look out for us in the observer this sunday testing camping stoves!

I just added some brand spanking new campsites to the site. 

HARBOUR CAMPING PARK IN SUFFOLK
TRELOAN CAMPSITE IN CORNWALL
FORESTSIDE FARM IN STAFFORDSHIRE
EAST HOOK FARM IN PREMBROKESHIRE
SEAL SHORE CAMPING IN AYRESHIRE

I'd love to hear your stories if you've visited one of these and if you know of any more goodies please let me know.

this is what I've been doing when not dreaming about summer (my day job)


I've been thinking about this sudden craze for camping. Hopefully it will help to improve exisiting campsites and maybe encourage people to start some new ones. Its great and its been a long time coming but the downside is when you want an impromptu trip all the campsites are full. so why not have a go at wild camping or there's always camping in the grounds of a YHA property. Also there are the Forestry Commission sites. There are over twenty of them all tucked away in beautiful woodlands across Britain.

I'll be adding these to the site soon so lucky you get a head start on everyone else!

I've been meaning to add these reviews from our lovely camping mad editor Mike for ages, first there's Deepdale Farm and then there's High Sands Creek - otherwise known as Stiffkey Campsite. 

Have you visited either of these sites and do you agree with Mike? let us know why (or why not!) and if you have any photos send em on over!

so great news, the forum is finally up and running and its very exciting to see a few people using it already. 

however things never run smoothly around here, sods law. Getting the forum up meant reconfiguiring some of the other stuff on the site, which in turn meant it knocked a few things off. the reviews for example, all the pictures have dissapeared (though I'm told not forever) and the search function only seems to work in england (no we're not biased!) our nice web pixie is on the case and I'm trying to keep my chin up and think positive!
k
x

p.s. for the nice person who wrote nice things about the book on amazon the picture above is of Tess on the North Coast of Cornwall near Lundy Bay, you can walk along the headland for miles, the views are breathtaking and on sunny days the sea turns turquoise, I'm heading there in a couple of weeks and I'm very excited!

Hope you all saw the Guardian on Saturday and their Camping supplement, its great to see camping getting so much good press and shaking off its bad rep!
Wish the weather would pick up again though as we want to take Elfin camping again, 
more sun dances please!

Kat is a bit poorly at the moment and is in need of some sympathy, she is working too hard! She is saving up to treat her and Fred to a bell tent this summer......I just dont want her to tire herself out to much or else how will anything ever get done.   

the boys survived! they even had a little bit of sun. tent is now hanging in the house to dry and fred is feeling a little sore after his 30 mile paddle, phew!

forum is still causing difficulties but we're on the case... 

Happy Camping
Kat
x

hi everyone, just wanted to spread a bit of encouragement...

as you may have read before the site really is a labour of love but we can only make the website extra special with your help! We'd really love it if you sent us your campsite reviews.

The more reviews there are on each site the better informed we will all be and the more useful the site will be.

we've had a few new ones and some lovely photos but we need more so if your feeling in a sharing mood go right ahead...

oh by the way, this weekend we're updating the running of the site, ironing out a few problems and building that forum you've all been waiting for. I've just noticed that if you search for a campsite name it doesnt always bring it up so we'll be fixing that asap. until then if you cant find the campsite you want to review just send your tales straight to moi.

kat@thehappycampers.co.uk

yup thats my direct line, you lucky lucky things!

Happy Camping! love Kat xxx

EWELEAZE FARM CAMPSITE


been up loading lots of new campsites and interesting camping-type places to stay. heres just a few...

yurt works in cornwall

Albion Farm yurt in cornwall

botrea tipis and yurts in cornwall

new photos of eweleze farm campsite in dorset (if anyone fancys camping in august this place looks amazing - but get your bookings in fast!)

durdle door caravan park and campsite in dorset

vintage vacations on the isle of wight

lakhill tipis in carmarthenshire

woodhouse farm campsite in powys

cwmrhywyddfor campsite in gwynedd
(pronounced coum-rhoeth-four - or thereabouts for the unitiated!)

cae du campsite in snowdonia
(ky-dee)


good luck to fred, sam, ferg, patch, lil ad, big ad and the rest of the boys who are going camp/canoeing this weekend. fingers crossed for sunshine!!

