0:00:10 > 0:00:14Camping has been at the heart of our nation's holidaymaking for 100 years.
0:00:14 > 0:00:19Leaving our towns and cities behind, to sleep under canvas
0:00:19 > 0:00:25and to cook over a campfire, has become a quintessentially British pastime.
0:00:27 > 0:00:32I think the camper has always been someone who is quite stoic.
0:00:32 > 0:00:38Someone who has a wry smile, and to be able to carry on in the face of adversity.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43Ah, I think it snowed in the night.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47You're looking a bit Scott of the Antarctic.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49I'm going out for a short walk, I may be some time.
0:00:52 > 0:00:57Starting out as a middle class leisure activity for a handful of adventurous gents,
0:00:57 > 0:01:01camping was transformed by innovations
0:01:01 > 0:01:05and became synonymous with the cheap family holiday.
0:01:05 > 0:01:10The first time that I went into a tent, aged three,
0:01:10 > 0:01:13I couldn't believe it, I just thought it was incredible.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17It had a little window in it that I thought was amazing.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21It had an inner tent with a zip.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24And I was very impressed.
0:01:24 > 0:01:25Despite the weather,
0:01:25 > 0:01:29camping has given us the opportunity to explore the hidden corners
0:01:29 > 0:01:33of our coastline and countryside,
0:01:33 > 0:01:37and to celebrate our relationship with the great British outdoors.
0:01:38 > 0:01:43Unlike anything else, camping really lets you get amongst nature.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46You're out in a field, breathing fresh air,
0:01:46 > 0:01:49you've got the sun on your face, the wind in your hair.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52And you're really up close and personal with nature.
0:01:54 > 0:01:59But the story of camping also charts a century of social and cultural change
0:01:59 > 0:02:03and our struggle to get away from the rules and regulations of modern life.
0:02:03 > 0:02:09To replace them, even for a short time, with a life under canvas.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33From its earliest days, camping for pleasure in Britain flourished
0:02:33 > 0:02:38because it provided an escape from our growing industrial cities.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44For enthusiasts like Dixe Wills from London,
0:02:44 > 0:02:48this desire to get away from the stresses of modern life,
0:02:48 > 0:02:51to get back to the simple delights of the countryside,
0:02:51 > 0:02:54is still at the heart of camping's appeal.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01In Britain, particularly, we're very urbanised.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05A lot of people have decided, right, actually,
0:03:05 > 0:03:09there is a way we can get out, even if it's just for a weekend.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13It doesn't have to be for a week or two, even for a night.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16And be out of the city, be out of your town
0:03:16 > 0:03:19and actually enjoy the countryside.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22In Britain we have some fantastic countryside.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24And camping is a really cheap way of doing that.
0:03:26 > 0:03:32We live lives surrounded by concrete and bricks and wallpaper and carpet,
0:03:32 > 0:03:37and sometimes just leaving all that and just getting down and thinking,
0:03:37 > 0:03:40"The grass smells really nice this morning,"
0:03:40 > 0:03:43that sort of thing you don't get if you don't go camping.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Although we may take it for granted today,
0:03:56 > 0:04:00camping for pleasure is relatively new in Britain.
0:04:01 > 0:04:07For many years it was primarily only soldiers who slept under canvas,
0:04:07 > 0:04:12as tents were simply a practical solution for armies on the move.
0:04:12 > 0:04:20But in the late 19th century, the idea of camping for fun was born - on the back of a bicycle.
0:04:33 > 0:04:38I think people often forget how revolutionary a technology the bicycle was.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41The bicycle opens up the countryside
0:04:41 > 0:04:45and also gives this sense of individual movement,
0:04:45 > 0:04:47the ability to carry equipment with you,
0:04:47 > 0:04:50the ability to explore and go wherever you want.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07When the bike came along and suddenly allows more freedom to travel,
0:05:07 > 0:05:11it was a logical progression to actually carry camping gear,
0:05:11 > 0:05:15and, if you like, it was the time of the gentleman gypsy.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18They could go exploring the countryside, you could escape
0:05:18 > 0:05:22the grime of the cities and get out into the fresh air.
0:05:22 > 0:05:28There was a natural movement going on in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30And cycle camping just appealed.
0:05:33 > 0:05:39The man behind this quiet revolution was Thomas Hiram Holding,
0:05:39 > 0:05:44a tailor from Shropshire, now regarded as the father of modern camping.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48He moved around as a journeyman tailor.
0:05:48 > 0:05:54And while he was at Cheltenham, he founded the bicycle club there.
0:05:54 > 0:05:59And then he suggested that it would be a good idea
0:05:59 > 0:06:01to start a club for cyclists.
0:06:01 > 0:06:08Using his skills as a tailor, Holding developed a lightweight tent that could be carried on his bicycle
0:06:08 > 0:06:13and a tweed suit practical for cycling and camping.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20He was designing very, very small, lightweight equipment.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23But in honesty, when you look at some of the tent designs
0:06:23 > 0:06:30from the early 1900s, stand up to being compared with modern-day lightweight tents,
0:06:30 > 0:06:33made out of modern synthetics.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37Making full use of his own innovations,
0:06:37 > 0:06:42in 1897, Holding set off to Connemara in the west of Ireland
0:06:42 > 0:06:47and wrote about his experiences in his book, Cycle And Camp.
0:06:50 > 0:06:56In the end of the book he wrote, anybody interested, he'd try and help them.
0:06:56 > 0:07:02Later on, he had 12 names and he wrote to these people and founded the Association of Cycle Campers.
0:07:04 > 0:07:11In 1901, Holding organised the association's first camp in a field in Oxfordshire.
0:07:11 > 0:07:19Six middle-class professional men turned up, and from these humble beginnings a mass movement was born.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33Over a century later, cycle camping still holds the same appeal
0:07:33 > 0:07:37for people like 68-year-old Graham Lawrence from Yorkshire.
0:07:39 > 0:07:46Every year he cycles thousands of miles and spends nearly a quarter of his time living in a tent.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52I meet up with a lot of people when I'm camping.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54It makes me happy.
0:07:55 > 0:08:01With cycle camping, you can see things that you can't see in a car.
