Top Tips For Camping In Cold Weather

Camping in late autumn, winter and early spring is a wonderful if approached properly.

Waking up to a clear, frosty morning with soft sunshine glimmering the trees can be a magical experience.

Follow our top tips to get the most out of winter camping:

• Pack some rock pegs and mallet in case of frozen ground – and some spare guy lines.
• Take some absorbent cloths to deal with condensation.
• Take wellingtons to cope with a wet site – and a folding plastic box in which you can leave them next to the door to stop mud getting into the tent.
• Take a fleece blanket – wrapping one around you is a quick way to get warm. It will also boost the insulation under your sleeping bag to give you that good night’s sleep.
• Take a tip from the mountaineers and have a ‘pee bottle’ handy at night so you do not have to get up to go to the loo in the dark and the cold!
• Make sure you have got a good torch, ideally a headtorch, and spare batteries – the nights can be long in winter.
• Early to bed and late to rise – there is nothing like a snug sleeping bag in cold weather to encourage you to enjoy a few well-deserved lie-ins.
• Fill a Thermos with hot water just before you go to bed so you can quickly enjoy a warming brew if you need to get up during the night.
• It may be old hat but a hot water bottle is really hard to beat on a cold night.