Thank you to the lovely happy camper who we managed to persuade we weren't so bad after all! hurrah!

Subject: Re: the happy campers website
Date: Mon, 7 May 2007

Dear Kat and Tess
Thank you for your quick reply.Apologies that I misunderstood the fact that the site was not part of a commercial enterprise,but rather a labour of love.I will write a review for your website next time I go to a campsite which you haven't had reviewed.
Best Wishes from,
A no longer disappointed user/reader of your site.I really think it
is great and mirrors my enthusiasms for camping.
Apologies
?

Dear ?
Thats no problem at all. I'm sure you weren't the only person out there who was having these thoughts. Its hard not to be slightly cynical about todays commercial world, I get it myself sometimes. we're very pleased you changed your mind about us!
we wish you sunshine on all your camping trips and welcome you to the happy campers
love
Kat (and Tess)
xx

if you joined an age ago sorry for the delay in getting your mitts on one of our sparkly badges. rest assured Tess is on the case and is writing the envelopes as we speak. (elfins catching some zzzzzz's)

if you want a badge and you haven't joined yet heres the info you need...

Hello Everyone

Sorry i have been incommunicado but I have been having a baby! So i would like to introduce our newest happy camper to all our other happy campers! Her name is Elfin Mae and she is totally delicious. She was born on March 29th at 8.40pm and weighed 7lbs 8ozs and has already been camping! We went near to home in the South Downs last Saturday night and she seemed to love it, she slept like a baby (excuse the pun!) and we had a great time too. Kat was Mum and made us all lamb and halloumi kebabs with and amazing sauce which i will have to get her to put in the recipe section! And we welcomed Elfin into the world of happy camping!
Also i just want to sat thanks to Kat for holding the fort at the happy campers HQ and keeping on top of things while holding down her busy work schedule..........thanks darling your the best!

Can't wait to hear all your camping stories and favourite campsites

lots of love tess (and Elfin) xx

sigh, we have had so many lovely emails from people wishing us luck and praising both the book and website and yet its always the negative that sticks with you. I wanted to post this so that if anyone else out there is having similar feelings about the website then this will go someway to answering their dissapointment.

names have been removed to protect the innocent!

To The Happy Campers,

Slightly disappointed by the fact that your site started with so much promise but here we are in the month of may and the site of the month is STILL march. Can only presume that your website was launched simply to tie in with sales of your book. I had been alerted to your website by press coverage - the Sunday observer and thought it was bright and exciting. as an avid camper thought it summed up all the good things about camping. At Easter we followed your recommendations and went to Henry's campsite at the Lizard which was great. but today for the May bank holiday I thought i would look at your site again and found it had hardly moved on since march.Guess you got what you wanted--book sales ! 

A slightly cynical browser

Dear ?, 
I'm so sorry you have been dissapointed by our website. Please let me assure you that our intention with the website was to provide a space where like minded happy campers such as ourselves could have a free resource providing great campsites along with independent reviews. 

we also wanted to provide a space for people to talk about their camping experiences and share their wealth of knowledge with each other in the forum. the reason our book came about is because we are enthusiatic about the subject, our primary aim is not to make a load of money its to have fun, encourage, inspire and perhaps make people smile along the way. 

I wrote in the diary section of our website about our slow beginnings with the website. we have been let down by the speed of our web developers. partly because they underestimated the cost of the job but we cannot afford to pay them any more. we are still waiting on them to get the forum up and running because we believe that it is something that people are interested in. 

The reason why certain aspects of the website are slow to be updated is because basically its just little old me running it. Tess has just had a baby so her attention is a little diverted right now and I work extremely hard as a freelance illustrator. Our website is a labour of love paid for out of our own pockets. we don't recieve payment for it, we don't charge campsites, we dont charge users, we don't have advertisments. we give away free badges and I work on it for free in my very precious spare time. 

I hope that all goes to show that we are fully committed to our website and we hope that it continues and grows for a long time to come. 

please accept my apologies for your dissapointement. I have taken in your points and intend to endeavour to update the website more often.

we can only grow with your help. It would be fantastic if you could write a review for us about your trip to Henrys campsite and send us any suggestions for great campsites for the listings 

love Kat (and Tess) 
xx