Camping Festival season is nearly upon us. So we started to think about the types of apps we consider essential for those planning to take a trip to Glastonbury, the Isle of Weight or any other of the many camping festivals 2013.

Shazam

This free app allows you to hold your phone up to the music you’re hearing to identify a track, buy it, share it, watch the video, get the lyrics and more, all while standing in front of the stage. Available for the iPhone, Windows Phone, Android, Nokia and Blackberry, Shazam is our top festival app this summer.

Festival Ready App

The Festival Ready app includes a selection of useful and innovative tools for the new festival season. Features include: 3D Navigation, Sound Flare, Ticker Messaging, Torch, Live Weather, festival gear Checklist, and Festival Camping Tips. Available for the iPhone and Android.

Battery HD App

Know exactly how much time you have left in your battery and what exactly you will be able to do with it. This clever app helps you figure out if you can call Kelly, text John and take pictures of the band before you next charge up. Available for iPhone and Android.

Find My iphone

If you are worried about losing your phone then you need to be aware of this app. You can download it to one of your other devises to locate the lost phone (or iPad, iPod Touch and Mac) on a map and remotely lock it. It will even allow you to wipe all your data from the phone if it has been stolen.

Vimeo

If you want to take footage of the bands you see, edit them with the tool below, and them upload them quickly onto the web to impress your friends, then the Vimeo app is for you. Available on iPhone and Android.

Picture & Video Editing Apps

If you’ve ever wondered how to get the best festival pictures and video to impress your friends and family, we’ve collected our favourite tips apps and downloads ready for the new season.

Camping List

This helps avoid the possibility of ever forgetting a festival essential again. It comes with suggested items or you can add your own. So if a pencil and paper aren’t your thing then this app could really help you prepare for a trip.

Accuweather

There are a lot of weather apps out there but we like the look of Accuweather. It’s easy to understand at a glance, has a clever lifestyle page and has both hourly and 15 day forecasts for the UK and the rest of the world. It is available for the iPhone and Android.

Flashlight

Flashlight uses the LED light on the iPhone to fill the screen with bright white light to illuminate your tent, camper van or caravan. It even includes customisable special effects including: Strobe Light, S.O.S., Yin-Yang, Halloween, Candy Hearts, Holiday Lights, Photos, and many more! Available for iPhone and Android.

Sun Seeker – Tracks The Sun

Ever turned up at a festival site wanting to pitch up, get your chairs out and crack open a beer, but not knowing when the sun might disappear behind that hill or line of trees. Well this app can help you out with two great functions. A Google Maps function that shows the suns location throughout the day and the 3D map that shows you where the sun will be in the sky at a certain time. Available for iPhone and Android.

St Johns Ambulance First Aid Support

This app includes the latest first aid advice and protocols for dealing with emergency situations. It is simple to follow with illustrated guides and voiced instructions. The app doesn’t replace the benefits of learning first aid on a St John Ambulance course, nor is it as in-depth as a full first aid manual. But when there is an emergency, it will help you to know what to do to in those few crucial moments when basic knowledge of first aid can make the difference. The first aid advice is based solely upon UK protocols but both the UK and European emergency service numbers are provided within the app. Also available in iPhone and Android. First aid apps available for other countries are shown here.

iHandy Level

Do you find your camper van always has a bit of a tilt after you’ve pitched up, or you keep finding yourself at the bottom of the sleeping bag?  Well the iHandy can help you out by telling you what’s level and what’s not.

Spyglass – A Compass App

Spyglass is a fantastic compass app for the iPhone that uses a compass image which is laid over the image coming from the video camera. This makes navigation easy to a particular point you can see in the distance. So if you keep getting lost at the festival site then this is the app for you.

Inspired Camping

Picture Credit: Wilderness Festival

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Want to enter the Inspired Camping tent giveaway and be in with a chance of winning a Vango Odyssey 5 man tent for the summer?

Yes? We thought you would!

So now we’ve got your attention find out how you can enter the competition below.

What do you do when you find a spare, yet brand new tent under the desk?  It really is a good one too as you can actually stand up inside the separate living and sleeping areas, making it ideal for families who value their space at the campsite. And as we know it’s always the mums and dads who have to carry the camping gear, you can be happy in the knowledge that the tent packs away small enough to be carried easily. Yay!

It really was fortunate we found the tent under the desk*, so before it starts collecting dust we wanted to offer it to UK residents in this weeks Inspired Camping tent giveaway. To be in with a chance of winning you simply need to enter using the widget below.

