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A little while ago we were given a family tent by some of my relatives who didn’t need it anymore, and we decided the August bank holiday weekend was the perfect length to try out camping for the first time as a family. We didn’t want to book anywhere longer than 2 nights, just in case the kids hated it!
Happily, the kids adored camping. We stayed at a beautiful campsite in Dorset called Snelling Farm Campsite, and had a wonderful few days exploring the area, visiting family friends, and enjoying some family time. I think the worst part about the whole weekend was the rain on the way down… it was dreadful weather for driving.
Lydia really enjoying “helping” to put the tent up and down; she was in charge of pegs and faithfully followed James around with handfuls of the things. Georgie disappeared off to play on one of the swings hanging off the trees, or the hay bales which sat in the middle of the field for kids to enjoy clambering around on.
The campsite was fairly basic, there were several toilet structures with compost toilets – these had solar lights which were not very bright, and Georgie was terrified of them as they were either too dark or (once she went in the daylight) she was scared of falling into the pit below the toilet! They didn’t smell though and were nicer than some of the toilets I’ve used while camping in the past! There was a shower block which was nice and clean – if a little tricky to wash a child in while trying to keep the button pressed to keep the water going! It was lovely and warm though, with decent pressure.
I was worried the girls wouldn’t sleep well because there was some loud music from a nearby village – fundraising village party one night, and a wedding the other night. The sound was a mile or so away but carried over the fields and seemed really loud in the evening, but the girls fell asleep really quickly both nights, and slept really well, all night long.
Because this was our first camping trip and we didn’t know if it was going to be a success or not, we didn’t want to spend a lot of money on equipment in case we never used it again! Instead of sleeping bags, we just took two double air beds, and then took all of our duvets and pillows from home. The girls were quite happy to top & tail on a double bed with their bedding, toys and blankets all sharing the space haphazardly, and James and I were quite comfortable in our compartment too.
We had a camp kitchen given to us as well, so we set that up and then just used a small gas burner to boil water for coffee, and mostly ate off the campsite. We had one evening meal at the campsite, with disposable BBQs, which was a definite success. Next trip the aim will be to cook something properly!
We have already started to buy a little more equipment for our next trip – I’m going to be keeping an eye out for bits we might need on sale. I don’t think we will go again this year as we don’t want to put the kids off by going when it will be much colder, but fingers crossed we will get a few good trips in next spring and summer.
I still maintain that camping isn’t for me but it looks like you had fun x