The Happiest Little Camper!

Mummy and Daddy have always camped! We used to run our local Sea Scout group, our local Duke of Edinburgh scheme, our first trip away together was camping in the rainforest – and our honeymoon involved living out of tent whilst working in a dive shop! We had always planned on Jemima enjoying the great outdoors from a tent, but her introduction to camping has been as varied as it’s been fun!!

Her first trip wasn’t planned! We’d gone to Florida on holiday (never going near Disney World - we were touring the Keys, swimming with Manatees, touring some state parks) – and it turns out that the Florida Keys is a really expensive place to stay in spring! One bargain tent from Walmart, 2x carry mats and a blanket, and we were sorted! American campsites usually cater for massive RVs – us in our tiny tent with a 7-month old in her even tinier Littlelife tent were quite the novelty – and had a fantastic time touring up and down the not so beaten tracks!

Back in the UK we took our trusty, 10 year old , storm proof tent down to Pembrokeshire, camping just off the coastal path. Turned out that it really is a two man tent – and two PLUS Jemima wasn’t going to work! After a slightly cramped weekend, we delighted in putting a great deal of geeky research into the next family tent – all two rooms (and porch) of it, light enough to portage when canoeing, big enough to all play in when it rains, and solid enough to stand up to all weathers and almost all locations!

We now have our lovely family sized tent! Fits three (with room to spare), spare space for all our kit, porch big enough for a buggy, and enough room for Jemima (and friends) to zoom a scooter through it!

It’s already had an autumn trip to Holland (Mummy used to live there, so it’s an almost annual camping event accompanied by a LOT of cycling) where it stood up to some North Sea storms hiding behind some Belgian sand dunes and it’s been off to the Forest of Dean on what was possibly the sunniest weekend we’ll have all year!

Jemima loves camping, whichever tent it’s in – the big open spaces to run around in – the little tent sized spaces to hide in, wandering round campsites in her wellies, waiting for her tea to cook on the trangia, playing with head torches – it’s fantastic family time and we’re currently planning our next camping adventure!