Good luck happy campers. We’re keeping our fingers and toes crossed for you.

(*Actually, the competition prize is really from Argos Tents, but you probably already knew that *smile*)

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Picture Credit: Argos Tents

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For any camping or glamping business it is vital to think about a website which showcases your service with unforgettable branding and stylish photography. This is a recipe for success but isn’t always easy to achieve.

Peter Barden, Marketing Manager for Blue Bell Tents has just been through the process of updating their own site and very kindly allowed us to ask him a few questions about how best to achieve a successful outcome.

What is your brand and why did you choose it? 

Pete Barden, Blue Bell Tents

The founder’s nickname is Blue or Blouise (instead of Louise) – inspired by blue body paint, friends and Burning Man in 2007. Blue Bell Tents had a nice ring to it- don’t you think?

We re-branded the logo and website this year to reflect a fresher, more grown up and stylish outward feel for the company, reflecting our commitment to the highest quality travelling canvas hotel going. We have spent a long time designing, commissioning and making the interior furnishings for the tents, refusing to compromise on comfort and luxe just because we have to pack everything onto trucks every couple of days and set it all up again! It was a priority that this attitude comes through in a smart, well designed logo and website.

How have you combined these into the design of your website and blog?

Louise has long harboured a fetish for the shiny cocktail bar deco glam of old, found in all its glory today in venues such as Claridges in Mayfair. So we asked for this to be combined with an emphasis on breezy summertime magic and carefree barefoot days – you can see our developers had a tough brief! Hence the deco characteristics of the logo are blended with light, pastel shades, wildflowers and elegant idyllic photos on the website.

Our blog the ‘Land Diaries’ is currently a work in progress but reflects two very important themes that are woven into our work; nomadism and travel all across our gorgeous Isle, and also broader social relationships with politics and critical matters of the land and ecologies.

Why do you think branding is so important?

Our guests’ experience starts the moment they see a photograph or explore our website, and carries through to zipping up their tents and wandering home without the bother or worry of packing it all away again. Our core values centre around delivering joy and a little bit of magic, so this must absolutely start with the identity and visual feel of the services we offer.

How important is it for your brand to be memorable, different from competitors and attractive?

The phenomenal rise of the festival industry in the UK has given cause for associated businesses and services to blossom at pace. Hence, boutique camping competition is fierce and becoming more so. It is therefore vitally important for us to stay ahead of this highly competitive and corporate crowd, without losing sight of our core values as mentioned above. To this end we feel we’ve done well at matching our marketing aesthetic to our production values and we trust that we will be memorable thanks to this approach.

Did you take inspiration from other companies or people you admire?

Certainly! Ideas germinate from other ideas, and we’ve certainly been lucky to have been surrounded by the very best characters in the events production world. It’s worth considering you’re only as good as the company you keep.

Did you employ a website and brand developer and would you recommend this expense? Why?

We did and would absolutely recommend using professionals – it’s really not worth scrimping on. In the digital age it is imperative that your website and brand are designed to the highest standard possible, given the computer screen has become the new shop front.

You have some lovely pictures on your site. How important do you think good images are for your camping business in the tourist industry?

For the same reason as above, you paint a digital picture for future customers and the best way to do this is with appropriate imagery. It’s perhaps cheesy to reference, but a picture really is worth a thousand words, and many thousands more would be needed to briefly describe the wonder of a summer day in the wilds of Britain.

How do you target your brand and photography to your audience?

It all comes down to focus on the customer – we are wholly committed to delivering the very best experience for our clients, and as such earnestly listen to their likes and dislikes. With this understanding in hand our targeting comes naturally, it’s a way of behaving and thinking supposed to a commercially deliberated strategy.

How do you plan to take your website brand and photography to the next level?

We have some interesting developments in the pipeline; all we can say is – watch this space!

What are your top 5 tips to others just about to develop their website, brand and photography for their camping business?

1. Don’t be miserly – scrimping will only cost you further down the line.
2. Be cautious – web designers / builders are two-a-penny these days; whilst many are worth their salt, many aren’t. Make sure you do your research before taking someone on to drive this critical shift in your business. We’ve just used People Per Hour for some quick design work and, thanks to peer reviewing on the site, we found ourselves a brilliant and very reasonable designer.
3. Get involved – don’t leave it all to someone else , you need to be at the heart of this transformation.
4. Strike a clear and realistic agreement – ensure you agree a watertight proposal or you’ll end up wasting time and energy with unnecessary back and forth with your developer/s.
5. Have fun with it – you won’t be doing this every day!

