Booking camping when you don't know what the weather will be like

[gardenlife]

Unless we wait until say the week before we are due to go, how do you approach booking camping when you don't know what the weather will be like?

I really doesn't fancy camping in rainy conditions. Am I just not cut out for camping or do we need to just book last minute?

What did you do?

Thinking about the bank holidays weekends in May so weather could be absolutely anything.

If you really wouldn’t enjoy it in the rain then you need to book last minute but be prepared you may not get the place you want (everyone else will want to camp if the weathers good!).

We have some trips where we will go regardless of the weather so book in advance and others that are wether dependant and only book last minute.

We have indoors plans as back up. And a tent with a decent living room.

Even when it is rainy, it doesn't rain all the time. Wind is more of an issue.

Tbh in British summertime even if it does rain it doesn't tend to be for a full 3/4/5 day straight.
The weather changes so quickly, I booked camping last year about three weeks in advance and it went from warm and sunny to torrential rain and back again whilst I was checking the forecast beforehand. Turned out fine.
Be flexible with your plans so have things to do rain or shine that can be moved around if needed and either a brolly or a loo if it rains at night 😂

We always book last minute. But we like the cheap and rustic campsites that don’t have much facilities, ehu or specific pitches. Just a field usually.

We also often go to campsites were you can’t book and just turn up… timing is everything! Such as Sunday or Thurs afternoons

If you're prepared, camping in the rain is fine. You need a decent size tent so you're not claustrophobic and definitely have a towel or mat for shoes at the front so your tent stays dry.
I love reading in my bell tent in the rain, the sound is soothing and it's oddly cosy to be sort of outside but dry and warm.

Ah we booked weeks in advance last year and it rained pretty much all week. Still nice but this year I’ll be booking the day before and choosing what’s available. with pitchup it’s pretty easy to book anyway.

Agree with all the others, you just need a tent with enough space so that you can be inside comfortably if it rains

We camp(ed) abroad (England, which is abroad for us!) so booked 6-8 months in advance to get cheap ferry fare (ferry gets expensive).

We took our chances and just made do on some very wet holidays, although most were good.

However I found over the 10+ years there were increasing times when it was terrible weather (summer storms with high winds, flooding etc) OR my perception was that there were more. This was part of my reason to quit camping abroad. Only go locally now, and once have ended up abandoning the tent in storm force 7 and going home (tent survived but was quite alarming to be in at the time).

DH was in the Scouts and I was in the Guides. We have, more than once, woken and been the only tent standing. It's probably very naive but I trust the skills that were drilled into us

We’ve camped in glorious and also horrendous weather. You just need indoor plans for a back up. Luckily our DC were always happy going to a museum or whatever attraction we could find.. The first thing we would do at the campsite is find the leaflets stand and get them to pick the ones for places they liked the look of.