Campingninja Blog

To celebrate this year’s Father’s Day not only was I taking my Ninja Papa away for a camping trip, but I had also promised to cook him a special Father’s Day lunch with some of my home grown specialities from the allotment.

I headed up to the allotment first thing in the morning to collect the special ingredients.  An exceptional growing season had resulted in the potatoes bursting out of their bag, full pots of flourishing strawberries, lots of tumbling tomatoes and happy herbs but worryingly no space raiders had even remotely begun to sprout just yet.

Perhaps it was time to face facts and accept that this could be the start of a great space raider famine.  Although I sincerely hoped not.  Luckily, they were still stocked in all good outlets.

Unfortunately it did mean that the home grown space raiders Father’s Day lunch I had promised would no longer be a possibility.  Not wanting to let my Ninja Papa down, or spoil our plans for lunch, I made a chef’s executive decision to improvise and pulled out a packet of space raiders from my ninja knapsack and planted them loosely under the top of the soil in the empty half of the potato bag.

I picked up the potato bag and lugged it into the back of the ninja wagon and drove over to my Ninja Papa’s house, picking him up on the way and we arrived at the campsite as planned, in perfect time for lunch.

My Ninja Papa set up the tent, while I got busy in the camping kitchen.  A feast of fresh ingredients from the allotment went into the special recipe, fresh basil, parsley, a few chillies and what were at least freshly dug out of the potato bag, space raiders.  Who knew if substituting fresh space raiders with ones from a packet would make much difference to the recipe?  They were both part of the corn and wheat snack family so I went ahead with it anyway.

A little while later the special lunch was ready to eat and we both tucked in.  It was surprisingly delicious.  Just like a good vintage wine there were ripe flavours of oak-aged garden herbs, pickled onion scented with the full flair and flavour of chillies, a blend of earthy notes and the crunchy texture of… well, mud covered crisps really!

In fact it tasted so fantastically fresh and delicious that my Ninja Papa would never have known that these particular space raiders were not home grown.  Apart from that just a few moments later, a gust of wind blew the space raiders packet right out of the rubbish bag and it landed straight in front of my Ninja Papa’s feet.  Oh no.  It was a complete giveaway but never mind.  Happy Father’s Day, Ninja Papa.

Dernwood Campsite

What makes a 'Green' Campsite?

Eco campsite, sustainability, green awards, bio-diversity? Where to start!

We have an amazing variety of campsites here in the UK from Back to Basics to an all singing, all dancing Holiday Parks but what makes a campsite ‘green’. The answer comes from the passion and ethos of the people who run them.

Statistics show that here in the UK 68% of us will make a green choice if it’s presented in front of us.

Here are our Top Green credentials you should look out for to find the Best Green Campsite for you. 

Recycling

Something many of us do automatically
at home and yet not all businesses and campsites supply recycling points. It can be very frustrating to see all your recycling waste like glass go to
landfill. Look out for campsites that do recycle. Many provide multiple
points around the park.

Green Awards

There are 2 big awards to look out for in the camping industry. David Bellamy Award and the Green Business Tourism Scheme. Both of these offer Gold, Silver and Bronze awards. Both look at a whole range of criteria from renewal energy to the purchasing of goods. These 2 awards are not exclusive as they do require a membership of various organisations. There are also many local awards run by National Parks, Local business schemes or Regional Tourist Boards.

Local Produce

Can be one of the great highlights of
camping. Trying fantastic regional goods supplied almost at source. Look for
campsites that are proud to source and sell local produce. Some grow their own veg, some link
up with local butchers and offer BBQ packs, some bake their own bread on site.
Some support Local Farmers' market nearby and will be happy to pass on opening times to you.

Renewable energy

Solar and wind power are being used more and more by campsites owners. Some may use it for powering the site. Others use it to help heat swimming pools and provide showers. Using it to top up and therefore reduce their overall usual energy usage.

Back Packer rates

Forward thinking campsites offer back packer rates to those arriving on foot
or by bike. Makes sense as well. Someone carrying their camping gear brings smaller tents, takes up less space, no vehicles = less damage to the land, more likely to buy local produce rather than shopping in Tesco. Look for campsites that actively encourage people arriving by Public Transport , on foot or by bike. These campsites offer discounted rates and don't punish you by charging you the same rates for large tents or in some cases caravans.

Wildlife programme

Many campsites develop wild flower areas and encourage natural habitats on their land. They then promote these Wildlife Programmes by providing walks, guides, signage boards and even in some case guided walks and nocturnal nature visits with a ranger. Great for kids and adults alike.