Thanks To: Pete Barden, Marketing Manager, Blue Bell Tents

Other posts in the business series are:

1. Great business ideas;
2. Business brands and branding elements;
3. Fundamental elements of the idea (i.e. what do you need to make it happen);
4. How to become a social media guru with great strategies for success;
5. How to get a well designed, styled and written website, including branding and professional photography;
6. What to do if land is involved and what permissions you will need;
7. How to make sense of procurement and service agreements;
8. What you need to do to get good marketing skills;
9. Basic office systems you will need, including: storage, maintenance, signage, email, stationery, bookkeeping and accounts, public liability coverage, reservations and administration;
10. How you can develop a launch plan or re-launch plan to make the most of good PR and set your business plan rolling.

Inspired Camping

Visit the site today for loads more free camping tips and tricks. Inspired Camping.

We were very interested when Kate Clark contacted us from Maine in the US, to tell us about her vintage trailer restoration project. Kate plans to use her trailer as her business workshop and living space when she goes on the road this summer to Boston, Providence and Newport, where she will be working to sell her jewellery products.

We were interested for a number of reasons. Firstly because we love to hear about inspiring camping projects that feature people following their dreams, but we also like to share that information in the hope that it might encourage others to do the same.

So we invited Kate to tell us a little bit more about her project and what she hopes to gain by trading some of her beautiful jewellery for some financial backing through her current Kickstarter Project.

Kate has even offered Inspired Camping readers a lovely giveaway of an item of jewellery of their choice. The details of how to enter this giveaway competition are shown at the end of the interview.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I’ve been making jewelry since I was 10 years old. I was selling friendship bracelets to kids at school for a quarter. Jewelry has always just come naturally to me and it officially became a business back in 2004. I was in my first festival and ended up selling everything I had made. I’ve been a freelance jewelry maker ever since.

How did you come up with the idea of running a jewellery store from a vintage caravan?

This is a question that I get asked all the time from customers. I always knew that I wanted my own store but with the economy being the way it is, I just can’t imagine opening up a brick and mortar shop. I had seen a few people on the west coast taking campers and selling vintage clothing out of them and I thought why not jewelry.

What do you hope to gain / what will improve now you have this vehicle as part of your business?

One of the best parts about having a mobile shop is I can sell jewelry anywhere and I’m not just limited to the shows and festivals in my surrounding area. I also want to be able to create a one of a kind shopping experience for people. When was the last time you bought something out of a really cool travel trailer?

What is the history behind your vintage caravan?

My caravan is a 1969 Serro Scotty Sportsman. It’s name is Scotty and it’s literally been sitting on the side of someone’s house in Maine for the last 25 years. They had bought it from their parents who were the original owners. They used it camping a few times, but that’s it.

How did you source your vintage caravan?

I’ve been looking for a caravan for about 10 months as I wanted to make sure it would be the right one. Size and condition were really important to me. I ended up finding this one on eBay and couldn’t have been happier.

What condition is it in?

It’s in pretty good condition considering it’s 44 years old. Since it’s been sitting on the side of someone’s house, it’s got lots of water damage and the sidewalls need replacing and repairing. Everything in it is original including the wiring and that also needs to be replaced. The floor is solid and the frame is great, just a little rusty.

What work are you planning to do first?

First thing that I’m going to do is replace the sidewalls and repair the water damage. I need to make sure the foundation of the trailer is solid before I start hanging shelving and fixtures, and painting it.

What do you hope to achieve from taking to the road with your vintage caravan?

I really want to be able to bring the jewelry I make to as many people as I can. I have a website, but jewelry is one of those things that needs to be touched and looked at in real life. People wear jewelry as a reflection of who they are and it’s something that helps them express themselves.

What are your 5 top tips for anyone wanting to run their own business from a vintage caravan or camper van?

My five top tips…hmmm…

1. You need to make sure that you find the right caravan;
2. That you have a great product to sell inside of it;
3. That you are in the right locations to target your customers;
4. That you are abiding by all the state laws/rules when selling items from it; and
5. You need to be prepared for all the maintenance after it is up and running, so it stays up and running.

What are your 5 top tips for running a successful freelance business?

