The Planet Camping Team
Meet The Team
Simon
Passionate about being active, even now well past his 50th year, Simon has always loved to be outside in amongst the wilds of nature camping, on a ski slope in Austria or on a sports field.
In his youth (some time ago now!) school gave the appetite for this energetic life through football, rugby and cricket, all played to a very reasonable standard. He was fortunate to also have very active parents who facilitated exploration into Europe where he discovered his true passion in his late teens - the ski slopes and his favourite venue - Lech, Austria. Why? Lech in the late seventies and early eighties was not really spoiled by the high profile that it enjoys today and it offered a broad range of rugged, mountainous skiing coupled with some gentle glides for miles on end if you want to pop over to a neighbouring village.
Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Northern Italy offer the most perfect skiing in winter but also some fantastic rock climbing and scenery which Simon enjoyed after forging strong friendships in that part of the world with the native climbers who showed him the ropes (Nice pun!).
Sport took over Simon’s twenties and thirties and finally retiring form cricket in his late forties gave time to return to the outdoor life. Having travelled to New Zealand, Hong Kong as well as most of Europe, he has recently rekindled his love for simple family holidays in the UK with Southern Cornwall and Devon (favourite Salcombe. Why? Beautiful little town, gorgeous scenery and lovely, fantastic quality places to eat).
Top Tips here - Check out the more remote side across from Salcombe - Mill Bay Beach and you simply must try the fresh crab at the Winking prawn restaurant.
From his mid-thirties onwards, Simon’s new additional passion became that of business. Having started off in the security products sector and built a very successful entity in the retail sector, he turned his attention to the camping industry and has never looked back. Planet Camping, in it’s inception, sold the Selk Bag as it’s core product but quickly expanded into the array of quite novelty items that you see on our site today.
At the heart of Simon’s business ethic is delivering a value product in fast time to achieve a very satisfied customer. Planet Camping continues to grow in presence thanks to our fantastic, dedicated team who believe in the brand and strive to achieve our goal of becoming one of the most loved brands in the UK.
Favourite Place in the world - Sardinia and Bay Of islands, New Zealand
Best thing in life - Sitting around a camp fire giggling like children, with your children.
Mandy
Mandy’s love of camping began after her first trip away as a youngster for the Duke of Edinburgh award in the Welsh Brecon Beacons. From then on the camping holidays became a regular occurrence, from Devon to Lulworth Cove on the Jurassic Coast and even the south of France on the back of an old Honda 250c motorbike – her most memorable trip!
Mandy’s passion for the outdoors was fulfilled by the many days spent windsurfing back in the eighties, either in Poole Harbour or Hill Head on the Solent.
She then passed on her love of camping to her family after her and her husband impulsively bought a caravan one Saturday afternoon. Having three children herself, Mandy has always believed that camping holidays are the best for children to have ample freedom to explore and make new friends. It obviously had an effect on them, because Mandy’s children (now grown up!) are just as outdoorsy as she is.
The holidays in the caravan were mostly spent on superb campsites in France, until one year they decided to stay in the UK. Mandy fell in love with a campsite in Cornwall – right on the beach with its own boat slipway – which then became the annual holiday for the family for years after. Lifetime friendships began on this campsite and it was Mandy’s kids’ love for water sports that became the biggest reason to return. Yes, a speedboat was bought and the family gained a few experts in water-skiing and wakeboarding.
Only a few years ago the old caravan came to the end of its life and the Cornish holidays became a fond memory. Yet, the family holidays still take place mainly in the south of France now, where they tow a rib boat down to water-ski on the warm Mediterranean waters. Mandy herself has always taken to skiing on snow and is still a very keen skier, enjoying this pastime with her family each year.
Over summer weekends, while the children are doing their own thing, Mandy and her husband love to chill out on their motorboat based in Lymington.
The love of the outdoors continues at home too, with the various animals they keep including sheep, chickens and pet pig, Phoebe an adorable Kune Kune pig.
Beth
Beth is a university student currently studying Media, Communications & Journalism. Alongside this, she is a keen festival-goer and has great passions for skiing and travelling.
Her love for festivals began when she was at secondary school, where she attended the Alresford Music Festival each year with a group of friends. Her favourite was All Points East in London 2018 and next, she would love to attend Boomtown and Reading Festival.
Beth is very keen on keeping active alongside university life, she is a regular gym-goer and has played a variety of sports throughout her life, as well as being a contemporary dancer since the age of five.
When she was much younger, Beth developed a passion for skiing after her Grandparents took her on holiday to Chamonix in the French Alps. Since then - she has been yearly to Salt Lake in Utah to go skiing at the Brighton Ski Resort which is the family favourite. She greatly enjoys skiing off-piste and on the extremely challenging slopes.
Travelling the world is also one of Beth’s passions, she has been across the USA and some of Europe and would really like to discover more of the world after her studies. Her favourite place that she has been is Los Angeles, where some of her family live. She also enjoyed the sights whilst cruising through the Norwegian Fjords.