0:08:01 > 0:08:06As long as you go for lightweight kit and not carry too much,
0:08:06 > 0:08:09you can enjoy the cycling part of it.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13Camping, yes, I enjoy being under my little tent.
0:08:13 > 0:08:19It's warm, it's cosy and I can please myself what time I come in and what time I go out.
0:08:22 > 0:08:27From the beginning, cycle campers were masters of invention and innovation,
0:08:27 > 0:08:34making their own sleeping bags, rucksacks and, in some cases, even the tents themselves.
0:08:38 > 0:08:44One such enthusiast was Stephen Hilhouse from Uxbridge in London.
0:08:44 > 0:08:49He passed on his love of camping and the outdoors to his daughters
0:08:49 > 0:08:51over 80 years ago.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58Daddy invented the triangular piece of material
0:08:58 > 0:09:03so you could have the doors out to shelter your stove, if you wanted to.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05You could put things under the flysheet.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08That was very good, very clever.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19He was one of the founder members of the camping club.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21I think he was member 33, or something like that.
0:09:21 > 0:09:26He was right in the early days of the camping club
0:09:26 > 0:09:31and he knew Mr Holding, who started the Association of Cycle Campers.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35He loved it because it got him out from London,
0:09:35 > 0:09:37where he lived, out into the country.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39And he really did enjoy that.
0:09:39 > 0:09:45And he loved exploring and he just loved the open air.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48My father had this special camping cycle,
0:09:48 > 0:09:52and it had brazed-on carriers, it had three brakes,
0:09:52 > 0:09:56a milk bottle carrier, a stove carrier.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59It had spring seat pillars, spring pole carrier,
0:09:59 > 0:10:02and a Dursley Pedersen three-speed gear.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05There's the Primus stove fitted in there.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08And the milk bottle there.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10And a special carrier on the front,
0:10:10 > 0:10:14and another special carrier on the back, carrying the tent.
0:10:14 > 0:10:16It had everything he needed.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22This is a photograph of our family taken in our garden.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25That's my father, there's my mother.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28And this is my elder sister, Agnes.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32That's me, and this is our friend, and this is Nan.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37We were all babies when he took us camping.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40I think I was three months old when I first went camping.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42We went to Wales and this farmer's wife
0:10:42 > 0:10:45was horrified to think this little baby
0:10:45 > 0:10:48was going to be put in a tent and she insisted on our mother
0:10:48 > 0:10:50taking me and my sister, Agnes, who was a bit older,
0:10:50 > 0:10:53into the house while Daddy went and pitched the tent.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55She wouldn't let him take us out
0:10:55 > 0:10:57to the tent until it was all ready for us.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01It was so exciting. Because I was the youngest anyway.
0:11:01 > 0:11:06I don't know, I just loved it. We went to all these...
0:11:06 > 0:11:09Especially to Ricky. We used to go to Rickmansworth
0:11:09 > 0:11:14and they had a big campfire, and it was very exciting for a little girl.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22Although leisure camping, with all its innovations,
0:11:22 > 0:11:26was beginning to take hold in Britain, it was still perceived as
0:11:26 > 0:11:29a gentleman's country sport, just like shooting and fishing,
0:11:29 > 0:11:33and not deemed suitable for the working classes.
0:11:37 > 0:11:42It was highly aspirational, in a sense, to go camping, right from the start.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47It required you to be able afford to have
0:11:47 > 0:11:49even two weeks off, or three weeks off,
0:11:49 > 0:11:52something that most ordinary people would never have.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56They would never have paid holidays or even holidays. They couldn't afford it.
0:11:58 > 0:12:04When one looks at the early list of members, they've got clergymen,
0:12:04 > 0:12:10doctors, lawyers and people from universities and that sort of thing.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13So they were middle class, upper middle class.
0:12:13 > 0:12:18Camping was something that was participated by quite wealthy people,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22who had a network of perhaps friends and associates and landowners,
0:12:22 > 0:12:25where they would have this allowable space that they could camp.
0:12:25 > 0:12:30But most people would be seen as sort of indigenous peasants
0:12:30 > 0:12:36or barred from actually having access to farmland and places to camp.
0:12:36 > 0:12:44For its well-heeled enthusiasts, camping's promise of freedom and good clean air
0:12:44 > 0:12:49was the perfect antidote to life in the growing towns and cities of Edwardian Britain.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55One of the biggest drivers for the early campers was the need to get out
0:12:55 > 0:12:59of the cities and to escape the factory or the mills,
0:12:59 > 0:13:02where people living in cities were seen
0:13:02 > 0:13:06quite often as being places where disease spread
0:13:06 > 0:13:10and that they were unhealthy, they were smoky, smoggy
0:13:10 > 0:13:13and just generally unpleasant.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17I think of camping as being something that people in cities do.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20In its history it's grown up as
0:13:20 > 0:13:24away of people getting away from the industrial life,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28which lay behind the formation of these large cities.
0:13:28 > 0:13:33And to kind of explore their physical health a bit more.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38This need for a healthier Britain was brought into sharper focus
0:13:38 > 0:13:41after the devastation of the First World War.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45Camping was no longer just a pleasant pastime
0:13:45 > 0:13:47but at the heart of a social revolution
0:13:47 > 0:13:49to improve the health of the nation.
0:13:55 > 0:14:00One of the things which has always triggered concerns about health
0:14:00 > 0:14:02and fitness in Britain is war.
0:14:02 > 0:14:07The First World War simply adds another layer to that.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10There are a lot of fears that the state of the nation
0:14:10 > 0:14:14was in decline, the health and fitness of the nation was in decline.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17There almost a rotten core of the Empire.
0:14:18 > 0:14:23It's no coincidence that one of the leading figures in the camping movement after the First World War
0:14:23 > 0:14:27was Lord Baden-Powell, who in the Edwardian period had set up the Scout movement,
0:14:27 > 0:14:31and then the Guide movement had been a spin-off from that.
0:14:31 > 0:14:36Baden-Powell, indeed, talked about camping with a purpose.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38Which perfectly captures that idea
0:14:38 > 0:14:43that something which might be seen as leisurely and almost indulgent
0:14:43 > 0:14:47instead has a purpose and a focus and a goal.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51# The sun has got his hat on Hip hip hip hooray.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55# The sun has got his hat on and he's coming out today. #
0:14:55 > 0:15:00The idea of creating beautiful, healthy young bodies in a sense
0:15:00 > 0:15:07was part of the reaction to the destruction of all those healthy, young bodies in World War One.
