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i have never been camping,but this year even though its pouring down at present i have decided to buy a tent big enough for us all,dh hasn`t ever been camping either but he hasnt said for sure he would join us anyway and someone has to stay to look after grandad,what exactly do you need to take apart from yourselves and the tent and small cooker,sleeping bags,food, and where or how do you find good camp sites to take children and possibly dogs?

We stayed in West Wales for 3 nights with our 15 month old son & 2 dogs. We found the campsite from here http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/index.asp, which is obviously only useful if you intend to camp in the UK! I'd recommend you check carefully what all the "extra" charges might be - we managed to find a great site which only charged 50p per night per dog but some sites want £5 per pooch!

We took very basic equipment - single burner gas stove, kettle, 2 pans, picnic crockery/cutlery, cool bag, water carrier, folding table, folding chairs.

Things to remember to take have to be washing up liquid, teatowels, small hand towels/flannels (or babywipes if you prefer), spare sheets/blankets.

Go for the biggest tent you can afford then you're not falling over each other/your belongings. And I recommend an airbed for comfort - invariably you'll end up with a stone digging into your side in the middle of the night if you just have a bedding roll mat

I'm sure I'll think of more things - I've been camping for years - but I haven't had enough cups of tea this morning for my brain to work properly!

can opener!!!
plasters, citronella candles, and a pre-threaded needle or needle and roll of thread, and some rubber cement or a cycle tyre repair kit just in case. We once needed this to patch the flipping tent after I accidentally put a pole through it!!

Got to say in all the times I've been in the last few years I've never bothered with table and chairs, the kids love being able to run around and have proper picnics on the floor, I've also put a limit on the amount we take and what we carry for them this year since we have now got the baby bits aswell, since the rule of if you want it you carry it came into force the kids no longer demand airbeds (I of course do but I'm much older than them!) so thats less to carry.

Oh and really strong tape, we camped in gales last year and a couple of our poles broke so had to be taped back together.

I'd recommend flip flops or plastic croc type shoes as sometimes the showers can get a bit slimy (think athletes foot and verrucas!) and you can wear these to wash in! Has the advantage of keeping the kids shoes clean.

I'd recommend a portapotty lined with a no-little-holes carrier bag. In the middle of the night you don't necessarily want to be trekking across a field to the loo, whether it's you or one of the children that needs to do. Each night we would set up the portapotty with a loo roll next to it all in the middle of the tent (we had the sort with pods going off a central area) and DD would use it (aged three at the time) as did I, no qualms!

Ditto table and chairs, although perhaps a folding chair per adult for sitting in the evening. Too much hassle for mealtimes though.

We haven't yet camped with Shortie in tow (hope to for one night soon - just to try it out)

General advice for camping is plan, plan and plan again. Travelling light means you can take more - I understand how little sense that makes.

Take flipflops and wear walking boots (or sturdy, practical trainers), that is all the shoes you need.
Sleep on roll mats -come on, whats the fun of camping if you don't - plus, you think you are going to sleep well, just because you lugged the air bed with you and spent an hour pumping the blasted thing up before you find the puncture.
Plan a few basic meals and take some food that won't spoil - tins of beans, tuna, etc and packets of noodles with you.
Take a journal to fill with stories and mementos of each day - a good way to spend the evenings.
Torches and batteries, or better still a wind up or shakey torch.
Suncream (twice as much as you think you'll need)
First aid kit (put one together yourself, make sure you include painkillers, antiseptic, bandages and anti-hystamines )
Duck tape for any breakages, bust tents, etc
Emergency dry set of clothes each, double wrapped in plastic bags - these have not to be worn unless you have given up and are heading home. Sounds crazy but what could be worse than you and all your stuff getting soaked in a freak storm that makes you all cry and want to go home... at least you can go home in dry clothes.
- chances are if you prepare for the worst it won't happen.

We did the west highland way a few years back and only took one rucksack (that included the tent, sleeping bags and roll mats)plus a small day bag each.

Don't take anything valuable (emotionally, financially or spiritually)

I went camping loads as a child biggest mistakes my mum made was not planning well.
PHONE AHEAD - plan your route, your journey and phone ahead. I seem to have this horrendous memory of my mum driving us round Durham in the height of summer having not booked anywhere for us to stay.
Book a pitch, some campsites give you a map and you can pick the pitch but at the very least have them book you in.


