UNTIL recently, you would have been considered mad to turn down a holiday in Crete in favour of spending your summer break camping in the soggy Scottish hills.
But as more and more families start to feel the financial pinch, growing numbers are swapping low-cost airlines and holidays abroad for tents and caravans at home.
Stores across the Capital have seen a dramatic rise in sales this summer of family-
size tents and stoves suitable for feeding the brood outdoors.
More than 55,000 people have signed up as new members of the Camping and Caravanning Club in the last year, with 40 per cent being parents in their 40s looking to introduce their children to outdoor holidays.
That's a huge shift for an organisation used to seeing its campsites populated by the over-60s.
Scotland's Caravan and Outdoor Leisure Show at the SECC in Glasgow in February also attracted a record 31,000 customers.
Among those swapping the prospect of sunshine abroad for the great Scottish outdoors is medical receptionist Seonaid Macmillan, 27, and her family, who live in Blackridge, West Lothian.
The family of six, including her partner Brian Warwick and their four children – Samantha, 15, Craig, 13, Lewis, eight, and Amy, six – are going to spend the summer camping in Contin, Invernesshire.
"I have been camping before but this will be the first time we've been with the children. It's going to be an energetic holiday. We'll be taking the kids hill-walking, we'll be taking in the views and we'll be going down to Aviemore to go canoeing. They're quite outdoors kids.
"I have been abroad once with the kids. I'm going camping for a few reasons but cost is the main one.
"But it's also because Scotland has just got so much to offer. The only problem is really the weather, though we're kind of hoping that it rains – it makes things a little bit more exciting."
Seonaid also believes spending nights under canvas together will have a magic that you just don't get on a package holiday in the sun.
"On a camping holiday you bring the family closer together because on a trip abroad everyone is split up into different age groups and you never see the kids," she says.
"Everyone I speak to seems to be up for camping, it's so much cheaper than going away. I think at Contin it will cost us £5 a night and that's next to nothing.
"At those prices you can go to a few different campsites and wake up every morning somewhere different.
"I went to the show at the SECC and bought everything I needed there. It cost me £150. Then you've just got food and things to pack and it comes to about £200 in total."
There has been a sea change in the type of people going camping in the last year, according to Ruth Walmsley, of the not-for-profit Camping and Caravanning Club.
"We've noticed that the type of people using our club sites has changed," she says. "Mostly it used to be over-60s who would go camping, but now the vast majority are in their late-40s, joining to get their families on camping holidays."
As a result of this surge in interest, the Camping and Caravanning Club has opened 11 new sites in the past three years, says Ruth, with "more sites planned in the pipeline".
The club's campsites nearer the Capital in Ardgarten, Dunbartonshire, and Jedburgh, in the Borders, have seen bookings increase by 17 per cent and 19 per cent respectively.
Major retailers, such as Tesco Direct, have also reported increased interest in camping, with sales of camping equipment like sleeping bags, picnic hampers, torches and paraffin stoves up 40 per cent this year.
Stores in Edinburgh have seen the same trend.
"Sales of stoves and all the other big equipment you would need are well up on last year," says Robbie Sherwood, assistant manager of Millets on Frederick Street.
Caravanning is also now one of the top ten subject and equipment searches on eBay.co.uk
With campsites charging from as little as £5 for a tent or £15 a night for a caravan, it's perhaps no surprise it's winning so many converts.
There are huge savings to be made. A two-week break in Malaga, including flights, accommodation and transfers, would cost a family of four around £3000.
By contrast, a camping break on a Scottish campsite in the high season could cost the same family around £270, with only transport costs to be added on – a saving of well over £2500.
Katy Walker, who helped to organise the Glasgow show, said: "I think more people are more interested in holidaying in the UK. Everyone is tightening their belts."
Some sites said the warmer weather in recent years was also helping to bring a new generation of Scots back to camping.
Ruth Walmsley also believes that the facilities provided by modern tents and campsites are drawing people in.
She says: "Most modern tents have electric parts. If you go to a site with electric links you can effectively have central heating in your tent.
"You could also even take your TV."
She says camping also offers families the chance to spend quality time with each other, unlike the traditional package holiday. "Camping gives you as many hours together as you want and quality time is what people are looking for today."
She also feels that there is an element of nostalgia for the modern camper saying: "We've had ten years of cheap flights and the people that left camping for them are parents now and taking their children camping."
WHAT YOU NEED TO START PITCHING INGETTING kitted out for a camping holiday couldn't be cheaper. Here's some of the bargain buys around for anyone wanting to buy the full recommended kit list supplied by the Camping and Caravaning Club, based on a the requirements of a family of four:
• Four-person tent from £30 – Tesco
• Airbeds from £10 (single) and £20 (double) – Tesco
• Pump – from £10, Tesco
• Bottle of gas – from £12 at screwfix.com
• Chairs– from £10 each at camping-online.co.uk
• Table – from £25 at camping-online.co.uk
• Cooker – from £15 at camping-online.co.uk
• Cool box – from £12 at camping-online.co.uk
• Lanterns – from £15 at www.campingandleisure.co.uk
• Sleeping bags – from £15 at Tesco
• Waterproof rugs or mats – from £10 at camping-online.co.uk
• Water containers – from £5 at camping-online.co.uk
• Swiss Army knife – from £15 at swisstool.co.uk
WHERE TO SEE THE SITESNew to camping? Try our recommendations for campsites within easy travelling distance of the Capital.
Craigtoun Meadows, Fife1hr 30 mins drive from Edinburgh
Near St Andrews, offers a cinema, swimming, views across the Tay and, of course, a golf course. No dogs allowed.
Inver Mill Farm Caravan Park, Perthshire1hr 20mins from Edinburgh
On the banks of the River Braan, the campsite is only one mile from Dunkeld and ten minutes from the local hermitage and falls.
Thirlestane Castle Caravan and Camping Park, Lauder1hr from Edinburgh
Set in the grounds of Thristdale Castle, the park offers excellent views of the Eildon Hills and is close to the town of Lauder.
Waren Caravan and Camping Park, Northumberland 1hr 40 mins from Edinburgh
A fully self-contained park with golf, horse riding and bird watching on offer.
Ardgarten Forest Holidays Caravan and Camping Site, Dumbartonshire 2hrs from Edinburgh
Set beside a freshwater loch and on the edge of Argyle Forrest Park. Offers fishing and boating on site with plenty of hills around to keep you occupied.
The full article contains 1303 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
