Tent Sniffing for Beginners

When I camp I have three main cooking options. I either use my tiny one ring gas stove, my Kelly kettle or a disposable barbecue. I have toasted marshmallows over a real log fire, but I don’t class that as cooking. Toasty Cooking outdoors is amazing fun. Even people that never camp sometimes have a summer barbecue because there is something lovely about sitting in the sunshine, or a warm summer evening, smelling the food cooking, sipping a beer…oh I want to be there now! I am a cheap skate as you all know by now, but I admit that I did crave a Kelly kettle (aka storm kettle) for a long while and was thrilled when DH bought me one for my birthday. The joy of the storm kettle is that you don’t need to buy fuel. You just gather it on your travels and as long as you have some relatively dry twigs, grass or animal dung (yes really!) to get the fire going it’s really great for boiling water. Of course some camp sites and festivals don’t allow them, though I’m never quite sure if

Camp Bestival. The plot thickens. I’m busy planning my costume and I vary from just a bit of a wild theme to a full out dinosaur/crocodile/reptile costume. So who knows, maybe I’ll end up doing some of each. A slightly wild look most days with a full on costume for Saturday…hmmm The line up is really exciting this year, I was already thrilled that The Kaiser Chiefs were on the bill, I love all the theatre and circus stuff and it seems like almost each week new things are being added! My Camp Bestival excitement meter is building. Latest to join the gang is extra info on the teen den, something my daughter didn’t get excited about last year, so I’m hoping I can get her to go this year – I think the Blogging talk would be great and might get her actively blogging again, though if Rob Da Bank and the crew could arrange a talk by Zoella I think they’d have to have crowd control! Ha!  Also now on the line-up is the lovely Ella Henderson , she’s only 4 years older than my daugh

I'm not sure how long I'd been camping before I realised what EHU stood for. I'd been mostly camping at festivals to start with so it wasn't an issue and what ever the mysterious EHU I saw when booking campsites was, it cost more, so I didn't want it. So while I don't remember when, there was obviously a day when something clicked (switch? Light bulb? haha) and I realised that some people have electricity when they camp! If I wanted electricity I'd book a cottage or a camper van I think. If I'm in a tent then solar power is the best option, a natural way to charge my mobile and provide evening light for reading (and finding the corkscrew) But I thought I'd blog my reasons and my pros and cons of electricity in you tent. Plus points You can charge phones and have light regardless of the state of the sun You can have a fridge You can use a George Foreman Grill (other electric cooking appliances are available) You can have a TV You can