Camping...be honest...do you really enjoy it?

[OrkneyGirl]

I'm typing this in a field in Cornwall. I love the idea of camping but, honestly, is it really a holiday? My neighbour is snoring. I've got to wash up at a sink area with no roof. The tent is starting to ming because it's been so wet. I could go on! And the one thing I never seem to get right is sleeping comfortably. I've tried blow up mattress, camp bed, blow up mattress on camp bed - all just a bit uncomfortable and making me want the comfort of a double bed with a cosy duvet!

I genuinely love camping, we've got camp beds with memory foam toppers on, proper quilt and pillows. It makes the world of difference for us, we've not been as much in the last two years, cant wait to start going more. We also have a small kampa heater for colder wetter weather, and our tent is fairly roomy.

That looks great. Buy ayyy the price, blimey.

there are loads of pop up things sold as event shelters or similar. They are basically tents, but less aerodynamic sometimes and more prone to not surviving a storm or gale or torrential rain.

would you consider an air tent? They are about as quick to put up as a pop up once you get the hang and with an electric pump. You can get great ones second hand off eBay at the end of the season.

Agree the Cinch is expensive, but we feel it was worth it. The design is very similar to a Quechua Seconds pop-up tent Decathlon used to make, and I once had.

I searched everywhere for something similar for our mini caravan and eventually found the Cinch, which was cheaper as it was crowdfunded at the time.

It is really robust, even in strong winds, and the storm poles make it even stronger.

I think the Cinch is quicker and easier than an air tent, having seen people at campsites put up and take down air tents.

There is a Facebook group for Cinch, you can ask about them and see pictures of people using them with campervans, small caravans and as standalone tents.

Cornwall has loads of rental properties empty at the moment. Loads of us would take an offer! Lovely views and great comfortable beds in my house! 4 bathrooms! Cannot improve the weather but at least we can offer comfort.

I love it. I've been camping my entire adult life and I never feel more relaxed or beautiful and healthy than when I'm camping.

Would you accept £20 a night? Because that's what I pay for a campsite for me and the DCs.

.......thought not 🙄

No I tolerate it to stay in places where proper accommodation isn't possible or to attend events where it's de rigor to camp. I'm camping this weekend but I'm already moaning . Added to my misery is that we are going on the motorbike so that means hiking type kit, rather than a duvet

Sounds lovely! Very envious!

Love the double bed made of two singles idea with room underneath. You sound very organised which I aspire to be!

Love the two duvet hack and switcheroo depending on temperature!

It's alright

But ideally in nice weather for one night and you've had some wine to soften it all.

Pissing it down, for a week no thanks

No thanks. Used to go with friends when younger but it mostly involved getting pissed and eating a load of sausages.
It's always damp in the mornings and always cold at night and in the summer the light and birds mean you're up at 5am.
The amount of gear you need to take to make it moderately decent is such an effort, it's not worth it. Imo...

We did lots of camping. Mainly in France. We now stay In Statics in France. Much better, on a campsite so loads for kids to do. Highly recommend.

It's a hard no from me! Can't afford other options but still a big no - to me, camping is essentially all the same work for someone but with a fraction of the space and facilities to make it even less enjoyable than at home. Even somewhere you can guarantee the weather I'm not keen, let alone this country.

Plus, hearing someone else's partner snoring all night on the rare occasion mine isn't is absolutely enraging, and the whole walking in wet grass to the loo block thing - and clambering up and down from the floor all the time - is just NO. Sod that.

I can cope but I’m not a huge fan

A folding camper has been a game changer for us too. We find it is just as much to set up & take down as a tent time-wise, but it's so comfortable. Ours has a loo, so no more soggy late night trips to the loo, and a fridge that also works on gas if no EHU has provided more meal options. It has a little fan heater which gets the space toasty in minutes, meaning we were able to camp for the October half term last year in comfort, and a water heater plus sink, so with EHU there is no more trekking to do the washing up (without EHU the pump works on the leisure batteries, so washing up is still possible if you don't mind cold water/boiling a kettle to do it). But the best bit, after years of beans on bread, eggs in cold soft muffins, or even worse, badly toasted bready things with a weird camping gas tang, is having a toaster...!
We'd love a caravan really, but we have nowhere to store it (the folding camper fits in the garage, but a caravan would be too tall) and storage fees add another layer of cost, so we've compromised.

PPs hedgehog experiences have made me smile. On the first night in the folding camper, I had put the kids to bed and went to step out to go to the loo (we hadn't fully figured out/set up the onboard loo yet). Luckily I briefly looked down, as I was about 1 inch away from placing my full weight and bare foot onto a very tubby and frozen-with-surprise hedgehog, who had wombled under the trailer and into the awning. I'm not sure which of us it would have been worse for if I hadn't glanced!
(S)he didn't go through the rubbish though, although in years past we've had foxes and seagulls wake us during the very early hours doing this. They were surprisingly brazen as no amount of whacking the inside of the tent next to where the rubbish bag was or growled threats would stop them. They never scarpered until you hauled yourself out of your cozy bed, searched about for coats and shoes, tripped over an abandoned and camouflaged toy, and unzipped the first 4 inches of the door. Then they'd bugger off... We now have plastic lidded bins for rubbish.

It isn't for me. When I think of camping all I can remember is condensation, wet and smelly.

I don't mind a caravan/mobile though but again NOT in the rain as its just shit.

I’ve just done camping at a major sporting event. In short no. That said, we were up and out all day at the event, then coming back to the camp site and everything involved in cooking, washing up and tidying up etc, just didn’t make it relaxing.

We were extremely lucky with the weather. If it rained, I think we’d have just been miserable.

Potentially, if you are able to relax and chill out I can see, on a nice day that it would be good fun but for my sporting event, it will be a hotel if we go again.

@SkankingWombat, sounds like a perfect solution. I think folding campers look great if you want to store in the garage but need space for adults and kids to sleep. We considered one.

But now my kids are grown, DH and I only needed something for the 2 of us and got a tiny pop top caravan that fits in the garage due to its reduced height and small size. We also don't have anywhere else to store it and love being able to keep it in the garage. It took us a year of clearing stuff out of the garage to be able to use it for this purpose!

Like you, we have a heater, hot water and a small washroom. With a canvas pop top we still get the feeling of sleeping outdoors, but in a bed with a comfy duvet.

I’m not averse to the odd night in a tent but for longer stays we have also have a folding camper. Heat, light, carpet, proper beds, a fridge and running water. We don’t use an EHU which means we can use less popular sites, so are rarely troubled by noise from other campers.

We don’t do camping as an activity in itself. It is just accommodation for us.

I like one or two nights basic camping with friends, a last minute thing after we know the weather will be good, and all food is taken in the pub!

A family holiday in unknown weather, cooking for everyone and all the "stuff" needing to be packed, unpacked and dried no thank you.

Not for me, I get that others enjoy the back to basics experience but I do not want to pay to holiday in worse and less comfortable conditions than my own home.

@crackofdoom Obviously not. However you just pay for a pitch and a shower block. For a one or two bedroom place you would get so much more comfort. Looking at Cornwall I cannot see any camping for £20 a night with facilities. Lots of availability though.

@SilverGlitterBaubles Dishwashers. Microwave. Washing machine. Comfortable large beds. Beautiful rain showers. Who wants camping?

I’d never heard of a folding camper before! They look like a great halfway house between camping and an actual camper van