Camping 101

Up until my teenage years I had never left the country to go on holiday; you might think that this sounds like my childhood vacations were pretty boring, but I will have you know that my family always had great fun exploring and for the most part, camping around England.

I have probably spent time in most counties in the country at one time or another as I was growing up and my family has tried and tested so many camping sites, equipment and tents we could probably write a book! Over the years our camping has gone from traditional canvas tents with metal poles through to tents with flexible plastic poles (both of which took at least an hour to get all set up) and now my parents have invested in a camper van to make things a little easier and faster to set up (just park!) although we do still attach a tent to the side of the van for added sleeping space as the van sleeps two.

I have lots of great memories from camping both as a youngster and now as a not so youngster. Some of my fondest memories revolve around spending time with my family in a time before computers took over my life and we had the chance to get some quality time in together. For example playing monopoly on a wobbly table in the evening by lamp light, chasing around with badminton racket and shuttlecock with my sister, the sound of peacocks calling into the night when camping at what was the Kessingland Zoo and finally my sister going through a phase of knocking everything around her onto the floor including a glass of coke onto the carpet at the brand new café at Sandringham House.

Camping is still a big part of our lives as every year we pack up and take the drive a couple of hours south west to Salisbury where we have visited the same camping and caravanning club site for the last 10 years plus! Luckily the camp site has great facilities including showers, washing up equipment as well as a laundry room which really make the site and home away from home. They recently installed Wi-Fi (caravan wifi boosters available here) so if you’re an internet junkie like myself you can still get your updates for a small additional fee.

Something which has changed over the years as our camping (and technology) has developed is the food. From cooking on small gas burners when the menu was predominantly made up of super noodles and anything that came in a tin, to a fancy camp kitchen set up with grill and gas rings (complete with microwave when the camp site brought in electricity to all the pitches) where food was stored in a cool box where condensation meant most of the food was damp, and finally now to the camper van which offers more modern conveniences such as a fridge! If you fancy an upgrade yourself, take a look at the second hand campers at The Caravan Company.

So if you’re thinking about going camping this year and haven’t done it before, what are the things you need to consider? Well luckily Halfords has put together an ultimate guide to camping which helps with the basics such as places to visit, things to do with the kids, camping recipes, a mini-guide to glamping and the all important camping checklist! There are some things you learn by doing, for example, work out when the loo block gets busy in the morning and evenings if you want to avoid the crowds and brush your teeth in peace – there can sometimes be long queues for showers at peak times!

The Halfords guide has some great tips for having a fantastic camping holiday. Of course you can also check out their range of tents for inspiration too!