let’s try n camping holidays
let’s try n camping holidays
n Prepare before you go so you can relax when you arrive
Carry on
Camping and Caravaning Club
camping l Make a checklist of everything you
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New Forest Tourim Association
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n Camping in the New Forest
Ever since some disastrous camping trips as a young man, Peter Ellegard has never had an in-tents love affair with outdoors holidays. But, as he discovers, things have improved dramatically for those seeking al fresco breaks
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need to take, and don’t forget to check your tent and other equipment is in good condition well before you go. Don’t forget to pack suncream and protective clothing to prevent sunburn. Pack a simple first aid kit to deal with insect bites and minor injuries. Nights can be cold and tents have no insulation, so take warm clothing, good sleeping bags and plenty of bedding. Take wellies, waterproofs and brollies, just in case. Always pack a mallet – and buy a
driving test in the early 1970s and packing the car boot and roof rack with my frame tent and other camping paraphernalia for a week’s exploration of North Wales. But visions of horror stories come flooding back, too.
glamping n the days before overseas sun and sand package holidays became the norm, the holiday of choice for most people was camping. It was cheap and fun, and you pitched your tent pretty much where you wanted. Even today, the freedom and value camping offers is still a powerful magnet, and an estimated 1.2 million people regularly head off into the British countryside or by the coast to sleep out under canvas. Except, of course, these days it generally isn’t canvas. Camping has undergone a revolution in recent years with the advent of new, easy-to-put-up tents made from lightweight materials, warm and weatherproof clothing, cosy bedding and all manner of high-tech gadgets that help make an outdoors holiday far more comfortable and appealing than ever before. Forget trudging across a muddy field in pouring rain carrying buckets of water from a stream or having to
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www.tlm-magazine.co.uk
find a secluded spot to answer nature’s call. Today’s campers have the latest facilities on campsites, from leisure centres and heated outdoor pools to bars, restaurants and children’s play and adventure complexes. At some sites in the UK and on the Continent, you can even indulge in a spa session with massage treatments. If tents don’t appeal, you can enjoy more comfort and luxury by going glamping, the buzzword for glamour camping. Yurts, tepees, tipis and wigwams, camping pods and gypsy caravans are among alternative options for experiencing the elements in style. I haven’t been tempted to camp since my now grownup children were young and we holidayed a few times on French campsites. Memories of camping in Britain are vividly etched in my brain. The pungent odour of canvas and wet earth from family holidays as a youngster are early recollections. I also recall the feeling of excitement after passing my
Spring 2012
Among them, battling the indecipherable jumble of poles in sideways rain in a Welsh quagmire masquerading as a campsite on that trip, the tent flapping above me and my mother like a crazed dragon as we tried to pull it down over the frame I had finally pieced together. Or waking up in a sodden sleeping bag by the shores of Loch Lomond after the water level rose and flooded my chosen part of the campsite from the constant deluge. Or perhaps braving 70mph winds in the middle of a wild and stormy May night in the Cairngorms foothills to double-peg the tent and flysheet and put heavy rocks around the edges to stop them being blown away. Trying to read by the light of a Camping Gaz lantern or hurricane lamp while getting a numb bum sitting on an uncomfortable folding camp chair, or attempting to light a bottled gas cooker with draughts continually snuffing out the flame are other
Spring 2012
n Inside a Cornish yurt Cornish Yurt Holidays
peg-puller tool to remove stubborn tent pegs. l Be careful with any cooking, heating or lighting equipment. Mains electricity in tents can be a potential hazard. Take a fire extinguisher and/or fire blanket. l Ensure you maintain hygiene to stay healthy.
n Happy campers
Go Camping UK
camping tips
vivid flashbacks. Although I am now an agnostic camper, many still keep the faith. The Camping and Caravanning Club (www.thefriendlyclub.co.uk) is the world’s oldest club for all forms of camping and has over half a million members, who spend over 1.5 million nights on its club sites each year. It offers more than 3,000 places to camp across the UK, including 110 club sites and another 1,500 member-only certificated sites, and is in the vanguard of change. Developments for members include the addition of wooden camping pods at its Bellingham (Northumberland), Eskdale (LakeDistrict), Thetford Forest (Norfolk) and Isle of Skye club sites, while children love spending the night in the club’s cosy camping dens at its Gulliver’s Milton Keynes site. Safari tents sleeping up to four with mod cons including two-ring burner, grill and sink are available at its Teversal site in Nottinghamshire. There are numerous other glamping options for chic campers. At 200-acre Yorkshire site Jollydays (www.jollydaysluxurycamping.co.uk), there are seven luxury tented lodges that sleep six and feature wood burners, four-poster beds, chandeliers and sofas. Some also have their own showers.
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