Why do it? Why camp?

[squilly]

Ok...so...I camped when I was little and it was great fun, but I'm now a 40+ woman with lots of aches and pains and a 7 year old.

Friends are telling me that camping is the way forward. But I want to know why?

I am ALMOST seduced by the idea. I'm lookiing at tents and airbeds and stuff, but I don't have much money, so where do I start?

I also want to know if it's as free and easy as you'd think? Or do you always have to book up well in advance?

Sorry for the multitude of questions, but I'm really curious...

I am new to all this. Years of Dustystar and another friend waxing lyrical have worn me down finally. Did the whole camping when younger bit and now have the aches and pain bit so know exactly where you are coming from. We have only been once so can't really give any helpful tips and we cheat by having a folding camper, but some things we found on our one and only night of camping so far:

Memory foam toppers on top of good airbed are just like being asleep at home. Hardened campers please avert your eyes at the mention of memory foam toppers.

The children absolutely loved being able to go off to the playground on their own plus walk through fields in early evening watching the rabbits run around. When asked what he liked about camping, DS (4) answered all wide eyed and serious and said "everything".

It is actually very good fun and you understand why friends have been going on with so much enthusiasm for years !

Practice run with tent so you are confident before you go makes life a lot easier. Divorce courts if going with partner are not inevitable as I feared.

It is possible to just wake up one morning and go - we made up our minds at about 11am and were set up down the road by about 3pm. Didn't get onto the campsite I wanted as half term but the next one I called had space.

Having some kind of toilet, be it bucket or 30 year old porta potti as in our case, makes life an awful lot easier in the middle of the night.

Chocolatepot...that's so helpful. Thank you.

And everyone else? You have helped to make a convert of me. My DH has said o.k. to the initial expenditure for the tent, airbeds, etc....I have his blessing to go 'try it out. And if you like it, next year I'll come with you'!!! What a charmer

DD & I have two weeks to sort out our equipment list. Tescos/Argos/Tentporn sites, here I come!!!

With regards to your question about how 'hard' or not it is, my advice is that that is entirely up to you. You can make is as easy or as hard as you like, as simple or as complex as you like.

Camping can range from a quick chuck of a tent and sleeping bag into a rucksack with no other plans, to a fully blown military operation including packing everything but the kitchen sink.

Entirely up to you.

I am a minimalist camper. Most of the MNers I know who camp are the other kind, and their talk of seperaste rooms in temts, big portable cookers and tent carpets makes me , but for now, I am limited to minimalist camping as I have no car.

In answer to the post - I love it cos for me it's like playing house when you were a kid

I love the freedom it gives me, to just roam anywhere and pitch a tent for the night.

and being at one with nature, feeling and hearing the elements, smelling it all, watching the blue sky with clouds drifting slowly accross it when I wake up in the morning.

i always remember camping as the best holiday ever

no moaning over room service everything is spontanious and you tend to do things you wouldnt other wise do

and its just fab really want to go camping but dp thinks its the worst thing ever and i love it

and the smell of being in a tent is just weirdly calming

ah yes, the spontinaity (sp?) of it all!

DS is always happy when we're camping.

There are 5 of us and it means we can have lovely family holidays which we can afford. If we used hotels etc we wouldn't have much in the way of holidays. The children love the adventure of it and dh is a demon camper.

I am 40+ too and I can't say I would naturally have gravitated to camping if I'm honest.

It's taken me quite a while to get into it but we do have a trailer tent now (largely cos of me) which means we camp in quite a bit of comfort. I struggled with our old tent. Not good at sleeping on the ground - I with you on the aches and pains there Squilly!

It always surprises me how much I do enjoy it these days though and there really are some lovely campsites both here and abroad even for a fuss pot like me who inpects the toilets and showers with a microscope .

Also I agree it gives children wonderful happy memories of a freedom which they don't get much nowadays in our everyday stifling life. I shows you can have fun on a basic level without all the usual back-up you have at home.

My parents did not do camping, nor did we have many holidays. I quite envy the childhood my children are having re camping holidays.

I think I'll be with you overmydeadbody on the basics front. I'm buying a 3berth tent, one that pops up quite easily. An airbed and a couple of sleeping bags and possibly a little stove cooker, so DD can have her fave tea, pasta and cucumber and peppers + French bread. Also, quite handy if I can get a cup of coffee!

Apart from that, my only essential piece of equipment is oging to be a portaloo (only because I'm a middle of the night wee-er).

I'm planning on 'test driving' the whole camping idea during the 6 weeks holidays...and I'm looking for teeny tiny sites, as opposed to larger, Haven/Butlins types. DH has rightly said, it's no good me going to any site with a club on it. I grumble too much about families that keep their kids up til midnight then spend all morning yelling at them cos they're crabby!

As an aside, is it worth joining the camping and caravanning club? I've noticed there are a few sites which are for members only. Is it worth being a member to get onto these sites? Or will I manage without it???

