Why You Should Try Camping At Home

Camping at home has often been saved as a treat for the kids. Maybe you used it as a way to introduce them to sleeping without the comforts of the bedroom they know and love before taking them on that extended summer holiday. Kids or no kids, garden or no garden, kit or no kit whichever way you look at it, it’s Fun …(that’s right - with a capital F).

The world is experiencing an unusual time, not only with a global pandemic but also with communities coming together to support each other like never before, so why not do something unusual to brighten up what might otherwise be a very dull week. We have come up with some great reasons why camping at home is good for you to encourage you to do something different… or at least pretend you are.

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Transform The Living Room

You’ve probably spent a good bit of time in the living room by now, zoned out and focused on the telebox, so shake it up a bit. If you don’t have a tent small enough for inside, get creative, have a look around and see what you can use to make a shelter. Bedding sheets draped over dining room chairs can provide height to your canopy while sofa cushions and quilts can offer comfort from a hard floor. Get the Christmas tree lights out the loft for that insta-fabulous touch but also to illuminate your new digs on the group video chat later.

Don’t be afraid to put some effort into your shelter, this might be one of the only times in your adult life that you can legitimately leave it up for a few days because, let’s face it, you can’t go anywhere and no one is going to be popping round for a brew unexpectedly. Also, when you get round to tidying it up, it’ll occupy at least an hour or so.

Why: It’ll get you moving, exercise your brain and make you laugh, not to mention entertaining your friends and family. Laughter has long been considered a fantastic medicine, a good hearty laugh can help to reduce stress and anxiety and boost your immune system.

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Sleep In The Garden

As we are living through a government-imposed ‘Lockdown’ we have to stay at home, with only absolutely essential travel allowed. This means that all those little bits of fresh air and daylight that we are normally exposed to throughout the day as we walk from home to car, car to the office, office to lunchtime cafe and back aren’t happening.

We can make up for this with more than just a quick jog around the block between getting all those long-anticipated jobs finished. If you have a tent that you can set up in the garden great, alternatively see what you can make a shelter out of, it doesn’t have to be a masterpiece, if it doesn’t last all night you can retreat to the comforts of your bedroom pretty easily. If all shelter options fail, check the weather for a dry night and sleep out under the stars.

Why: By sleeping out in the garden you are exposing yourself to a whole night of fresh air this, in turn, can help improve blood pressure and heart rate as well as strengthen your immune system. If you have a little tent and no garden, set it up in the living room. Open a few windows and let the air circulate to get the feeling that you are indeed outside, although maybe switch the heating off first to avoid heating the whole street.

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Cook On A Camp Stove

When cooking in the great outdoors, once you have found a recipe that works for you; tastes good, quick to prepare, easy to clean up afterwards, it’s easy to stick to it and have the same or similar on every outing.

While you are at home it’s a great time to get creative, scour the web, delve into those cookbooks and find inspiration for new camping recipes that will ensure you get a hearty nutritious meal that can easily be cooked on a camp stove when you can get back into the outdoors.

Why: You probably have a bit more spare time on your hands than normal and you need to eat, so why not use the time to broaden your culinary horizons. When the time is right to start adventuring again you’ll be looking forward to putting your new-found recipes to the test.

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