Who thought camping was a good idea?
Our favourite family friendly campsites.
"It always rains on tents. Rainstorms will travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds for the opportunity to rain on a tent."
Dave Barry.
Hello lovelies,
Happy summer holidays to you and of course we have been treated to a banging weekend to kickstart the hols, with back to back rain and grey skies. Perfect.
I am sorry to report, that we are going camping next weekend so therefore I predict another week of rain and possibly wind, until we return home.
In all seriousness, it was my idea to go camping but my husband seemed pretty enthusiastic. We have been camping a number of times with two children but this will be our first trip with three (our youngest is two). We haven’t upgraded our tent so we will be cosying it up in our four man tent, playing rounds of Uno Flip and Go Fish (our new favourite holiday games).
But we have back up. My brother and sister in law are coming with us so we can all be soggy beans together.
Without sounding obvious, we are heading to the Lake District - our second home. It is a two and a half hour drive from our home in Northumberland, so enough to feel like we are getting away but close enough for short breaks. In fact, we often do a trip to the Lakes just for a day: climb a mountain and have tea then come home. This time we are busy planning our meals and walks with the promise of three whole days to hopefully unwind and go off grid a bit. Bliss.
So if you are planning a camping trip, or are teetering on the verge of booking one, here are my top tips for camping with children:
Pack plenty of layers and spare socks for when the temperature drops at night or someone lands in a puddle.
Take a football, frisbee etc for outdoor games to be played by the tent and a few easy to travel board games for when you are stuck inside the tent 🌧
Remember to pack a torch in case someone needs a wee in the middle of the night. Also, my kids don’t really like the dark so I think we shall be packing our small camping lantern to help them fall asleep…
Snacks, snacks and more snacks. I find eating out to be our biggest spend at the moment, so when we go camping I plan to take as much food and drinks of our own as possible.
Research your campsite properly. I know the thought of going completely off-grid and roughing it can sound appealing. What I like to call “proper camping”. But let’s be real: you are going to want toilets and a shower block when camping with children. The site we are staying on also has a play ground, bar and restaurant and a small shop. Everything we could need is on site. It just helps take some of the stress away when travelling with young children.
And on that note, here are a few of our favourite family friendly campsites:
Waren Mill Caravan and Camping - near Bamburgh
Springhill Farm - Seahouses
Cresswell Towers (Parkdean Resorts)
And in the Lakes…
Parkfoot Holiday Park - Ullswater
Castlerigg Farm Campsite - Keswick
Charlie’s first camping trip - eight years ago.
Right, I am off now to plan my week of work (and play) while testing out the new airbeds we had to purchase for the camping trip. Shall update you once we are home…
Have a good week x
Hope you enjoy the break Beth and fingers crossed the weather is good for you. I recall many holidays in the Lakes as a youngster but we were 'up market' in a static caravan. I recall many nights listening to the pitter patter of rain on the roof. I'm afraid when it comes to camping I hold the opinion that if I wanted to sleep under canvas I'd have joined the army 😉
Thanks for these tips, we have our first camping trip booked for the end of the summer holidays so I’ll be coming back to this x