In the Features/Tips section at the top of the page ou will find an equipment list. It contains everything you will need, and quite a bit you might not need, but have a read through. You may find there is something you had completely over looked.
Tents in displays always look and feel much bigger than they do in 'real life' Equipment and bodies take up alot of room. And get a tent you can stand up in, or you will get a back ache from stooping over and getting dressed is difficult if you can't staighten up.
Air beds need insulating under your body, not just under the mattress. You will need extra blankets or spare sleeping bags and a fitted sheet to hold them in place. If you don't do this and just put a sheet over, you will be cold.
A sleeping bag each, or a single duvet each, I think would be a great deal warmer and easier for each child.
Unless you intend to eat out for every meal (expensive?) you will need to think about how to prepare and serve breakfast at least. And what about hot drinks. I thik some sort of cooker, table and chairs will make your life much easier.
The first time we went camping, we were cold, cramped, stooped and damp from sitting on the floor. Can't remember why I ever went again!
Actually it was the fantastic advise on here that helped me get the right stuff and enjoy camping.
Hi, I am a very new camper but I learned a very important lesson one night in April with freezing night temp. in Newbury. The most important thing is to insulate under the air beds . This has been mentioned in previous replies. I was shocked at how cold my airbed had become! The air inside it had become very very cold and it felt like sleeping on an ice slab. I now have it sorted and use rubber lock together tiles, 6 is perfect for my double bed.
Also I had an e mail from Go Outdoors tonight announcing the Highgear Zenobia 6 berth tunnel tent at £149.99 A bargain . Hope this helps
------------- Sometimes we do get it wrong, but thats o.k. its the only way to figure out how to get it right !
One of my favorite sbjects when talking about tent camping with kids: THE BUCKET!
You can use it to transport the tent pegs in. In the tent at night it becomes a toilet (only for no. 1's though) by putting a bin liner with some cat litter (the wood shavings kind) into it, and use something flat as a lid. In the morning you tie a knot on the bin liner and put it into the usual waste container at the campsite.
This certainly was the best tip I got on here when I started camping with my 2 kids, and it has saved us many a trip to the toilet block at night!
You can buy some more advanced types as the Kampa Khazi, but this is the cheapest solution and works just as well!
------------- Proud owner of a 1987 Sprite Alpine 370 EK, a cheap popup tent and a beloved retro Trio frame tent from the early seventies, called Giraffen.
Many many thanks to everyone offering advice, its much appreciated.
I'll take a trip to Camperlands this weekend and see what they have to offer :)
I had to google SIMS- I think that proves how much of a noob I am :o
Unfortunately I dont have clubcard vouchers at the minute but my reasoning is, for a weekend in caravan its around £150 minimum in summer. Camping after the initial layour for equipment can be very cheap provided we take to it of course so the expense will be justified once we get the hang of it.
Again much thanks to you all, your advice is very much appreciated.
Emma :)
sims are warmer, easier, more reliable and pack smaller than airbeds.
the decathlon pop ups are v easy when you know how, they will show you at Decathlon but the pod size is small.
this site has barns to shelter with picnic tables but it charges per person so not cheap - Platts farm.they have bbqs you can borrow. i get my groceries delivered here. they also have a tent to hire with all the gear - good for a trial. You can then have a nosey around other tents and you will find people willing to show you their tent and how it goes up and down. they have fire pits for hire but if you are nervous someone will share. Its really safe for the kids and chippy just down the road.
Poundland has torches and ice packs
spotted cool bag in Sainsbury petrol station for a fiver
Our family of 4 started out with a cheap fleabag regatta 3 bed 6 man. It barely gave us any room. We moved up to the vango Icarus 500. We loved it. Spacious and warm. Loads of light through the huge windows. Good door configuration, we really found it the best. With only 3 poles it was easy to erect. ( only me with any camping experience). And it withstood some heavy highland weather.
However. The choice is yours. Go outdoors have some good deals such as the Zenobia. As for eating out. DON'T. Camp cooking is one of the main experiences of camping.
Our youngest also has a disability ( although fully mobile) she loves it.
We've moved on to a caravan now. But I long to have my tent back. I miss it sooooo much.
------------- September 27th. I'm going away. Don't care where. Just going!!!!
Cabravieja: Did you mean to include a link on that post? :)
The site sounds perfect :)
Dave: I went to go outdoors and the Zenobia was sold out :(
My brother has offered to lend me his little gas burner thing so I can practice something easy with that- even if it is just warming something homemade :)
Hi and welcome to the wonderful and addictive world of camping!
Poundland do the foil blankets which are excellent to put under airbeds, SIMs or the old fashioned roll mats. Their camping gear isn't too bad either. We've got the plates, bowls & cutlery, and the groundsheet (always worth having a spare ground sheet).
With tents you get what you pay for. Check the hydrostatic head rating, this is how waterproof the tent is (the higher the number the better.)Something like the Eurohike Buckingham is quite good and would give you plenty of rooms and the option for you to have the younger boys in the same sleeping pod with you.
Hi Nomadem, welcome to here :), we've only just been on our first weekend so far but the advice we've had here has been lovely. We are a family of 4 (me, hubby and 2 boys, 3 and nearly 2) and also have a focus. On an earlier thread I did a quick tot up of what we have bought to £237 and this is it plus notes and extra we already had
Icarus 500 £108.99 - you'll probably need something bigger plus this one has all the sleeping next to each other and I'm not sure I could put it up on my own (yet)
Footprint (nearlynewtents on ebay) £18.99 - really useful - in a wet New Forest meant we didn't have a really messy tent to roll up
Carpet (outdoor clearance, cut down from a bigger one) £20.00 - you could use a few picnic blankets and tbh the carpet was bulky and you'd probably need the car space. We used a plastic backed picnic blanket as a door mat, they had small ones in poundland not so long back.
