Camp sites

[dextrous]

Want to take my 9 year old daughter camping (tent) next weekend. Don't fancy Wales. Anyone know of any decent campsites within a couple of hours of manchester. Maybe something with a few things to do locally next Sunday (fairs, fetes maybe, or even something like a boat trip).

 

[imamartian]

phew... i saw that post title and thought you were looking for Graham Norton's homepage... i was wondering what had got into you

 

[Johnmelad502]

Want to take my 9 year old daughter camping (tent) next weekend. Don't fancy Wales. Anyone know of any decent campsites within a couple of hours of manchester. Maybe something with a few things to do locally next Sunday (fairs, fetes maybe, or even something like a boat trip).

Get up to the Lake District, some great sites, scenery and walks.

 

[conny]

Derbyshire is quite close Dex, try Buxton, Matlock, Ashbourne , The Blue John Mines might even be open by now. They are a sight to see indeed.
Google 'Camping in Derbyshire' and see what it throws up.

Wherever you go I hope you enjoy it. I used to love it as a teenager.

 

[imamartian]

Derbyshire is quite close Dex, try Buxton, Matlock, Ashbourne , The Blue John Mines might even be open by now. They are a sight to see indeed.
Google 'Camping in Derbyshire' and see what it throws up.

Wherever you go I hope you enjoy it. I used to love it as a teenager.

Nooooo! Don't send him here...... i couldn't cope with the thought i might actually bump into Dex !!

 

[LastMagicBean]

I used to like the idea of camping....

Sitting round the camp fire at night, with a beer and cooking your freshly caught game etc...... Complete bliss.................

Until you go.....

P*ssing down with rain.
Tent leaking.
Beetles in your sleeping bag.
No camp fire allowed.
Wife moaning her ar*e off.

Complete nightmare..........Having said that, wherever you decide to go dex.....Have a lovely time.

 

[imamartian]

I used to like the idea of camping....

Sitting round the camp fire at night, with a beer and cooking your freshly caught game etc...... Complete bliss.................

Until you go.....

P*ssing down with rain.
Tent leaking.
Beetles in your sleeping bag.
No camp fire allowed.
Wife moaning her ar*e off.

Complete nightmare..........Having said that, wherever you decide to go dex.....Have a lovely time.

i agree, and we still do go camping. But then you get airbeds deflating in the night... wasps in the tent..... noisy neighbours.... cold wet condensation on the inside of the tent when you wake up.... waking up in the middle of the night with a full bladder..... batteries running out in your torch !!! etc etc... still great fun though

 

[Blasphemous]

I used to like the idea of camping....

Sitting round the camp fire at night, with a beer and cooking your freshly caught game etc...... Complete bliss.................

Until you go.....

P*ssing down with rain.
Tent leaking.
Beetles in your sleeping bag.
No camp fire allowed.
Wife moaning her ar*e off.

Complete nightmare..........Having said that, wherever you decide to go dex.....Have a lovely time.

You need a tent with a decent Hydrostatic Head LMB.

http://www.outdoorgear.co.uk/infopoint/definitions/hydrostatic.htm

 

[LastMagicBean]

You need a tent with a decent Hydrostatic Head LMB.

Thanks Blas.....but may not be investing anytime soon !

 

[LastMagicBean]

Camp sites in general.....whats the point.???? .......all the facilities ARE THERE.

Showers and washing 'blocks' provided.
Bar and nightclub on the site, for a very 'dressed up' civilised night out .........only to then........walk back to your 10 bedroom tent with inflatable furniture and four poster bed....

What happened to living off the land ? ...With a camp fire .

I could definitely put up with the rain and beetles if the whole experience was a bit more realistic.

 

[ColJack]

my parents were scout masters so until the age of 18, the vast majority of my holidays involved sleeping under canvas, and I do mean canvas.. none of this poncy lightweight nylon crap that passes for a tent these days..
several of the scouts tents were ( and still are no doubt ) leftovers from the second world war.. .
you should never sleep on an airbed, they go cold at night and cause all sorts of problems..
a decent foam mat on on the groundsheet is all you need..

 

[imamartian]

you should never sleep on an airbed, they go cold at night and cause all sorts of problems..

That's one hell of a claim.... and what sort of problems do they cause?

My 'fun' dig was at cheap airbeds... if you buy a decent one you get a proper night's sleep, and you don't lose heat because you're in a sleeping bag... there's nothing that sucks the heat out of you more than the cold earth!

 

[Lincsbodger]

Camping/Caravanning is the cheapest way to give your kids lots of holidays. I used to have a 12 foot Elldis 4 bunk with an awning, the beauty was if the weather look like it was going to be good for the weekend, you could get home from work at 4 oclock, sling in some bedding and water and be at a campsite on the coast by 6 or 7. we had some really good holidays like that, and we use dto go all the way from Whitby all the way down the coast, the north York Moors, and Norfolk, all the way down to Cromer.

The caravan cost me £100. Considering the fun we had in it, it was the best £100 I ever spent. The last time we went out in it was when the kids were 14 and 11, to a fantastic site near Cromer, we went for the weekend, and we ended up staying 10 days.

From Manchester you can easily get to Pickering, theres a tiny lane in Thornton Dale thats a nightmare to get a caravan up and there a valley at the end thats a piece of heaven, we went back there several times.

Here, the lane on the left


http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&s...noid=7fmo20XNAbbSA4InOMZFxg&cbp=12,33.56,,0,5

hers the site

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&s...4634,-0.709018&spn=0.000953,0.003632&t=h&z=19


We used to takes the bikes and bike in Dalby Forest to the east.....

 

[slick50]

We have an insulated underlay for our airbed and don't feel the cold. Also a double sleeping bag is nice. The fact that we have a 15sq meter tent with double sleeping cabins ( one for changeroom etc.) Center area big enough for table and chairs, just in case it rains. Electric/gas/12v fridge with gas grill cooker and also coal grill for good weather.

I don't think you could say we rough it.

 

[dextrous]

Thanks for all the suggestions and (as usual) analyses of camping.

I have a couple of tents, together with bivvy bags and a hammock. If I were taking my son (15) then we'd rough it a bit more, but as it;s my daughter and possibly her friend, we'll have to use inflatable mattress, gas cooker etc.

Lake district sounded good, until I found the cost of pitching a tent was about £30-£40 per night (although there are bound to be cheaper sites, this first search proved quite scary)

Derbyshire (castleton) sound good too. Plus there are things "to do".
Pickering sounds interesting - somehow I think that I may well end up here.

Food for thought. Thanks again for the ideas.