Camping in Škoda's ENYAQ iV 80 FestEVal

Sometime last year ŠKODA UK created a one-off ENYAQ iV 80 FestEVal for the summer season. Providing zero-emission accommodation for festivals and camping getaways the FestEVal comes with pretty much everything you will ever need for a night of two away.

There’s a James Baroud roof top tent, a really neat EGOE Nest pull out drawer system with water pumper and stove, a cool bag and a couple of Helinox Chairs and a table.

Because of its high demand it’s taken this long for me to get my hands on it, and even then I was given custody of it for just a weekend, which was fine by me as I had another press car waiting to be driven.

Packing for a night under the stars I decided to take a few things along with me - my Ecoflow Glacier fridge freezer with the Ecoflow River power station to keep it topped up (I forgot the cable!), and my Wolf and Grizzly grill and fire safe, and an Ecogrill.

Arriving at Bowses Hill Farm, Stalmine it was just after 6pm, and although not packed full of campers, it was filling up quite nicely, so I found a quiet pitch next to the wooded area and cracked open a cold one.

I’ve learnt the lesson from past camps, that setting up the tent and sleeping arrangements in the dark is a bad idea, so the first thing I did was to open the roof top tent, chuck in my sleeping bag and pillow, and then I went for a wander.

Bowses Hill Farm is a family run site set in over 9 acres of woodland and rural countryside with a variety of different sleeping options, from field and woodland camping, bell tents for hire and a forest pod and a woodland lodge.

Meandering back to the ENYAQ I figured it was time for some tea, which for the benefit of our southern readers isn’t just a brew, but the evening meal (remember it's breakfast, dinner, tea and supper!).Open the tailgate, and the EGOE Nest rear tray simply slides out. It looks to be based on their Nestboard 600, but without the extended bed base.

It really is quite a neat looking affair that fits snuggly in the back of the ENYAQ. With plenty of storage space as well as the removable sink and cooker, and it wasn’t long before I was tucking into my homemade chilli and a packet of boil-in-the-bag rice.

At 8.30pm darkness was drawing in, as were the midges, so I figured it was time to light a fire, both for some heat and to keep the pests at bay. As you know I have quite the choice of stoves, but I opted for my Wolf and Grizzly set-up as it’s incredibly compact when stored, but opens up to a decent size.

A neat trick I saw a while back is to place W&G Fire Safe on top of the grill so it stops the grass below from scorching.

Instead of normal firewood I brought along an Ecogrill. This is a small wood burning grill that’s an environmentally friendly alternative to disposable BBQ's, it’s biodegradable, and made entirely from alder wood, it leaves no materials behind and is super portable.

Around 10.00pm it was fairly dark, and as the Ecogrill spat the odd spark into the air I lost the ability to see my iPad’s keypad (I was typing this very article), so with the cool air encroaching, I put on my hoodie, kicked back and relaxed with another can of ready-mixed Southern Comfort and lemonade.

I usually prefer the utter silence and solitude you only get when you park up by the side of a green lane, but the dulcet tones of other campers chatting and children playing and enjoying themselves in the background was actually relaxing, so I retired the iPad, sat back in the Helinox and pondered on the meaning of life. Well, I contemplated on our soon to be refreshed Youtube channel, but the former sounds better.

It wasn’t long before the embers died down and the chill returned, so I retired to the James Baroud Space roof top tent, which I believe is from the Evolution series. It worked as it should, it was certainly comfortable height-wise whilst getting changed, but a little too short for my 6’2” frame. They do have longer versions.

Peering out the tent the following morning and there was a heavy mist encroaching the campsite covering everything with dew, including the ladders - I was extra careful not to slip and end up being a statistic.

After visiting the very clean amenities I was in need of my first coffee of the day and a freshly prepared fry-up. Unfortunately I ran out of gas just after I boiled the water for my much needed wake-up coffee, so food would have to wait.

It’s because of scenarios like this I’m actually considering moving away from gas products and looking at electricity. I have a solar panel and a battery power station, so why not utilise free energy?

Anyhow, the following day the ENYAQ was returned to Škoda and I found myself reflecting on the set-up. The ENYAQ is a nice car that I’ve reviewed in a past issue, though it does have some annoying features, like you have to prod your way through menus on the screen to find certain ventilation settings - knobs and dials please! Overall though it’s a cracking EV.

The James Baroud Space roof top tent was rather nice and very easy to erect and close - much better than others I’ve used. My favourite piece of kit though was the EGOE Nest rear tray, it made preparing food, cooking and washing up really easy, in fact, I’m seriously considering getting something similar for Deux Smurf, whether it’s an EGOE Nest or something similar, I’m hooked!