Do you have a ‘lovely’ camping set-up ?

[ViaRia01]

I’m looking for inspiration on how to get together a collection of ‘lovely’ gear for camping with my family - two parents, two preschoolers.

So, what I mean by this, is that while we are away we still want to have comfort, quality, colour and - did I mention - comfort?! We don’t want to ‘pack everything and the kitchen sink’, but for the things we do need, we want them to feel nice.

I’m struggling a bit to explain this I think but does anyone understand what I mean and do you have this sort of set up?

Examples I’ve found so far include:
I’m thinking the Heston Everdure mini barbecue. It’s pricey but the quality looks good and I think it will serve its purpose while being nice to use.

Wooden directors chairs as opposed to standard folding camp chairs. I know they’ll be a little more heavy/ bulky but I think I’d put up with that in order to have the nice look and feel.

I’d want a plug in cool box as we will want to keep food fresh rather than having very basic meals/ rations.

We will have an 8 berth tent rather than being all squashed into a 4 berth tent.

I really hope it makes sense but do let me know if not! Do you have this kind of lovely set up? Can you share the products you’d recommend/ avoid? Maybe some lovely photos too if you can?

Thank you

Pretty festoon string lights
black fridge
black electric stove
yellow director chairs
colourful rugs/cushions
fan heater

why do you prefer gas ..the EHU is fantastic!

We have a 2 ring gas camping stove. Its fairly basic and not pretty but served us well. We've had it for 20+ years and we used to do more basic camping. Now we always have EHU and take a travel kettle but just bring the same stove

@Aweekoffwork
Ahh finally another person who is on board w it h the directors chairs (although I do think I’ve been convinced that they’ll be too bulky)

I suppose I wanted to stick with gas because it means I can use it anywhere if I ever find myself without EHU or just on a day out (although I thing few parks/ beaches allow bbq these days).

@Aweekoffwork p.s I like the sound of your set up. Sounds colourful and coordinated and pretty with the festoon lights.

I’ll get similar lights I expect, but that’s a bit further down the road once I’ve collected all the main gear

Where do you all go to buy camping gear big and small? Do you just shop online?

I’m having real trouble at the moment as space is tight in the boot/ roof box and so there few ‘big’ bits I’ve been looking at/ have bought, I am not sure I’ll be able to fit everything in. I need to see things in the flesh but I’ve been to several camping shops nearby and they don’t display any of the larger stuff at all. No tents bigger than 2-berth, no cooking equipment, no SIMs.

I’ve given up on a lot of ‘extras’ like collapsible storage cupboards and I know I won’t fit an air tent…. My ninja cool box (28 litres, no wheels - so I think it’s the smallest solid box they make) doesn’t seem to physically fit in the boot. I measured first of course but due to the shape of the boot door, I can’t wedge it into the space I had intended.

I’m lucky, we use my husband’s transit van to take the camping stuff/fishing gear and I have a large family car for everything else.

we order everything online

btw the directors chairs fold flat and we found they were brilliant in the midst of camping when we had to create space/move things around

good luck!

Usually go to a big camping shop with lots of tents up etc. Also we have a large Ford galaxy with huge boot. Boot is mostly massive air tent, then cool box has all the food in, 2 boxes of internal clobber, fire pit, gas cooker, sleeping bags stuffed around the children, flat pack table/cupboard etc. No room for sims much as we’d like them.
Space is a huge consideration. It’s why you need to start with basics then build up. A full on setup takes up more space than the average boot unless you’re careful!
Can you return the cool box and get a smaller one?

@Talipesmum yes I suppose I’ll have to return it but it’s frustrating as I need to pay for a courier to return a fairly bulky and heavy item so I’m dreading how much it’s going to cost. I bought it direct from their website so I can’t just return it to a shop.

Lots of people are advising me to build up the kit over time, which I can definitely understand. But even for the first trip you need a fair amount of stuff to start with - a tent, something to sleep on for four people, something to cook ok, somewhere to sit.

I live in Kent and there are several small camping shops (chains) but I can’t find any large warehouse stores with tents or large equipment on display. I might go to an exhibition or just have to travel to a large decathlon/ go outdoors.

Btw, about the cost for the courier to return the cool box. I probably sound a bit extreme. Even if it’s just £5-10 it’s just a frustrating waste of money and effort, by the end of which I will still be without a cool box and have to start the process all over again. Not a big deal really, just one of those little frustrations in life!

Hmm that’s hard. What car / boot space do you have? It does all take up a lot of room. Hence the galaxy. We always put one of the back seats down, and have the kids in middle and end seat, and use that space for extra flat storage. Your cool box doesn’t look overly huge as these things go.

No idea where you are in Kent, but this kind of shop is the type that is helpful: https://wmcamping.co.uk/

Or https://camping-intl.com/

Or https://www.skcamping.com/

The mountain warehouse / Cotswold outdoors / millets type shops are great for topping up equipment or if you know exactly what you want to get, but they usually don’t have as much space as the larger ones to really enable you to browse all the kit. I really think for you it’d be worth a lot to get to somewhere like these ones. Plus they all tend to have huge sales on at the moment cos it’s approaching end of season.

