Campers...what sort are you?

I'm an inbetween. I'm also just doing a list for our camping trip this weekend (please rain stop!!).

I like an air bed and I'm not bothered about electric in the tent but the campsite I go to has plugs in the facilities so I can take my hairdryer and look a little less like a witch.

I like all luxuries except the electric hook up. Well, actually I'd probably like the electric too but that seems to defeat the object.

In between. No electric hookup but need a reasonable shower block (with power or hair dryers). Airbed and sleeping bag - just because they pack smaller than a duvet. We take table and chairs but no cooking stuff. There are just two of us and we manage to fill the car!

The campsite we're looking at is £2 extra a night for electric. I don't think we have any need for it though...although saying that I'm not sure what I'll do if my camera battery runs out. I think we had a plug changer thing that you put in the car, or I might look for one of those.

I like having electric hook-up but can cope ok without it. We always take airbeds to sleep on though, but with sleeping bags.

We take a table & chairs (the camping chairs in bags).

Last time we went we had a little gas stove & a gas trangia to cook on.

The car is uaually full when we go but we do have a HUGE 3 bedroomed tent, and 2 children!

H really can't cope without electric gadgets though, so usually takes his laptop so we can watch programmes/films he's downloaded.

We went camping last week. We took an inflatable mattress and pillows, but had individual sleeping bags (next time we’ll take a sheet to try and absorb some of the night-time condensation, ick). No electrical hook-ups for us, but we have a 2 ring cooker with a grill. We used disposable barbecues for 2 nights. We have camping chairs, but also had a table just because a friend offered to lend it to us.

Krissi, I have our list if you are interested. It needs updating with extra things that we found would have been useful, but then it’ll be ready. Just send me a PM if you want.

I've just found our list from last time we went and am currently adding to it but thanks anyway. There were a couple of things last time we could have done with and also done without.

Minimalist camper here - but that's usually because we're on the motorbikes and have major space constraints! We still manage to pack everything we need, even if it is a minature version. And you become very inventive when you are trying to cook dinner for two on a single burner stove!

I'm taking things off our list! We've got a bigger car but I'm trying to pack as light as possible.

Long weekend on the contents of my pockets, more than once.

I do have more than the average number of pockets though.

You have one of those flasher macs with about 50 inside pockets don't you?

I put a blanket and then a sheet over the airbed to avoid this.

We used to take a tent, sleeping bag and beer and that would be us happy, however we've just done our first trip avec bebe and we practically packed the kitchen sink! It was a fab week though, we went to the most wonderful campsite in Normandy.

https://www.chateau-martragny.com/specific/formats/index.jsp?lang=EN

Used to be quite basic, camping mats, sleeping bags, one burner alpine stove, just a field with a tap, tiny 2 person tent.

Now I tend to go for air mattress and duvet if it will fit in the car but am still happy with the rest of the basics as above. If it is only for a weekend we'd probably still go for mats over an airbed. Oh and we have a bigger tent but we have a 16month old so no way she'd fit with us in our 2 person mountain tent. I also quite like taking the folding chairs it they'll fit too but still consider that a luxury, not an essential.

Generally we go minimal - don't bother with a campsite if we don't have to either!! We can fit all camping gear in one bag and all climbing gear in another and just start wandering for a few days!

We don't always go minimal though - have butchered a piece of foam to fit in the back on the car - if we put the back seats down it fits into the grooves to make it flat and is almost the same size as a double bed, bar the wheel arches (which is where the cats would be if we were at home anyway!!).

Foo...did you take a travel cot with you? We have one but it's quite large, however I'm worried that if we don't take it C will be everywhere trying to get out in the night!

We always go for the most basic campsites - they're cheaper and we wouldn't use any of the extras on the flashy campsites, which tend to be full of screaming children.

I always take a cooker, and a duvet as H doesn't really fit in sleeping bags. We've got a camper van now though, but it's just basics - bed, box for food/ drink and cooker.

Not Foo but we didn't, LO is 18 mths and we went a month ago and just let him sleep in the airbed with us, he didn't try to escape (that time anyway!!)

We did take one - that tent has two bedrooms divided by a partition so we took the partition down and there was loads of room for the cot and us on an airbed. He slept like a log the whole week, far better than at home! Also it worked out well as we used it as a playpen when we were cooking so he wasn't under our feet.

I would definitely recommend the travel cot as a playpen/prison! It keeps them happy, and gives you a chance to sit down or sort things out, at the very least!

