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Just to agree with what lots of others have said but i wouldn't sell all your stuff just yet. I've been camping all my life but my husband is new to it. We took our new tent out for the first time a few months ago and well it wasn't great.

We were pitched next to a massive family group who had paid for a pitch purely for a marquee in which they then partied until about 3am despite an 11pm noise curfew that no one seemed bothered about enforcing. Our airbeds and sleeping bags were also the most uncomfortable things i've ever had the misfortune to sleep on so absolutely no sleep for either of us!

Anyway cutting to the chase and several camping trips later, we've tweaked a few things (now use bedding and not sleeping bags - evil things lol) and had better luck with campsites and pitching and we're loving it! We're already planning next spring and can't wait!

Stick with it - it just takes a bit of getting used to .

        awww everyones comments are here are so nice i am overwhelmed by how nice all of you are. Do you think i could meet you all and we could camp in field together !  

     I just think that its not for us at the moment.Im not going to give up because i love the memories i have with my parents camping and i remember us laughing all the time.! My parents took me and my sister all over France and Spain and we had a fabulous time.I realise also how much hard work it must have been for my parents but they did it so we could have a great time!  I hope in the future that i will be able to do this with my little family but i dont want to go on holiday to shout at them all the time.So thank you so much for all your stories and kind words but i will try again when my lil one is a bit older.

  I must admit i have to agree with a comment made on here i should have just bought the basics first ! So my advice would be to others to try it first.I was stupid enough to google and buy everything that had glowing reports ! I do love the Outwell coolbox though and am keeping that for days out.I had just imagined this fab and fun holiday but it just wasnt like that for us.It hasnt put me off but it has for now !

       I really dont think you can bond with your family in any other way than camping ! I used to fight with my sister all the time but when we were camping i loved her ! We would have so much fun so i urge anyone reading this not to be put off by my story it will probably be completely different fo you x

 Anyone looking for camping stuff please check out my auctions ! At least you wont waste as much money as me if you dont take to it  

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250876470824&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

We go camping with our children who are 3 & 11 months so that they can have some freedom that they can't have at home, the 3 year old just loves to run around and play and thats what children should be able to do. Most places we go all we see and hear from very early in the morning are children and we accept this as we are in family friendly places. There are more than enough adult only parks so i think that i'd very polietly explain this to her and then let my children do what they do best and enjoy themselves they are grown up to quick.

I would at least keep the tent.

You'll never get back what you paid for it, so just store it away somewhere safe and dry until you are ready to try again.

Quote: Originally posted by morgz84 on 19/8/2011

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Why is everyone having ago at the woman? I think she is quite entitled to have a go if she has been woken at half 5 in the morning.   I'm sure it would be quite OK to have a go at someone with their TV / music a bit too loud at 10 O Clock at night, but kids screaming at the crack of dawn is OK? By that logic I would have to go to sleep at about 9 in order to get enough sleep for the day ahead. Sorry, I just don't buy this idea that it's OK for kids to go anywhere at any age and make as much noise as they like.
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Kids are kids I have 2 which are 4 and 6 and I am fairly disciplined with them but when we go camping they get so excited its hard to keep control of them for the first couple of days, Depending on the attitude recieved from the neighbouring tent would of decided my response, had they been polite about it and asked if there was anything I could do about it , would of resulted in is becoming best of friends, had they accused me of being a bad parent would of resulted in an unknown response but selling my gear would not have been one of them and relaxing my discipline to my childrens excitement would have definatly taken place.

On the question of the thread makers camping gear on ebay, your doing well m8 as ive just bought  Nevada M tent, Extension and carpet from go outdoors on pricematch on saturday and with delivery people are already prepared to pay you more than I paid for both my extension and carpet brand new!

So sad,we love kids (couldn't eat a whole one though),only joking,We have 4,youngest is now 18 so we have been through the dawn chorus stage. We fully understand how it's virtually impossible to keep tots quiet so if we do go to a "family friendly" site...we wear ear defenders at night,problem solved! We do however tend to go to adult only sites as we prefer not to have little ones running around...purely because we have been through that stage many times over and enjoy a bit of peace and quiet now (until we get grandchildren of course and then we would love to introduce them to the thrills of camping!).

Im going to take advice of ppl and go near by first :)