The David Bellamy Award is a big advocate of Bio-diversity and those campsites which are members of the scheme are encouraged to look at their parks and surroundings with fresh eyes and encourage the fostering of natural habitats.

Biodegradables used

Having a campsite in a stunning location, perhaps on farm land, in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or a National Park, can have a huge impact on the environment especially when hundreds of campers descend for the week or weekend. All taking showers, washing up and using toilets. Many campsites take their role as land owners very seriously and will source biodegradable cleaning and other products. To do
your bit think carefully before you go away. What do you need, what can you bring. For an example Packing List try ours.

Public Transport Links

Day 2 of the Boot Beer Festival and already I was holding a cup of a local Cumbrian hangover cure in my hand.  Waiting for some of yesterday’s Dutch courage to magically morph into some genuine morning after courage, I gazed deep into the mush of ingredients, deliberating over what were perhaps entirely mythical benefits of actually drinking this wild concoction.

With 21 different beers already sampled and another 79 to go, and with only 2 more days to do it in, if there was to be any hope of completing my beer festival challenge, then a mighty strong hangover cure was most definitely what I needed.

Apparently the cure for having had too many pints of Northern Dragon’s Lair was an old remedy of Cumbrian bush tea, or so the locals had told me.  A weird mixture of ingredients combining raw eggs, nettles, mixed herbs, exactly 8 medium sized granules of coffee and 3 teabags, all mixed together and shaken up in a camping flask, resulted in a broth like drink which was almost the reverse of a cup of Eggnog. 

What was wrong with good old hair of the dog I didn’t know?  In fact, if a shaggy haired dog had passed by at that moment, I would have gladly nipped a piece of its fur off for some real hair of the dog, as surely that would taste so much better… although perhaps not from a Yorkshire Terrier though - too long and I wouldn’t want to choke on a little red bow!  Besides, this weekend’s camping trip was to be all about Cumbria and not Yorkshire.

As the tents and caravans around me were still spinning, I figured the ‘when in Rome’ theory should apply.  So when in Cumbria, I was to do as the Cumbrians would do…

Here goes.  Wish me luck… (Gulp).

Yuk!!!

Don’t try that at home Secret Diary readers!  Next time it’ll be hair of the dog all the way.

I was used to hearing the birds sing.  In fact the bird music, or twit hop is one of the most relaxing sounds to a Camping Ninja’s ears – the sweet sounds of those delicate tweets from nature when you’re camping.  But this time these bird-like noises were different. 

Not specific to early in the morning, or to the early evening when most birds start do their final chatting before going to sleep – these softly spoken bird tweets seemed to be only audible when I was either on my way in or on my way out of the campsite shower block.

But where were the noises coming from?  Was I picking up some kind of alien activity due to my super powerful ninja sense of hearing?  Or had I gone completely mad and started hearing voices in my head?  I hoped it wasn’t that, and I didn’t think it was as I didn’t yet believe that the doors and walls of the shower block had three heads and the voice of my Auntie Matilda, or think that they were out to get me.

I tried to pick out the words they were saying and translated it from Bird to English on the ninjabile.  Something about being hungry for worms and growing feathers.  Very strange.  I wondered what it was all about and despite racking my brains and thinking with all my ninja power, I still couldn’t figure out where the little noises were coming from.

Back at the tent I asked the others if they’d heard the funny noises too, but no one had.  I was sure I wasn’t just being paranoid.  Had I forgotten to take the ninjapod out of my ears?  No, and I didn’t remember ever downloading a track with lyrics about worms and feathers anyway.  Had my Twitter feed gone into a live broadcast directly into my ears? … I thought about the possibility of that one for a little while, until I remembered it was only 2011 and not 2015.  Technology via the ninjabile was not that advanced yet.  There had to be another explanation.

The next morning it all became clear.  A note had been taped to the cigarette bin that was attached to the outside of the shower block.  It read ‘Birds nesting. Please do not use’.

Ah.  That was where all the little twittering had come from.  A family of birds had ingeniously turned the cigarette box into a nesting box and made it their home.  It dawned on me that the reason the chicks only seemed to be tweeting at me, was probably because they thought I was their Ninja Papa going past (same kind of nose you see). 

Well who can blame them for wanting to stay at the campsite, as this campsite has been great.  So good in fact, that these non-ninja's have extended their stay and made a temporary home here.  Actually I am tempted to do the same myself too, but I’m built much more for tents than little boxes.  Big ninja head, small cigarette box, it wouldn’t work!