A quick post from me to reflect on what a shitter of a year 2022 was and to wish everyone a lovely Christmas and New Year! 

Make sure you spend time with your family and loved ones and enjoy all of the roasties and PIBs you can eat! 

Last year I wrote, "Let's hope 2022 is better than the last two years...", and I laugh at my naivety. However, I still hope 2023 is better than 2022!

I won't be posting again this year but I'll still be active on socials as usual.

Annnnd just like that, it's the end of summer and cosy season is officially starting. Which also means it draws camping season to a close for 2022. At least for us! We are planning some camping potentially in October (weather dependent), but we will definitely starting again in March/ April next year.

This sadly, also brings to a close, my camping content for this year. Next year I'll be reviewing our brand new tent, more campsites and giving more hints, tips and tricks for camping.

Over the winter months, I'll be shifting focus back to my older style content, cosy nights in, what to watch, cocktail and food recipes alongside reviews. Keep your eyes peeled!

Molly

When we first began camping, we got into a bit of a rut with food. We stuck with classic camping faire - BBQ food! But we realised, since we were going often and are trying to eat healthier, we needed to branch out. So, we bought a basic campstove and some gas and away we have gone!

The trouble with cooking campside is that you don't have access to your usual array of spices and flavourings, so you have to adapt and plan ahead to ensure your meals are packed full of flavour. I also tend to avoid things which are a bit iffy cooking through properly, such as chicken and fish. I do this because with cooking outside, the wind blows the flame and means that it doesn't always cook evenly. We tried doing burgers on our stove and ended up with half burnt burgers - nightmare!

1. Tacos

Tacos are easy to do on a campstove. Minced beef, a packet of taco seasoning, some fresh salad and taco shells are all you need! 

2. The Classic Bacon or Sausage Sandwich

This one is obvious - you can't go wrong with a classic bacon or sausage sandwich can you!? Little hack we have found is taking small butter portions to use if you don't have access to a fridge and then refillable bottles for ketchup and brown sauce.

3. Risotto

Risotto is another easy one pan meal. All you need is onion, some fresh peas, some chopped ham, arborio rice and chicken stock and it makes a  healthy and tasty meal.

4. Peri Peri Halloumi Pittas

An easy lunch and easy to add a pop of flavour. I tend to take a bottle of nandos peri peri garlic sauce. Usually I chuck a bit over my halloumi, add salad and throw it in a pitta. Delish!

5. 5 Bean Chilli

A good option for something which is warming and healthy. Needed for a rainy day to warm up. At home, I'd mix up my own spices and seasonings but I do cheat whilst camping with a packet mix as it's easier not to take a million spices or if I'm prepared enough, I mix it up in advance.

What kind of food do you opt for when camping?

Molly

I'm going to start off by saying I love this tent. The Quechua Arpenaz 4 Man Tent is from Decathlon and is one of the easiest tents I've ever used and a perfect beginners tent.

Last year I borrow my sister's 3 man pop up Quechua tent (can't remember the exact name of it but it was a limited edition 90s tent) so when buying a tent for our first proper camping season, I knew I wanted a Quechua tent.

The tent itself has a bedroom and a small seated living room area. As with all 4 man tents, you can comfortably fit 3 full sized humans in, but I think you'd struggle with 4. If you have kids, two adults and two small kids would probably fit comfortably. With this tent, there is a fair bit of ventilation with a covered vent above the living room. I also like the window feature which allows you to do a classic bit of people watching, however there is a flap which covers up the window should you want the privacy.

It's a poled tent, so think traditional assembly. There are 3 main poles which are colour coded, and adjustable guy ropes. The tent comes with heaps of pegs, so you'll never be without. It takes roughly 10-15 minutes for the two of us to pitch the tent. We also have never struggled getting the tent back into the bag which is a massive win for me.

The only main issue I have with this tent is that you can't fully stand up, you're always hunched over which can be a little tiring on the back. If you have a table and 2 chairs, you can just about fit in the living area sat down. Another thing to note is there is no ground sheet in the living area.

As for price, it's a really decently priced tent, retailing for £99.99. It is a really good tent and worth every penny.

We recently upgraded to a slightly larger 4 man Quechua tent, which features a stand up living room and fresh and black technology in the bedroom. Watch this space for the review!

Molly

A couple of weekends ago we stayed at New Lodge Farm, in Bulwick, Northamptonshire. Find my full review of the campsite below:

Pros

- Great, super clean facilities. Lot's of stand pipes for water, multiple recycle points, flushing loos and hot showers. There was a small issue with the boiler on one of the days of our stay but that was rectified by 10.30am and I found the cooler water really refreshing. Something I found really interesting was that all the hot water and lighting is produced by renewable energy sources.

- Quiet and Peaceful. This was really important to me as it was the weekend before my Grandad's funeral and I just wanted a lovely and chilled experience where I could zone out and read my book in peace.

- Adults only. I've mentioned previously that sometimes I enjoy staying on an adults only campsite, and for reasons outlined above, I needed some chill time and a quiet atmosphere to reflect in.

- Friendly and Insightful Wardens. Both wardens were super friendly, they took turns on shift. They explained the site rules to us well and showed us how to find the electrical hook up etc. It was a lovely friendly campsite.

- Can park next to pitch. Always a must for me and we now filter by this when looking for a campsite to book.

- Electric security barriers. This was a great safety feature and I felt really safe leaving our stuff on site when going exploring.

- Ground is good for tent pitching. We've been to a couple of campsites which have had super hard ground or really stony ground. The ground at New Lodge Farm was perfect and the pegs went in easily despite not having rain for weeks.

- On site Farm Shop & Cafe, which means if you can't be bothered to cook you can pop along and grab breakfast or lunch. Or if you're cooking, you can grab some fresh ingredients. They also do Friday night supper club, a takeaway pizza pop up appears on Saturday evenings and roasts on Sunday!

- Electric to all tent pitches - we've recently invested in an electrical hook up and we've realised it's an absolute godsend, so having electric directly on our pitch was fabulous.

            

          

Cons

- Relatively near a main road and whilst it wasn't exactly noisy noisy, you just got the odd rumble of a lorry every so often. No big deal really! We struggled to think of cons for New Lodge Farm.

- No shade for tent pitches, which, like I've said in previous posts, whilst usually not an issue because English weather, it happened to be very sunny the weekend we visited New Lodge Farm. We used our windbreak to fashion a sun shade. 

Overall

I absolutely loved our stay at New Lodge Farm campsite and would definitely return. I would return just for their farm shop sausages, they're TDF.

Also, all the pitches are great, but the best pitch by far is Pitch K (nearest the loos!).

Overall, I award New Lodge Farm campsite, 5 tents out of 5 (my first full tent award!!)