September 16, 2021

The Great British Summer – what thoughts does this conjure up? Days at the beach? Dips in the icy cold murky sea? Walks in the lush green countryside? Cocktails with friends in pub gardens?

When I wonder what my daughters’ memories will be of our family camping holidays I’m not sure they will have memories of any of these things. I think they may remember rain, lots and lots of rain – and quite stressed parents.

We started camping after hearing such great reviews from friends “The kids will love it, they will run off to play while you can sit in the sun having a glass of wine” – sounds idyllic no? Yes it does, but the reality is no, no it isn’t.

This may happen for a couple of hours a day, in between rain showers, and I appreciate every second of those moments. Then there are the other times that I don’t appreciate one iota.

These generally consist of desperately thinking of rainy day activities – which mainly involve eating our own body weight in chips & ice cream, or huddling inside the tent playing games that no one actually wants to play and waiting for the rain to pass (campsites really need to install Wi-Fi ASAP!). Our holiday was cut short last year after storm Ellen broke our tent pole, and an actual frog was found taking shelter from the rain under the tent, I swore that would be the last time. However thanks to COVID we ended up having to stay put in the UK for another year and we invested in an even bigger tent, determined to help ease the pain of such occasions. It did help and I actually think it helped us with our luck – it only rained for 3 days out of 7 #winning

Despite this, we have had some fab times under canvas and each time we go we learn something new. My top 3 Do’s and Dont’s are;

Do;

1. Practice putting your new tent up before you get to the campsite – saving you from embarrassment and sniggers from your seasoned neighboring campers.

2. ALWAYS plan for bad weather – waterproofs, plenty of layers etc

3. Pack enough wine to see you through the duration of your stay.

Don’t

1. Underestimate the amount of cooking gas you will need – not being able to make that 1^st morning cup of tea/coffee can set the day off to a very bad start.

2. Leave food unattended – wild animals have no shame.

3.  Ignore the campsite rules (ie. Don’t be a d*ck).