Camping?!

So, there are always a few raised eyebrows when I tell people we have been camping. Some people actually look sympathetic as if it's a bad thing, others just laugh out loud or wrinkle noses in distaste.

I can appreciate that it isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I think camping has really bad press and so while we were away I tried to analyse what the good and bad things are and how, for us at least, the benefits far outway the inconvieniences.

First off, we generally book at a site that has superb reviews and great facilities - one year the Convienience Block ( Loos Showers Laundry etc) had a sauna and steam room!

Yes, you have to to walk to the Loo and yes, it can be annoying at night, particularly if one of the kids needs to go and it's raining and wellies and kagools have to be put on instead of your normal toweling dressing gown.This year the facilites were impecable - the cleaners were the most diligent I have ever met ( bar my mum). Ok, so the showers failed towards the end of the second week and that was just bad luck for us and the site owners , but we stayed clean and fresh smelling none the less.

Zips : can be annoying and there are loads on our tent, so there's a kind of zip symphony played as people go in and out, especially as we were battling wasps - but our tent has insect nets, so we won, most of the time.

The Weather : it rained lots this year and that can be noisy in a tent, but we were warm and dry when inside, which wasn't often as we went out everyday - part of the plan. However, when the weather is good, most things happen outside and that's lovely.

Food - well, we have a hob and grill and rustled up some magnificents feasts and barbequed too - not as much as we would have liked, cos of the weather though.

We never take any media tech with us - TV,Laptop etc, although we do have 'Electric Hook Up', so can charge up phones and DS's, have light at the flick of a switch, have a small fridge, use a hairdryer and have an electric kettle for that urgent cuppa. We nearly bought a cheap toaster this year, but Joe felt we would be selling out too much if we did, so we didn't!

Sleeping on the floor was never something I looked forward to and in our old tent, we were on a raised platform, but I was pleasantly surprised but how ok it was. Air beds are quite comfy and Keith and I use out normal bedding rather than sleeping bags, althought the kids sleep in bags. We have our own 'pods' to sleep in, so everyone has a place they can call their own and retreat to it as and when.

We live from day to day which is cool, and contrived this year to drive past Tescos every day on the way home from places to stock up for tea and breakfast.

So that's the mechanics of it and yes, sometimes you have to be very resourceful and sometimes it can be frustrating.

The benefits for us though are:

• the simplicity of life - life at home is so complex
• the 'being together' - having time to feedback to each other, playing games that we never play in normal life ( cards, Bananagrams etc). This really is the main thing for me. I appreciate holiday time is when everything gets easier and you could relive this experience in a cottage or a house, but there's a lovely intimacy to camping.
• The fresh air !
• The lack of pretentions all around - you can't hide much when all that separates you from the people next door is 6 metres of air and 2 nanometers of fabric

So, that's my case for camping and while some of you readers might know totally where I'm coming from, others might never understand, but that's fine - carry on camping, that's what I say!