ABOUT US
1972
tess is born in the winter and looks like a bald chicken
1978
kat is born in the winter and looks like a fat eskimo
...the camping gene is injected by our respective families who take us camping around britain, every year, year in year out, rain or shine...
1982
the bell rings for playtime at penuwch school. it's a cold still day, perfect for the customary game of rounders. a tall boy dressed in a purple jumper steps up to bat. he brushes his mop of black hair from his eyes and hits the ball with a purposeful thwack. the playground goes quiet as the ball sails gracefully through the air. the legend of the day karn hit the ball over the school was born
1991
it's kats first day at big school. she went on the school bus with the other kids who lived far away, which meant she was early. the other kids from her primary school are all starting at the welsh comprehensive, which meant she was on her lonesome. trying desperately to appear invisible she sits in the hall reading tiger eyes by judy blume. two boys, one with a red bandana one with a blue, come in and start messing around. the headmaster appears and tells the boys off. they give up messing around and come to introduce themselves to kat. their names are fred and rob
1998
kat goes to brighton to visit her friend lisa lou and bumps into fred. she hasn't seen him since school. he had grown into such a handsome chap. (minus bandanna luckily!) love is in the air!
a crucial moment in our story, fred introduces kat to his sister, tess. she's fresh from a trip camping round australia. fun, food, laughter and camping flourish and the perfect summer seems to stretch on forever...
2000
tess goes to shoreditch to visit her friend susilla and bumps into karn. she hasn’t seen him since primary school in wales 20 years ago. he has grown into such a handsome chap. love is in the air!
karn asks tess to go camping in cornwall, a perfect proposition! an amazing holiday is had, full of love, laughter, camping and sleeping on their favourite beach...
...friends meet friends, become friends, become family. camping trips, holidays, festivals, parties, christmases with the rest of the happy campers become part of all our lives...
august 2004
tess has a light bulb moment. there’s no book out there for people like us. we’re not into survival or snazzy equipment but we love camping! no one’s spreading the word about campfires, shooting stars, treasure hunts and making kites. so why don’t we? with tess’s bright idea and kats art skills we begin to make a mock up of the book
february 2005
we take the book mock-up to the london book fair on the last day of the show. we manage to get some tickets from a friend, but have no idea how the whole thing works. we soon realize that we have arrived on completely the wrong day and all the editors have already gone! we manage to wrangle a meeting with someone from octopus publishing and suddenly lots of new shiny people are looking at our book! it’s all very exciting. they ask if they can have a copy of our mock up for their publishing meeting on wednesday.
the mock up is handed in and we hear nothing for nearly four weeks. the initial excitement from the book fair fades. in the end octopus decide not to publish our book.
march 2005
undeterred we tried to find another way into this new world. friends to the rescue! a friend of a friend works at bloomsbury. it’s a long shot as they don’t usually publish this sort of book but they show some interest and the waiting game begins again!
October 2005
hurrah! they love it and they all want to go camping. editor mike jones (the legend) takes on the project. we are all smiles and at last the writing, collating, photographing and illustrating begin.
july 2006
kat and fred are married in cornwall. love is in the air!
tess and kat are now officially sisters!
there was enough love in the air for all – tess and karn are expecting!
a new member of the family will be born in march 2007.
deadline looming, tess and kat return to brighton to put there all their happy energies into the book
August 2006
the book is finished, the happy campers is to be published APRIL 02 2007. fingers crossed you will all love it.
tess is born in the winter and looks like a bald chicken
1978
kat is born in the winter and looks like a fat eskimo
...the camping gene is injected by our respective families who take us camping around britain, every year, year in year out, rain or shine...
1982
the bell rings for playtime at penuwch school. it's a cold still day, perfect for the customary game of rounders. a tall boy dressed in a purple jumper steps up to bat. he brushes his mop of black hair from his eyes and hits the ball with a purposeful thwack. the playground goes quiet as the ball sails gracefully through the air. the legend of the day karn hit the ball over the school was born
1991
it's kats first day at big school. she went on the school bus with the other kids who lived far away, which meant she was early. the other kids from her primary school are all starting at the welsh comprehensive, which meant she was on her lonesome. trying desperately to appear invisible she sits in the hall reading tiger eyes by judy blume. two boys, one with a red bandana one with a blue, come in and start messing around. the headmaster appears and tells the boys off. they give up messing around and come to introduce themselves to kat. their names are fred and rob
1998
kat goes to brighton to visit her friend lisa lou and bumps into fred. she hasn't seen him since school. he had grown into such a handsome chap. (minus bandanna luckily!) love is in the air!
a crucial moment in our story, fred introduces kat to his sister, tess. she's fresh from a trip camping round australia. fun, food, laughter and camping flourish and the perfect summer seems to stretch on forever...
2000
tess goes to shoreditch to visit her friend susilla and bumps into karn. she hasn’t seen him since primary school in wales 20 years ago. he has grown into such a handsome chap. love is in the air!
karn asks tess to go camping in cornwall, a perfect proposition! an amazing holiday is had, full of love, laughter, camping and sleeping on their favourite beach...
...friends meet friends, become friends, become family. camping trips, holidays, festivals, parties, christmases with the rest of the happy campers become part of all our lives...
august 2004
tess has a light bulb moment. there’s no book out there for people like us. we’re not into survival or snazzy equipment but we love camping! no one’s spreading the word about campfires, shooting stars, treasure hunts and making kites. so why don’t we? with tess’s bright idea and kats art skills we begin to make a mock up of the book
february 2005
we take the book mock-up to the london book fair on the last day of the show. we manage to get some tickets from a friend, but have no idea how the whole thing works. we soon realize that we have arrived on completely the wrong day and all the editors have already gone! we manage to wrangle a meeting with someone from octopus publishing and suddenly lots of new shiny people are looking at our book! it’s all very exciting. they ask if they can have a copy of our mock up for their publishing meeting on wednesday.
the mock up is handed in and we hear nothing for nearly four weeks. the initial excitement from the book fair fades. in the end octopus decide not to publish our book.
march 2005
undeterred we tried to find another way into this new world. friends to the rescue! a friend of a friend works at bloomsbury. it’s a long shot as they don’t usually publish this sort of book but they show some interest and the waiting game begins again!
October 2005
hurrah! they love it and they all want to go camping. editor mike jones (the legend) takes on the project. we are all smiles and at last the writing, collating, photographing and illustrating begin.
july 2006
kat and fred are married in cornwall. love is in the air!
tess and kat are now officially sisters!
there was enough love in the air for all – tess and karn are expecting!
a new member of the family will be born in march 2007.
deadline looming, tess and kat return to brighton to put there all their happy energies into the book
August 2006
the book is finished, the happy campers is to be published APRIL 02 2007. fingers crossed you will all love it.
SEE THE BOOK HERE >
