There’s a particular kind of optimism that takes over when you first start planning a family camping trip. You picture everyone sitting around a fire, kids running through fields, fresh air and laughter and all that. Then the weekend arrives, the tent pegs won’t go in, someone forgot the tin opener, and it starts raining at 3pm on day one. I’ve been there. More than once.
The good news is that with a bit of proper planning, family camping genuinely can be everything you hoped for. Not the glossy Instagram version, but something real and actually fun. After years of trial and error, I’ve figured out that the difference between a trip everyone talks about fondly and one everyone tries to forget comes down almost entirely to the preparation. So here’s how I do it.
Before You Start: Set Realistic Expectations for Your Crew
Before you even open a browser, have a quick honest think about what your family actually needs to enjoy a camping trip. Teenagers have different tolerances to seven-year-olds. Some kids will be thrilled by a field and a stream; others will be miserable without a shower. There’s no wrong answer here, but booking a remote wild camping spot when half the family requires hot showers is a recipe for conflict. Know your people. Also decide early whether you’re bringing a tent or looking at pods and safari tents, because that shapes everything that follows.
Step 1: Choose the Right Site
This is the most important decision you’ll make, and it’s worth spending proper time on it.
Start with the big booking platforms. campsites.co.uk lists over 2,600 family-friendly sites across the UK, including their annual award winners, which are a genuinely useful shortcut. The Camping and Caravanning Club at campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk has over 100 vetted family sites. Away With the Kids (awaywiththekids.co.uk) is particularly good if you have younger children and want honest, parent-written reviews.
Use the filters properly. The ones that actually matter for families are: electric hook-up, children’s play area, dog-friendly (if relevant), onsite shop, and swimming pool. Don’t skip the electric hook-up filter if you’re planning anything more than a basic tent stay. Charging phones, running a cool box and powering a fan or lamp makes a real difference.
Think about the region:
- The Lake District is the classic for a reason. Lakes, mountains, forests, and loads of family sites to choose from. It does get busy, though.
- If you want farm vibes and a bit of adventure, look at farm-based sites on the edge of Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park. Kids can explore freely and it feels properly wild without being remote.
- For modern facilities including wheelchair access, the Cotswold Farm Park has safari tents, camping pods, grass pitches, hot showers, a camper’s kitchen and a restaurant. It’s at the pricier end, but it works well for mixed-age families.
- Autumn trips work brilliantly near Northumberland’s Kielder Forest for dark-sky stargazing, Grizedale Forest in the Lakes, or the New Forest, which has cycle paths, nature trails and ancient woodland to explore.
For older kids, look at what’s nearby the site itself. Surf lessons, high ropes courses, bike hire, rock climbing and geocaching all add enormously to a trip and take some of the pressure off the campsite to be everything.
Step 2: Get the Booking Right
Once you have a site in mind, book early. For popular spots in national parks, coastal areas, or during school holidays, pitches fill up months in advance. Even midweek slots at places like the Lake District or Pembrokeshire can be gone well before summer. The more popular the site, the earlier you should book.
On pricing: for 2025, a family pitch on a well-equipped site in high season will typically cost £25 to £45 per night. A weekend with electric hook-up (which adds roughly £5 to £10 per night) works out at around £80 to £120 for the two nights. A two-week pitch can range from £140 to £560 depending on time of year and facilities. Prices have risen by around 5 to 8% in 2025 compared to recent years, with luxury sites seeing increases of up to 12%.
Ways to save money:
- Midweek stays are often 30 to 40% cheaper than weekends, even in peak season.
- Low-season rates from October to March drop by 30 to 50%.
- Many sites offer 10 to 20% discounts for stays of five or more nights.
- Some sites let children under five camp for free, and most offer reduced rates for extra children under 12. Worth asking when you book.
Step 3: Prep at Home Before You Leave
The tent is the biggest gear decision you’ll make. A basic four-berth family tent costs under £100, but for something that won’t collapse in a stiff breeze, budget £300 to £500. Six-berth models run from £400 upwards, and at the top end you’re looking at around £2,500 for expedition-grade materials. If this is your first trip, consider borrowing a tent before committing to a purchase.
Beyond the tent, the things that always seem to get forgotten are the ones that matter most on arrival. Put a checklist together at least a week before you leave. Here’s what mine looks like:
- Groundsheet or carpet for inside the tent
- Sleeping bags rated for the actual night temperature (the UK at night is colder than it looks)
- Roll mats or self-inflating mats
- Mallet and spare pegs
- Head torches with fresh batteries, one per person
- Waterproof jacket for every family member, no exceptions
- First aid kit
- Bin bags (sites are rarely as well-stocked with bins as you hope)
- Multi-tool or penknife
- Washing-up bowl, soap, scrubbing brush
- Power bank for phones
- A physical copy of your booking confirmation and site address
Pre-pack the car the night before if you can. Loading a car at 7am with three kids is a chaos multiplier.
Step 4: Arrival Day Checklist
When you pull onto the site, do things in this order and you’ll avoid the usual scrambling.
- Check in and ask about any site rules you might not have read. Fire policies, quiet hours and gate codes are the usual ones to confirm.
- Walk your pitch before unloading. Check the ground is level, drainage looks sensible and you know which direction the wind is coming from. Back of the tent into the wind.
- Put the tent up first, everything else second. Don’t get distracted unpacking the kitchen before the sleeping space is sorted.
- Peg out properly. More pegs than you think, properly angled outward.
- Lay the groundsheet and get sleeping bags inside immediately so they have time to fluff up.
- Set up the cooking area away from the tent entrance.
- Locate the toilets and showers so everyone knows where they are before it gets dark.
Once the camp is set up, let the kids go explore. This is where camping earns its keep.
If It All Goes Wrong: Handling Bad Weather
Rain is not optional in the UK. It’s part of the deal. The trick is having a plan before it arrives rather than improvising under a dripping flysheet.
A few things that actually help:
- A decent event shelter or large tarp rigged over your cooking and seating area changes everything. You can still sit outside, eat together and keep dry. This is non-negotiable for me.
- Wellies for everyone. Not optional. Pack them even if the forecast looks fine.
- Have a wet weather activity plan. A local town to visit, a cinema, a soft play, a museum. Check this before you leave home, not when you’re already soggy.
- Keep a dry bag inside the tent with clean clothes for each person. Rotate wet kit to the car to dry.
- If it’s really bad overnight and the tent is leaking or flooding, don’t be a hero. A local B&B or Travelodge is not defeat. It’s sensible parenting.
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Wrapping Up
Plan the site carefully, book early, prep methodically at home, set up in the right order on arrival, and have a bad-weather plan in your back pocket. Do those five things and you’ve removed most of the ways family camping goes wrong. What’s left is the good stuff. The fire, the food, the kids staying up later than usual, and the kind of family time that doesn’t happen anywhere else.
If something in this guide isn’t working for your trip, or you’ve got a question about a specific site or kit decision, drop it in the comments below and I’ll do my best to help.
Want more guides like this? I send out a weekly newsletter covering family tech, real-life kit reviews, and honest planning guides for families who want to make the most of their time. It’s free, it’s worth it, and there’s no fluff. Sign up at techdadslife.beehiiv.com and I’ll see you there.