Prepare for the worst, and expect nothing more... that way, you're bound to have a great time.

one of these most campsites have a radar toilet for anyone with a key to use as well as the usual communal block. I love my radar key because it means that generally we get a shower room with a loo to ourselves.

Oooh brilliant link. Thanks so much MrsF. We had been promised one for our eldest as he had a weak bladder but obviously lost our entitlement to it. Now I can get my own seeing as I have a bladder the size of a walnut too!

On topic: I find a folding table essential for camp cooking when you have a little one around and it certainly prevents bits of grass in your beans!

Something we found which was great on our last camping trip was those micro towels you can get from camping shops - they feel like suede (bit disconcerting!) but dry soooo quickly! Even OH (who is fussy about textures!) said they worked brilliantly and they pack down to a tiny size in your bag too.

Don't forget a roll of small bin liners or degradable carrier bags for rubbish too!

thankfully the purchase of radar keys is a grey area. Yes, most radar key toilets are disabled ones, but no you don't have to be disabled to own one. I bought mine after my mate Kate loaned me hers for a day; incidentally, great for if you have kids in a push chair too. you can fit everything in one cubicle lol!!!

- Try not to rely on denim clothes too much - it's well worth investing in some light cotton trousers, particularly for the kids, as they dry quickly. Denim takes forever to dry, and can be very frustrating if your child (like mine) thinks they are Peppa Pig and likes splashing in muddy puddles!

- Toilet roll!

- Bottle opener for the several bottles of wine you may very well need once the kids have fallen asleep!

- Small games (card games, for example) for rainy days....we whiled away a few hours with Ellis playing 'Who Knows Whose Nose' whilst the rain hammered on the tent!

- Bit of washing line cord and pegs...for drying clothes/tea-towels/ pegs for closing bread-bags etc...

- Some old teatowels/towels that you don't mind chucking away - very useful to cleaning the groundsheet of the tent before you pack it up again; ours was absolutely filthy and you don't really want to be transfering excess mud onto the flysheet of your tent, because it's a bugger to get off again.

- PLEASE check you've got all the bits of your tent before you go...we got to the campsite and discovered that the removeable second chamber of our new 7 man tent was missing from the bag. We didn't really need it this time, but we were going to use it to zip away stuff like the stove, food, utensils etc from Mr Sticky-Fingers and help keep the living area more tidy and safe. Could have been worse, could have been missing poles!

- A good sense of humour is essential, of course. And remember - there's no such thing as bad weather, just unsuitable clothing!

Torches that strap onto your head are far more useful than big handheld ones.

Rather than taking a table, I'd take extra warm clothing for night-time. One trip in late summer I remember sharing a sleeping bag with my little boy - we both had every stitch of clothing on that we'd brought, and he whispered "I'm cold", and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.

thanks for all the advice,have printed out lots,and i just bought my first tent,its a 2 bedroomed one from lidls,just 90 euro`s but i was advised that i needed something over 2000 something or other(sorry so vague)and this is 4000,better than argos for around the price,and its not a fortune to lose if we don`t get on with it,i have a friend who camps all over uk and france with 4 kids and dog plus hubby in tow, now just waiting totry it out,i`m off to bantry market this friday so may try it out in bantry if i find a campsite,is the market on this friday odsox?

Ahh, that'll be a 4000 Hydrostatic head, will it?

Must say, we were given one of the Lidl tents by my sister a couple of years ago, and they are really good considering how reasonably priced they are. It leaked ever so slightly, but I think that was because a small child kept touching the side of the tent (a real no-no, by the way.....DO make sure that NOTHING and NOBODY touches the inside of the flysheet, as it lets the rain in regardless of the hydrostatic head....). Sadly, our tent bit the dust as we didn't air it properly after we came home (that is vital as well, by the way...) and it went mouldy. I didn't want to risk a toddler sleeping in a mouldy tent, nor did we want to spray it with all manner of chemicals to try and clean it up; so we did end up buying a new Gelert 7 person one in the sale at Go Outdoors. To be honest, we needed a new one anyway with the sprog coming along, as ideally we wanted a sleeping chamber large enough for two adults, a toddler and a travel cot for sprog; so hopefully with a bit of love and care this tent should serve us well for years to come. We have a lovely little 3 man tent we used to backpack with that we've had for years and years, too small for all our stuff now, but I'm sure OH and I will use it again when we are retired and the kids have left home!!

tin foil. great for many uses.

(http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=248141.0 and I'm sure there's a post somewhere on here or craftster detailing my bodged camping heater hahaha!!!)