0:15:07 > 0:15:12There was this huge popular uprising of people wanting to get out.
0:15:12 > 0:15:19Better transport systems brings the ability for far more people to access the countryside.
0:15:21 > 0:15:28The countryside was seen as being a place where people could rediscover
0:15:28 > 0:15:32an essential part of what it was to be human.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34This connection with nature.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38It used to be described as people's natural rhythm.
0:15:38 > 0:15:44If you took yourself off into the countryside, you would discover this and become a better person almost.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46You would become physically fitter,
0:15:46 > 0:15:51you would become spiritually more at peace with yourself and your place in the world.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55# All the little boys excited All little girls delighted.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59# What a lot of fun for everyone Sitting in the sun all day. #
0:16:01 > 0:16:06This new enthusiasm for the outdoors was transforming the map of Britain.
0:16:08 > 0:16:13Major cities like London were ringed by the country's first campsites,
0:16:13 > 0:16:16where campers could enjoy a short break in the countryside
0:16:16 > 0:16:19and a new sense of freedom.
0:16:21 > 0:16:27In films of the time you see a classic transformation between a rather gloomy, grey,
0:16:27 > 0:16:29perhaps smoky urban environment
0:16:29 > 0:16:36and then the movement out to a much brighter, open air in the country.
0:16:36 > 0:16:42That shift in environment goes along with a shift in appearance of the people involved,
0:16:42 > 0:16:46a shift in their demeanour, from boredom to exhilaration,
0:16:46 > 0:16:50or from wearing office clothing to wearing open-air shorts
0:16:50 > 0:16:53and other kinds of equipment.
0:16:53 > 0:16:58Both men and women were free to wear shorts from the 1920s onwards.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01In the look at camping photos, within almost 20 years,
0:17:01 > 0:17:05from the turn of the century to the 1920s,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08suddenly you have got both men and women
0:17:08 > 0:17:13wearing quite revealing clothing, loose clothing.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15Shorts, no ties, no hats.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20Clothing was not the only thing that was changing.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22A thriving industry was developing around their needs,
0:17:22 > 0:17:28with sleeping bags, rucksacks and a full range of gadgets,
0:17:28 > 0:17:31from Primus stoves to hacksaws and coat-hangers.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34These were becoming the must-have camping accessories.
0:17:38 > 0:17:45And with its growing popularity, camping was changing how people spent their time in the countryside.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47It was somewhere they could go to socialise
0:17:47 > 0:17:53through organised activities such as canoeing, rambling and folk dancing.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05But the expansion of camping brought with it new problems.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09Not everyone welcomed the idea of hordes of city dwellers
0:18:09 > 0:18:14descending upon the peaceful countryside and pitching their tents wherever they liked.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19I think the fear was that as camping became more and more popular,
0:18:19 > 0:18:25particularly amongst the working class population, was that there would be droves and droves
0:18:25 > 0:18:29of people going into the countryside and behaving in a manner that was inappropriate.
0:18:31 > 0:18:36At the beginning of the 1930s, some local councils used housing by-laws
0:18:36 > 0:18:42to prevent the erection of any movable dwellings, including tents and caravans.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45Where camping had started out as an expression of freedom,
0:18:45 > 0:18:51it now found itself subject to the rules and regulations of the bureaucrats.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58In the 1920s and 1930s there was a lot of legislation going through.
0:18:58 > 0:19:05In fact, I believe in 1930 there were 100 bills going through Parliament
0:19:05 > 0:19:09that would seriously restrict camping as a leisure industry.
0:19:11 > 0:19:16The 1936 Public Health Act contained a raft of severe measures
0:19:16 > 0:19:19aimed at controlling the conduct of campers.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28They included a ban on the sale of bread, butter and milk on a campsite,
0:19:28 > 0:19:34no more than one tent to be pitched per acre, and none to be erected within 20 feet of a hedge.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39After a hard-fought campaign, the Camping Club gained exemption
0:19:39 > 0:19:45from these restrictions, but only for members staying at its own official sites.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52The club then set about presenting itself as a respectable organisation
0:19:52 > 0:19:56with a strict code of conduct for all its members.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03If you look at the camping literature and, indeed, the camping film of the time,
0:20:03 > 0:20:09what you get is this a theme of respectability and good conduct.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13It is also reinforcing that feeling that camping could be something which,
0:20:13 > 0:20:19while slightly curious and for some people's eyes slightly strange, was essentially something respectable.
0:20:19 > 0:20:25It had rules, it had certain codes and it had a purpose to it.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38There were certain rules. One, you don't leave any litter around.
0:20:38 > 0:20:43You always ask permission to camp, you never go and camp on common land or waste ground.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50The idea is that literally, like Baden-Powell, you leave nothing but your thanks.
0:20:51 > 0:20:57As camping in Britain was undergoing this transformation, some experienced enthusiasts
0:20:57 > 0:20:59were already planning more adventurous trips
0:20:59 > 0:21:04and to pitch their tents in foreign fields.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08One such camper was 13-year-old Stephanie Hilhouse,
0:21:08 > 0:21:13who, in 1937, set off on holiday with her parents
0:21:13 > 0:21:17to attend an international camping rally in Germany.
0:21:17 > 0:21:22I was at school and my parents then said we were going to go to Germany
0:21:22 > 0:21:26for this international camp in the summer.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28So it was very exciting.
0:21:28 > 0:21:34I went with my elder sister and my parents to Wiesbaden. We went by car
0:21:34 > 0:21:38and we went through Belgium, Holland and then to Germany
0:21:38 > 0:21:46and we camped in Bonn and we camped in Wiesbaden. We went to this big international camp in Wiesbaden.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56It was all very exciting because we had never done anything like that before.
0:21:56 > 0:22:04But just occasionally you would get this feeling that something was going to happen.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07Some people were worried about Hitler, definitely.
0:22:17 > 0:22:22It was altogether rather exciting because there were so many people there.
