When we think of camping, we conjure up an image of a pyramid shaped fire, surrounded by giant logs to sit on and marshmallows stuck on the end of a stick, cooking over the open flames. Building a fire and enjoying its warmth and colours adds to the richness of the camping experience and is a great way to end a day.

Building a fire can be quite tricky for a novice and can cause frustration if you can’t get it lit or the flames keep on dying. But don't despair, with a few handy techniques and a bit of patience, anyone can light a fire reliably and quickly.  Remember a couple of key things, like the fire triangle and the old adage 'you can't light a log with a match'.  Here is how to create a controllable campfire in 10 easy steps.

1.) Choose a good spot


Safety first. Never start a fire within three meters of your tent, a tree or on peaty ground which can catch fire. When looking for the perfect campfire spot, choose a bare flat area. Avoid starting a fire by a boulder: it’ll leave black sooty marks on it.

2.) Prepare your chosen spot
Brush away all leaves and grass around your spot. If possible, dig a little into the ground to help contain the fire.  Unless you’re using a fire bowl, collect some big stones and place them in either a circle or rectangle around your campfire spot. These will prevent the fire spreading once it’s lit. Find some flat stones and lay them inside the ring to protect the ground from the fire.

3.) Gather firewood
If you are in the wild, collect dry standing fallen tree branches and twigs from the woodland around your camping spot. Make sure to collect it methodically – build 3 or 4 piles according to the thickness of the wood – matchstick-thick twigs, pencil-thick twigs, branches and bigger bits of wood. You don't need to burn a whole log, and there usually isn't a need for branches thicker than two fingers' width. All fuel should be at least 20-30 centimetres long, so that you can handle it and place it easily onto the fire.

4.) Collect tinder
If you don’t have any paper or prefer to start the fire in a more traditional way, you’ll need some easily combustible materials to get the flames going. Dry leaves and bracken, old man’s beard lichen or birch bark are all good items. You can also take tinder with you in case you can’t find any; a piece of old cycle inner tube works well, as does newspaper.

5.) Keep a few litres of water at hand.


Fingers crossed, your lovely and cosy campfire won’t cause any issues, but in case it gets out of control and you need to shut it down quick, keep a few bottles of water at hand. You can pour it over the flames if the situation gets dangerous.

6.) Create a cross of kindling.
Place your tinder or fire starter in the middle of the fire ring. Gather two big bundles of matchstick thick twigs and cross them over, and place them on top of the tinder, allowing access to the tinder, and plenty of space for air to reach all of the fuel.

7.) Light it up.
Light the kindling with a match or a fire steel. Make sure some easily combustible items are touching the twigs so that these can catch fire.

8.) Add thicker fuel

Once the flames get going, add more twigs and pencil-thick branches. It will take a while for the fire to really settle, but once it’s been going for a good 5/10 minutes, you can slowly start adding bigger branches. Make sure to maintain the pyramid shape while you do this, so that air can get to the fuel.

9.) Look after it

You’ll have to always keep an eye on the fire and keep on feeding it through the evening. If it gets smoky, add small twigs and kindling to raise the flames. If it threatens to die, blow gently and steadily onto the low centre of the pyramid from the side, keeping your head parallel to the ground. This will ‘wake up’ the hot ashes.

10.) Let it die down

When you’ve decided you’re going to sleep, stop adding fuel to the fire and let it die down. Before going to bed, pour plenty of water on the ashes to make sure the fire is completely out and won't reignite in the night.
Clean up!
The next day (or the last day of using the campsite) you’ll want to clear the space you’ve used to make sure you leave no trace of having been there. Start off with taking the stones back to where you’ve got them (or scatter them around). Then disperse the cold ashes or, even better, bury them in the ground. The next visitors or the animals in the forest will appreciate you taking the time to do this.

Building a fire is often forbidden in the UK in order to protect the environment, so make sure it is permitted where you’re staying – ask the campsite’s staff or research the area.

'How to Build the Perfect Campfire in 10 Easy Steps' is written by Elena from thehealthyveggie.com/ / Twitter: @ElenaManighetti

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Camp Bestival have announced their theme for 2016's festival. Get your spaceships at the ready as Camp Bestival are planning to take it's festival goers to 'Outer Space'!

Festival organiser, Rob da Bank, has gathered the troops and announced the news over their official website: “Attention all space personnel, cosmic explorers, astronauts and little astronutters… prepare for blast off. Yes friends it’s time to whizz off into orbit down at Lulworth Castle aka Spacecamp Dorset and explore the outer regions of our glorious galaxy, the stars, the planets, the moondust, the asteroids and the occasional scary black hole…and remember kids - Outer Space is the place!”.

