Camping Info

Essential

• Clothes – weather will be sometimes hot, sometimes wet. we will be outside
• Waterproofs incl. raincoat and waterproof trousers
• Footwear compatible with damp grass
• Tent (unless you’ve told us you don’t have one)
• Sleeping bag (ditto)
• Sleeping mat (ditto)
• Eye/sleeping mask & ear plugs
• Sunhat/cap
• Suncream
• Portable batteries for phones!
• A refillable water bottle
• Medication (sessions will be outside so think of hayfever!)
• Headtorch/white bike light for when it’s dark & you don’t want to lose phone battery
• Toiletries: teeth stuff, deodorants, shower gel, menstrual products etc

Nice to have

• Phone and charger
• Bank card/cash
• Pillow
• Plastic bags to store things in; to keep things dry, for dirty clothes, rubbish etc
• Plate/bowl (we will have spare if you don’t have practical ones)
• Cutlery (ditto)
• A mug/cup (ditto)
• Notebook and pen
• Hand sanitiser
• Tissues
• Board games/cards
• Instruments
• Cool stickers/zines to share
• Books
• Frisbee/football etc
• Picnic blankets, cushions etc
• Bunting, fairy lights etc
• Umbrella

For the event we will be staying in tents near to the workshop spaces. Tents are waterproof and can keep your stuff dry in bad weather. We recommend a double skin tent; while single skin tents are normally waterproof from rain falling on them, another way that things can get wet is the water in your breath condensing inside the tent. With a double skin tent, this water condenses on the inside of the outer layer and rolls down to the grass, keeping you dry.

You will also need a roll mat or inflatable mat to sleep on top of, as the ground is cold and can be a major source of heat loss, so it’s important to insulate yourself from the ground. You then pair your mat with a sleeping bag which traps your body heat in the air around you, keeping you nice and warm.

Some top tips we recommend:

• Bring a change of clothes to sleep in. This is because if your outside clothes are wet and you bring moisture into your sleeping bag, it will make your bag less effective and colder.
• Sleeping bags should have two tempreture ratings. A comfort rating the limit at which an adult will be comfortable lying down, while an extreme limit is the limit at which an adult in the fetal position won’t get hypothermia – so there’s a pretty big difference between these numbers! We advise getting a sleeping bag with a comfort rating of at least 10 degrees C; these can also be referred to as 1 season bags. If you’re worried about cold, maybe look for a 2-3 season bag with a comfort rating of around 5 degrees.
• Tents can rustle a bit in the wind, and also the sound of rain can be maginified. Often it sounds worse than it is, but can be disconcerting if you’re not used to it. Bringing ear plugs is a good way to ensure this doesn’t disturb your sleep
• Tents also let in lots of light in the morning, so bring a sleeping mask if this may wake you up

It’s natural to be worried about camping, especially if it’s your first time. If you’d like a one on one chat to talk it through, please feel free to email autonomousyouthcamp@gmail.com to arrange a call. Even if you don’t end up liking it, you don’t know until you try – and in the worst case scenario it’s okay if you just go home earlier than you intended. But once you’re here we will be able to help with more tips and spare equipment, so we reckon you’ll be alright!

We will be off grid in tents, menaing no major lighting at night and no charging points for tech. So bringing a dedicated torch is important so you can see where you are going at night and a powerbank to charge your phone is recomended.

Part of being off grid includes relying on compost toilets. This sounds weird, but essentially is just a pop-up wooden structure containing three locking private cubicles not too dissimilar a normal toilet. There are normal toilet seats with toilet paper available. There will be a handwashing station with water, soap and hand sanitiser.