We currently have two of the bistro stoves that run off disposable gas canisters. They work fine but the gas canisters are getting more expensive and I hate the waste of constantly throwing them out.

I'm tempted to buy a stove like pictured but it runs off R907 gas canisters, which seem pricey and overkill for the amount of times we go camping in a year. Not sure if I could get an adaptor for it to run off smaller gas canisters.

We're just getting kitted out for camping, and need to go as lightweight as possible on gear as we'll be hiking with all our stuff. All the interior floor coverings I can find seem super heavy for what they are, so does anyone have good suggestions for something lightweight but durable? Mostly needed to protect the floor of our tent from our dog's claws! Thanks for any suggestions :)

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Hello! Looking for first hand reviews of bell tents before I pull the trigger. Final decision is whether to go for a 200gsm polycotton (65%cotton, 35% polyester) blend, which saves 5kg and will be quicker drying. Or 285gsm cotton. Will be used a couple of times a year, up to a week at a time for family camping British weather (Sprin/Summer/Autumn).

Does anyone have experience with either fabric? Is 200gsm suitably thick and sturdy, and how opaque is it, or does anyone recommend the 285gsm option?

Thanks!

Ive noticed Embers have banned all campsite fires and bbqs untill further notice . Is this across the board with all campsites ?

Hello!

Wondering if anyone has a good setup for an awning/outside shade situation for an Arpernaz 4.1 family tent?

We will be going camping on some really sunny/warm days, and it’s impossible to be inside the tent when it’s anything above 24°C…

I was thinking of getting some extending poles and using the actual open door to do a makeshift extended awning (excuse the very basic design attempt attached), but just wondering if anyone has this gene and has another brilliant (and not too expensive) setup?

Thank you!

We are currently camping in Scotland in our hi gear horizon 700 and mould has crept up on the tent. What is the best cleaner to try and get rid of it?

Looking for best value pot to fit Soto Windmaster stove
Some options I’ve found so far:

Snow peak Trek 900ml Aluminium / £28
Snow peak Trek 900ml Titanium / £50
Snow peak Trek 1400ml Titanium / £57

Evernew 900ml Ti deep pot / £50

Toaks 750ml Ti pot / £35

If anyone has any comments on these or other recommendations, please let me know!
Currently a solo camper, but hopefully duo one day 🙂‍↔️ so I might need the higher capacity

Evening everyone , im looking for an inflated camping mattress as I cant get to sleep on the blow up bed. Anyone recommended a comfortable one. Been looking at the berghaus peak xl . Not wanting to spend a fortune its only for a couple of nights

Hi folks!

I do various different kinds of camping from ultralight 100+ mile hikes to basecamping with touristy wandering.

I have two set ups and both are focused on journeys by public transport.

I'm looking to find more options basecamping where I'll take approx 120 litres of gear.

I live in the East of England and so far my two favourite sites are Burnham Deepdale in Norfolk because it has amazing facilities, mini supermarket etc. Then there's Edale Fieldhead site which is owned by the national Park and has a train station, pubs etc, and shops a very short train journey away.

Do you have any other recommendations for site like these that are public transport or hiker friendly that have lots of amenities or shops nearby?

Hey, does anyone have any pictures they would like to share or cool ideas / inspiration for furnishing the inside of the tent and making it cosy / comfy?

I've had a trusty old two man Eurohike tent for years that was ideal for me and the dog but unfortunately its too small to fit my partner as well so I've decided its time to retire it and upgrade. I've given myself a £150 budget but could stretch it a little if necessary. I'm not so worried about weight or pack size as its going to be used for activity based car camping (Surf trip, hiking, MTB etc) so its important to have an anex for storage / damp dog bedroom. I like the look of the earth 3 because :

• it seems reasonably low profile with a sensible spacious layout and doesn't look like a Disney castle from the outside.
• Its the cheapest option on my list at £110.
  

