April is well under way at the time of writing and it’s the time of year when the seasonal aisle in the supermarket is filled with outdoors things.
With that in mind, it’s time for me to recap on my absolute top 10 essentials for camping in style for 2 adults and a medium sized child.
So, without further ado – let’s go camping!
1. 5 metre Canvas Bell Tent
No hesitation. No regret. The single best purchase our household ever made for both camping and glamping, hands down. A 5 metre bell tent can be put up by ONE person. I kid you not. I’ve done it. Obviously it goes up faster with more. Inside is plenty of room, standing upright space and in the heat the sides can be rolled up if unzipped from the groundsheet.
It’s worth every penny, you should not need another.
5 metre Bell Tent from Life Under Canvas £529, Buy it here.
2. Yes, it’s a Toilet.
There’s no other way to say this without being clear. You still need to go to the toilet when you’re in a field, in the middle of nowhere, especially it seems at 3 a.m. at night in a designated dark sky area when you’re ten minutes walk away from the toilet block and yes, it’s raining. And if you don’t? One of the kids sure will.
This is sturdy to sit on with a wide base that prevents it rocking or tipping.
If you’re worried about being in charge of dealing with the, ah, shall we say, clean up after the event, don’t worry. These dual chamber portable loos can be flushed with plain water or with blue chemical toilet fluid. The waste goes down into the lower container and is sealed there with a double-sealed drain valve. There is generally no smell, other than that of the chemical fluid if you’ve used it. When it’s time to go home, find the right place to offload the contents. Most sites will have a place for chemical disposal or it can be flushed (carefully and in installments) down toilets. Again, if you’ve used chemical fluid, that’s the only smell that will remain. Rinse out both top and bottom parts when empty, before storage.
Another ‘once off’ purchase. I believe in sustainability and being able to re-use products!
Palm Springs Portable Toilet £39.99, Buy it here.
3. Toilet Tent
This one definitely is a no-brainer. If you’ve opted for a private loo, then having the toilet separate and private from your sleeping and eating areas is essential.
If you mash up 1 and 2 above, you get – a toilet tent!
This is a pop-up tent that also has optional guy lines in case you’re in a windy area. If you don’t peg it out, remember to weight it down for stability. Don’t forget the loo roll or hand hygiene.
Toilet Tent from Kampa £24.99, Buy it here.
4. Royal Umbria Sleeping Bag – Sleep tight and warm!
Sleeping bags are very individual choices. You might prefer a mummy bag that narrows towards the feet and has a snug hood. Or you might like to just transplant several duvets from home and disappear under them. Here’s an option that cuts the difference between the two: a really striking and luxurious caravan style sleeping bag.
This option is available in blue and burgundy, and two bags can be zipped together to make a double.
Royal Umbria Sleeping Bag £33.89 Buy it here.
5. Intex Double Height Queen Airbed – Get off the ground
a) my body was not that of a lithe teenager anymore
b) cold and damp rises from the ground particularly at night, even with a groundsheet
c) expecting the small child to spend the whole night in her own bed while camping was folly
Get up off the ground while you sleep. In the morning your hips, knees, back and sanity will thank you. I’ve never had any dramatic failures with air mattresses, apart from the very thin ones. Air mattresses will seem to deflate a little bit in the night. It doesn’t mean you’ve got a leak, it’s just the air pressure changing in the temperature. Don’t let the kids jump on it. For that matter, don’t jump on it yourself either.
Do not buy an air mattress with a built in pump. These often have 3 pin plugs designed to be used in the house. This is the exact same version I currently use and I purchased mine in 2009. Get the queen size. You’ve got loads of room for it in the 5 metre bell tent and it will take 2 adults and at least 1 cheeky child sneaking in during the night with ease.
Don’t forget to get enough for the whole family!
Intex Deluxe Rest Queen Air Bed £34.05, Buy it here.
6. Do not skimp on the air pump
You’ve made it to item 6 on my glamping essentials list. Over half way and you’ve gotten past the enormous canvas bell tent, the private toilet tent and toilet, and the sumptuous sleeping suggestions. At this point I beg of you not to fade out on me and get anything other than a great air pump for that double height queen size inflatable air mattress. Again, feel my pain and learn from my mistakes.
You do NOT want to spend an afternoon trying to get it inflated with a foot pump or, for that matter, praying that you have enough D size batteries to make it with the battery powered pump.
