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16/9/2014 at 12:24pm
Location: None Entered
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Joined: 16/9/2014 Standard Member
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Hi,
So, as a family, we're newbies to camping - I've done some wild bivvying a fair few times - and more than one occasion I've woken up with a frost covered sleeping bag!
But as a family (2 adults, 13YO and 8YO), comfy camping is new to us, and I could use some advice....
I bought a 2nd hand, hardly used Outwell Hartford XL for a bargain price - plenty of room, and the kids get their own bedrooms. We're using it for the first time next weekend - but this will be a fairly soft trial, as we're just staying in a friends field, at the top of a beach in Cornwall, right next to their house, so no need for cooking or even chairs to sit on at this stage, but I need to collect some kit for future use...
so....
1) Sleeping - I can sleep on a concrete slab with 6 inch nails sticking out of it, but my wife needs a few more comforts. I was thinking airbed, with a couple of blankets before sheet and either thick sleeping bag or winter duvet (one comfort I do like is to be able to sleep star-fish style), but I have been reading about SIMs - are these really as comfy as an airbed, given they are a fraction of the thickness? Neither of us are heavyweight (I'm about 90KG, she's about 60KG).
2) Carpet - plenty of cheap s/h ones about, but are they a real neccisity or merely a luxury? thinking about getting it all in the boot of the car too....
3) Commercial campsites - I've never stayed on one. If I'm walking (usually Dartmoor) I just pitch either a one man tent, or use a sheet as a bivvy, and sleep miles from anyone else - usually on my own. Wild toilets and maybe a splash in a stream for a wash. Sterilising tabs for water. What's it like being on a commercial site? is privacy lacking? Will I be able to hear every snorer for miles? What's the 2am walk to the loo like?
4) Tranport - again, if I'm camping on my own, everything I take has to fit in my rucksack, but looking at some of the pictures and comments here, you guys take quite a lot of kit! I've got a large saloon car. The tent takes up about a third of the boot. It has no option of fitting a roof rack, so I need to be fairly compact - what on earth do you guys do?
Anyway, thanks in advance!
Rob
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16/9/2014 at 2:00pm
Location: London
Outfit: Outwell Bear Lake 4
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Joined: 21/7/2006 Silver Member 
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1. We made the transition from airbed to SIM and would not go back. It is pretty firm but we find it comfortable and it completely eliminates the bounce that you get when your partner turns over/gets up.
2. Carpet is definitely a luxury not a necessity. We use a picnic blanket in the "dressing room" part of our bedroom because it's nicer on the bare feet than a groundsheet, but we could live without it. It never occurred to us to get a living-area carpet, but we recently bought a tent secondhand and the carpet was thrown in as part of the deal. It is very cosy, but a bugger to keep clean of grass and dropped bits of food. Whereas before we could just have a quick whisk around with a dustpan and brush, it now takes a little more effort.
3. There are commercial sites and commercial sites. Use the campsite search feature on this site and read the reviews. We tend to stay in small, privately-run sites rather than the all-singing, all-dancing holiday parks, and generally they're pretty quiet.
4. If all you want to keep cool is milk, a collapsible bucket/bowl filled with water might suffice, but as you said, a coolbox can be used to carry whatever food you're taking with you in the car anyway. Most campsites will have some sort of ice block freezing facility, although some charge for this. Getting everything into our car is a constant struggle between "we want this gadget!" and "the car is not an expandable space". I like to think we take the minimum we can get away with to ensure a comfortable experience (table, chairs, stoves, etc) and yet fitting it all in the car is like a fiendishly difficult 3-d jigsaw puzzle.
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16/9/2014 at 2:02pm
Location: Devizes Wiltshire
Outfit: MWB VW Crafter PVC
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1) Get the thickest SIM one can afford if one is going to use it on the ground without a camp bed.
I can get a good night's sleep on my 7.5cm Therm-a-rest Luxury Map XL without the camp bed, however, I prefer to be higher off the ground as I have a dodgy knee.
