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Quote: Originally posted by JMGA on 20/6/2006

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Definitely invest in a trailer. It makes life alot easier. Also good for storage when you not using the camping equitment.

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We started with the car, then car with roof box...then car, with bike rack and roofbox... then car, roofbox, bike rack and trailer.  Now we have car, bike rack on roof, trailer with roof box on top... The problem with adding space is the OH fills it with new stuff before we've had a chance to work out how much extra space we actually have.

One point I am strict with is that no "hard" stuff gets put in the back with the kids as these items become missiles if you have an accident 

It`s going to cost me several hundred pounds to have the three foot garden gate in the high stone wall that surrounds my back garden turned into a gate wide enough to let the trailer tent pass through. Not everyone has a garden, or indeed several hundred pounds. People that live in flats may not have room to store roof boxes. People may not be able to afford to buy trailers or roofboxes on top of the not inconsiderable cost of basic camping kit for a family.

Lets not give people the impression that you can`t go camping unless you have a trailer/roof box/huge car and tons of kit, eh folks? I should think it`s quite offputting to a newbie family in some cases.

We started off with everything in the car (and even the car was borrowed from a friend!) and had such a fab time that, in our (sometimes misguided) enthusiasm things have just snowballed a bit over the years. We still take just the car for weekends and don't feel compromised, but just like taking a few more luxuries for longer trips and, to be honest, packing it all is part of the allure of camping as well!

It's what you want it to be; not better or worse according to what you take with you.