There seems to be a festival fascination around intergalatic going-ons right now, as only last month Secret Garden Party organisers announced their space inpsired themed for 2016!

Head on over to the Camp Bestival website for more details.

The nights are getting longer and colder which means the idea of camping is becoming less and less appealing. I mean, we don’t blame you! However, if you do find yourself missing the adventures of sleeping in the great outdoors like us, we suggest you start building an indoor blanket fort, grab a cuppa and curl up with the following camping classics to remind you of life in a tent.

The Blair Witch Project
If you’ve ever been spooked by a mysterious rustle or unidentified sound in the middle of the night, this “found footage” horror flick may not be for you. I mean, we don’t want to put you off camping for good! Three young film-makers go on a search in the woods for a rumoured witch that has been kidnapping local children. We don’t want to give too much away but just be glad that your camping trips don’t end the same way as it does for these kids!

Moonrise Kingdom
Set in the sixties, this Wes Anderson “coming of age” masterpiece tells the technicolour tale of young love’s dream who decide to run away together into the wilderness. It’s enough to soften the hardest of hearts and will have you casting your mind back to your first love when you believed you were invincible together.

Into The Wild

This film is the true story of adventurer Christopher Mccandless, a young man who abandoned everything to live in the wilderness of Alaska. A lot of camping and outdoors enthusiasts will relate closely with Christopher’s readiness to abandon the material world in return for adventure. Have the tissues at the ready though as you’re bound to ride a rollercoaster of emotions when watching this memorable film.

Stand By Me

Stand By Me is another “coming of age” film. After finding out a stranger has been killed near their homes, a group of young boys decide to go on a hiking trip to take a gander at the body. Along the way the boys learn a lot about themselves and each other as well as encountering a number of obstacles that disturb their adventure.

The Great Outdoors

If you fancy a light-hearted giggle then The Great Outdoors is the perfect choice for a comedic camping movie. Set in a beautiful lakeside resort in Wisconsin, everything that could possibly go wrong on a camping trip, does go wrong for the unfortunate characters. Watch out for that bear!

'Top 5 Camping Movies You Need To See' is written by Leigh from foxandfeatherblog.com

Want to write for Planet Camping then get in touch here!

I’m a keen camper and one thing I like to know is that I have the essentials. Whether I’m glamping it up with bunting and fairy lights at a festival or slumming it with just the tent in a field there are a few things that it gives me comfort to know I have.

First I like to know I have all the tent kit! This sounds a bit silly but I once forgot all the tent pegs (and I have a pyramid style tent that relies on them to keep it upright) and once I forgot the mallet to hammer them into the hard chalky south downs. So I double check all poles, inner linings, tent pegs and mallet are safely towed.

Second I take a tent repair kit. This varies with which tent I take but usually contains patches, waterproofer, duct tape, needle and thread and spare guy ropes.As yet the only thing I've had cause to use is a spare guy rope, but you never know.

Then I take a penknife, the multipurpose sort. I joke that it’s to slice open the back of the tent in the night in case I’m attacked by a bear and need to run, but in reality it has more mundane (but arguably more useful) purposes. I like to have a sharp knife that I can fold and carry safely, it’s great to cut food, whittle sticks (for marshmallow toasting) , to shave bits of stick into curls to help light a fire, to use as a bradawl if there are tent repairs required, it has scissors and most importantly a bottle opener and corkscrew!

My last essential is my camping kettle it is a simple design for boiling water, even if I only use it to make coffee it gives one the most satisfying ‘mountain man’ feel.

So those are my essentials when camping. Did I miss any?

'TentSniffer's Camping Essentials' is written by Naomi from tentsandfestivals.co.uk / Twitter: @tentsniffer

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The organisers of The Secret Garden Party have announced their theme for next year's festival: The Gardener's Guide To The Galaxy. The theme hints at extra-terrastial going-ons and top secret UFO intelligence will dominate 2016's festival. The festival itself will cover the weekend of the 21st - 24th July and will almost definitely sell out as it does every single year.

They've announced the sci-fi inspired theme over on their website with an ellaborate and innovative splash page, which gives 'gardeners' (SGP's apppropriately named festival-goers) their 'mission brief'. During the process it asks if you are sure you have come to the right place and that you are willing to accept the protocols of the mission in a bold, robotic, acid green font. If you select 'yes', you'll be taken through the main website for more info, whilst if you choose 'no' the SGP gang cheekily send you away to V Festival's website! Oooh, burn.

Head to The Secret Garden Party website to see for yourself!