Picnic table stool thingummy (Halfords) £17.99 - great, seats 4, you could just add a fold up /stool chair for table for all 5 of you
Stove & 3 gas cannisters (Halfords) £12.47 - one of those suitcase type stoves, only 1 burner but by leaving par boiled rice & pasta in the cooking water covered while heating meals it cooked through and as we'd brought from home meant you could easily cook a "proper" meal. One gas cannister boiled about 4 or 5 mini kettles for teas, 2 fry ups, 1 lunch and 2 dinners.
Lounging about chairs (tesco / b&q) £21.23 - not essential
Kids airbeds (tesco) £13.44 - smaller than a single so could be useful for your younger 2 although a normal single airbed is the same price
Kids sleeping bag for son#1 (carboot) £7.00 - little sod didn't go in it and came in with us!
Coolbox & blocks (argos / outdoor clearance) £16.99 - really good, we managed to keep milk, bacon, eggs, yoghurts, ham and also 1 lunch and 2 dinners and fruit all cool from Friday - Sunday lunchtimes even though it stated it was a 20 hour box.
Also we took our double duvet, we already had a double air bed and we used clubcard tokens for single sleeping bag for older son but think it was £7 or £8 reduced.
We put kitcheny stuff in a folding crate and used plastic crockery from a picnic set we already had plus we took a middle sized frying pan from the kitchen and the pans from my old trangia stove I already had but no reason why you couldn't use normal pans from home on the portable stove.
Really useful for puting washing up in and taking it to / from washing up areas was one of those squishy rubber trug type things that cost a few quid in asda- more useful than washing up bowl as could squish into space in car.
Novice Mummy- wow that was comprehensive! Just what I was hoping for, thank you very much :)
I spotted a small site not too far from me with a small animal rescue centre I was going to try, the owners seem so helpful, reviews are great so I think we'll try one night there first just to give it a trial run but the site you mention looks brilliant Cabravieja- Iv bookmarked it ;-)
I look forward to sharing my feedback with you all on our return.
Thanks for everything guys, im getting excited now!
If you haven't yet bought your gear here are a few items that are comparable to Novice mummys list:
Icarus 500 £108.99 - you'll probably need something bigger plus this one has all the sleeping next to each other and I'm not sure I could put it up on my own (yet)
Tent is a personal preference but as already mentioned best go for a 6 or 8 man tent
Footprint (nearlynewtents on ebay) £18.99 - really useful - in a wet New Forest meant we didn't have a really messy tent to roll up
A tarp can be a cheaper alternative cut to size
Carpet (outdoor clearance, cut down from a bigger one) £20.00 - you could use a few picnic blankets and tbh the carpet was bulky and you'd probably need the car space. We used a plastic backed picnic blanket as a door mat, they had small ones in poundland not so long back.
Picnic table stool thingummy (Halfords) £17.99 - great, seats 4, you could just add a fold up /stool chair for table for all 5 of you
£15 at Tesco - would advise heaviest person on extra chair and even weight between the 4 (one older and one younger on each side) as it can see-saw a bit.
Stove & 3 gas cannisters (Halfords) £12.47 - one of those suitcase type stoves, only 1 burner but by leaving par boiled rice & pasta in the cooking water covered while heating meals it cooked through and as we'd brought from home meant you could easily cook a "proper" meal. One gas cannister boiled about 4 or 5 mini kettles for teas, 2 fry ups, 1 lunch and 2 dinners.
Lounging about chairs (tesco / b&q) £21.23 - not essential
Kids airbeds (tesco) £13.44 - smaller than a single so could be useful for your younger 2 although a normal single airbed is the same price
£5 each at Tesco or if you fancy cheap campbeds for the kids (or even yourself and older kids) they are only £8 each at Halfords (includes extra 20% off) We have this style campbeds with sims and work well for us although have seen others not get on with them.Also campbeds don't need blowing up so no need for a pump or worry about it deflating during the night.
Kids sleeping bag for son#1 (carboot) £7.00 - little sod didn't go in it and came in with us!
Coolbox & blocks (argos / outdoor clearance) £16.99 - really good, we managed to keep milk, bacon, eggs, yoghurts, ham and also 1 lunch and 2 dinners and fruit all cool from Friday - Sunday lunchtimes even though it stated it was a 20 hour box.
These are ok to buy secondhand (not a lot to go wrong if undamaged), I managed to get an Igloo maxcold at a carboot for £10 and some 1000ml coolblocks for 50p each check gumtree and all local free ad sites if you can't get to any carboots (or even if you can )
My kids used roll mats to sleep on up until recently when they camp with us, only recently got they airbeds & camp beds.
Those Regatta sleeping bags are brilliant value at £10 and 300mg is prefect for cooler summer nights. My two have got 300mg mummy bags. The 4 leg campbeds are good for kids, but can be a bit tricky to put together until you get the hang of it. The first one I put together took blinking ages
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: Absolute newbie :-)
with freezing night temp. in Newbury. The most important thing is to insulate under the air beds . This has been mentioned in previous replies. I was shocked at how cold my airbed had become! The air inside it had become very very cold and it felt like sleeping on an ice slab. I now have it sorted and use rubber lock together tiles, 6 is perfect for my double bed. 
) 