Thanks again for all your comments. As I suspected, campers really are friendlier than the average holiday maker

hi squilly i hope you enjoy as much as we do. i have camped 3 times, minimally due to lack of funds. i have a small tent and an ancient cooker, ancientcooker stand and ancienttable. the ancient thinsg were given to me as i couldnt have afforded them otherwise. they all are perfectly functional.
i havent been to any samping and caravanning sites so dont know what the difference is. we have been to 2 sites which had a childs play area and that was all the entertainment and had a brill tme.
in april we went to a farm in devon that had a play area for the children, and trampolines dotted everywhere. it did have a bar/restaurant open in th evenings with a play room for the children in it. not soemthing i am nornmally fussed about i love the children having freedom as much as they enjoy it. but was so cold this april was very grateful i had booked a site with the bar.
i have just booked a basic site in north wales fr the summer.

i have found campers to be the friendliest bunch, have been to haven with my ds before and didnt speak to any of the people there the whole week (apart from my sisters and their dc we all booked to go together).
when we go camping the children always play together and the other adults have always been friendly and chatted to me, which as a single mum very grateful for another adult to talk to

there is nothing better than sitting outside your tent, supping on wine, watching the kids play with other kids. Its even better if its not raining!!

because it males me dh and the kids happy

so why not camp?

have a lok at the forest holidays websites for cheap old fashioned all kids together type sites

oh c&cc sites are fgreat ime, basic but cheap and clean. well worth joining (plus you get money off forest holiday sites too)

I've just checked out forest holidays. Looks very interesing. It's got a few Scottish sites, which is exactly what we'll be looking for next year.

We'd talked about doing a touring holiday in either Scotland or Ireland but the price of B&B's was looking quite prohibitive. It was also scary because we'd have to book now for next summer and I know DH...he could easily change his mind before then. Or get caught up with something important at work and regret taking the weeks we book.

This camping lark could be just what we were looking for! Flexible and inexpensive. I've just got to take to it now during my trial runs. You guys are just convincing me more and more that this is the right thing for us.

I wouldn't bother with the portaloo. You're out in the middle of nowhere, in the great outdoors, just go for a wee in the bushes in the middle of the night (or am I the only person who does this?)

I can't wee in public. If I have to stoop, I freeze...even if it's not cold .

I'm not usually anal (if you'll pardon the pun) about anything. I'm gungho about most things. But I struggle with peeing.

It may date back to things that happened to me as a kid, but whatever it is, it's not something I'll be doing any time soon...

My big sister, on the other hand, has been known to go for a pee in her garden in broad daylight, because she's realised that she probably won't make it upstairs in time (she's always had a weak bladder and being in her late 50's doesn't help).

My god...we sound quite freakish now don't we??

Having just got back from a nights camping with fa,milty the answer is simple

=...for the smile on my 4 years olds face, from the moment we arrived! Who needs toys when you can ahve a rfootball, a wide open space, and the prospect of sleeping in a tent for the nighT!!

Squilly, I really wouldn't bother with joining the C&CC, not all that many of their sites are members only and there are lots more camp sites than theirs. We join on a year by year basis depending on what our plans are. It's worth it if we spend a week or more on their sites cos of the discount you get.

One thing to be aware of with Forest Holidays is that many of their sites don't have toilet/shower facilities - not really aimed at the tenters!

www.ukcampsite.co.uk/ is a useful place to find campsites.

In answer to the original question: we camp because this way we can afford to spend almost all of dh's annual leave actually away - you'd have to be on a pretty impressive wage to be able to afford that in hotels! Love the home-away-from-home-ness, we've built up a nice collection of camping paraphenalia over the last few years, been more comfy in the tent that in some b&b's I've been in!

That said, we're off for a fortnight on Saturday and I'm a little nervous of how I'm going to get on with my newly walking dd2!

Have only read the OP.

One of the main reasons is that we live in London so it's a great chance for our dc to be in the countryside/by the beach. They also love the different 'home' environment - not tv, toys etc.

Money is a factor too though. We can only usually afford one week away each year, so camping is our only other holiday (even if it's just a weekend)

I want to go camping now!

After all the feedback on this thread, I'm chomping at the bit with the camping thing. I have bid on a couple of new tents on ebay and though I don't think I'll win either, I'm getting more and more giddy at the thought of getting my new tent soon!

I was due to go to our local camping shop on Tuesday and, typically, got a migraine, so couldn't go Today I was planning the same thing, but a friend hijacked me into going to the Disney Sale with her. Not quite what I'd had in mind for the day, but hey ho.

So now, I'm off tomorrow, God willing (or head willing might be more appropriate) to CCC to check out airbeds and inflatable mats and all that kind of lovely stuff. And I want to pop in at Aldi's and Netto's, just in case they've got anything in.

I'm registered at UK campsite and have already been on the forum (checking out info on tents and such). The lady who answered my first post was SOOOooooo lovely.

And thanks for the Forest Holidays warning. I don't mind roughing it too much as long as I can take my own loo with me. I'm just checking out the biobag system they had on the Gadget show this week. Very snazzy.

Right ho...off to put the small child to bed!
Thanks again for all the feedback. My DH may not be thanking you right now (he's not convinced about the camping thing) but as soon as his little yorkshire head realises how much cheaper this will be than my trips to London on the train, he'll be wanting to track you all down and snog you all!

Happy camping all