i am a camping virgin, where shall i go?

[stitch]

i want to go camping with ds1. he has been before, but i havetn. where can i go in surrey? does it cost a lot once you have the equipment?
any advice will be appreciated.

[Troutpout]

No...it's great value for money, once you have all the stuff. My advice would be to start out with the basics or better still, borrow stuff and see if you like it first.
I guess if you start now, you will have a year to amass all the stuff and be ready for next years season. Can't help you with a surrey site, but if you look on Ukcampsite.co.uk, you can do a search for all the campsites in Surrey and read the reviews.

[Blandmum]

You will have a fantastic time. You don't need masses of equipment to start with, much of the stuff can be taken from home, unless you start camping by perching a tent on the side of the mountain in the moiddle of winter and need all the high teck stuff

Pick a site fairly close to home for the first exped.....that way if it all goes horribly wrong, you have the comfort of home close to hand. It will not go horribly wrong but it is nice to have a security blanket close at hand IYSWIM. I can't recommend a surry site but I can recommend UKcampsite....have never had duff advice on a site from them.

Re the cost, our rig paid for itself in the first year. Now I am just getting nice little odds and ends to feed my camping habit (today I got some tiny little camping pillows.....such excitement)

We have just come back from 2 weks in France. It would have cost around £300 for the two weeks on the pitch and £140 in tunnel fees. That is for a family of 4 in the peak of peak season in a beautiful site with pool, kids club, bar, resturant......a fab place. Where can you get a holiday for that price in the kids summer holidays?

[stitch]

wow mb that is really good value. we went on a big family holiday to scotland, and for 11 of us it cost just under three grand. and we thought that was pretty good!

i think what attracts me more is the wholeoutdoorsy appeal of camping. and the trip to scotland was absolutely fab with fantastic scenery. we went to this one loch for an afternoon, and on the beach, someone had pitched a little tent, and i just remember thinking how wonderful that would be. to stay under the stars like that.
also i ve been rereading clan of the cave bear, and the valley of the horses

is it too late to go camping anywhere now? please say it isnt.

[Blandmum]

You may find it a bit tricky to get a place in the more popular sites this weekend, but give it a go.

We were on holiday in a caravan in France. I checked the prices if you booked a pitch with your own tent. I quickly realised that we would save £1000 on a two week holiday and end up in the same site, with all the same facilities. We would just have to use the toilet/ shower block. £1000 is a lot for the use of a shower/personal loo!

And the kids will love it, mine just runn free and have a great time, leaving me to read my book and sip my wine under the trees......heaven!