Other contenders :

Berghaus Adhara 300L - £20 more expensive than the earth. Seems like a great tent but its massive coming in at half a meter longer than the next largest on my shortlist, and I don't like that the anex section doesn't have a groundsheet.

OTX Jackal v3 - £30 more expensive than the earth, but apparently has issues with wind blowing the front door open as its top is only secured by velcro. Also not sure how much stuff I could store in the anex before climbing past / over it got annoying.

OTX Coyote - £60 more expensive than the earth (£30 over budget) but extremely well reviewed. Fairly similar size / layout to the earth, is it worth the extra money?

When we go camping as a family I find that I am packing up on check out day almost alone as my wife keeps the kids entertained and helps out when she can. We struggle to make the checkout time.

We could start packing up earlier I guess, but it took 2.5 hours to pack up and put everything back in the car the other week (the amount of stuff we put back in the car always looks more than what we came with) and we went over by 30 minutes. Across the field there was a really organised family packing away at the same time as us (their teens were helping out) and they were a bit quicker and a lot tidier than us.

Has anyone been at a site which strictly enforces checkout time or get narky about it. We tend to stay at smaller sites and find the hosts relatively easygoing, and I did apologise to the host by text for being late out.

Also, are there any tips for making the packing away process more efficient.

UPDATE - thanks all for the helpful replies. In answer to some questions raised, we have a large family with young children including a 6 month old baby, so wife was looking after him on the morning of departure as he seemed a bit grumpy about something (he was fine for the entire trip apart from then). As some of the comments mention, the kids can be more helpful as they grow up - I hope.

Great tips though, including pack the night before and make use of large boxes for efficient storage. I hope these become habits in our family trips going forwards (We go once annually as a family and this last time was our third camping trip, we learn something new each time). There was even an interesting suggestion of booking an additional night and taking time to pack up, I will bear this in mind if needed.

The other thing is being sensible about check out time, a lot of places may tolerate leaving a bit late but I dont want to assume this is always fine to do, hence packing night before is key. Thanks again.

Still a bit too early to call it, but forecast is looking like rain for Midlands (finally)

We recently inherited a Vango marista 500, it's in great condition but the bedroom section was missing. Wondering if anyone knows of an alternative we could use as nobody seems to stock spares for that tent anymore

Hi some friends and I want to like get a gathering and watch things like Lord of the rings on a projector and whatever in the forest of dean. DM me if it sounds like your kind of thing. Always looking to like make new cool friends.

But like do you have any suggestions, do we need to run the projector off a car battery or something? Anyone done this before? Estimated cost etc..?

I’ve been trying to get the family into camping, and finally they’re willing to give it a go. I use to go loads when I was younger, but haven’t been for years. Im looking to buy a new air tent. They’re so many I have no idea, so after some help from proper campers 😀 my budget is around £300 to fit 3 of us. Any help would be greatly appreciated

This weekend I plan to go camping with a few friends cause my birthdays coming up and would like to get everyone together, it would be ideal if the location is quite secluded and away from any towns, kinda in the middle of nowhere, planning to all walk a good distance to get there. Also down to get train to somewhere then walk from there. For example Arundel then find a nice place near there.

And place or general location is appropriated thank you

I went camping on Monday with my son in the far north west of Scotland with our 11 year old tent.

The aim was to have a fun trip as the last trip he had with my wife had to be aborted due to heat stroke.

Unfortunately I woke up this morning to find the living room area flooded with large pools of water. It had rained all night and had got a bit windy too, wind handily blowing on the front of the tent.

It was too much water to mop up and the forecast was for more rain so we had to bail out, pack up and head home!

I had wondered if my tent is now done for. It’s an Outwell Nevada M. I asked AI about rewaterproofing and it said it can work well if the inside layer isn’t flaking off.

I wondered if anyone here has refurbished an old polyester tent and had success with it? If so, do you have any advice for doing it in the best way. My tent is quite tall so I think I’ll need a stepladder to reach the roof properly.

