded down) and fairy lights (I use pegs to clip them on). I also have young children so keep a fold ip potty. I'm also going to buy a fold up fire pit this year and keep skewers in for marshmallows

I expect we will eventually get a fire pit too, although up to now we have either camped on sites that don't allow them, or with friends who bring their mega one.

Hmmm. Yes perhaps cereal was inside and I just put it out in the morning. So far, no wildlife snafflers apart from this year in our flimsy summer quick put up caravan awning, something came in and snaffled some dog chews I had stupidly left out.

Now we are just two of us and the hairy hound we have a much smaller awning and have just a couple of chairs and a small table.

SkankingMopoke a gazebo is different to an awning though - we used to keep all our food on shelves in the awning which was pegged tightly to the ground and zipped up everywhere. The biggest issue we had (and it was only on one holiday!) was discovering a little field mouse had climbed the shelves and scoffed some rich tea biscuits . We had bin bags in the awnings but they were never gone through however on the rare occasion we left them outside by accident, yes they were gone through. Fortunately not much mess was made. Maybe our two labradors put the wildlife off?

I think the it's the dogs doing the trick TBH. The hedgehog was in the awning not the gazebo, and if he/she managed to get under the pegging for a general womble around, I don't hold out much hope it would stop a fox who had sniffed out dinner from doing the same!

A hedgehog? How wonderful- I love hedgehogs 😍 def less harmful than foxes !!