The only reason we started camping was for a weekend break. Loved that first weekend so much that we have cancelled the original summer holiday and have booked two weeks on our two favourite sites.
Since May we've had six weekends away this year, this would never have been the case if we hadn't got into camping as a family(might have had one, if lucky).
We don't find it a hassle at all, the only problem is coming home to reallity. Going away at weekends means the next trip is never too far away though. Give it a try you may just love it.
WE'VE JUST STARTED CAMPING BEEN AWAY TWO WEEKENDS AND ONLY HAVE A VW POLO AND MANAGE TO GET 5MAN TENT, THREE CHAIRS TABLE POTS AND GAS STOVE 2 DOUBLE AIR BEDS AND BOX OF FOOD ESSENSIALS OH AND PORTABLE DVD PLAYER FOR RAINY DAYS.
I need to practice taking less so that I can go for shorter trips!
Perhaps I should just leave the roof box up packed with gear, as well as to leave the gear in the car as they are. This way I can be off in minutes rather than hours!
Would need to make sure I do not plan for any business trips that involve taking a colleague in my car from May to Sep!!!
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
My tent is sat on the living room as we speak. I never seem to be able to put it away until the weather is well past any hope of a weekend away. We had to retire our big old faithfull tent last year as it was well past it. We bought a smaller tent just about big enough for the four us for a weekend, we don't need as much space now the kids are not little. I keep everything ready to go, including food in the freezer. I get everything 'ready to go' as soon as I get back from a trip.
We take as little as possible and camp at a very basic level, certainly not glamping more a bit Ray Mears as someone humourously quipped on here. It's horses for courses I suppose but just now I like to camp fast and dirty if you know what I mean!
I may change to something else next year, that's the beauty of camping, it can be as simple or as luxurious as you want it to be. Any camping is just fine with me.
Must admit, we rarely do weekend trips because we only have a Hartford XL and it takes us about an hour and half to set up - because we still have three large beds, with air beds on top - cooker, stand and barbie. I wish we could go for shorter trips more often, but really we need a smaller tent to do that...but not too small it can't fit the beds in !
We did a two nighter in May about 40 minutes from home and the weather wasn't great either. I find it tiring more than relaxing which is a shame. The only other time the tent is coming out this year is for 11 days in three weeks time. After that it won't see the light of day until next year:(
I have a tick list for when i go camping and just have a reduced amount for weekends. The main thing was the smaller quick erect tent a cabanon evelyn 2 berth frame for weekends away, goes up in 15 mins but still has room to sit in and stand up in.
Best thing is try a weekend away and see what you dont use then refine what u take to suit yourselves.
Perhaps I should just leave the roof box up packed with gear, as well as to leave the gear in the car as they are. This way I can be off in minutes rather than hours!
Lol, wouldn't you have trouble lifting the full roofbox up to the roof?
I can load up in about 20 minutes too, but it takes several days to nag Mr F into getting the stuff down from the loft!
We take the same stuff regardless, except for clothes and food. Almost all our kit lives in two storage crates, so it's sort of already packed. The airbed, pumps and mattress cover are all in one bag, next to the sleeping bags. The stove and gas bottle are next to the crates, the canopied windbreak is with the tent. The table, chairs and large dog crate are in the garage and apart from clothes, toiletries, food and dog stuff, that's it really.
Having a complete set of kitchen stuff just for camping saves ages imo.
Must admit, we rarely do weekend trips because we only have a Hartford XL and it takes us about an hour and half to set up - because we still have three large beds, with air beds on top - cooker, stand and barbie. I wish we could go for shorter trips more often, but really we need a smaller tent to do that...but not too small it can't fit the beds in !
Or a Khyam QE! Having a tent that goes up in 20 minutes is a great advantage when it comes to short breaks.
I just brought a pop up tent for such weekends, tent is pitched in less than five minutes and sleeps 4 of us. I have all my stuff in plastic boxes, including stuff like shampoo, washing up liquid etc, so all I need to do is bung it all in the car and go, I seem to take less every time we go.
Perhaps I should just leave the roof box up packed with gear, as well as to leave the gear in the car as they are. This way I can be off in minutes rather than hours!
Lol, wouldn't you have trouble lifting the full roofbox up to the roof?
I can load up in about 20 minutes too, but it takes several days to nag Mr F into getting the stuff down from the loft!
We take the same stuff regardless, except for clothes and food. Almost all our kit lives in two storage crates, so it's sort of already packed. The airbed, pumps and mattress cover are all in one bag, next to the sleeping bags. The stove and gas bottle are next to the crates, the canopied windbreak is with the tent. The table, chairs and large dog crate are in the garage and apart from clothes, toiletries, food and dog stuff, that's it really.
Having a complete set of kitchen stuff just for camping saves ages imo.
No, I meant leaving it packed and up on the car without taking it down!!!
I have dedicated camping equipment, however, it still appears to take ages to load.
I spent hours trying to fit the roof bars and box on the car, probably because I was too anal in trying to get it dot on in the centre
Therefore, if I leave the box packed and up on the car, then I reckon I can cut down on the loading time significantly.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
I'm away next weekend and I've done most of my packing
As I wanted to make sure I'll be taking everything I need, I've been collecting bits and bobs and putting them on the spare bed and now I've got most things, packed into a storage box & those re-useable supermarket bags. The tent is in its bag, in the downstairs loo along with the folding table & 5l water bottles. The dogs food is measured out into a meal each in a poly bag and packed in their weekend bag with their bowls.
I might have to be working until 3pm on the day we go so I wanted to have as much packed as possible and in the couple of days before we go, I'll put stuff in the car so I don't have to do it all in one go!
Well, what a wealth of interesting replies and advice. Thanks everyone. I think that Genie 04 and DK168 are nearest to us in that Genie 04 likes a good-sized tent which takes a while to erect,although it doesn't take us quite as long to erect our Montana - probably about three quarters of an hour including pegging out - and DK168 in admitting to being a bit anal about getting everything just so. As I said, we can't help with loading the car because the OH has to have everything to his exact specification. Mind you, if he didn't, there is no way we would get it all in. I've gone past the Ray Mears type of 'dirty camping' that Moog 56 advocates. I have to be comfortable now. (When we used to camp in the 70s we poured scorn on those who took such comforts as air beds and carpets. I used to wonder why they bothered to leave home since they couldn't do without what they had there. We slept in our sleeping bags only with no mats or air beds and we didn't have tables and chairs.) And we were not alone - not many had such luxuries then.) We probably could have done weekends then without too much of a problem. Anyway, the conclusion I have come to is that we have to do what many of you do and have the kit all in one or two places ready for the off. The trouble is that we have some stuff in the loft, some in the garage, some in the kitchen..... The separate kitchen stuff would help too, Fran 100. I put the camping stuff - plates, cups etc. in the nether regions of my kitchen cupboards which I don't use much because they are difficult to reach and I take my ordinary saucepans because they are a good size for doing pasta and stews etc. in. Camping ones never seem big enough to me. It seems that we need to rationalise it all and keep it all together so that we can just pick it up and go. Like somebody said, we shall just have to try it sometime and see how it goes. Many thanks again all of you for the interesting and useful information.
I used to have everything in the loft and it was such an all day camel ride getting it all down we rarely went. So I trimmed it all to the very, very bone and stored it in the wardrobe in the bedroom, except for the tent which taunts me from the living room floor. Can be packed really fast, just need the hubbie to ring on a Friday afternoon and say 'weather's good shall we head off' and we're gone.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: weekends away