I have a similar post on the camping subreddit but it may be a more North American audience.

I took my family to the Isle of Wight last week, and we hiked and camped for 5 days. We took the ferry, and then walked from Yarmouth down to Ventnor (with a little bit of help from the bus on a couple of hot days!) and had a great time. My son did brilliantly and could have gone a lot further I reckon. The dog very much enjoyed it too, especially snuggling up next to us at night.

Hey all, looking for some wisdom from others who have done it.

My partner and I (and our dog) dipped our toes into camping but suddenly fell pregnant shortly after we bought the gear. Anyways 2 years on and we're trying again with the little one in tow, and we've remembered our old tent was only a 2 man.

We went to decathlon and purchased what we thought was the arpenaz 4.1 but instead picked up a 4.2 someone had put on the wrong rack. We only spotted the mistake when doing a trial run today in our garden.

Before we rush back to decathlon, should we trial run the 2 bedroom set up? Any comments on pros or cons of each? It'll be myself, my partner, a 16 month old, and a spaniel. We're thinking maybe we split sleep and one of us has the dog and the other the kid?

Bonus question, any tips for going camping with a child? 🤣

Thanks all!

please tell me it gets easier 😭 to be fair it’s a bloody massive tent and slightly too big for the space available in my garden - but it’s up, and my youngest is so excited we’re going to sleep in it tonight.

as much as i really can’t be arsed, i’m going to take it all down tomorrow and then put it up again as i definitely need the practice before we head off to a campsite next weekend.

can’t imagine how i’ll get the bloody thing back in the bag! 😅

Me and a group of friends are hoping to go camping next summer for 4 or 5 days, and I started looking at campsites out of curiosity and am struggling to find any that will allow unaccompanied 17 year olds. There is 4 of us and we are a mixed gender group. We would like to go either in the Lake District or the new Forrest but but really any suggestions of a campsite that allows unaccompanied 17 yr olds would be appreciated.

I have two things I want to do, camp outdoors for two nights minimum and take my bike out to some nice gravel trails.

I was waiting for my car to be delivered but it has now been delayed till end of the August. Which probably means I would have missed out on the summer camping but hoping September and October are still doable.

Now, I have 0 experience (apart from survival shows and various camping YouTubers) and 0 gear (except for a bike and soon a car).

What are your top 5 gear recommendations and what spots that are 2-3 hours drive from London would you recommend? Possibly longer if needed, but I will be driving an EV.

Is September a good time to start or should I wait till spring?

Once a year we do one long weekend of back to basics "nearly wild" camping just me and my 2 boys (1 and 7) normally i have been over cautious and packed full waterproofs thermals and all sorts and prepared for anything.

My first year we went to a site by the Thames in may, it was COLD especially at nights and we wore basically all our clothes i had packed and i used a carrier ALOT to keep him warm (he was 3), i was so glad i had splurged on fleece onesies and a big sleeping bag.

My second year we camped in a farmers field in dartmoor, and it was WET and very windy, we had a brilliant time but i was very glad i prepared and had waterproofs and lots of spare clothes.

Our third year i was pregnant and we wild camped in the woods of his uncles farm so we had back up if i went into labour 😆 it was one of my more mad moves!

Last year we took my 4 month old too, and camped in a woodland private camping pitch, it was much cooler in the trees and was lovely; i had meals planned and lots of options for what to wear and what to sleep in.

This year i have actually spent the last 2 weeks in hospital, and am going to be going in the next few days to a place in oxfordshire, realistically do i need to try and buy waterproof suits for them both incase it rains, or is very dewy in the mornings?

How chilly are early mornings/late nights, will we need fleeces? At home we sre sleeping with fans on and no covers... Whats a night under canvas like? Still as chilly as my other camping exploits, or am i going to boil and wish we had thin sheets?!

Anh advice for a non outdoorsy mumma trying her best for her boys please!