More Tentage

Well since buying Izzy, it has been possible for us to go on more, short camping trips than before. Izzy is very simple to pitch, but a bit of a faff to fill - but that is my fault because I don't do simple camping! Here is Izzy's luxury interior - lots of rugs and blankets, extremely cosy.

We spent a couple of nights at a local campsite with friends and had a lovely time - real campfire and starry nights!

Izzy was ideal because the weather was nice so we cooked and ate outdoors and just slept in the tent.
We also used it for a couple of one nighters, joining a group of friends for campfires and friendship.

This is Izzy with homemade awning, in case of rain!
But the other night my hubby spotted an advert in the Co-op - large canvas frame tent for sale, £20.
Well, I just had to go and look didn't I?

It is about 20 - 30 years old, in immaculate condition. Made by a german company called EA Camping, and it is a Java. Looks like a bungalow style tent. Somewhere in size between the TT and Izzy. Just look at those retro orange and brown stripes! I am very frustrated now as I have no room to put it up and no time to nip away for a weekends camp!

I will instead keep getting the canvas out of it's bag and lovingly unrolling it in the kitchen, and rolling it back up again. It has some rather unpleasant looking gold, nylon curtains so I am dreaming of colour schemes and new fabric!

A New Tent

Well as you can see, I've really caught the camping bug this year! Loving the trailer tent, but it's no good if I want to go somewhere with just me and the boys (or even just me! Huh, chance would be a fine thing!) So anyway, I started looking for another tent - just a little one, that I would be able to put up with very minimal help. And I bought this one from Aldi - £60. Very nice little tent, went up with no help, good instructions. Great! But no, not great - it is polyester. And on a warm day it is hot - very hot. And thin and rustly. Not a patch on my thick, solid, cotton canvas trailer tent. About the same time I had seen dutch pyramid tents being mentioned - canvas, small and put uppable by one. And when a lady mentioned she was selling hers I casually enquired about it. And she sent me the following picture:

Oh dear - I fell in love! Isn't it lovely? It is a Relum Izmir, made in 1994, cream and lilac cotton.
So I bought it. Hubby was not impressed, so I have to sell the poly tents - no hardship there then!

Couldn't resist putting her up in the garden - it was a bit of a tight squeeze. She has rather an ample behind!  But I did it all on my own!  She is called Izzy by the way.

Isn't she pretty? I've decided she will look nice with some lime green accessories. Those bedroom pods look a bit snug though.

So I took them out and covered the whole of the floor with groundsheet. And the boys and I camped in the garden. Although I had showered her with the hosepipe and no water had come through, I did have a slight wobble in the night when I was woken by a roar and we were hit by torrential rain!

Not a drop came through! Dry as a bone - and felt very solid around us. The boys slept soundly, nothing woke them! Then this morning when the sun came out, this was the view from my bed. Isn't it just gorgeous? Somehow I don't think it would have been quite the same in the Aldi tent.

Half Term Glamping

Well we had our little holiday, but it's taken me all week to get round to writing about it! Back to work all too quickly and then the tiredness sets in and the days fly by! But work is now finished for this week and it's time to relive the holiday. Apart from the much longed for trip to Legoland, it was a very unexciting, laid back type of holiday. Lots of time spent just sitting and crocheting and reading while the boys ran about and climbed and played and made friends. Ideal really! But I also had time to play with Connie. As you can see above the bunting looks very effective.

And once the light was fading, my little tea light holders added a lovely glow to the tent. Sadly we lost one to breakage on the way here - I shall improve my packing next time!

Trailer tents are wonderful with there rugged steel pole construction. Very useful for hanging things from. See my lovely french market basket? Perfect for wash bag and towel for the shower trips. And yes, that is my stetson - much better than an umberella in the rain!

Our bed was fabulously cosy with the addition of the airbed and my charity shop bedding. We did actually get one night that was too warm for blankets so to be able to throw off the sleeping bag but still have a cool cotton cover was bliss.

Hm, all those rugs are a bit of a hotch potch aren't they? But at least very comfortable underfoot! That tartan blanket was another charity shop find - £2. We had some additional 'junkshop' finds to add to our tent but not so pretty as to show you! An aquaroll container for fresh water (we have a little pump tap on the kitchen unit, so running water - what luxury!) and another container for waste. £3 from a carbooty thanks to my Dad. All hidden nicely away under the kitchen unit.

After a day at legoland we spent a pleasant sunny day on the Thames and wandering round Windsor. I must say we were very pleased to get away and head north again. The campsite was lovely, but it was next to the M4 and I hadn't realised just how noisy it would be! Next stop was Sibbertoft, not far from home. My friend and her family came to join us so we had a trailer tent commune. She joined us straight from work and had been given some plants that she had ordered from a colleague. Well what else could we do but decorate the tent with them?

It looked very effective and the campsite owner was impressed! But we did very little here other than laze in the sun, drink wine and watch the sun go down, then throw a couple of logs on the barbeque and sit around the fire. Saturday we were treated to a rather spectacular thunderstorm - very daunting from a tent! But it felt surprisingly secure. So now it's over and I am suposed to be refreshed and relaxed *sigh* Must start planning my next trip!

Off on holiday!

The boys have been helping in my attempts to glamp Connie the Conway. They painted these little desert pots for me, I added the gold and silver embellishments. Don't they look great? I have some vanilla scented tealights to go in them. But I need to find a way of hanging them now!

We are off today for the week, firstly to Windsor to a site near Legoland as we have been promising thte boys a trip there for a while. We were supposed ot eb coming home on Thursday, but the weather next weekend is looking very promising so we will be moving to a site nearer home and setting up camp again! Hubby will then have to come home as he is back at work on Friday, but i will be joined by a friend and her family in their trailer tent. Am looking forward to some very lazy, reading and crocheting time!