0:22:22 > 0:22:27When they had the grand opening, they had flagpoles up with all the different countries represented
0:22:27 > 0:22:33by the different camping clubs and then there was one pole in the middle which was empty.
0:22:33 > 0:22:39We thought, "What flag are they going to put up there? Are they going to put up an international flag?"
0:22:39 > 0:22:42But instead of that, up went a great big swastika.
0:22:49 > 0:22:54And my mother was standing with a whole lot of Germans, watching the opening ceremony.
0:22:54 > 0:22:59They all put up their hands in a heil Hitler, and she was standing in the middle
0:22:59 > 0:23:04feeling rather out of place because all these Germans were there with their heil-Hitlering.
0:23:11 > 0:23:16And everywhere that you went, there would be a picture of Hitler. They had them all over the place.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19And some of the people were extremely nice
0:23:19 > 0:23:25and some of the people were rather harsh and not particularly nice.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30Agnes and I made friends with a very lovely girl.
0:23:30 > 0:23:35She was a sweet girl and we used to write to her when we got home.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40And she died in the war in one of these camps, poor girl.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42It was awful.
0:23:44 > 0:23:51And I don't think, being so young, that I realised exactly what was going to happen until it did happen.
0:23:57 > 0:24:03The 1930s had been a period of growth and innovation for the camping industry.
0:24:03 > 0:24:08But by the end of the decade, the manufacturers switched to producing goods for the war effort.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15As a much needed break from the country's bombed-out cities,
0:24:15 > 0:24:19organised camping continued but on a greatly reduced scale.
0:24:21 > 0:24:26Camping was restricted all along the east coast and the south coast.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30Very restricted. Restricted near military installations.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34A lot of people got together in their homes.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38They would also help in the shelters, take their Primuses down
0:24:38 > 0:24:42and make cups of tea in the underground shelters in London.
0:24:43 > 0:24:48In the years after the war, camping struggled to regain its momentum.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53But it was soon to receive a huge boost,
0:24:53 > 0:24:59thanks to a man from the other side of the world and his exploits in the Himalayas.
0:25:05 > 0:25:10On the 2nd June 1953, the day of Elizabeth II's Coronation,
0:25:10 > 0:25:14news reached Britain that Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay
0:25:14 > 0:25:17had reached the summit of Mount Everest.
0:25:19 > 0:25:25The ascent of Everest had a major impact on the British outdoors, especially camping.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28Not just in the fact that we have conquered the highest mountain in the world,
0:25:28 > 0:25:32but it is the first time that people can actually see it.
0:25:32 > 0:25:38It forced the development of the lighter weight gear, using lighter synthetic fabrics.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42And there were major names coming to the fore.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44We had people like Robert Saunders,
0:25:44 > 0:25:49who was using lightweight spinnaker nylon to create ultra-light weight tents.
0:25:51 > 0:25:58Robert Saunders from the East End of London was an innovator who helped transform the future of camping.
0:25:58 > 0:26:03Traditionally, tents had been made out of natural materials such as canvas.
0:26:03 > 0:26:08But Saunders produced the first tent made from synthetic materials,
0:26:08 > 0:26:14fabrics that were associated with a very different kind of product.
0:26:18 > 0:26:23You must know, if you have associated with the opposite sex at all,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26that nylon is basically a feminine fabric.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30It was used for ladies' underwear and all that sort of thing.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35You could say that I cheated the system
0:26:35 > 0:26:40and converted something that was feminine into something masculine.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42Tents from a feminine fabric.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46There were many objections to my tents in the beginning.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50Resistance. I would travel the whole country trying to sell them,
0:26:50 > 0:26:53but people wanted to stick to canvas.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01Although Saunders' innovations were greeted with scepticism,
0:27:01 > 0:27:05his use of manmade fabrics became the industry norm as increased lightness
0:27:05 > 0:27:10and durability became selling points for the modern tent.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14It opened up the world for a lot of people.
0:27:16 > 0:27:24I can tell you that we still get tents back, 30 or 40 years old, for repair.
0:27:27 > 0:27:32The new designs of tent manufacturers like Robert Saunders transformed camping.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36It became accessible to ordinary British people
0:27:36 > 0:27:41for whom camping wasn't a consuming passion but simply the means to a cheap family holiday.
0:27:41 > 0:27:47# You need someone to lean on When you look there is no one there
0:27:47 > 0:27:50# You're going to find me
0:27:50 > 0:27:53# Out in the country
0:27:53 > 0:27:58# You're going to find me Way out in the country. #
0:27:58 > 0:28:04Ingenious innovations, such as the frame and Continental-style ridge tents,
0:28:04 > 0:28:10with their extended living areas, also helped open camping up to this new mass market.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14# In the country
0:28:14 > 0:28:17# In the country. #
0:28:17 > 0:28:20It attracted more families once the frame tents came out, definitely.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23You could stand up in the frame tents,
0:28:23 > 0:28:28you could have a big living area, and you could have separate bedrooms for Mum and Dad and the kids.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30They became very, very popular.
0:28:32 > 0:28:34# Out in the country! #
0:28:34 > 0:28:38The idea that camping could be primarily a family pursuit
0:28:38 > 0:28:43partly goes alongside the reinvention of the tent as a domestic space.
0:28:43 > 0:28:48So partly in terms of design, in terms of quality of fabrics and so on.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52But also the way in which you have tents with windows in them
0:28:52 > 0:28:55and particular kinds of awnings that you can put on as extensions.
0:28:55 > 0:29:02So the tent becomes a place which is at once completely different to home,
0:29:02 > 0:29:05but also has a domestic quality in its own right.
0:29:05 > 0:29:11Campsites could then be seen as spaces where lots of little homes were on, rather than necessarily
0:29:11 > 0:29:16intrepid, adventurous youth roughing it for a couple of days.
0:29:18 > 0:29:24Camping holidays proved ideal for young families in the 1950s.
0:29:24 > 0:29:29They offered an enticing alternative to the restrictive rules and regulations of the guesthouses
0:29:29 > 0:29:32that had dominated the British holiday landscape.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39I think for many people the attractions of camping
0:29:39 > 0:29:43far outweighed the attractions of the boarding house.
0:29:43 > 0:29:48One of the main reasons given was that you were not under the watchful eye of the landlady.
