Essential gear for base camping

Don’t set out without your…

TENT

If you don’t intend to lug your tent around in a rucksack, you can afford to rock up at the campsite with something roomier and weightier – but compact enough to fit in the car without resorting to a roof box – like the Vango Omega

350 (see below, £250, www.vango.co.uk). Fitting three cosily, this mid-sized tunnel tent is simple to pitch and features a porch with a durable groundsheet which is ideal for cooking in or storing extra kit. This group tent’s flysheet has a higher hydrostatic head than many backpacking tents, so is better suited to enduring week-upon-week outside. A more spacious if pricier alternative, the 4-person

Robens Midnight Dreamer (£500, www. robens.de/en) has a porch tall enough to stand in.

SLEEPING BAG

Comfort can overrule performance when choosing a sleeping bag for base camping. The Robens Serac 300 (pictured right, £160,

www.robens.de/en) offers a degree of versatility, being warm enough for an unexpected cold snap, but not as excessively toasty as an expedition bag. With a warm and compressible duck down filling, this mummy-shaped bag has a comfort temperature rating of 2°C. If you don’t expect to head anywhere experiencing nearzero temperatures, a square-ended sleeping bag, like the Outwell

Costellation Lux (£110, www.outwell.com) is a less stifling design than the more efficient and packable ‘mummy’ types. Fair-weather base campers needn’t spend big on a sleeping bag though, with an inexpensive model like the Vango Atlas 250 (£22, www.vango.co.uk) sufficing in summer.

STOVE

Not being held back by what you can cram into a rucksack affords you plenty of scope for whipping up scrumptious cuisine on a bigger stove. The Primus Tupike (above, £225, www.primus.eu) is a twoburner stove that’s big enough for proper cooking, but compact and light enough to carry in one hand or fit into the boot of a small car. With its oak laths and stainless-steel body, it’s a fancy-pants bit of kit, but you don’t have spend a small fortune, as the Outwell Appetizer proves (£36, www.outwell.com). Alternatively, be the envy of the campsite with the BioLite CampStove (£135, www.bioliteenergy.com), which burns twigs and pine cones to boil water, and will even charge your phone at the same time.