Back early after noisy overcrowded campsite

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

hmpffff. Just a quick moan. We booked onto what we thought was supposed to be a quiet secluded campsite. Joined the camping and caravan club specifically to have quieter nights.

Ended up having a huge party (16 people?) squooshed against us with little kids running in and out around our tent, around our bbq, constantly tripping up over our guy ropes and queueing up to kick their ball against our tent Group exceptionally noisy til after midnight then another groups kids were playing outside at 5:30am.

Campsite was overcrowded and 2 loos (with washing facilities integral so that if someone had a shower the loo was tied up forever) 20 minute wait for first wee of morning made me a very grumpy lady.

I know I am getting old and bah humbugy but some people do like sleep at night and to get away from it all. Just call me Victor Meldrew.

It sounds lovely

It might be the venue for my summer Mumsnet camp! Who's coming?

i think i used to stay at fen farm.

[goes to check maps]

if you walk along the coast, next to fen farm, is coopers (or used to be?), then a youth place, then waldergraves?

think so misdee, saw a sign for Coopers, think Waldegraves is West Mersea though but not sure.

misdee, is that you putting your name down for my summer camp?

yes it is. its such a small place though we used to wealk one end to the other.

its been years since i went.

we used to camp/caravan when i was a teenager right up at the edge of fen farm, so we could just hop over the little hill, across some mud/river and to the beach.

if i get a tent i might lol.

wonder if the loos have improved.

it wa s abasic site when i went.

i spent a lot of time covered in mud lol.

we also stayed at waldergraves once.

must have been bad as we never went back lol.

Sorry you had such a bad experience. We had something similar last August in the Mumbles area of Swansea.
The campsite was on a slope but because it had been so wet no cars could get up the slope so everyone ended up camping at the bottom part of the field.
Then we had the familly from hell camp right next to us and it was CONSTANT swearing and shouting (these were teenage boys with their mum and friend) and in the middle of the night one of them was sick and then they spent half an hour arguing about the sick covered sleeping bag.
By then it was 3am and i just wanted to stuff it down their knecks!
Then the rest of the night and all the morning there was torrential rain and we had to take the tent down in it.
It was a nightmare.

Loos and showers were great, plenty of them and lovely hot showers with space to put your stuff. Would recommend.

ah thats good, they were a bit spooky 15years ago lol.

is there still a PYO place on the main road through?

yep and a vineyard nearby (slurp). I will be taking my shotgun next time because the crows were a bit lively at 5am.

lovely.

well if i find a bargain tent and persaude grumpy peter, then i may join you lol

oh my DH H A T E S camping. I said to him this week, "why did you agree to come if you hate it so much?" and he said "cos I love you and you like it". Romance isn't dead after all LOL.

Pitching the tent in a gale can push a marriage to its limits though!

best starter (ie cheap) tent for a family of 6?

ARgos have loads of half price tents. Buy one you can stand up in and sit in with chairs if it's raining. our first tent was an Argos Nevada 5 for about 80 quid. They are perfect tents for casual campers (ie one or two weekends a year) - serious campers spend much more but IMO it's not worth investing until you know you're going to love it. Sleeping bags half price too at the moment in Argos. Got DS new one for 8.99.

oh i want it!

Bedding is crucial - we have a trailer full of quilts and stuff, we once froze overnight and it was the longest night of my life! That was August! I put quilts under the sleeping bags on top of the airbeds to stop the cold rising. Works a treat. Don't ever think a sleeping bag is going to be enough. It never is. Unless you're in France!

oh i know. i think the last time i went camp, was 8years ago, dd1 was just over a year old. it was late june and we froze. dd1 ended up snuggled up in my sleeping bag with a devet over us, just to keep warm. we woke up to ground frost. luckly the rest of the week was warm.

this is a good one

We survived about four massive thunderstorms in our one. Not a drop of water got in. Easy to put up too which has to be a consideration especially after heart surgery!!

that looks good.

how do you transport all the equipment?

we have no trailer, no roofbox, and proabbly by sept, no car

why no car?

Can't see how you'd do it without a car.

When we started camping all the stuff fitted in the boot of the car then we progressed to roof box then trailer.

There are campsites that have the tents already pitched for you - that might solve it. Also wooden camping pods or wigwams. We stayed near Bodmin at Easter (Ruthern Valley) and they had camping pods - looked really cosy. You need your usual camping stuff but no fear of the tent flying away in a gale!