Newbie Camping Guide

A few people come to this blog to find advice and info when they are new to camping. I realised that finding relevant things (as opposed to me waffling on about my love of nature or the noises at a festival) might take a while so I thought I'd add some links here to posts I feel would be helpful to a new camper. Of course they are useful to us all! Even I find I use the site as a aide memoire at times. So without further ado:

 Choosing a tent You might think that for 2 people a 2 man tent is what you need, but don't be fooled! That is how many people can lay down and sleep in a tent and may not include any living space at all. Fine for a festival, not so fine for a week away if it rains for two days! Always check a plan diagram of the tent and allow some extra space if you plan to be in the tent for more than just sleeping. An extra bedroom makes a great storage area too.

My (never ending) List of things you need to take is here.

Beds and sleep. Another post about sleeping - at festivals, and another about kids and sleep at festivals

The mysteries of EHU - Electric Hook up!

Cooking when camping - your options

More to be added - feel free to let me know subjects you'd like covered, either on my Twitter or Facebook page



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Top 5 Tips for Camping at Download Festival - Guest Post from Tattooed Tealady

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Today on the blog, a beauty blogger gets down and dirty at Download festival and gives us the benefit of her experience. Much of her advice applies to all festivals, not just Download

Camping isn’t my usual topic when it comes to writing blog features, instead opting for beauty, lifestyle and parenting features over on my blog, Tattooed Tealady, but today I’m quite looking forward to being able to share something different, and what better place than here!

Today I’m going to run you through my Top 5 Tips for Camping at Download Festival, a metal festival held in the East Midlands at Donnington Park and the festival I have frequented the most over the past 8 years.

First things first, plan where you’re going to camp. Of course, you can’t guarantee you’ll end up in the camp site you want, but Download Festival does have a handy map which shows all the campsites and the earlier you get there, the more likely you are to land the spot you want. There’s different areas for different campers …
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Festival Trolley - The best and the worst thing ever

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I own a festival trolley. I don't even have the excuse that I have a toddler (or toddlers) that may need to rest their legs. I didn't buy it until DD was well past the toddler stage but it's a great investment...and I love my festival trolley.

But I also hate festival trolleys. They are large and cumbersome and while once maybe 10% of families at family festivals had one, I think that it's now closer to 80% and not everyone seems aware of any trolley etiquette.

I tend to see myself in 'trolley-mummy-mode' as one of the lucky ones, I have a built in sofa if I stop, somewhere to store all the stuff I need day to day, and at the start and end of a festival I can get my camping stuff to and from the car without too much effort, and without queueing for (or paying for) a hire trolley.

So let's look at the positives and negatives of owning a festival trolley. And also let's think about the responsibility trolley use (either your own or a hired one) brings wit…
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Looking forward to Camp Bestival 2019

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Regular readers will know that I'm a regular at Camp Bestival, the fun, family, festival held in Dorset each year.

Last year the fun was slightly dampened by such dreadful storms on the last day that the festival had to be closed early. But better safe than sorry! 
Seeing Mary Berry on the TV the other week brought back all the memories of the sunny days before the last day! And totally made me crave cider and feasting in the sunshine while watching other people doing energetic stuff! (there was a high wire trapeze and people could have a go! madness, and yet it was booked out early everyday!)


One of my daughter's favourite bit's of any festival is the comedy. So I was pleased to read about Camp Bestival's comedy line up.  "We're excited to reveal the 2019 belly-busting comedy headliners heading to Camp Bestival’s Big Top at Lulworth Castle, July 25th - 28th. Leading the laughs will be award-winning comedian and actor Omid Djalili who joins the inter…
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Camp Bestival Fancy Dress Ideas

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It's about time I got my festival fancy dress underway. Because I attend a few festivals each year I try to ensure I wear a costume that will be suitable for a few of them (I'm not made of money!) but I also like to get a new costume each year, and I like to lure my daughter into dressing up too.

Getting kids to dress up is easier when they are small. At 10 she was happy to dress up and join in the fun and even into the early teens she was OK with it. But at 19 she's a bit reluctant, no longer young enough not to care, but not yet old enough not to either!


The theme this year at Camp Bestival is Heroes and Super Heroes and this gives wide scope for how it is interpreted. Who are your heroes? Will you be dressing as them? I predict some famous scientists, astronauts, explorers, doctors and ecologists among the costumes, as well as the more obvious choices of superheroes, such as Spider-man, Superman, Captain America and Wonder Woman.

I have been looking at both simple costu…
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Cornbury Music Festival 2019

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Summer is the best time of year. Summer is full of sunshine, beer, relaxing, big skies, music on the breeze and the gentle tickle of drying grass underfoot.

Of course being Britain it's also muddy, grey, dreary, windy, cold, full of umbrellas and it smells of damp tent.

But one thing it is always full of is festivals. Some years it can be hard to choose which ones to go to!


Festivals are excellent value for money with 24 hour (almost) entertainment, camping included (bring your own tent) , excellent food choices, music and glorious fields in which to roam or snooze.

I like a medium sized festival. large enough that you won't be bored but small enough you don't feel you have missed half of it on the last day. Big enough for some well known names on the set list but small enough that new bands will get a look in, some of my favourite music discoveries came from festivals.
“Large enough to get the big acts, small enough to enjoy them” Jools Holland agrees with me! …
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