By Helen, mum of 2 gorgeous girls, devoted dog and novice camper.
We took the plunge with our first family camping trip last year to Mortehoe, a lovely little village just up the road from Woolacombe in Devon. We weren’t sure how everyone would take to it, so we went with minimal gadgets: Bedding, table and chairs and gas camping stove. We thought as long as we had the basics, we would get by and it would give us a chance to test whether this would be something we could pursue in the future.
Actually, we didn’t need to worry too much about our kitchen limitations – we were spoilt for choice for nice pubs/cafes nearby such as the The Redbarn pub/bar (a great place to go to for lunch maybe as a treat) and we found the Seabreeze café/ice-cream shop was a good bribe to get the kids off the beach. There was also a takeaway in Mortehoe, that did four dishes, one vegetarian, all homemade and delicious. Other times, our humble stove did the job just fine.
We decided for safety in numbers for our first time and went with a couple of other families, each with their own tents. This worked fabulously well as the children played together and all wanted to do the same sort of things. So, although the weather was windy, we went to the beach every day and had an amazing time body boarding, sand-duneing and generally larking about. The beauty was that camping allowed us the freedom to do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted.
So apart from discovering that we as a family love camping and love Devon, what else did we discover?
- We need a porch for the outside of the tent for taking muddy boots off, and a large door mat.
- A camping potty for mid-night weeees.
- A camping wardrobe (according to the husband.)
- An upgrade on my sleeping bag (because I’m nesh.)
- And most importantly an “aeropress” easy-to-pack filter coffee gadget. Google it – you won’t be sorry.
Will we be having another go? Most definitely! We will update our packing as per above and crack on in 2018!
Like the sound of this? Check out our campsites around Woolacombe, great for your first family camping trip: Bay View Farmers Campsite, Europa Holiday Park, Warcombe Farm Campsite, Ocean Pitch, Lee Meadow Camping,
Loved the post keep it up!