See you all next week! xx

As I walked in fields of gold ...

Our favourite walk has been transformed this week. It doesn't matter how grey the skies, the fields are glowing with golden rapeseed. It cannot fail to uplift your mood.

The girls enjoyed it too, flushing pheasants and rabbits from cover and bouncing high to see their way out. But it took it's toll on their coats - Candy is now wearing green eyeshadow and Ruby is just coated with a layer of sticky sap.

Camping ... or Glamping?

I have discovered a new term - glamping, or glamorous camping. And it's become strangely appealing. Somehow I never had the urge to glamp the Vango - it was a big blue dome, with nowhere to hang anything. Cosy, but basic. 

I have seen a couple of references recently to a more appealing form of camping and suddenly I am viewing Connie the trailer tent in a whole new light. 

It started with Lucy over at Attic24 Lovely pictures of some very funky campers and caravans! And a trailer tent is almost a caravan isn't it?

Then I saw some pics of bell tents! Oh wow, now I want one of those - can't have one as have just bought a trailer tent, but oh my goodness, the possibilities that are opening up!

Bell tent

So, my head is filled with lightweight yet comfortable soft furnishings; fairy lights; bunting and lots of colourful accessories. But my wallet is empty - as ever! So yesterday I decided to trawl the numerous charity shops in our local town. 

Purchases so far: 2 cotton rugs (£2.50 and £3), plus 2 packs of tulip red dylon.

Purchase no 2: unused Ikea bedding set for £4 - opened and hemmed around the bottom opening to make a sleeping bag liner. OK, I know it won't be seen much, but I'm sure I will be able to feel all those hot colours!

Purchase no 3 was a lovely thick, wool, tartan blanket in reds and yellows for £2. Ideal for throwing over a chair, or over a bed. I also have fairy lights and scented candles planned.
So then I dug out some of my fabric and started the bunting. Husband took one look and asked "where are you planning on hanging those?" I replied "do you really want to know" he just rolled his eyes and walked away. Te he, he knows when he is on a loser. Not sure how it will all look, I can't wait to get the tent out again - half term, we will be going to Windsor so will get chance to try it all out then.

This was my final purchase. Totally not for the tent, but they were half price and are the perfect colour for the dining room - and chickens!!!!

Another weekend away ...

Thanks to our trial weekend camp last week, we were well prepared this weekend for the awful weather that we had! The tent was cosy and dry; we used an airbed on top of the foam mattresses so the beds were warm and cosy and the tent easily withstood the howling wind and rain that assailed us at night! But someone forgot the heater (doh) so we were more than a little cold at times! But there was plenty of sunshine and we had plenty of lovely long walks on some of the most beautiful beaches in Norfolk!

First walk of the weekend was Saturday morning, we headed to the coast and stopped at the first beach sign we came to. It was Snettisham. A bit unprepossessing - narrow strip of shingle, but venture a bit further, and go off the beach and there is a beautiful nature reserve. Hundreds of little tracks through gorse and goose grass. The dogs and the children loved it, but I left my camera in the car.

Short break for some fairground rides and chips in Hunstanton, then we drove on round the coast. These were taken on Brancaster beach in the afternoon. Stunning! The sun shone, the sky was blue - we just lay back on the warm sand and watched the kites overhead. Candy tried joining in the game of football and burst the brand new ball - but then she carried it around for ages! The boys found some friends and played games up and down the sides of the dunes.

That blue sky makes such a perfect backdrop to colourful kites doesn't it?

The dogs were content to sit on the sand (or on Dad's knee) and observe all the beachy activity. I think they really wanted to go and join in but were very restrained!

We drove a bit further along - to Thornham, where we found a farm shop with a fish van. And a delightful little shop - Vintage Home and Garden where I treated myself! It's a fabulous little shop if you love that vintage, shabby chic, seasidey look (which I do!)
Back to the campsite for tea of barbequed tuna and trout for us with a lemon and thyme dressing, organic beef burgers for the boys, with some fresh salad and noodles. We stayed at the Sandringham campsite - expensive, but great facilities, dog walks from our doorstep into the forest and plenty of play equipment for the children.

Oh yes, and this is what I bought - a funky red enamel teapot for the tent, plus 2 blue enamel mugs. I just couldn't resist! I also bought a lovely woven, french market basket with leather straps - well it's just what I needed to take my clothes, towel and wash things to the shower block. And it looks very pretty hung on the back of a door. So I was told. But I daren't tell my husband that bit :0)

Sunday was sunny, but freezing. And the boys wanted to go on a train!! 2 hours sat in an open carriage - erm, no thanks. So I volunteered to walk the dogs while hubby took the boys on the Wells and Walsingham Light Railway. If you ever find yourself on the railway carpark, they also do Alpaca treks, and the sandwich van makes real, proper sandwiches! Anyway, just across the road from the railway carpark there is a path across the fields to the sea. So the girls and I went that way and got very windswept and very muddy. But it was a darn sight warmer than being on that train!!

After a delicious sandwich lunch, we set off again. This time to see Holkham beach. We managed to walk out to the main beach and back through the forest - it was very beautiful, but so cold by then that we just wanted to get back in the car and get warm. Sadly things didn't improve and the tent was so cold (I hadn't adjusted my storm flaps properly) that it was warmer to go to bed. At one point I was wearing a tee shirt, a sweatshirt, a micro fleece jumper, a fleece jacket, a kagoule, a woollen shawl and had a blanket across my knees!

Despite the cold, it was a lovely weekend, and we missed far more than we saw! I can't wait to go back again - but maybe when the weather is just a little warmer.