Return from Stubcroft Farm site in East Wittering
Just got back from out stay at Stubcroft Farm camp site in East Wittering, which included a day out at the beach nearby in West Wittering and bit further along at the East Head nature reserve. Weather was glorious and I have plenty to report back on not lease being the pleasant surprise of the campsite, despite it only passing two of The Sunday Times Camping Manifesto caveats by allowing campfires and having no main roads beyond the hedge – another reason why I won’t be paying for their online content, but I will feedback on their recent camping special in another post as well as write up a longer review of the Stubcroft Farm camp site.
Anyway, the good news for me this time was that we managed to fit everything in the back of our new (used) Renault Grand Scenic; so I didn’t have to cycle, which was a huge relief as it’s over 40 miles and I had a hangover this morning. I also managed to meet a lot of the campers at the site and have a whole host of photos of their coolest and most bodacious kit, or at least the kit they can do without the least. I’ll be blogging about this and my camper envy soon, but I have our in-laws coming round this evening so need to get all our kit into the loft. But before they arrive and before I forget I just wanted to follow-up my East Wittering Camping Check List post and mention some of the kit we didn’t take, but now think we need after this trip.
I definitely want some more Rhino Flexi Tubs. The 12 litre one is perfect for doing the washing up in as well as collecting bits and bobs during packing at each end of the trip. The 40 litre one was great for gathering up bigger bits and bobs, not just during the packing at each end of the trip, but also for trying to bring some order to the chaos around our tent. A couple more would have been handy at the site and also for storing kit in the loft when we get back. Being stackable also means they wouldn’t take any more room in the car on journeys. Another option would be something like the Eco Jumbo Carry Bag. or the Daisy Pop Up Bag from Camping With Soul, but they are a little more expensive. I also like the Rhino Runna, which would make carting things about with a Flexi Tub easier and would work well as wheel barrow in the garden.
Annoyingly we forgot the dustpan and brush, which is definitely an essential piece of kit, but we already have one of those, so I think our next purchase will be some kind of carpet, or the Half Moon Coir Matting when it becomes available again from Camping with Soul: a doormat would be good too.
I actually went and bought a 10 pole windbreak, as it was very windy this weekend, not all together surprising given that West Wittering is a top windsurfing and kite surfing spot. Seems like I paid 10 quid over the odds at the beach goods shop in West Wittering judging by the identical one I’ve just found on Amazon, although to their credit they did replace the pole that broke free of charge.
I also forgot the plastic picnic tray which is really handy on the beach, as it stops the rug getting covered in hummus and anything else the kids seems to spread all over it. We also need some better lighting because the Urban Escape Wind Up Collapsible LED Lantern isn’t very bright and I seem to spend way too much time winding it up. Last but by no means least, I need to replace the cheapo ‘panic-buy mallet’ that I picked up from ASDA with something a little more studier like the one Sean got from Millets as part of a Eurohike Tent Essential Kit. You can see Sean compare and contrast the two mallets below. What it doesn’t show is how hard it was to remove the four heavy duty steel tent pegs he got with his essentials kit, which needed two of us and several tools including the steel tent peg extractor that also came with his essentials kit. I’m sure there was more like the additional batteries for my Panasonic Lumix, but that’s it for now.
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