2) A carpet in the living or sleeping area definitely makes a big difference in the cosiness of the set up.
3) I am a member of the C&CC and stay only at the club sites, however, I also stay at other non C&CC sites with good facilities and 24/7 warden on site.
To avoid having to walk to the facilities block when the weather is foul, I would use a Kampa Khazi portable toilet instead (strictly for No. 1s only).
One can always request to be close to the facilities block at time of booking, and the sites would normally oblige if book sufficiently in advance.
As for noise, I go prepared and bring my own ear-plugs. However, I have never been bothered by other people's snoring. Usually I cannot hear them unless I walk pass their tents.
4) I have a trailer, upgraded from roof box when I bought my current tent due to increase in packed volume.
Good luck and welcome to UKCS.
DK 
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16/9/2014 at 10:00pm
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Joined: 07/9/2014 Standard Member
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Hi I'm a newbie too but have four camping trips this year. We have air beds but I think it's personal preference, I like to be higher off the ground.
We now have a carpet, have only used once but definitely makes the tent warmer and more cosy. Would definetly recommend one.
As for commercial sites, you have to choose wisely, they definetly cram you in like sardines over the summer holidays but most have EHU and everything you need. It depends on what you want to do, we've been to a site this year that is part of a main site but it's three fields added on to the edge of the main site and is classed as a different site with a separate name so you get the quiet and more space but you have all the use of the main park facilities which was a bit of a walk but no EHU. I find it depends on what you want to do, if we take our son we tend to go somewhere that has a pool and stuff to do if the weather is bad but if we go on our own we tend to go for more quieter sites. We have just come back from a weekend trying out our new porch and I have never heard anyone snore so loud as the bloke in the tent behind us, and it was all night loud snoring too!! Your going to get people snoring whether on a commercial site or not, if your a light sleeper like I am take ear plugs. I was woken up at 6am by a seagull bouncing around on the tent roof, another downside to commercial sites - there's always loads of seagulls!!
At the moment we are just about getting all the stuff in my megane, that's tent, porch, carpet, footprint, air beds, windbreaks, chairs and two tables, cooker, bedding etc etc, mainly just essential items but we are on the verge of bursting so we are going to invest in a Nissan Navara for my partner to use as an everyday car and then we can fill the back up with camping gear! This does mean we can take a few more luxuries with us.
We always take head torches for the night loo trip and an umbrella, I made the mistake of not having a brollie and had to do a very early morning loo trip with my son and it was pouring down, we both had very wet pyjamas by the time we got back to the tent, I've never made that mistake again!!
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17/9/2014 at 7:09am
Location: wirral
Outfit: Outwell Nevada m Vango sigma 300
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Sims v airbeds, that's a personal thing. I prefer airbeds, many people can't get on with them. During the colder months, it will be like sleeping on a block of cold air. Then you have to take loads of bedding to insulate the bed.
Having picnic rugs or a dedicated carpet, makes a different underfoot, plus it will give some protection to the SIG.
If worried about dirt coming into the tent, then a small ground sheets or doormats in the doorway, where you take footwear off and leave, having no footwear in tent, helps to keep it cleaner.
All this stuff alone takes up room. Sims and decent sleeping bags, may help cut down on bulk.
Space saving equipment is certainly the way to go, which will double up. Like a box to keep crockery, cutlery in, used go transport it all to the sink for washing, nest of pans, you all won't need chairs, my son mainly lay on the floor or bed to play games or out playing.
You can get the fold down storage or pop up bins to sore shoes or keep toys in one place. Or anything else you can think off. Milk can be kept cool in a bowl or pan of water.
Different campsites to suit every taste, from all sing and dancing, down to basic sites, and basic does not always equates standards nor does price.
Remember the closer you are to the facilities_ the more foot traffic there is. There are sites which offer seclusion.
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Topic: Newbie....