My five tips for running a successful freelance business are:

1. Network with as many people as you can and let them know what you do;
2. Advertise using social media as everyone is online these days;
3. Be prepared to put in lots of work. Working for yourself is 24/7, not a 9-5 day job;
4. Incorporate balance into your life. It’s hard for me not to work all the time, but I’ve found if I take an hour off to do something fun like yoga or go for a nice walk outside, I’m more productive when I start working again;
5. Make sure you love what you do. It sounds corny I know, but it is so true.

If you want to be in with a chance of winning a piece of Kate’s jewellery all you have to do is enter using the widget below. You can also support her vintage trailer restoration project in return for some of her lovely items.

Good luck!

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Inspired Camping

Picture Credits: Shoreside Chic

Visit the site today for loads more free camping tips and tricks. Inspired Camping.

We wanted to build on our original article which gave a long list of free activities for kids. So here’s a list of another 5 free activities ideal for keeping the little people happy while you’re enjoying your next camping trip.

Build A Den

All you need are plenty of sticks, leaves, mud and a dry flat surface to make into the best kind of living space for pirates (no comments about our attempt below please!)

Make A Rope Swing

Everyone loves a rope swing, as long as it’s securely fixed onto a sturdy branch of a tree of course. Just make sure you get the biggest adult to try it out first… just to be sure.

Dam A Stream

This is great fun for the kids, especially if the grown ups get involved and everyone gets a bit wet. All you need to do is collect debris from the stream and arrange it into your dam.

Hunt For Bugs

Everyone likes bugs… don’t they? Well the best thing you can do for your bug loving little ones is to bring a clear plastic container with a lid with you to the campsite. They’ll spend hours catching and studying the little beasts, but make sure you monitor it if you live in a country where there are a few nasties roaming about.

Make A Mud Slide

This is perfect for keeping the little people happy, although it isn’t always encouraged by whose who have to wash the clothes afterwards. However, it will keep everyone entertained for hours and as you only need a muddy hill and a sack to make it easier to slide down, the extra washing is probably worth the effort.

Enjoy!

Inspired Camping

Picture and copy credits: Inspired Camping

Visit the site today for loads more free camping tips and tricks. Inspired Camping.

With the summer holidays fast approaching, cheap activities to keep the kids entertained is high on any parents’ list. One thing I remember looking forward to with my siblings and friends, was back garden camping (also known as back yard camping). It’s like a more adventurous, independent version of a sleepover, and really cheap and easy to do.

Tents and sleeping bags can be picked up at local supermarkets, and because you have the back-up of knowing you have indoor accommodation readily available, you don’t need to worry too much about how waterproof or warm they are. These can be picked up for a fiver, and come in all sorts of colours. Alternatively check out free recycling sites – you’ll be amazed what you can find!

Camping isn’t just about sleeping in a tent and the night time activities. A hammock is the ideal addition to a summer garden, and again, try scouting around at boot fairs or online for really good bargains, or get creative and make your own by keeping the kids amused with some ‘camp craft’ from ropes and knots. The one in the picture is made out of bailing twine.

A must for any back garden camping experience is a campfire, and there is no reason why, if done carefully, you can’t have one in your garden. You can teach them the basics of fire lighting, and fire safety, just make sure you have a sheet of old metal and some bricks to raise the fire off of the ground so that it doesn’t leave any marks. This way not only are you educating them about fire, you are allowing them a level of responsibility and trust around it – fantastic for older children too if you give them the job of overseeing that the fire is always safe and that the water bucket for any injuries is always full. Make sure that any children are fully supervised at all times, but done well and safely there is nothing that will excite the children more than this. You can even bring out the marshmallows and the campfire songs once it gets darker!

Last but not least, once they are all tucked up in bed, make sure they have a torch and are comfortable with the route to the house for any need to use the bathroom during the night. If needs be, you can buy small ground lights to line the way to a path, but a torch should suffice. This will comfort any first time campers that might be a bit nervous about their first night ‘alone’ but will also allow them to build their independence.

All in all the camping experience in your back garden can be almost identical to going elsewhere, but much cheaper and with added home comforts when they are needed!

Inspired Camping

Picture Credit: Gypsy Vintage Vardos, Fisherton Farm, Devon

Visit the site today for loads more free camping tips and tricks. Inspired Camping.