If you want "pretty" then pick a colour/pattern theme and stay with that. Agree with fairy lights.
pleased to hear the YETI are good, mine has its first trip tomorrow!
The best camping shop I've ever visited was Attwoolls near Gloucester and not far from the M5. You could make a day out of visiting there, there's so much choice and stock. They have a website too.
My tent is a Dometic Rarotonga 401, 4 man air tent and I think it's fabulous, usually only 2 campers. It's the technical cotton version and has stood up to everything so far. I found it brand new never slept in on FB marketplace, someone's lockdown idea that they never followed through on. I think a lot of the fun is adding/upgrading your kit every year. I bought the canopy for it last year as there were 3 of us camping and it was a worthwhile (if expensive) addition.

I don’t usually take a cool box with me as I often eat out at lunchtime and then just need snacks for the evening and something for breakfast. Milk and cream powder are fine for a few days in tea and coffee, I make my own instant porridge pots for breakfasts, most fruit is fine out of the fridge as is bread. It’s quite surprising how many food stuffs are available on the ambient shelves in supermarkets. I do prefer red wine though which probably helps.

Is this close enough to your area of Kent? Fantastic shop!
www.skcamping.com

We gave up on our Outwell tent a couple of years ago as it was just too heavy and bulky and took ages to set up. We have never regretted to get the Decathlon Quenchua inflatable tent. So so quick to set up and it really feel well designed, dark bedrooms, light where it needs to be etc etc. Comes in different sizes and packs easily. I can't recommend it enough!

We go abroad and you can see how popular it is as there are many around in the campsites.

You can get some great camping lights on Amazon nowadays. My favourite is actually from Aldi though- it was about £8, is magnetic so attaches to the inside of the van (has a hook for a tent), is actually a coil of fairy lights inside plastic casing so you can use it as a single light OR fairy lights, and is USB rechargeable. I also have a lovely light from Trago Mills that looks like a dinosaur egg- it was £17, again is rechargeable and can be lots of different colours if required.

Yeah, this IS Mumsnet though 😆

I'm a poor, so I've spent:

£35 on a canvas Cabanon frame tent on eBay (an absolute bargain, I think I got it so cheap because the model wasn't specified. It lasted a good 10 years of family holidays, and it's still going).

Old rugs- retired from the house but still pretty- on the floor of the tent, with sheepskins on top.

Enamel plates from Trago Mills (notorious den of South West cheap stuff). And some rather funky orange enamel cups from Aldi.

You can get lovely, cheap rechargeable camping lighting nowadays (see my previous post).

Duvets from our beds.

A moka stove top coffee pot- about £12.

A fire pit that I also cook on- about £30 from Lidl. (I also have a small back up gas cooker).

A picnic rug that I sit next to the fire on- about a quid from a jumble sale. (I have an irrational hatred of camping chairs. And I do yoga, so have no problems sitting on the ground at the age of 51.)

For longer trips: a "book case"- a Sainsbury's crate filled with books.

And, of course, bunting- that I made myself!

My collapsible food cupboard (from Lidl, natch) takes up very little room, and I find it highly worthwhile in giving a sense of order to the kitchen set up. Otherwise you're constantly sifting through bags and boxes. The top makes a handy table, too.

Strongly feeling that RantznotBantz is my spiritual camping twin here....

A cautionary observation on EHUs. I went to a lovely campsite this weekend (Lower Pennycrocker Farm, nr Boscastle). Being the bank holiday weekend, the EHU pitches were crammed in like a load of flappy nylon sardines. In the non EHU field I picked the furthest corner and had the entire lower half of the field to myself. My only neighbours were 2 vans and a tent, all a good 50 metres away.

I cooked over my firepit and even heated up water and did my washing up there, because the communal sinks were really crowded. I woke up and all I could hear was a kestrel shouting away. Not what the folks in the EHU pitches woke up to, at a guess!

@RantzNotBantz I’m not particularly close to that shop but I was driving nearby at the weekend and as it’s so close to the motorway I was able to make a little detour.

Thank you! This is exactly what I needed to actually see some of these products in the flesh. Loads of tents on display and I even managed to grab a (relative) bargain - an Outwell 7.5cm double SIM for £50. The staff were so knowledgeable and helpful despite me being very indecisive!

OP @ViaRia01 Thank you so much for this thread.
Very aptly timed for us camping newbies. It’s our second trip and our friends cooked on the first one due to car space for us.

(I wouldn’t say we’ve yet made our set up lovely - I pitched the shelter too far from the electric hook up for the nice lights, but we are much more comfortable!)

We took up the suggestions of:

• Vango Shangrila 15cm double SIM
• Cadac Carri chef 50 with the pizza stone added.

Next time we go we’ll add some nice mugs specifically for our camping box, bunting and upgrade our chairs.

Pleased to hear it @noodlebugz How many of you are there?

So far, I haven’t actually got as far as buying a tent (although I do think for the first few trips I could just go to one of the sites where you can hire a tent already pitched…)

But I was excited when the Cadac Carri Chef 50 arrived. And I’ve also invested in lovely coverless duvets for us all, a SIM for the two little boys to share, pretty melamine plates and bowls, and a few kitchen bits.

I’m tempted by the ShangriLa 15cm SIM but it is just quite a lot to spend - did you find it worth the £££?

There’s 4 of us - Mine are 5 and 3 at the moment.
We considered SIM mattresses for them and then they were so cute with the little bunk beds in the shop that we got those. I wouldn’t recommend as they’re a pain to put together and very flimsy!

We have a berghaus 600 XL air tent, and would like to get the awning at some point but it would definitely be once we get a roof box as other things would have to go up there to make space.

(The old cooker isn’t being used and doesn’t fit the gas - unsure why we brought it!)