Too camp

[duckers26]

My OH has expressed a desire to spend the night in a soggy field so we need to buy a tent. There is just the two of us but we would like a separate living area and a spare sleeping bit to store stuff in. Oh and if it can also be light inside, easy to put up, small enough to fit in the boot of a Golf and under £200 that would be great! Also what else will we need for a basic set up? I have a list with airbeds, sleeping bags, stove, heater and BBQ on it - anything obvious missing?

Are there any recommendations for a good site? We are based in Essex and only going for the weekend so not too far please!

[leothetiler]

Have a look at this website, should have everything you need.

http://www.worldofcamping.co.uk/

[tenohfive]

Tent wise I've just bought a Gelert Horizon 6. Cracking tent. My (not very strong) OH and I put it up in pouring rain in The Lakes. It has a 3 man sleeping compartment at either end with a decent sized living area in the middle. Personally I left the second sleeping compartment out so that we'd have a big living/cooking/storage area, and for better ventilation - room to prepare food and eat (around a table) 5 adults.

I was well impressed with it and am planning the next camping trip now. Amazon selling for £179.99:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gelert-Horizon-Person-Tent...

If you haven't already, a couple of small camping tables will come in handy - we used one for food preparation, and one for a dining table:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gelert-Low-Table-Green/dp/...

As for location, I've heard The Chilterns can be a good option but haven't been myself yet. www.ukcampsite.co.uk has a pretty good review section though.

[mgroadster]

Not off to the VW jobby at Santa Pod are you?

[Roger645]

Do a search here for campsites:

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/

[tenohfive]

On the kit front, here are a few things to consider:

Mallet, spare tent pegs and tent peg remover
Electric lanterns & torches (lanterns are handy for hanging inside the tent)
Antibacterial hand wash
Lightweight plates (we used enamel plates and cups from a pound shop)
Camping kettle and mess tins (worked better than frying pans I found)
25L water container (preferably with tap)
Windproof lighter
Paracord (you can never take too much paracord)
A first aid kit with the usual bandages plus antihistamines, ibuprofen, aftersun etc
Duck tape (for the missus. Silence is golden - duck tape is silver.) Or for just general repair jobs.

[Melman Giraffe]

Out of interest what is - Paracord?

[budgie smuggler]

Don't forget to take some fold out chairs.

Also blindfold sleeping masks (like the ones you get for air travel) and possibly ear plugs depending on how noisy the other campers/bd seagulls are!

[alfa pint]

Melman Giraffe said:

Out of interest what is - Paracord?

Parachute cord - very very very strong thin rope. The original stuff is white and only about 15 m long, but you can buy longer lengths that are more than sufficient from any army / navy surplus or good outdoors shop.

You must have a mate who's into camping - see how much stuff you can scrounge before splashing out on kit. None of it is expensive on its own, but collectively it soon mounts up.

[Cleckheatonlock]

Probably not the most heavy duty of all time but Halfords do the family tent set up for about £100

Bought one last year and took the daughter to the Dales for a few days. It threw it down but we had no issues.

4 man tent (2 x doubles with central area) 2 double air mattresses, 2 x LED lamps and 4 x sleeping bags (although they are not very heavy duty envelope ones) for about £100. Thought it was a decent outlay for a first foray with an eight year old

She has done nothing but natter about going back since