I like camping in France. We've never had electricity as IMHO you can manage quite easily without it. We do have an airbed and use a double sleeping bag (I always get cold!) From experience, camping in France is a much more comfortable experience. The french themselves seem to bring everything with them. Although a lot tend to stay the whole summer!

I've only ever camped for a weekend in the UK (bar guide camps and festivals) and I didn't enjoy it all. The grass was too long, there was one toilet, and we were in the arse end of nowhere (Llanberis) It also rained, a lot, which although not the campsites fault, made it a miserable weekend for me!

Thanks ? If it will squish into the car I'll take it. As I just bet it rains when we camp so I won't be able to just leave her to play outside when I cook.

We've got 3 bedrooms in the tent so I'm getting another double bed to go into one so the big children can sleep in the same room (fingers crossed!), C can go in another in the cot and we get the other one. I tried fitting two single blow up beds in one bedroom but they don't quite fit which is a shame.

We've only camped in England/Wales about 5 times I think and every single time it's rained at least once! Usually some heavy rain and then the sticky drizzle. I think we might take the tent next time we go to France and then we can go further afield from my parents house.

If I have to rough it camp then I like as much luxuries as poss! So yes to the airbed, duvet, electric hookup (although it was OK without it but I prefer having it). Our car was absolutely stuffed to the rafters when we went this year, God knows how we will ever manage it in future with 2 children ?

Oh - and yes we did still take a travel cot for Matthew this year. He won't sleep anywhere but a cot yet, despite being over 2 now ? and also we were worried about him escaping. Of course next year he'll have to have a bed of some description as his baby brother or sister will have the travel cot. If we go next year, I can't quite get my head round having to faff around dealing with baby bottles while camping!

If I was taking bottles I'd cold sterilise everything. So a bucket and lid in the corner with some water and milton in.

One of my neighbours went camping a couple of years ago. Her list of essentials included:

electric hook up
straighteners
wardrobe and coathangers
inflatable sofa
2 gazebos - one for a kitchen, one for a dining room
pop up inflatable bed - like this:

for some reason she didn't really enjoy the experience, and has refused to go again...

A wardrobe! The mind boggles ?

My friend has just gone camping with husband and three kids and took:-

electric fridge, Telly, DVD player, Cooker with oven and the Wii. It's not camping it's called moving!

However, we have gone from one extreme to the other. We've been camping for five years and moved from minimal to electric hook up and are now buying a tent with a carpet! We have spent too much time in the tent in crap weather that we want a bit of space and luxury. It's all ready to go at a moments notice..

I love camping.

We have a thermarest each (warmer and slightly more comfortable than a karrimat & folds up v small) and our own decent sleeping bags. We have a little gas stove & camping chairs & that's about it. I've never had electricity when camping. TBH it would never occur to me to need it. We tend to go to camp sites where you can have real fires. And the more basic the better. That said, I could only go a maximum of 3 days without a shower!

I know I am not a 'real' camper.....

I don't worry about the electricity thing, or duvet/blow up bed etc etc.... but I HATE the whole camping cooking thing and would much prefer to spend my evenings eating and drinking in the pub!

It depends on whether it's just us, or if we go in a group.

The basic kit is a decent sized tent (4 man I think), blow up mattress, quilt and pillows (we don't do sleeping bags), blankets, trangia, wellies, picnic set (plates, cutlery, etc), cool bag, washing up bowl and stuff, a couple of chairs, a plastic backed picnic rug, head lamps, a table lamp, and a fold up table

if we're going for more than a night and it's just us two we also take a 3x3 gazebo, 4-5 windbreaks, a case of that blue and green privacy netting stuff, a plastic woven rug, loads of candles, a big bag of market clips, and a chiminea with fuel

if there's a group of us we take all of the above (except the 3x3 gazebo and the netting), plus a couple more chairs, a couple more rugs, and a 3x6 gazebo with side walls

Camping cooking is an experience! Especially with extras in the form of bits of grass and bugs ?

All I need in a campsite is somewhere flat, not likely to flood, water pipe and a toilet. ?

?... think I have too much a fond memory of freshly caught fish and chips and many bottles of Fentimans Old Fashioned Lemonade with a shot of lemon vodka in.... from a very nice pub in Norfolk.... and the downside of being hungover at V Festival and waking up to lots of bacon and sausages being cooked on gas stoves!