I dragged my little sister with me because no one likes to suffer alone.

The sister in question

Me and my sister both have a love of history and decided we would go away together for a couple of nights. We randomly picked Hastings (before we realised it was a 5 hour drive away) and we also decided to camp. We used to camp as kids and I still do regularly so have all the gear, its also a cheaper option so it was settled. We found a nice little campsite and set off. I forgot to mentione we did this in March.

The week before we went it was so sunny but it dropped cold just before we went, a common symptom of living in the UK. We had booked and paid for the campsite so we were definatley going, we are both incredibly stuborn so figured no matter what we would be alright but this took more work than we had intended.

Our little home for two nights

We stayed at Bluebell Coppice, not only was the site lovely but so were the owners / team. The first morning we were there they seemed genuinly relieved we had survived the night. I have to admit though, the best thing was the 24hr honesty shop, it had a coffee machine! The idea was that you help yourself but add what you have taken to a list and just pay your tab on the way out. This was amazing in the cold weather, not only did it mean we had a warm place to go in the evening but it also meant hot drinks without having to get the hob / jetboil out.

One thing I am not proud of but am a little relieved of….i did become a dry robe wanker. I enjoy wild swimming so take my kit everywhere and it was brilliant, I wore it constantly on the site no where near water. I am sorry.

I would always suggest when doing something like this that you need to be smart about it and understand that going unprepared can leave you very ill if not worse. I am an experienced camper so we were prepared but it was still cold and dark, which did limit how much we were able to do.

After our first night we went straight into Hastings for a Spoons breakfast (you always know what your gonna get and its cheap). We were still in good spirits and had a bit of a wander around the seafront and promenade. Our main goal for the day was the True Crime Museum though which was fantastic! So many artifacts for a small museum, we were in there a good couple of hours. I would highly recommend for anyone with a bit of a curiosty in the morbid, I promise you’ll be impressed with what they have.

After this we went on a bit of a spooky wander around Hastings after finding aghost walk book and headed off to Battle for a wander. Its a gorgous little town and also well worth a visit, excellent fish and chip shop too!

That night however was the real test for our stuborn nature…

The temperature was 7 degrees during the day and -2 during the night.

We wrapped up as we had the night before with body warmer pads and actually both managed to get a really good nights sleep but I woke in the morning to my sister sneaking out the tent as quietly as she could so she didn’t wake me. As soon as that zip came up she just said ‘Oh for fucks sake’, there was frost everywhere!

The second morning we woke up to this

Whilst my sister has vowed never to go camping in winter again I loved it and would definatley give it another go with the lessons learned. It was so pretty and the difference in the wild life noises due to the time of year made it worth it for me. Once we had woken up a bit with another hot coffee from the honesty shop my sister was relegated to the warmth of the car. Not because I’m nice but because I’m the only one allowed to de pitch my tent, so I donned the dry robe again and we were on the way home by 9:30am.

If you do give this a try please be careful and do your research. Camping in winter is a completely different experience and you need to make sure you staff safe. Remember it gets dark earlier so being out is cut short and you will certainly not want to sit outside even with a fire pit and your woolies on. Cooking and, as mentioned, even preparing hot drinks becomes a real battle of will as staying curled up in your sleeping bag is the more comfortable option.

And most importantly, remember your dry robe!

Lots of Love Kel xx