We are always eager to find out family camping activities we can all take part in when we choose to visit the campsite. After all, if the kids are happy then so are we. So when LEGOLAND offered Inspired Camping readers a family ticket to visit their new discovery centre we almost bit their hand off.

The LEGOLAND Discovery Center in Manchester is at The Trafford Centre. It’s made up of a series of activities and features to immerse the kids in a world of creating things out of small colourful bricks. The only limits are their imaginations.

It has a display of iconic and famous buildings, various rides, off-road vehicles the kids can drive; a master model builders workshop; soft play areas and a 4D cinema. If the force is strong in your little campers, they might even like to visit the new Star Wars display, which brings the infamous story into Lego right before your very eyes.

Ticket Giveaway Terms and conditions:

• 1 Family ticket is available in this giveaway;
• It includes up to two adults and two children to gain entrance into the attraction;
• The ticket is valid for UK residents only till the end of 2013.

To enter this giveaway please enter your details into Rafflecopter below. Good luck!

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Inspired Camping

Picture Credit: LEGOLAND

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Our friend just bought a couple of very cheap vintage caravans by looking on eBay at items poorly described, badly photographed and thoughtlessly listed. It seems there are opportunities out there if only you know the right place to look. So we put a quick list together of places on the Internet where you might be able to find more information about cheap vintage caravans you could use for your family camping trips or hire out through your glamping business… with a bit of a spruce up of course!

Cheap Vintage Caravans

eBay Vintage Caravan Items: An interesting part of eBay to keep an eye on if vintage caravans are your thing. 

The Historic Caravan Club: This club aims to promote the preservation and use of vintage and classic caravans for future generations to enjoy.

Period and Classic Caravan Club: One of the longest running vintage caravan clubs in existence, which aims to promote the appreciation, restoration and use of classic caravans.  

Old Classic Caravans: Owners of vintage caravans and other vehicles can find a classified section and memorabilia and stories on this site.

Caravan Times Vintage Caravan Group: A vintage caravan community with news and a discussion portal for enthusiasts.

Vintage Airstreams Owners Forum: This forum has tips and tricks as well as a place for owners of airstreams to chat and source accessories for their vintage trailers.

Vintage Safaris Information: From events to buying a vintage Safari, this forum has everything for those who love this great British classic.

Vintage Caravan Open Group Forum on Facebook:  For a friendly collection of vintage caravan owners, who are more than happy to offer help and advice.

Please let us know what we’ve missed out… and definitely get in touch if you manage to bag yourself a bargain. We’d love to hear about it and publish your road trip story.

Inspired Camping

Picture Credit: Billy One Horn

Visit the site today for loads more free camping tips and tricks. Inspired Camping.

We love hearing about your road trips, so when we heard from the VW camper van Syncro owners group, the Syncronauts, we were inspired. They are an eclectic bunch of campers, off-roaders, ex military as well as a number of 9 to 5′ers and weekend warriors.

The Syncronauts like nothing more than to play in their 4 by 4′s. We heard directly from the group that the Syncro is an awesome vehicle that everyone should have a go in. They are very capable off-road vehicles and perfect for driving in the snow, negotiating the mud and tackling minor flooding.

Inspired Camping

Film and Picture Credits: Greg at Solution Studios and Jed at Campervan Culture

Visit the site today for loads more free camping tips and tricks. Inspired Camping.

If you’re a lover of barbecue cooking over a campfire with as little equipment and fuss as possible then MUURIKKA could have the product for  you.

We received a Leisku and a tube of silava cooking fat, to seal the pan, and couldn’t quite believe the simplicity of it. As a result it is now our favourite cooking accessory for the campsite, walks on the beach and whatever else takes our fancy.

It comes in a handy cover bag with handle so its easy to transport and needs little else for a successful mobile barbecue.

We took a stroll with a bag full of food, dry kindling and matches and that was all we needed. The children collected the fire wood and  made a perfect campfire in minutes.

The Leisky has a thick metal base which heats quickly, but also seems to regulate it so the food doesn’t burn easily. Try as I might I found it very difficult to ruin the bangers, which I have to say makes a change where my cooking is concerned!

As well as being simple it is also ergonomically designed, easy to clean and lovely to look at so it gets a big thumbs up from us in our review.

The Summary;

This is our new favourite product at the moment and comes with a well deserved 5 stars from us.

For more information about MUURIKKA UK products and prices visit their website.

Copy and picture credits: Sarah

Visit the site today for loads more free camping tips and tricks. Inspired Camping.