0:29:48 > 0:29:54You weren't subject to someone else's rules and relations, you could come and go as you pleased.
0:29:54 > 0:29:59Working-class people did not like going to the boarding houses because the women who ran them
0:29:59 > 0:30:04would often make them feel awkward about their manners or the behaviour of their children.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07She would generally be upper working class or lower-middle-class.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10She certainly would perceive herself as being a cut above them.
0:30:10 > 0:30:17So they really took to camping as freeing them, I guess, from the dead hand of the middle classes.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23But freedom was not the only appeal of camping.
0:30:23 > 0:30:29For people like Alec Law from Woolwich in London, it offered the only affordable family holiday.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35I had eight sons and to take eight sons on holiday anywhere
0:30:35 > 0:30:37cost the earth.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40But to take them into a field, to give them a tent,
0:30:40 > 0:30:44and feed them on baked beans, fried eggs and bacon
0:30:44 > 0:30:47don't cost a fortune.
0:30:47 > 0:30:51I could not afford to go and put them in bed and breakfast somewhere.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54I had to find a way of taking them away
0:30:54 > 0:30:57or encouraging them to go and do something that would give them a holiday.
0:30:59 > 0:31:06This passion for sleeping under the stars has been passed on through four generations of the Law family.
0:31:06 > 0:31:10A love of the great outdoors has defined their leisure time
0:31:10 > 0:31:15for over 50 years, for everyone except Alec's wife.
0:31:18 > 0:31:24In the beginning, right when we first went camping, the wife came.
0:31:24 > 0:31:28But one fateful night, we were camping
0:31:28 > 0:31:31and a hedgehog got in the tent.
0:31:32 > 0:31:37Well, my missus, she says she is 5ft, but she ain't really.
0:31:39 > 0:31:43I thought she was going to go straight through the top of the tent!
0:31:43 > 0:31:46She has never, ever come camping with me since.
0:31:46 > 0:31:52She will come down and stay until 10 or 11 o'clock and then somebody will take her home, but she won't stay.
0:31:53 > 0:31:58Now in his 80s, Alec still enjoys camping with his children,
0:31:58 > 0:32:00grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
0:32:00 > 0:32:07The campsite, more than anywhere else, is the place that bonds his family together.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11I'll keep coming camping as long as they will bring me.
0:32:11 > 0:32:16Because I like to come camping, and, luckily, my family like me to come.
0:32:16 > 0:32:20I was asked if I want to come on this camp,
0:32:20 > 0:32:22I didn't say, "I want to come."
0:32:22 > 0:32:28They come and said, "Come on, Grandad, we're all going camping, want to come?"
0:32:28 > 0:32:31I didn't need asking twice.
0:32:33 > 0:32:38With its promise of a cheap family holiday, camping in Britain was booming.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41During the 1950s,
0:32:41 > 0:32:46membership of the Camping Club soared from 15,000 to 50,000.
0:32:50 > 0:32:56Through District Associations and groups, the Camping Club provided a welcoming structure
0:32:56 > 0:33:03and a cultural identity for its members, along with activities and entertainment to satisfy all tastes.
0:33:06 > 0:33:11At the end of the camping season, the Camping Club had a big...
0:33:11 > 0:33:13What they called the National Feast of Lanterns.
0:33:15 > 0:33:17They would have sports things
0:33:17 > 0:33:19or you would have these fancy-dress parades
0:33:19 > 0:33:22and people would dress up in all sorts of different costumes.
0:33:22 > 0:33:29You might be given a theme or you might just have a different costume and people would parade.
0:33:29 > 0:33:30There was folk dancing that went on.
0:33:30 > 0:33:35It was rather nice because you made friends with people
0:33:35 > 0:33:39and you just get in touch with all these people. It was good.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48There was a revival in the 1950s of a sense of pageants
0:33:48 > 0:33:54and displays where people indulged in probably dress and behaviour
0:33:54 > 0:33:59that was something quite different from what they would in normal, everyday life.
0:33:59 > 0:34:04It was very much part of a tradition where people paraded through the streets dressed up,
0:34:04 > 0:34:10often on Empire Day. And this tradition continued right through the 20th century.
0:34:10 > 0:34:16There seems to have been a big revival in the 1950s and 1960s.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19It was all part of camp life and camaraderie.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22And camaraderie is a huge part of camping.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28Now the very nature of camping was undergoing a transformation.
0:34:28 > 0:34:35Once driven by a desire to escape to the peace and tranquillity of the countryside,
0:34:35 > 0:34:40it was being fuelled by the desire to bond with other people, to have a sense of belonging.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47Membership of a club was attractive to people
0:34:47 > 0:34:53because you felt like you were part of a shared ethos.
0:34:54 > 0:34:59Things like a regional meets, where people from a particular region
0:34:59 > 0:35:04got together, or national meets, where people from across Britain
0:35:04 > 0:35:07would come together for two to three days.
0:35:07 > 0:35:12I think it was an opportunity to celebrate camping
0:35:12 > 0:35:16with people who were like-minded.
0:35:19 > 0:35:26Social developments in Britain were also contributing to the increasing popularity of camping.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29Workers were enjoying improved terms for their holidays,
0:35:29 > 0:35:33with over 90% of them now entitled to two weeks' paid leave per year.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40British people were also becoming more mobile.
0:35:40 > 0:35:44By 1960, one in ten people had their own car
0:35:44 > 0:35:49and were able to take advantage of the country's improving road network.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57Now, more than ever before, ordinary British families
0:35:57 > 0:36:02could pack up their tent and escape to the countryside or coast.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09Cars had an impact on camping
0:36:09 > 0:36:13because it allowed people to carry heavier equipment, to take more equipment with them.
0:36:13 > 0:36:19It also affected the places that people were able to access and to get to.
0:36:19 > 0:36:23Places that were a bit more off the beaten track.
0:36:23 > 0:36:28As more British families turned to camping holidays,
0:36:28 > 0:36:32manufacturers responded to their demands for greater comfort and convenience.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35They produced not only bigger tents,
0:36:35 > 0:36:42but also ground-breaking alternatives such as the campervan and the trailer tent.
0:36:42 > 0:36:48People were starting to use camping trailers and towing everything behind them.
