What is 'Glamping'..??

[Tengu]

We have a pub and a swimming pool on my camp. And a cafe and launderete...Next year the owners going to put in a real bath for those that dont like showers...

But theres plenty of room for tents too, and the birds wake me up every morning. (Aside from the owls who keep me awake in the night.)

Anyone want to join me?

 

[dewi]

Anyone want to join me?

If I don't have to drive through rush hour in Bristol to get to you, I may well take you up on that one day

 

[Laurentius]

I used to be a caravanner for my sins, electrical hookups and all that, though I have to say that caravans have got way beyond what I had in terms of mod cons. These latter days although I arrive by car, I use a basic backpacking tent. I do take a chair though, perhaps that is glamping still.

 

[Lizz]

I've lived in a ger for six months, on two different canal boats for seven years, and from September I will spend half the week in a caravan and half in a small apartment for a couple of years whilst I go to college (again). I have camped since I was little with brownies and guides and all my adult life - at present I have a tarp tent, a loue, a lavuu, two pop ups, and a laser. I try and use whichever one is best suited for the event or activity I'm engaged in. When shelters or tents come into our house they are either used until fit only to be recycled or swapped or donated to friends who need something of the sort - at this point in my life I have known and said farwell to two pup tents, a dome, two pop ups, a tiny easy hike one person thing and a gatewood Cape! Oh and a tipi. My husband didn't have the same kind of upbringing and recently came camping for only the second time in his life. At present I'm encouraging him to come again - if it's glamping that eases him in to it I'll take it!

 

[woodsorrel]

We need to make sure we don't take our discussion of "glamping" too seriously.

Of course it's camping... for goodness sake, just because its a different type of camping, it is still a night away from home in a tent...

For the sake of a lively discussion, I'm going to challenge this idea. There is a magical line that once you cross it you are not camping. You are staying at a hotel.

For some people, this line is when the walls are made of a hard surface instead of one that yields to your hand. But for me the line comes earlier. Camping immerses you in nature. When we isolate ourselves from nature we are not camping. We can still have a wonderful time in nature. But it's not camping.

We can joke about "glamping" without being judgmental. We can even poke fun at it. Because ancient man considered himself a part of nature, not apart from it. In our modern society we've become so insulated from the natural world that we cannot relate to it anymore. The entire concept of "outdoors" is actually symptomatic of this estrangement.

So I will always chuckle (tongue firmly in cheek) at "glamping" because it is marketing "camping" like staying at a hotel in a neighborhood with more trees.

... at least they're attempting to connect with outdoors!

I agree! Actually, that was the point I intended to make in my earlier post about my relatives. My source of mirth comes from marketing a "natural experience" in a way that insulates the participants from nature (worst cases only). Taken to absurdity, it's like calling my trip downriver on the Disneyland ride "Jungle Cruise" a "Glamfari."


This entire post was done in good spirit. I bear no ill will toward "glampers" and admire their desire to get closer to nature. But something about it amuses me all the same.

- Woodsorrel

 

[santaman2000]

Woods; do you realize that by your standards a mountain deer camp is glamping?

 

[woodsorrel]

Woods; do you realize that by your standards a mountain deer camp is glamping?

santaman2000, I don't know what a mountain deer camp is. Can you tell me more about it? Is it climate controlled with electricity, refrigeration, and indoor plumbing? Does it have programmed activities for the guests with a zipline and a swimming pool?

Your question makes me think of sleep-away camps for children in the US. They have some of the characteristics I mention above. But I would never call them glamping. So maybe my definition is inadequate and needs to be modified.

I am not really attempting to take a position on glamping. But it has provoked me to think about what "camping" really means. What do you think?

- Woodsorrel

 

[decorum]

Sadly that ferret is now dead. His name was beef.

Sorry to hear that, he looks a right character

From what I've seen of some of the members here, is they mostly 'glamp'?.

I've always walked to a camp site and have through necessity had to not carry anything too heavy, food and beer/water being heavy enough. Those who have designated stoves, pans, plethora of tools, fancy sleeping rigs, parachute tarp things and what not are all glamping right?

A preconception. I've known folk drive up to a site with far less kit than some who've walked in.

Parachutes tend to be used for communal areas. But it means that groups of people can congregate and/or cook when it might otherwise cause issues. And having a dedicated area for the group as a whole to centre upon means that you can retreat to the solitude of your own pitch for some peace and quiet (though you might still get visitors ).

I mean, if you drive there, surely it's a given you'll over-do you standard set up and go for more.. right? more = glamping.

Again a preconception. Just because you drive somewhere doesn't mean that you'll cart in a surplus. But it does mean that it's easier to bring along stuff to trade and/or sell or to bring craft projects to show folk who've expressed an interest, or to take part in a prearranged workshop (meaning that the bod doing the tutoring hasn't got to bring in all the required resources and/or tools .

