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Bellagio | Growing Spaces

View from the private beach at Camping Europa A typical pitch at Camping Europa Exploring the promenade in Bellagio Picture-perfect Bellagio Public beach at Acquaseria LOCARNO, SWITZERLAND – MENAGGIO, LAKE COMO, ITALY 65.8km We stayed: At Camping Europa right in the centre of Menaggio on the waterfront of Lake Como. We stayed at this site for it’s location, which was easy walking distance into the centre of Menaggio with its shops, cafes and restaurants. The site also has its own private beach (a rarity in the area), although it was pretty dirty. Apart from that, the site doesn’t have a… View Post

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My aim to blog about in ‘real time’ about our road trip as it unfolded last year has well and truly fallen by the wayside, but I’m going to keep coming with the posts. The next stage of our trip was spent in Ticino, the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland (close to the border with Italy). We had an amazing drive over the Gotthard Pass through the mountains  and were really struck by how the scenery and general vibe changed so quickly from quintessentially Swiss to much more Italian. FRUTIGEN, SWITZERLAND – LOCARNO, SWITZERLAND: 132 miles by road and motorway –… View Post

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Engstligenalp in summer | Growing Spaces

Engstligenalp in summer Camping Grassi Views from the open-air swimming pool at Adelboden Pink buildings at the open-air pool at Adelboden Picnicking at Engstlipenalp From our overnight stop in Arrigny, we had a full day’s driving to the Swiss alps, heading through Basel and down to Frutigen, about 30km from Interlaken. FRANCE – SWITZERLAND: Arrigny – Frutigen, 295 miles by motorway We stayed: At Camping Grassi, Frutigen, Switzerland. A gorgeously green campsite with incredible mountain views. The pitches weren’t the most spacious we encountered (we were there on a Swiss bank holiday weekend so it was busy), but there was… View Post

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I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the fact that this time last year we were just setting off on our month’s adventure around Europe (#30daysofcamping on Instagram) than with a weekend back under canvas. Keen to keep riding the Sisterhood high, I booked us a campsite for this weekend the day after I got home from Devon. The site is only just over half an hour away so we’ll head down to set up camp today before picking the kids up from school and taking them to our weekend home-from-home. They know nothing about it as we… View Post

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Pack kids’ clothes (and your own) into clear plastic zip-up storage bags – this makes it super-easy to see the clothes so you can grab them without having to scrabble around the bottom of a bag. Pack nice underwear. You’re going to have to hang it out to dry in full view of all your camping neighbours. Patterned clothes show up less dirt. And opt for darker colours too. Invest in decent sleeping mats. Go and try them out in a camping shop to make sure you get one that you find comfortable. You can’t have too many pegs. Ditto those… View Post