0:36:48 > 0:36:53It was a logical progression to actually fit the tent to the trailer.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55And then have everything just expand out.
0:36:57 > 0:37:02The canopy unfolds from its trailer to full size in a matter of seconds.
0:37:02 > 0:37:07It comes complete with four beds and is particularly suitable for those with young families.
0:37:07 > 0:37:12This tent, complete on its trailer, will cost you £255 to buy.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16This was known as camping "light",
0:37:16 > 0:37:22where holidaymakers could enjoy the experience of camping without all the hard work.
0:37:22 > 0:37:29But despite the innovations that made life easier, it was still the fundamental freedom of camping
0:37:29 > 0:37:35that appealed to people like Merseyside traffic warden Noel Aindow and his family.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39We got a tent trailer,
0:37:39 > 0:37:42which was better because you were off the ground.
0:37:42 > 0:37:47Again, you did not have to worry about the weather the same, you knew the kids would be safer.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00I think the first place we ever went to was North Wales.
0:38:00 > 0:38:02You had the mountains around you.
0:38:02 > 0:38:05As far as the kiddies were concerned, you were in another world.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08You were just away from the normal town that you lived in.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11It was just the scenery and the views they got.
0:38:14 > 0:38:15We could not afford to go to hotels,
0:38:15 > 0:38:18not with having three or four children.
0:38:18 > 0:38:20It would have been far too expensive.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23It would cost us a fortune if we were going to go to, say, Blackpool for the day.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27Because of the rides and things. But if you go out in the wilderness,
0:38:27 > 0:38:29everything is free.
0:38:32 > 0:38:38For me, the most exciting part was knowing we were going.
0:38:38 > 0:38:42I used to get really, really excited about it.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45It was the freedom of it. The minute that you opened that tent in the morning,
0:38:45 > 0:38:50as soon as you heard that zzzttt, you were off, you were out.
0:38:50 > 0:38:51It was just the freedom for the children.
0:38:51 > 0:38:58They could even go amongst the animals, there were sheep running around the fields. There were cows.
0:38:58 > 0:39:00But then they also had the hills.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03They loved to be up on the hills, and the freedom of running.
0:39:03 > 0:39:08You were away from the traffic, you did not have to worry about roads.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15Up there you would have the rocky hills and they'd climb up the little rocks.
0:39:17 > 0:39:23You had the views, the climbing when we went up the mountains, or on the lake.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26We thought, "What would the kiddies like to play with?"
0:39:26 > 0:39:29They came up with their ideas, you know, "We would like a little dinghy."
0:39:29 > 0:39:34The dinghy only cost us a few pounds, it wasn't expensive, the little oars.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37They would play all day doing that.
0:39:39 > 0:39:44There was so much that you could do. We would take the dinghy and spend hours and hours on the dinghy.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47I can feel it now. I remember lying in it.
0:39:47 > 0:39:51We all had goes, or we would share it.
0:39:51 > 0:39:52Didn't we? The dinghy, yeah.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03Looking back now at the camping holidays, the trips that we had,
0:40:03 > 0:40:07absolutely fantastic memories, the best years of my life.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10And I like to do it with my own children now
0:40:10 > 0:40:14so they can feel how exciting it was, the feeling that we had.
0:40:16 > 0:40:21I am glad that the children have kept on the idea of this camping.
0:40:21 > 0:40:26All this natural thing, rather than jetting off here, there and everywhere.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30We have got lovely country around us. It is all there.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36But despite the attractions of our own countryside,
0:40:36 > 0:40:42by the 1970s, many British campers were packing up and heading off to pastures new
0:40:42 > 0:40:45on the other side of the English Channel.
0:40:45 > 0:40:52And they did so in search of one thing a holiday at home could not guarantee - sunshine.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55And once they got to popular destinations like the south of France,
0:40:55 > 0:41:02many British campers enjoyed their first foreign holiday at a fraction of the cost of staying in a hotel.
0:41:02 > 0:41:07For them, camping had opened up a whole new world.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10Both my parents were from working-class families
0:41:10 > 0:41:16and there was this real sense of, you know, "We can go to France!"
0:41:41 > 0:41:45Our summer holidays camping in the south of France were a really big deal for my family.
0:41:45 > 0:41:47My dad wouldn't take a lot of time off,
0:41:47 > 0:41:52he would save all his time off into a three-week or four-week block
0:41:52 > 0:41:54and then it was on.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58The tent would be strapped to the top of the car
0:41:58 > 0:42:03and we would drive from Liverpool in quite tense Dad silence.
0:42:06 > 0:42:12The awfulness of the actual journey from home to the campsite
0:42:12 > 0:42:15obviously depended on how far.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19So if you are going to Normandy or Brittany, then it wasn't going to be that bad.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22But if you were going all the way down to the south of France
0:42:22 > 0:42:25or somewhere like that, it was going to be pretty much horrific.
0:42:27 > 0:42:31One of my main memories is the trip. The 2,000 mile round trip from Liverpool.
0:42:31 > 0:42:35It was a big factor in me not driving a car until I was 37.
0:42:48 > 0:42:52The main thing I remember about French campsites in the '70s
0:42:52 > 0:42:58was that there actually wasn't that much to do on them.
0:42:58 > 0:43:03Apart from the toilet block, that was the entertainment.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06The toilet block was the entertainment on camp.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15French campsites were very large campsites.
0:43:15 > 0:43:22There would always be a bar, pools, that I remember. A pizzeria maybe.
0:43:22 > 0:43:24You would meet some English people.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26Your parents would have a drink with them.
0:43:26 > 0:43:31Sometimes they would have a drink a bit early and would nod off and forget where you were.
0:43:33 > 0:43:37And then, of course, there was the beaches, which, when you were seven,
0:43:37 > 0:43:42eight or nine, to see that many women without bikinis on
0:43:42 > 0:43:46really did open my eyes to the potential of France.
0:43:52 > 0:43:59I think it was all down to the book The Joy Of Sex coming out.
0:43:59 > 0:44:04In comes the seventies, everyone takes everything off.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07You know, from dawn to dusk, just wafting around in a bikini.
0:44:07 > 0:44:11Wafting around in a very tight pair of Speedos
0:44:11 > 0:44:15with your hands on your hips, wearing some flip-flops.