Just skip to the end and buy one of these helpful creations. It will run from the cigarette lighter socket, sorry, the 9v power outlet in your car. It is worth taking the time to inflate the mattress at the car and then carrying the mattress to the tent. It is worth it a hundred times over.
Dual Powered Camping Air Pump £19.75, Buy it here.
7. RayGar Vacuum Bags – Squash it in…
Did I tell you not to skimp on the air pump? Good. Here’s another reason why.
I don’t have neat folding or inflatable camping pillows. I take the lovely pillows from home. I don’t have the latest microscopic camping towels that can suck up a lake with just 2 square inches. I take the big fluffy ones from the house.
I don’t have sleeping bag liners. I take the queen size summer weight duvet from the guest bed to go on top of our sleeping bags for extra layers, or underneath them for extra comfort when it’s hot.
Why do I do this? There are two reasons. The first is that I like to camp in comfort, and these things add to my sense of comfort and well-being when I’m living out of a 5 metre canvas bell tent for a few nights. The second is around a more ephemeral sense of sustainability, and purchasing what I need just a little bit more than what the adverts think I could want.
Mostly, I like my own pillows.
Duvets pack well by folding them and laying them flat on the back seat of the car. Pillows are easily packed around passengers, particularly the child so that she can sleep in comfort during the trip. Or, you can get some of these vacuum storage bags and squash everything down even smaller. Watching them deflate is one of the minor delights of being an adult. No, seriously. Try it.
This is the important part. I can’t know which air pump you’ll end up with, nor which vacuum bags. As soon as you own both, TEST them together to make sure the adaptors on the air pump fit over the suction valve on the vacuum bags.
Pack of 6 Vac Bags £7.99 by RayGar, Buy it here.
8. Kampa Easy In/Out Camp Chair – Sit down and take the weight off
Much like sleeping on the ground seems like more fun than it actually ever is, sitting on the ground is fun when it’s dry and clean and warm and your knee isn’t playing up.
Take some chairs.
The number and variety of camping chairs is delightfully bewildering. Choose whatever takes your fancy. I particularly like this type the best. It folds, it’s sturdy, and best of all it doesn’t topple forwards when you put your hands on the arms to push yourself upright. You don’t need a can shaped holder attached to your chair more than you need this stability, trust me.
Kampa Easy In/Out Camp Chair £23.00, Buy it here.
9. Royal Easy Up Camping Kitchen
Every single camping trip I have ever been on, we have never used a table as a table. The folding table has always, continually and without fail, been used to coddle along whatever stove we’re cooking on this time around, and for food preparation.
No one has ever eaten at a table while camping except once, and that was for a live role play in character event so it frankly doesn’t count. Everyone eats off their knees, or laying in the grass on a blanket, or in bed, or huddled inside the fly of the tent because it’s tipping rain outside.
What you need is a cooking table with a windbreak and somewhere to contain the food rather than having it strewn around in carrier bags.
What you need is one of these.
Royal Easy Up Camping Kitchen £53.24, Buy it here.
To go with it, grab one of these durable single ring gas stoves at £20.15 which you can Buy here.
10. RAC Heavy Duty Lantern
Nice and simple. You need to be able to see.
Take whatever it is that you fancy. Solar lights, oil lanterns on poles, glowsticks, battery powered nightlight, things that glow in the dark, things that wind up; go ahead and knock yourself out.
And then take one of these. A heavy duty lantern. Make sure it is fully charged and tested before you set out. Make sure it is with you in the car and know where to put your hands on it in camp.
This is the thing that will be there for those 3 a.m. trips to your private toilet tent, for when no one can find the matches and the sun hasn’t come out to charge the solar lights and the wind up dynamo has wound down in five seconds, for when you really need to be able to read the fine print on the medicine packet in the firelight or when you arrive late thanks to motorway traffic and need to pitch your tent in the rapidly fading twilight.
RAC Heavy Duty Lantern £9.99, Buy it here.
And there it is. My 10 essentials. I don’t glamp without them, unless I’m staying in alternative accommodation so I don’t need to pitch the canvas.
Go. Reflect. Consider. Then get outdoors and enjoy!
Disclosure: This is not a sponsored article in any way, but the links included are affiliate links, so if you buy something on my recommendation I get a small percentage of the sale back.
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