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New to camping. What equipment do we need other than a tent?

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Me and the family are thinking of starting to go camping but are clueless as to what we need apart from a tent lol!

 

Could anyone help???

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It all depends on what you think you will be doing while camping.

 

some people go camping close to civilisation, they eat in pubs/cafe's etc and have day trips out every day, these people need very little more than a tent, mattress and sleeping bag.

 

others like to be a bit more remote, they will cook and live out of the tent, they will need more equipment but it will normally be designed to be lightweight and small (and expensive)

 

then there are the other group who treat camping as a home from home, they take a tent the size of their house, like electric hook up, take a fridge, a twin ring gas cooker. etc. normally have a boot full of tables, chairs, toys for the kids etc.

 

 

which group are you in?

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well i think i will be more in group 1 but i will be taking my 2 dogs so good places to walk is essential really but i would like to be close to civilisation to start with.

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I go camping often, sometimes for pleasure, sometimes because my job takes me away from home and a night in a tent can be a cheap and pleasureable way of avoiding a bland hotel.

i have 2 completely different sets of camping equipment, one fits into my rucksack everything is tiny, the tent is big enough for me to sleep in only and weights almost nothing. the 2nd is massive and my gf and i need the car to take all the equipment.

 

for pleasure i like the lake district there's plenty of campsites and you can feel remote yet still only be a mile or so from a town/village

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Id say next after the tent, is sleeping equipment, if you arent going to be hiking with it, it leaves quite a lot of scope....

 

decent sleeping bags are a must, there are some very good, and very reasonably priced bags around at the moment, and then a question of what you want to sleep on... Id guess either a traditional airbed, or as I do, self inflating mattresses ( these are very thin, but I find them way more comfortable than the large inflatable air beds ).

 

Its important to remember to put a blanker or similar between the floor of the tent and the mattress and something between the top of the mattress and the sleeping bag ( this will help keep things warmer ).. If you are camping late in the season, you can take a duvet as well, Ive found this allows me to camp all the way into November without getting cold.

 

Another handy tip to avoid the getting into a cold bed problem is to take hot water bottles, and chuck them in the beds an hour or so before going to bed, they warm the tent and bed nicely....

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I have an 8 birth tent, folding camping table, gas stove, kettle n folding chairs all 4 sale. PM me if interested

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A decent lantern or light for the tent and/or decent head torch. Invaluable pieces of equipment, especially when you need to get up in the middle of the night for a call of nature.

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Cutlery, corkscrew and a tin opener that are specifically for camping and permanently packed, otherwise they will at some point be forgotton. A rubber mallet as some sites aren't that easy to get your pegs into and cheap fleece blankets. It can get cold quickly and these pack up very small. If you have space in your car, get a wind break too. It makes outdoor cooking that much easier and gives you that bit more privacy around the front of your tent.

 

ETA... Loo roll and wet wipes. These two things can make camping far more pleasant for you and everyone around you :D

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i must admit we take allsorts with us if we are off on a long holiday, everything to a fridge and lights. plenty of chairs and we have even been known to take a tv and heating (sad i know)

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When we first started we went very basic mainly because we didn't want to spend money in case we didn't like it.

 

We literally had the tent, an airbed and a quilt and something to sit on. Once we realised we enjoyed it and wanted to continue we certainly made life more comfortable for ourselves. To be honest it just depends what you want out of it. Now we do our cooking have proper sleeping bags and bedding and super comfy chairs.

 

As for the dogs i have found double ended leads invaluable. Being a girl (yes i know my username is Adz but i am indeed a lady with a Mr Adz) i end up needing the loo first, so i take the dogs with me with a double ended lead i can loop them up easily and safely on a fence or rail near the loos so i can dart in and back out to them.

A stake or somewhere to tie them is important alot of campsites don't like free roaming dogs rightly so and something warm for them at night, mine both have fleeces as the ground is cold if they get uncovered moving round (I am also soft with my dogs).

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