Camping and Kids
As a child myself most of our holidays consisted of camping, when I was young it was so exciting I loved going to ASDA with my dad to choose the food we would be cooking up, then packing up the car to go on our next adventure. As a teenager however it was no longer ‘cool’ going to a campsite in the middle of no where with no phone signal, it felt like the end of days and couldn’t wait to get back to a normal bed.
This year I wanted to take advantage of the fact the kids were still at that age where everything is fun and an adventure what ever we did and where ever we went. I was super nervous to take the boys considering they were more use to flights and Spain then camping and toilet blocks. We took the plunge and booked a spot last minute in the area of the UK I have loved for years, The Yorkshire Coast, we chose Crows Nest Caravan Park as it had extra facilities including a pool, bar and restaurant, shop and play area it was also close to all the beaches I wanted to show the family.
There are definitely some essentials you need to think about when taking young kids camping. So here is my top 5:
- Pull-ups, there is nothing more exhausting than having to wash and dry a sleeping bag every morning of your trip.
- Night-lights, campsites don’t tend to have much lighting especially when you’re the furthest away from amenities, so if your little ones are afraid of the dark, get one for each sleeping pod and then one for the central area of your tent.
- Books and travel games, you may occasionally due to the great British weather find yourself confined to the tent so simple things to keep them occupied will be a lifesaver. We tried to make sure their time on technology was reduced.
- Mini campfire, this gave us many nights of warmth and entertainment. The kids loved the spooky stories told by John and eating marshmallows and hot chocolate.
- Citronella candles, well because nobody invited the cast of a bugs life into their tent.
We also took Nala the golden with us, because it wouldn’t be a family holiday without her. This was the first time I had taken a large dog camping so honestly didn’t know what to expect. All I knew was that her crate was too big for the tent and she’s too big to share the sleeping pod, so she would have to sleep in the centre area of the tent, but how were we going to make sure she didn’t escape? Well we used a heavy duty ground anchor to secure her, this was all going very well until she had the time to chew through her lead and take a wander around the tents, luckily she had only been out a couple of minutes and didn’t get far.
I chose The Yorkshire coast because it has so many exciting places to visit one of them being Whitby. As it was the summer you can imagine everyone had the same idea so it was very busy, I have visited Whitby in the Easter holidays a few years back and everything is much quieter so if your not a big fan of crowds earlier in the year is better. The beach is divided into two areas one where dogs can go and the other where dogs can’t. Whitby is an amazing place to take kids crabbing because no matter where you stand in the harbour you are guaranteed to catch at least 10, just grab some bait from one of the many seafood vendors and a crabbing kit from a local shop. Another fun activity that is dog friendly is a pirate ship ride, which takes you out the harbour and does a short loop along the coast.
Scarborough is the main town on the Yorkshire coast and is generally very busy during holiday season, but we thought we would give it a go and let the kids experience a typical seaside town. We could only be on North Bay beach as this allows dogs, we were able to find a section of sand and pitched up. Beach days are always fairly easy as long as you have your buckets and spades, you will have occupied kiddies. Unfortunately the heavens decided to open and we had to find shelter, once it dried up we took a wander around Peasholm Park, an oriental themed municipal park, mini waterfalls, wooden bridges crossing, trickling streams and an abundance of wildlife make this the perfect location to enjoy a relaxing afternoon.
For our last full day, we went to Filey Brigg and Flamborough Head as it has a selection of small beach coves, which are full of caves and rock pools for everyone to explore. We started with Filey Brigg, we parked at the country park and walked along the top of the cliff, the tied was out and saw many people sea fishing and rock pooling as the path down was pretty much vertical we decided against trying to clamber down and sat down to enjoy the view which included a small pod of dolphins frolicking in Filey bay which was amazing for the kids to see. We then headed off to North Landing Beach, the first time I visited this beach I was on a Year 10 residential trip for geography and I just fell in love with the turquoise water. It is a steep walk down to the small beach, which has a small café selling ice creams and chips. There is a good amount of parking that is now free or was when we were there this August (2021) as the parking meters were no longer there.
After lunch we headed round to Thornwick Bay for more rock pools, when the tied is low you can walk to the incredible arch formed into the cliffs and around to smaller bays but be sure to make it back before the tied comes back in! On our way back to the tent I decided I didn’t want to leave before I had eaten some scampi at the sea front so we drove into Filey itself grabbed a bit of food and drink and parked up at the sea front. The small pod of dolphins was still there this time even closer and we just sat in awe of these amazing creatures.
The last night at camping could only mean campfires, marshmallows, hot chocolates and spooky stories. It was great to be making memories as a family, and seeing the joy on the kids faces everyday. We got to leave the stress and routine at home, and just experience each day as it came. It reminded us to enjoy the adventure of the now and we were able to teach the kids that its not all about Nintendo switches, TV’s and holidays abroad, its about spending time together and appreciating what is on your doorstep.
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