Turning your garden into a lockdown camp site

Have you wondered how you and your family will look back on this lockdown period? Many of us will recall living through a time of huge uncertainty, social distancing, lots of video calls, worry about friends and family, and craving a meal out or trip to the pub.
On the positive side, many of us have found that going back to basics has been a revelation, particularly for the younger generation, imprisoned with their parents. They’ve been spending time with family, playing board games, baking, taking part in quizzes and finding ways to show support to the emergency services.
For BCH Camping customers who crave the outdoors, staying away from the beautiful countryside, hills and dales will be particularly difficult. Those boots were made for walking after all, and nothing can take the place of a rewarding day-long hike. But going back to basics can work for outdoor enthusiasts and their families too, by creating a back garden campsite!

Your homemade back garden campsite

If your house is boring you, and you feel the need to relocate, even if just for a night, camping in the garden could give you the relief that you need! You can set up camp, get the wine straight from the fridge in the kitchen (we won’t tell anyone), cook food on the barbecue, play games and just imagine you’re on a camping holiday. And if it rains, you can retreat to the haven of your warm, dry bed (again, we won’t tell anyone!).
For families, camping in the garden can be great fun. It can keep the children entertained all day and night; in the day they can help to create their campsite area, and at night they can enjoy the novelty of sleeping outside.

Creating your garden campsite

To create your new, up-close and personal garden empire, you will need some of the camping basics.

The tent

Firstly, you need a tent. You may already have a tent, or tents, that you can use. If not, in good weather you can create your own tepee style abode with materials found in the garden or house. For those looking for a more bijou residence, we have plenty of tents available online for delivery which you can obviously use for years to come. There are inflatable tents for as little as £399, family tents from £149 and smaller tents, if your own tent is too big for your garden, from £56.

Lighting

You can create makeshift lanterns by putting glowsticks in jars, or by using outdoor fairy lights, tea lights or candle lights (as long as you follow safety guidelines). Alternatively, you can simply use the light from your back room or kitchen! At BCH Camping, we have lanterns from as little as £8.79.

Heating

Seasoned campers will have their usual camping heater that they can use for a night of camping in the garden, or standard garden heaters. If you have neither available, the BCH Camping online shop sells versatile heaters from £19.99 that can be used for camping, conservatories, garages, sheds, workshops, porches and around the home.

Al fresco dining

Part of the fun of camping is cooking outdoors. You could go with a bog-standard barbecue, or spice it up a bit (excuse the pun) by digging out the cooking kit you usually use when you go camping. If such labour whilst on holiday is not an attractive proposition, so you usually eat out when you go camping, you will find many different options for stoves, griddles, hobs and fire pits in the BCH Camping online cooking shop from £17.99.

A restful night

To enjoy an authentic camping experience, you should avoid dragging mattresses out of the house and into the tent. They will be too big, and quite honestly this is cheating of the highest order. Instead, you could fashion something together from cushions, duvets and blankets. Alternatively, you could elect to sleep on your usual camp bed or airbed that you take on camping holidays. BCH Camping also supply a range of self-inflating mats from £17.99.
For bedding, seasoned campers will undoubtedly have the sleeping bags and pillows they usually use, but as many people use duvets when camping anyway, we can allow this one discretion!

Furniture

This is where the children love to help to create an outdoor social space! The imagination can run riot by creating tables and chairs out of pallets, boxes and unwanted material. They can also paint them in bright colours during the day, ready to use in the evening. If creativity is lacking, BCH Camping supply a range of camping furniture including storage solutions that you can also use when you’re back on the road.
Sunbathing mats can be used as rugs, and string can be hung between trees to hang pictures and fun artistic decorations with pegs. Blankets and cushions will add finishing touches to the soft furnishings.

Games

There are many outdoor games that can be easily made with a little imagination. How about some of these:

• noughts and crosses painted on stones with the “board” made out of sticks
• camping bingo, by making cards with pictures or words of camping items
• bean bag toss, using the spaces between a ladder’s rungs as the target holes, each with a different points value
• limbo using hiking sticks or brooms
• glow ring toss, throwing the rings onto a stick or cone on the ground
• Simon Says, an old favourite

Otherwise, you can bring the board games out of the house and play some of those.
For some quiet time, if you have the right projection equipment you could put a sheet on the washing line, or against a fence, and watch a movie projected onto it.

Get in touch

We hope we’ve given you some food for thought. It’s all about keeping everyone busy, thinking of fun ways to spend time together, and being creative. Remember, regardless of whether you’re cooped up at home or travelling across the country, the adventure begins with BCH Camping!