Tent Sniffing for Beginners

I love dressing up for festivals. As a teen I loved fancy dress parties, toga parties were a popular diversion when I was at school, tarts and vicars was another. I once held a garden party where everyone had to come in the national dress of a country and bring a plate of food (and some booze) from that country - all great fun. As I got older the opportunities to dress up seemed to lessen, and while I plan on ballgowns and tiaras when I'm 80ish, in my 40s I fear it would either get me arrested or ensure that the teen and Dear Husband would disown me forever. How lucky then for festivals! Festivals are well known for funky wellingtons, girls in short shorts wearing feathers and flower head bands, and for groups of young men in onesies. They often have a theme and a specific fancy dress day (not that you can't dress up every day!) and many people go to amazing lengths with their costumes. This year I'm excited for the 'Wild' Theme at Camp Bestival The usua...

There are lots of places I like, there is a country road near my house that follows the sweep of the valley and the view is lovely, proper English countryside, mixed farms, sheep downs, little copses of trees. It's beautiful, but it's not my favourite place.  I also love California where I've visited a friend twice, gorgeous weather, skies that stretch for miles, water lapping on sandy beaches, but that's not my favourite place either. My very favourite place, the place where I'm happiest is a moveable one. My happiest place is in my tent. I have three tents. One is Nylon, it was free and while it's better than no tent, it's not that great. It's just a tent. But my other two are canvas and they are both beautiful. I'd be hard pressed to pick only one. I like being in a tent for so many reasons, it usually means I'm on holiday and when I camp I can let time pass, I don't check my watch, I eat when I'm hungry and start drinking whene...

Once upon a time I went camping, I thought I'd packed everything. I had food, tins of beans, soup, noodles, sachets of sauce, a block of cheese, bread. I had beer, wine, all the essentials. I arrived at the campsite. Pitched my lovely tent. Sat for a while in my camp chair to rest and take stock. Then I realised a beer would be nice. I took a bottle from the cooler and...yikes! No bottle opener! Panic...then the decision to move to wine and seek the bottle opener later...but wait..no corkscrew! Lordy this day was going from bad to worse! I made a cup of tea and decided to have some bread and cheese...but what's this? only plastic cutlery? Nothing to slice with? Grrr I shall have to warm a can of beans and ...NO CAN OPENER!!! That's it! This has gone far enough! This camping lark will be a disaster unless someone has a device that can open beer, wine bottles, cans, slice cheese.. and so ladies and gentlemen of the camping world may I present...the Swiss Army knife(aka ...

Festival season is coming and first on my list this year is a bit of a 'spring fling'. A new festival for me so I'm quite excited! Here is what I know so far... This year (2015) Elderflower Fields will take place from Friday 22nd to Monday 25th May (which is a bank holiday and the start of summer half term for most schools). It is going to be held in Pippingford Park, in the heart of the Ashdown Forest. Pippingford is big, beautiful and wild! It’s got loads of space to run around in and stunning views across rugged heathland and ancient woods. Is also really easy to get to from both Brighton and London... The tickets are currently at Early Bird prices and are Adult Weekend –  £95 + booking fee Child (5-16) Weekend –  £45 + booking fee Under 5 Weekend –  £0 + booking fee But I have some tickets to giveaway! (Do I hear you squeeeeee? are you excited yet?) For nervous festival goers this could be a great first festival, they have flushing loos! an...

It pains me to admit it but I realise that some people don't like tents...I know right? ...but for those people, here is a blog post about festival accomodation. There are people that don't go to festivals not because they hate the thought of a sunny day drinking beer and listening to music in a field, but because they fear nighttime loo trips, leaky tents, winds breaking your flag pole and uncomfortable deflated matresses. Accomodation is variable at most festivals Well never fear! First I must add a quick note that if you don't fear all the above but you don't have a tent and all the kit and don't really want to slash out for a festival, or have no place to store all that, let alone transport it! Then there is still the opportunity to attend a festival. You could either opt for the ready pitched tent option (always looks a bit regimented for my liking but certainly saves time and effort)  or go for the rent a festival kit option. There are also posh...

And I thought the long wait for festivals would be boring over the winter. Not So!! Because I had forgotten the excitement of hearing about who will be at the festivals I'll be going to. Imagine my overwhelming excitement at finding out that (award winning) duo Dick and Dom will be returning to Camp Bestival in 2015. They were absolutely hilarious last time, encouraging misbehaviour and mayhem, causing the entire campsite to play 'Bogeys' well into the night... I simply can't wait! (my dubious claim to fame? Dick spat on me in the literary tent at Camp Bestival) And then there is the Cat in the Hat! How do I love Dr Seuss? Well lets just say I love him here and there, in fact I love him anywhere! And the cat in the hat knows how to have fun, look at him! Look at him! Look at him now! It is fun to have fun but you have to know how....(Camp Bestival can help with that if you are stuck!) And could there be anything I would like more than being in a field with R...

My favourite solar light company (you can tell a hippy camper when they have a favourite solar light company) has sent me a little Christmas gift! The rather cute but extremely bright, SunJack . It's not a solar light by itself, it's a usb light, it looks like a traditional bulb and is very light (in weight!) it can be hung up. At first I wondered how I would use it - but I not only take solar camping, but some rechargeable power packs. They are handy on dull days when there is little sun, and can charge phones via USB. It turns out they can power the SunJack too! To test it I didn't get the tent out, but I did try it on a dark night at home. DD helped to demonstrate the power of this tiny light. It's a great little light and would be useful with a solar charger with a USB port too. Check out The Solar Light Company for some Christmas gift ideas for the camper in your life (or treat yourself!) The SunJack® CampLight - the ultimate in portable ...