Introduction
We have brought together our thoughts on the essential things to do with your camping kit whilst staying at home. Make the best use of this time at home by enjoying your garden and your camping kit – setting up your own camping pitch and using this time to maintain your camping gear. Create a camping set up that all the family will enjoy!
Cleaning and airing your tent
This is an ideal time to get out your tent in your garden and set it up fully, not only for a bit of fun but to check the tent for any damage, mould or missing items. Once your tent is set up and you have checked it through out for damage, you need to consider cleaning it – inside and out. As a rule we always clean our tent prior to leaving the campsite, however this is normally a sweep and hoover of the inside groundsheet. Setting up at home gives you the ideal opportunity of a thorough deep clean internally and externally. A good tip – open up all the door to allow a good through-flow of air circulation though the tent, this will help dry the cleaned areas efficiently.
Cleaning the internal groundsheet
It’s a good idea to remove the internal bedroom pods of the tent prior to cleaning the groundsheet as dirt can collect under the bedrooms out of sight.
Starting from the rear of the tent, sweep out and hoover the internal groundsheet removing and grass, soil or other debris.
Use lightly soapy warm water a soft cloth or sponge to clean the groundsheet from the rear towards the front of the tent. It is recommended that the cloth or sponge is just damp when cleaning, this will avoid excess water being left on the groundsheet.
Spot cleaning the flysheet
From time to time we all manage to get areas of our flysheet dirty, sometimes this is just soil spots whilst packing, or sometimes bird droppings, often we do not realise or see these whilst packing away at the campsite.
These can be cleaned off easily using a soft cloth or sponge with little more than warm water.
For the more stubborn marks or stains use tent flysheet cleaner, this is specially formulated for tent flysheet material and will not harm or damage the tent.
In some rare cases you may find spots of mould on the tent flysheet, this normally appears white or grey in colour, and is often caused by packing the tent away when damp. Mould is often the most stubborn to remove, however this can be achieved by using mound and mildew fabric cleaner, however make sure this is suitable for tent materials – polyester or polycotton. There are some great products out there but make sure you read the full description before buying and applying. Fabsil do a good one!
Proofing your tent
It’s a good idea to waterproof your tent every other season, this not only protects the tent by improving the material performance against the elements but it will waterproof the flysheet against heavy downpours which we have become accustom to in the UK.
Once your outer flysheet is cleaned and dried thoroughly, then it’s time to apply your waterproofing.
We always use Fabsil universal protector, however there are many products out there you can purchase that provide sufficient protection.
We recommend a dry weather day for this, sunny with a gentle breeze is ideal conditions for proofing your tent.
We use a garden pump spray to apply the waterproofing formula, pour the waterproofing formula into the pump spray container and evenly spray this onto the tent fabric, using a brush to spread the coverage evenly as you go. We recommend using a large brush (soft bristles) to spread the formula once applied to the tent material.
Top tip – prior to waterproof coating the sides of the tent, coat the roof panels of the tent first! This may mean setting the tent flat on the ground.
Sorting through and maintaining your gear
Whilst staying at home take the opportunity to clean your camping kit.
Give all your gear a full clean by using a damp cloth, clean your cups, pans, plates, cookers, units and utensils before packing them back away.
This also gives you the opportunity to reorganise your kit.
We recommend using a large holdall with divider sections to keep items organised and in the right place.
As an example - In our holdall we have sections for cups, plates, bowls and other sections for detergents and cleaning products.
A full pitch up in the garden
Enjoy your camping gear whilst staying at home by creating a full camping set up just like you would at the campsite, this brings the benefits of outdoor fresh air and enjoyment to the family.
Set up your cooking and barbeque equipment – make breakfast and dinner for the family in the garden and dine in the outdoors! We love setting up our Vango cooker with IR grill, its just as good as our cooker in our kitchen. Check it out: https://www.vango.co.uk/gb/camping-equipment/501-combi-ir-grill-cooker.html
Set up all your camping units, cooker stands, tables and chairs – this is a great way to keep the kids entertained and giving you the ideal opportunity to check and clean all your kit.
Something the kids will love
Create the whole outdoor camping experience and atmosphere for the kids, bring the TV outside, create activities such as swingball, ball games and egg hunts, or create your own nature trails
Put out bird feed in a location that you can observe from the view of the tent and lay quietly with the kids inside the tent and watch what variety and species of birds visit your garden campsite, use the RSPB bird spotting checklist so your kids can tick off each bird species as they see them, download the checklist here: http://ww2.rspb.org.uk/images/bgbw_sheet_2012_tcm9-259825.pdf
Show off your garden set up
What better way to show off your garden camping set up than to post pictures and videos on social media such as Facebook and Instagram, an ideal way of reaching a good audience is by posting your pictures in #VangoGardens, read more about it here: https://www.vango.co.uk/gb/blog/join-the-fun-at-vangogardens.html
We would also like to see your garden set ups and fun images and videos, join our camping community on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/574636533074699/?ref=share
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