0:44:18 > 0:44:22I once witnessed six men in very tight Speedos
0:44:22 > 0:44:25trying to get car out of a ditch.
0:44:27 > 0:44:29It was sensational!
0:44:31 > 0:44:37Although British families were setting off in their droves to camp in France and elsewhere in Europe,
0:44:37 > 0:44:43their sense of adventure reached a cultural cul-de-sac when it came to dinner time.
0:44:43 > 0:44:48My mum would buy everything beforehand in catering quantities.
0:44:48 > 0:44:55In fact, for many years, the children were told that French ice-cream was poison.
0:44:55 > 0:44:59A friend of my father's called Dave Nash had told him,
0:44:59 > 0:45:06in no uncertain terms, that you seriously couldn't eat any food in France.
0:45:09 > 0:45:13That it was actually dangerous to eat.
0:45:13 > 0:45:20And my father believed him, so he had just stockpiled tins of Spam and corned beef.
0:45:20 > 0:45:25It was so grim, and he would just turn out that evening's Spam.
0:45:25 > 0:45:29And we would just sit there saying nothing while we ate it.
0:45:29 > 0:45:33And French people would walk past and go, "Bon appetit!"
0:45:39 > 0:45:42Even with the sunshine, the campsite facilities
0:45:42 > 0:45:50and the tinned food from home, these holidays still felt like too much work for many British holidaymakers.
0:45:50 > 0:45:56Especially as the success of the new package holiday offered a cheap and very easy alternative.
0:45:56 > 0:46:04The holidays in the Eighties reflected what was going on in a social and economic context, really.
0:46:04 > 0:46:08So people wanted to go, you know, to Greece and wanted to go to America
0:46:08 > 0:46:13and people wanted to be a little bit flash about their holidays.
0:46:13 > 0:46:17Camping didn't sit well with any of that.
0:46:22 > 0:46:27By the 1980s, camping was losing its popular appeal with the wider British public.
0:46:27 > 0:46:33What had once been valued as a cheap holiday was now seen as decidedly downmarket.
0:46:36 > 0:46:38Camping did suffer an image problem.
0:46:38 > 0:46:41It was seen as almost roughing it.
0:46:41 > 0:46:47You were likely to get wet and have to sleep in bedding that was damp.
0:46:47 > 0:46:50That would have put an awful lot of people off, I think.
0:46:50 > 0:46:56Particularly when they could go abroad and get top-notch modern conveniences.
0:46:57 > 0:47:03With many families deciding they had better things to do with their summer holidays than stay at home
0:47:03 > 0:47:11and be at the mercy of the weather, camping in Britain continued to decline during the 1980s.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15But for many of today's enthusiasts, there is a renewed interest
0:47:15 > 0:47:20in the original ideals of camping, of getting away from the pressures of modern life.
0:47:20 > 0:47:28And for that luxury, putting up with the British weather is, they believe, a small price to pay.
0:47:28 > 0:47:30Complaining about the rain when you're camping
0:47:30 > 0:47:34is like complaining about the traffic when you're driving in central London.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37It's gonna happen, it's a fact of life.
0:47:37 > 0:47:42You gotta be hardy about these things, you got to face up that things aren't going to be perfect
0:47:42 > 0:47:44and you'll have to improvise your way through them.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47That's kind of one of the great benefits of camping.
0:47:49 > 0:47:54But if it rains a lot, even I wouldn't say you are having a good time.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58Seven days and seven nights of rain can strip a man of reason.
0:48:04 > 0:48:09For Dixe Wills and Carl Palmer, not even sub-zero temperatures
0:48:09 > 0:48:13in the Welsh mountains is enough to strip them of their reason.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16For these so-called "wild campers",
0:48:16 > 0:48:21an escape into the wilderness, whatever the weather, is at the heart of their love of camping.
0:48:26 > 0:48:31It's even better than being on a campsite because you are very much,
0:48:31 > 0:48:32not at one with nature exactly,
0:48:32 > 0:48:35because you have got a tent and you have got your gear
0:48:35 > 0:48:37and all that stuff, you're not just lying here.
0:48:37 > 0:48:39But you are up close with nature.
0:48:39 > 0:48:42You quite often get rabbits or whatever come up to you.
0:48:42 > 0:48:45I have had horses wandering up my tent in the morning.
0:48:45 > 0:48:50You hear a lot of the wildlife that you wouldn't hear,
0:48:50 > 0:48:54especially if you were in a hotel. You know, the dawn chorus.
0:48:54 > 0:48:58We've done this for four years now. Every year, we've had snow.
0:48:58 > 0:49:02Which means that you get that whole layer of extra experience on top of it.
0:49:02 > 0:49:06But there are, again, very few people around.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09You get the odd dog walker, the odd hiker,
0:49:09 > 0:49:14but, as you can see, in this valley, there's almost no life whatsoever.
0:49:14 > 0:49:16You kind of have it to yourself.
0:49:21 > 0:49:25It seems mad because people think it is really, really cold.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27As long as you can keep warm at night, that is the main thing.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29Yes, because it is a bit miserable
0:49:29 > 0:49:31if you are lying awake all night, shivering.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34But that hasn't happened for, well, a night now, has it?!
0:49:38 > 0:49:44We've got the pegs battened down with a few rocks there, so that they hold in the snow.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47OK, Carl is making some dinner, which is very nice.
0:49:47 > 0:49:49He is also making some hot chocolate.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52I expect we will probably both have quite a good night's sleep.
0:49:52 > 0:49:57We might wake up on once or twice in the night, because you're lying a bit awkwardly or something.
0:49:57 > 0:50:00Or Carl has slipped down and off the mountain...
0:50:00 > 0:50:02But, no, I expect we will actually both sleep quite well.
0:50:02 > 0:50:08The great thing is when you wake up in the morning, and you look out your tent, you think, "Yes! We're here."
0:50:27 > 0:50:34- Ah! Carl, I think it snowed in the night.- A bit of snow.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37A bit of snow.
0:50:37 > 0:50:40Yeah, anything up to a foot of snow, actually.
