Camping Preparations

Before we went on our holiday last month, it was decided that we prepare ourselves - test out the equipment and the tent, and see whether there was anything further we needed to purchase.

tent conditioning time

And so in May, with the permission of obliging (and very tolerant) friends, our bell tent was set up in their garden, so that it could be conditioned. This was accomplished by water being sprayed on it, then leaving it to dry overnight. 

All was successful, with no leaks to the tent and meant that we could move forward to the next phase - that of camping for a couple of nights to check everything out. For that, we went to St Ives Farm in Hartfield, near the Ashdown Forest in Sussex, not too far from our home.

As we were still in May, the nights were rather cold, the first night particularly so. And what with the lambs in a nearby field calling, the birds singing and a rather suspicious snuffling sound (which I later came to the conclusion may well have been a hedgehog and not a mad axe-man), I arose at 5.00am to make a cup of coffee and sat to watch the morning wake up around me.

golden dew

It was truly a magical experience seeing the sun rise and the heavy dew on the grass helping to colour it gold; watching the mist waft across the small lake there and to hear the sounds of the animals welcoming the new day.

One strange thing did happen while we were there. I had purchased a small bottle of hair conditioner on our arrival. On our first night, we both went to the 'wash-up' area to clean our dirty plates. On our return, we saw three birds, two black and one obviously a magpie flying away from our tent as we approached. Investigating further, we found that they had explored the bag of items left outside the tent,and had taken the bottle of conditioner. Their need was apparently greater than mine!

our tent at Hartfield