Camping is about fun, right? About waving goodbye to the frustrations of adult inhibitions for a few days at least? Well, in our opinion there's nothing more fun than building a campfire, nothing more indulgent than threading a battalion of marshmallows onto a hedgerow stick and toasting them, nothing quite as relaxing as abandoning ourselves to watching the mesmerising embers as the evening wears on. In fact, in our humble experience, no matter what fun and high jinx are planned during the day, it's the ritual of lighting the fire as the light falls that is covetted the most. So we say yes to camping with fires, yes to reawakening that primal link, yes to wood-smoked hair and sleeping bags and yes to the hypnosis of flames.
And, because campsite owners are nearly always highly entrepreneurial in nature, campsites are catching on! Of course there are still many sites where campfires are not allowed and for good reason: these are often immaculately kept touring parks and holiday parks whose customers expect the grounds to be pristine. But there are plenty of campsites that allow fires out there, often those that focus on providing a more back-to-nature all round camping experience.
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Getting your campfire started
You don't have to go all Ray Mears to light your campfire. By all means, spend months gathering and drying your own hedgerow tinder if that floats your boat, but you can still look like you know what you are doing without needing to don a hunting knife and possum fur hat. Of course, we all have our own special fire-making secrets but if you're new to all this, then here's one way of doing it...
To start your fire, first find a patch of preferably bare earth away from trees, bushes, dried foliage and...errr... your tent.
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Most campsites that allow fires provide specially dug fire pits and it's important to stick to each campsite's specific rules about where fires can be lit.
Place some tinder at the heart of where you want your fire to locate; tinder must be bone dry and can be something as simple as newspaper, cotton wool, dried leaves, dried wood shavings or even tumble dryer lint (better if you have been drying cotton clothing rather than synthetic, though, it's worth adding...).
Next you'll need your kindling - fine, dry pieces of wood like twigs that you arrange in a 'teepee' shape around the tinder. Make sure you leave a gap in one side of the teepee for the air to get in. Kindling must be dry - if the twig doesn't break with a satisfying SNAP! then it probably won't catch light quickly enough.
Keep layering the kindling around the tinder, building a wall with ever-thickening twigs and then the thinnest branches. Last, layer your teepee with some of your larger pieces of firewood...and light!
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Enjoy an open fire at Thistledown Campsite, Gloucs
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Our Fave Fire Rituals
Now, we're all likely to be different in what we want from our campfire and some of your rituals might be more secret than others (!) but no one's ever been able to accuse us of being shy, so we'll share our favourite fire-side pastimes here in a gloriously random fashion...
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Funny, but a lot of these seemed to be linked with food...
1. Pack bananas with all manner of fabulous fillings: chocolate (well, obviously...); Curly Wurlys or Cadbury's Chocolate Eclairs(for total caramel lushness - hot, though, watch out!); marshmallows...
2. On Chilly Nights warm your PJs or bed socks next to the fire before putting them on.
3. Play 'Two truths and a Lie': everyone in the group shares three facts about themselves. But there's a catch: two of the things are true, but one is completely false. But which? Aha!
4. Make a 'fishing line' cooking stick and roast your sausages on the end of a pole.
5. Bake chocolate orange brownies in the embers by hollowing out an orange, filling it with mixture and then wrapping it in foil. The preparation is best done at home - they'll stay fine in your coolbox for a day.
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Relish a fire at Wild Boar Wood Campsite, West Sussex
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Campfire Safety
Fire is fun, yes, but it also requires careful handling, especially when a drink of two is involved in proceedings...Mainly obvious, we know, but we thought it would be worth reminding ourselves about these top tips for campfire safety.
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If you've lit a fire, you must put it out before retiring for the night...no matter how tempting it is to leave it burning, and even if it is in a designated firepit. If you use water, you need to sprinkle until the hissing has stopped to be sure that the fire is out.
Never leave your children unattended around a fire - goes without saying! It might be worth considering using a line of stones to create a perimeter mark over which you don't want your smaller smalls to venture...
Yes, it is tempting to snuggle up in your sleeping bag around the fire before bed or in the morning when you first wake, but remember just how flammable material can be. You wouldn't want to risk a stray spark...There are plenty of other ways to contribute to campsite entertainment.
Don't pitch your tent within 3 metres of a fire pit or the spot you are intending to build your fire. 3 metres may seem like a long way but on a breezy night, sparks can travel!
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Trellyn Woodland Camping And Yurts, Pembrokeshire
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So, get gathering and drying your slivers of silver birch bark (or stock up on firelighters at your local garage) and head to one of these campsites allowing fires to re-awaken your inner child. Perhaps you want to search for campsites allowing fires in these UK counties:
Click here to see Devon campsites that Allow Fires.
Click here to peruse Dorset Campsites that Allow Fires.
Check out these Pembrokeshire campsites that allow fires.
Alternatively go to our Find a Campsite page and enter the type of pitch you are looking for (e.g. tent, caravan or shepherds hut), check 'Campfires Allowed' in the Required Facilities and then either enter a postcode and a radius or click on a county on our interactive map.
By Bekah Mardall, Campsite Chatter.
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