Is Glamping really Camping?

Many Brits today have never braved the outdoors and gone camping let alone glamping, so why the sudden change? With the country in grip of recession and money harder to come by, more and more people are opting for a glamping holiday to remember on British turf. There has been a sudden return to the nostalgic days of camping as a cheaper alternative, but with holiday makers used to their luxuries, and their sterile rooms all ready for their arrival they want a simple, easy, stress free camping holiday. With this in mind camping simply doesn’t live up to its name as, for some, having to arrive and spend the first part of the holiday constructing their twelve pod ‘luxury’ dwelling isn’t so much a holiday than a slow, painful torture which results in an overwhelming desire to pack up and return home (if only you could get the tent back into the bag it came out of, and for those who opted for a smaller, ‘cosy’ tent, well, they spend the entire holiday ducking, crawling and rolling around on their half deflated airbed. 

This is where glamping holidays days come into their own.  Yes, a glamorous camping holiday. These holidays are ideal for those who like the idea of camping, the virgins of camping who wouldn’t even know how to get hold of a tent, let alone erect one. Many different companies offer a variety of glamping holidays, such as wooden cabins with that ‘rustic getting back to nature feeling’, I mean, really you may as well move the family down to the end of the garden and live in the potting shed for a few days.  Alternatively you can spend a small fortune on a metal box and go caravanning, the emphasis on ‘caravanning’ as you’re not really camping at all. You’re in a tin can that is a tenth of the size of your house with a bed that folds out from the cooker and a shower that hangs above the toilet. Camping is sleeping under canvas always has been always will be, camping is feeling the summer sun in the morning, listening to the pitter patter of rain against your tent, the glorious sound of that zip opening introducing you to a brand new, glorious day, camping is getting back to nature and most glamping holidays forget this.

Some do not however, being a keen camper you can feel like you are almost betraying your roots, and glamping can feel like a sordid affair, like your cheating. This is not the case with Go Camping UK, they understand both the ‘glamorous’ and the ‘camping’ in the  popular glamping experience, from the tiny details like the gas stove (which is  vital to any camping experience, the sssshing of the gas and the whistle of the kettle as it tells you, time for a cuppa’) to the big details like actually being in a tent.  Of course remaining faithful to the glamping experience they provide you with a luxurious, glamorous camping holiday, from proper beds to rest your head at night which means you don’t wake up feeling like the Hunch Back of Notre Dame (an unmissed feature to any camping experience) to electricity, because let’s be honest who could go a week now without electricity, this is 2011, not the stone age. The best part to this glamping experience has got to be the lights as not only does it make life easier but it means that you can enjoy your holiday for longer, you can sit in the evening playing cards and games whilst star gazing out of your tent.

After all glamping" should  make camping fun, easy and stress free but to actually lose sight of what it’s all about is sad, as camping is all about getting back to nature, escaping, and enjoying all the little things that don’t happen in your hectic everyday lives.