The Summer Holidays are the perfect time for a camping holiday away
Looking for an exciting and fresh holiday for the kids this summer? Camping and Glamping both provide unique staycations that you and your children will love! Whether you're wild camping in the countryside with the beauty of nature at your doorstep, renting a pitch close to fun activity centres, or booking a stay in a glamping pod by the seaside, camping on your holiday opens up your options for the places you visit and the things you can do!
Pitch a tent and explore the area
One of the great things about camping is the flexibility it allows in choosing where you want to go. Places like Dorset, Norfolk, and the Lake District become far more accessible when you just need to book space for a tent rather than finding a cottage or a hotel that'd take you all (and cheaper, too!)
With plenty of camp sites in the UK, you're bound to find a site in the area you want to go to. Once you're there, you'll get access to all the fun activities around! That includes play centres and fairgrounds in more built-up areas, arcades and piers in coastal places, or environmental and cultural landmarks in rural places. Your first step to a fun family camping holiday is choosing your destination, so give thought to where you want to go, what you want to do and what you want to see, and from there you can start planning how you want to stay there!
For the adventurous, the traditional camping trip provides a place to stay. You'll want to bring your tent, enough bedding for everyone, something to cook food on, and the basic comforts you'll need throughout your stay. Most campsites and caravan sites offer basic facilities, like on-site showers and toilets, so you can bring toiletries to keep yourself clean and hygienic, especially in warmer weather! Outside of that, it's a good idea to bring a portable phone charger or power block with you to keep your phones charged, whether you're using them a lot or just want one handy in case of emergencies.
For a more comfortable experience, try glamping! Different sites offer different options, with things like bell tents, yurts, wigwams, shepherds huts, safari tents, and more. All of these offer different benefits for a variety of groups; for families, you'll generally want to be looking at blank canvas bell tents or safari tents. Both these options offer enough space for a family:
- Blank Canvas Bell Tents - Pre-pitched, well-insulated, and spacious, a blank canvas bell tent gives you the space to set up however you like. Usually, bell tents come with double beds to fit a couple, but they generally have the floorspace to accommodate a larger group, and are ideal for a family of 4 or 5! Just bring beds, bedding, and anything else that'll keep you comfy!
- Safari Tents - Well constructed, huge tents that usually come with a living and dining space as well as bedrooms for the whole family. Safari tents are the perfect summer holiday glamping stay for families, coming equipped with a place to cook, a space to relax, and a stove to keep the interior warm. Safari tents generally have plenty of amenities and facilities, so you'll just need to bring any additional comforts that you personally want.
Glamping lets you and your family enjoy the delights of camping mixed with the comforts of home, and is especially ideal in the summer when the tents can keep warm with minimal effort and heating. Many sites also provide fire pits and barbecue spots where you can enjoy campfire cooking late into the night, either cooking a barbecue, toasting marshmallows to have s'mores, or simply enjoying each others' company around a roaring flame.
If you have a campervan, motorhome, or caravan, you'll already have the comfort part of your camping holiday sorted! Around the country, you'll find plenty of sites that, on top of bathroom facilities, have mobile home-specific facilities, like electric hook-ups to keep power coming to your caravan, or chemical dumpage zones for you to dispose of waste. This means that you and the kids can find accommodation in your motorhome without having to sacrifice your favourite entertainment and devices.
Of course, if you did want to go off-grid with your family for a bit, you can easily find simpler, great value venues that offer back-to-basics wild camping experiences that are as eco-friendly as they are family-friendly, so you can enjoy each others' company!
The facilities that campsites offer differ from place to place. Generally, they'll offer toilets and showers as a bare minimum, so you and your family will have somewhere to wash and go to the toilet. Other sites offer sinks for washing up your cooking utensils and crockery, fire pits for BBQs, or even kitchen facilities with a microwave, kettle, and fridge to give more variety to the meals you can prepare while away. In terms of technical aspects, sites can offer charging points for electrical devices and on-site WiFi, so you and your family can still stay connected while on your camping holiday.
As mentioned before, this all depends on the site. So check ahead to see what the site offers and if there are any extra charges for using them, as things like electric hookups and kitchens are often additions to your booking that'll cost you a bit extra to use.
Once you know what the campsite provides, you can figure out what you need to bring! Across the board, you'll need essentials like comfortable bedding for everyone to sleep on, a portable stove to cook meals on, washkits with toothpaste, toothbrushes, and showering stuff to keep yourselves clean, and food, with a cooler or fridgebox to keep it fresh over your trip. You'll also need to keep in mind what the site offers in terms of technology; if they don't have charging points or optional electric hookups, you'll need to consider bringing your own means of keeping devices charged.
Of course, given that this is a summer trip, you'll also need to bring sunscreen and moisturiser to keep protected from the sun. It might also be wise to bring a first aid kit, with plasters, bandages, alcohol wipes, and other things for general scrapes, just in case there are any trips or cuts suffered while out and about; how colourful and fun the plasters are is your call!
Outside of the essentials, you should also bring along things to keep yourselves entertained on your trip. Take your favourite games, whether they're board games to play in your chosen accommodation, outdoor games which don't need much space that you can do on the campsite, or more active games like rounders or badminton that you can take to the beach! While it is fun to visit local places, you can also just as easily make your own fun, especially if you're in easy reach of the seaside or a bit of land where you can explore freely. So long as you and your family have fun on your summer break, that's the important part.
With that, you should be prepared for a fun and exciting camping holiday with the family, so start looking! Many popular places get booked up quick, so if you find somewhere ideal, don't hesitate to get in contact and make sure it's the ideal location for you and your loved ones. Before long, you'll be enjoying a host of activities both in and around your chosen campsite!