0:50:42 > 0:50:47Despite my predictions that I would have quite a pleasant night's sleep,
0:50:47 > 0:50:51I have to say I had a warm night's sleep
0:50:51 > 0:50:55because I've got a nice sleeping bag in here,
0:50:55 > 0:50:57so that was fine. But it did snow all night.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08It gives you something to remember.
0:51:08 > 0:51:12I mean, when I'm on my deathbed I am not going to wish that
0:51:12 > 0:51:15I had spent more time indoors, watching the telly or something.
0:51:15 > 0:51:17Whereas I might look back and think,
0:51:17 > 0:51:20actually I've had some pretty good times in Britain
0:51:20 > 0:51:25in unusual months of the year, and in unusual circumstances
0:51:25 > 0:51:29and in what, for Britain, is quite unusual weather too.
0:51:39 > 0:51:41The whole of Britain is under snow.
0:51:41 > 0:51:46Who would have believed it? And here we are, halfway up a Welsh mountain.
0:51:46 > 0:51:50I guess most people would just think we are absolutely mad.
0:51:50 > 0:51:56They probably don't know where we are or what we are doing because we've got no signal on the phone.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59But it's great. You wouldn't get a view like that in London.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12Wild camping may not be to everyone's taste.
0:52:12 > 0:52:19But after many years in the doldrums, camping, in all its forms, has enjoyed a surge in popularity,
0:52:19 > 0:52:26with membership of the Camping and Caravan Club soaring to nearly half a million people.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31If you go to a campsite today,
0:52:31 > 0:52:36you'll find all kinds of people there, like literally...
0:52:36 > 0:52:39Teenagers, groups of 20 to thirtysomething friends,
0:52:39 > 0:52:45families, retired people, all classes, all demographics.
0:52:45 > 0:52:49There really is no set type of person that goes camping these days.
0:52:49 > 0:52:55And I think that is due to the fact that it has become so mainstream.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02One key factor in camping's renaissance in Britain,
0:53:02 > 0:53:09particularly among the young, has been the growing popularity of outdoor music festivals.
0:53:16 > 0:53:20My generation went away to Glastonbury,
0:53:20 > 0:53:24which had a great resurgence in the nineties, and had an amazing time there.
0:53:24 > 0:53:27But came away thinking that maybe the best bit
0:53:27 > 0:53:31was where they were sitting around with all their friends around the tents.
0:53:33 > 0:53:39Music festivals played a big part in introducing camping to a whole new audience.
0:53:39 > 0:53:44People go to these festivals and they buy a tent specifically for that event.
0:53:44 > 0:53:46And they go with their mates and they have a great time.
0:53:46 > 0:53:50And they are like, well, we have got a tent now, so let's go camping.
0:53:57 > 0:54:02But while camping has become cool for a new generation of young people,
0:54:02 > 0:54:08it is the emphasis on comfort that has led to the recent phenomenon of "glamping",
0:54:08 > 0:54:11as so-called glamorous camping has become known.
0:54:15 > 0:54:17At sites such as this one in Lincolnshire,
0:54:17 > 0:54:23families can indulge in an eco-friendly holiday under canvas,
0:54:23 > 0:54:29and one that comes complete with double beds, wood-burning stoves and hot showers.
0:54:31 > 0:54:35They've got what called a cupboard bed over here, which the children love.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39It's a really cosy little den for them to sleep in.
0:54:39 > 0:54:44And then through there is a double bed and through there is a couple of bunk beds as well.
0:54:44 > 0:54:49They've all got mattresses, duvets, feather pillows and all that.
0:54:49 > 0:54:51And in the corner there, a flushing loo.
0:54:51 > 0:54:57I mean, it's luxurious camping and I think it's been coined glamping for that very reason.
0:54:57 > 0:55:04But it's actually quite a warm, dry and comfortable camping experience.
0:55:04 > 0:55:1095% of our guests are families, young families, with children at primary school.
0:55:10 > 0:55:14Everyone has children of a similar age, so they just all suddenly become a big gang.
0:55:14 > 0:55:17Everyone loves going to get fresh eggs from the hens
0:55:17 > 0:55:21and everyone is interested to learn about what is really going on on the yard.
0:55:21 > 0:55:23And what we're really growing in the fields.
0:55:23 > 0:55:28I think it appeals to quite a wide audience, actually.
0:55:30 > 0:55:35I think the great thing about glamping is that, for people that haven't been camping before,
0:55:35 > 0:55:40it's easing them into the idea of it quite gently.
0:55:40 > 0:55:42And I think what glamping has done is precisely that,
0:55:42 > 0:55:46it has introduced people to the idea of camping
0:55:46 > 0:55:52and they might spend a week in one of these fancy lodges or yurts or tipis.
0:55:52 > 0:55:56And from there, they might go on to try other kinds of camping.
0:56:05 > 0:56:09With its ability to cater to all tastes, at a time of recession
0:56:09 > 0:56:13and environmental concerns about air travel,
0:56:13 > 0:56:18camping in Britain has never been so popular as it is today.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21And while some of the ways in which we camp may have changed,
0:56:21 > 0:56:25the motivation for doing so has remained the same.
0:56:28 > 0:56:30I think the reasons that people go camping now
0:56:30 > 0:56:38aren't that dissimilar from the reasons why people used to go camping when the movement was in its infancy.
0:56:40 > 0:56:43I think this idea of escape
0:56:43 > 0:56:48and the opportunity to live an unfettered lifestyle almost,
0:56:48 > 0:56:53a chance to get away from all the demands on our attention
0:56:53 > 0:56:56that we have in our everyday lives.
0:56:56 > 0:57:02This need to escape, to feel at one with nature and to rediscover the British countryside,
0:57:02 > 0:57:05drives on the campers of today,
0:57:05 > 0:57:09just as it inspired the pioneers of a hundred years ago.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11And as long as that need is there,
0:57:11 > 0:57:15Britain's love affair with camping looks set to continue.
0:57:18 > 0:57:23I think that the British will always embrace camping.
0:57:24 > 0:57:32I think it is just our can-do spirit and determination to enjoy ourselves at all costs.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37And for those people who have yet to embrace camping,
0:57:37 > 0:57:43perhaps the time has come to pitch that tent and give it a go.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47If you've never been camping, you're missing something.
0:57:47 > 0:57:52Try it, you might just like it.
0:58:00 > 0:58:03Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
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