How this all Started….
I’m Jamie. Dad of two young boys, husband, dog owner, and, as it turns out, someone who can lose three months of his life researching family tents without reaching a single confident decision.
Last year I set out to buy a new family camping setup. What followed was weeks of decision paralysis: trawling “review” sites that read like rewritten spec sheets, watching YouTube videos sponsored by the brands they were reviewing, falling down Reddit and Mumsnet rabbit holes, and even dragging the family to the Camping and Motorhome Show at the NEC.
I wasn’t alone. Two close friends were going through exactly the same thing; young families completely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of confusing, contradictory, and frankly unhelpful information out there.
The same questions kept coming up, and nobody seemed to be answering them properly: What do all these specs actually mean in practice? Will this tent genuinely fit in my car with everything else? What’s the right setup for a family of four and a dog? Not just which stove to buy, but how to actually plan a cooking setup that works?
Why camping matters to us
I didn’t go abroad until I was eleven. My childhood holidays were UK camping trips; Wales, Cornwall, the Lake District… Some of my strongest memories are from those trips: the sound of rain on canvas, being zipped into a sleeping bag while my parents sorted dinner outside. I want my kids to have that.
There’s a practical side too, and I think it’s worth being honest about it. Like a lot of young families right now, we’re navigating a big mortgage, two kids in nursery, cars, and the general reality that a week’s holiday abroad now costs roughly the same as a small car. Post-Covid, holiday prices have increased significantly…. and that’s not changing anytime soon. Camping isn’t just nostalgia for us. It’s how we give our kids brilliant adventures without financial anxiety.
I suspect that’s true for quite a few families reading this.
What we’re building
So here it is. The Camping Shed exists because someone had to do it: to save people the months of pain that me and my friends went through trying to make sense of the UK camping market.
Our goal is ambitious, and we’re not going to pretend otherwise: we want to become the definitive independent voice for camping in the UK. The site you trust before you spend your money. The place that answers the questions you actually have, tested in the conditions you’ll actually face.
We’re not there yet, we’re just getting started. But everything we publish is built on three commitments that won’t change:
Always independent. No sponsored content, no manufacturer influence over what we write. If we recommend something, it’s because we genuinely rate it.
Always verified. Every review is based on real-world testing in actual UK conditions. We don’t rewrite spec sheets. We pitch tents in the rain, cook meals in the wind, and sleep in bags when it’s 4°C in the Brecon Beacons. If we haven’t used it properly, we don’t review it.
Always for UK campers. Every recommendation considers British weather, British retailers, British pricing, and British campsite realities. No more finding the perfect product only to discover it ships from Oregon with £300 shipping.
A note on how we fund this
Running an independent review site costs money; hosting, gear purchases, campsite fees, travel, and our time. We fund The Camping Shed through affiliate links and advertising. When you buy a product through one of our links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This is clearly disclosed on every page where affiliate links appear.
What it never does is influence our reviews. We recommend what we’d pack for our own family. Products that don’t perform well get honest assessments regardless of whether they have affiliate programmes. Our editorial independence is the whole point…. without it, we’re just another noise in the crowd.
Get in touch
Whether you’ve got a question about a specific product, a campsite recommendation, or just want to say hello; we’d love to hear from you.
Email: hello@thecampingshed.co.uk
Happy camping.
The Camping Shed