Planning a camping trip

It’s been a while but the kids have been hounding you to take them camping. Worried you’ve lost your touch? Here are a few reminders on how to make the most of your trip.

First - Assess your camping equipment to make sure everything is in working order; you do not want to be starving out in the woods and then realise your stove stopped working when Thatcher was in office. Also, be frank with yourself about how your camping style might have changed since you last went out. Did you used to rough it by sleeping under the stars with little more than a blanket? Is that still your style or does that sound appalling at this stage of life?

Second – Lists are a campers best friend; make them and use them so that you’ll head out feeling confident that you’ve got everything from flashlights to an extra camera battery. No item or to-do is too small to put on the list. In fact, the more detailed the better.

Third - Be realistic about what you hope to do and experience whilst camping. If you set out in an overly ambitious fashion you may miss the best little quiet moments, like stories by the fire or that quiet cup of tea with little more than nature for company. Camping is as much about what you don’t do as what you do; the chance to leave the Internet and calls behind may take a bit of getting used to but you may be quite surprised what you find if you give yourself the chance to just sit and be.