Alot of people call it 'bushcraft' because they start a fire with a space age ferrocerium rod, carve stuff with a knife and wear green, but in most cases, they are kitted out and set up for a rather high tech and pleasant night out.

I tend to call it camping Sometimes I use 'bushcraft' skills Sometimes I don't even use a knife :yikes: (burn the heretic! )

Unlike nearly every night I've spent outside, in the cold, pretty uncomfortably and pest bothered nature lol.

Perhaps you need to question your own skill set rather than the kit and gear others choose to use?

I can make myself comfortable without a kip mat so why do I _choose_ to use a kip mat, tarp etc? Simple! Because it's quicker and simpler ~ and if we all did it for each trip then much of the countryside we're there see would be ravaged into beds, shelters and cooking fires

Just a thought, not a rant by all means.

It's good to think and question

 

[santaman2000]

santaman2000, I don't know what a mountain deer camp is. Can you tell me more about it? ......

A deer hunt in the mountains lasting a week or two. Two main types of camps:

1) A private camp set up and ran by the hunter or small group of hunters. Might involve tents brought in on packhorses or might be a small camper van away fro developed campsites.

2) A camp ran by professional hunting guides. Usually involves either day hunts from a central hard building or large wall tents brought in by packhorses (you've posted pix of helping set up such camps) with cooking and chores often being done by the guide's staff.

 

[santaman2000]

.......I am not really attempting to take a position on glamping. But it has provoked me to think about what "camping" really means. What do you think?

- Woodsorrel

It's really not easy to define is it? Kinda lie the discussion that comes up from time to time about "what is bushcraft?"

 

[woodsorrel]

It's really not easy to define is it? Kinda lie the discussion that comes up from time to time about "what is bushcraft?"

How true! I was thinking the same thing as I read the "Native skills v. bushcraft" thread...

- Woodsorrel

 

[lou1661]

What is glamping? A great idea by some marketing executive!

 

[Tengu]

I would define it as one of those camping holidays where you go to a place with a tent already erected for you.

Or pods.

 

[Dave]

A marketing term for a consumer based society

 

[backpacker]

Samon,

I do a lot of camping and wild camping, but my wife bought a book about 'Glamping' which to be honest I didn't think it was my scene 'Posh Camping', but as a surprise for our Anniversary my wife booked a Yurt in East Sussex about 50 miles away from where we live for a couple of nights, it had a double bed and a frontier stove to heat the place and candles to light up at night although it was different from camping it was still basic in the fact there were no electric's or running water inside the Yurt, but there was a shed not too far away which had hot running water and a shower other than that was pretty basic compared to some that I saw in the book but to be honest I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the experience especially in a Yurt!

Dave

 

[Angst]

hi....its all good....being outdoors....its all good, however you do it....but i'm with woodsorrel and his ''magical line''

to me camping is when you leave as much of modern life behind you as you can. even if it makes it hard in some way. i like to return feeling battered to some degree. i like to find it difficult to some degree. i like the problems and discomfort. granted this is probably more to do with me as a person and my wider views about the world rather than the actual definition of labels but by living a little bit 'animal' for a while it makes me feel more 'human'.

just got back from a week at the moot and trust me i enjoyed my first bath, television, the sofa, the dishwasher etc as much as anyone but the fact i've got cuts, sore feet, blisters, ingrained dirt, an aching back and so on leaves me feeling deeply satisfied. i had one shower in the week i was there and was barely dry for most of it, only had a couple of changes of clothes etc....and it was only as comfortable as it was because of marmite and his family going to great lengths to build a 'base camp' as such, which was great and appreciated, don't get me wrong...but i'd usually have done without most of the facilities including the tent that was only there because i have two infant sons. i feel i glamped despite the fact i still roughed it more than most....and glamping is always going to make more sense where families/children are involved...though usually i will still sleep outside under a tarp and shun the necessary tent and sit on the ground and shun a chair and so on...and if i was alone i would be taking nothing larger than a black brit army day bag containing everything i'd need.

and what i've seen of most glampers on the hundreds of campsites i've stayed at across the country they probably dont know what i'm talking about and for that reason i find them hard to relate to and of little interest....and as for the ones that blast music out, floodlight their area, hog the space, clang and bang, have their children and pets running riot i have nothing but contempt....its not arrogance or snobbery.....but i still wish theyd leave the campsites to campers and stay at home.

regards,

s

 

[rg598]

Well, to define glamping, you first have to define camping. I find that it's a bit like trying to define a "chair". It's not easy to come up with definitive constraints for it, but at some point you know that something is not a chair.

 

[unruly]

Glamping is not a chair. [/thread]

 

[dennydrewcook]

Glamping is not a chair. [/thread]

Glamping is a comfy chair 😉


denny 😊

 

[demographic]

I sometimes go camping with a tarp and sleeping bag, other times with a few mates and a massive tent (this weekend being one of those times) and loads of beers.
Other times I just clear all my tools out the back of my van and kip in the back of that.

It all depends on how much time, space I have or how far I have to carry gear in.