Message Forums

Hi Everyone,

We are new to camping and just wondered how late I can leave it before booking a weeks holiday in summer school holidays.Do the really popular ones get booked up or can I leave it until May/June.?

Can you get a nice site in Devon/Dorset by just leaving it to the last minute?

I just need to get a few camping weekends under my belt before I commit to a full week in a tent.

Is 10-14 days unrealistic to last for a young family in a tent in English weather on a basis that we aren't experienced campers and haven't laid out too much expense yet on kit until we know we love it!

Thanks

Personally I book dates during the school holidays and bank holiday weekends as soon as I can as these are peak periods and tend to get booked up quickly.

I have already missed out on going to one particular site this year in the school holidays as they are already fully booked.
I have always managed to get onto a site somewhere, often with just 24 hours notice but you need to be flexible and willing to ring round sites to find availability.

If you want to go to a particular site on a particular date then I would book now.

If you're more flexible with places and dates you can probably leave it a bit longer.

Thanks,

Looks like I'd better start looking then and just hope we all like it as I'm not too flexible with dates and the like.

When we went camping with our young kids (we have a caravan now) i always thought 1 week was about right and we were experienced campers with all the home comforts. As a newcomer I think you may find any longer difficult if the weather is poor. It is quite easy to occupy the kids for 1 week in bad weather. Although we loved camping in the tent it can be hard work in bad weather. You also need to consider washing/drying clothes if you go for longer than 1 week especially if it is wet and muddy but a lot of sites do provide facilities for washing/drying. If the weather is great you will probably want to stop longer and will make you eager for more. So i would suggest 1 week and then if all goes well maybe longer next year if you want. You could always book for 1 week at the beginning of the school holidays and 1 week at the end.

I would definately recommend you get an electric hook-up and electric cool box if you havent already these were the things which made camping so much easier for us especially if we went for longer than 2 nights.

if i was looking to get a site for summer holidays id ive already started looking for next year, but i would book soon as alot of the better site will be getting very full now.

mike

Thank you .

I really do need to get organised and book somewhere ,just can't decide where to go now,it's very exciting and I think I'm looking at the idyllic version where the children go off and make friends and play and the sun shines all day long every day.I'd not even thought of all the washing and electric coolboxes so thank you for the reality check there :)