FORMER teacher Sue Girard will spend Christmas Day camping with her friend in Herefordshire – and it’ll be cheaper than being at home.
Nicknamed MadGrani by her four grandchildren, Sue, 69, will be spending Christmas Day camping in her renovated van, Mogwai, with her three rescue dogs Elsie, Gwladys and Teddy.
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After a family holiday to Turkey earlier this year, Sue opted to ditch a traditional Christmas at home with her children and grandchildren for a brand-new experience, camping on Christmas Day.
She told Sun Online Travel: “It was amazing, but I think that week, I thought, right, this year I want to have my Christmas on my own”.
Sue and her friend will be staying at a rural campsite on the edge of the Breacon Beacons National Park, which she booked through the camping website Pitch Up.
She added: “Usually, I don’t camp on Christmas Day but I’m always a year-round camper, irrespective of the weather.
“I usually camp in a field with minimal facilities with a tap and a chemical disposal unit – that’s my favorite type of camping.
“But when I planned this camping break in the middle of the night, I thought, right, if it’s rainy, we need somewhere where we can have a pleasant time indoors, so I had a look for a campsite with a pub”.
Needless to say, the campsite she’s picked ticked all of Sue’s boxes, with a riverside inn next door and the famous literary town of Hay-On-Wye a short drive away.
She added: “When I got in contact with them [the owners] after I booked the site on Pitch Up, they [the owners] were so lovely.
“The couple who run it were so delightful. They said, well, there might not be many people, but we’ll still make a good day of it.
“And I thought, well, I’ve got board games and the rest of it, so we can sit and play Monopoly, and it would be just a love thing to be in a totally different atmosphere at Christmas”.
Celebrating both Christmas and Hanukkah, Sue explained exactly how she plans to spend December 25.
She said: “The first thing I’ll do is just get up with the dogs and go for a long walk.
“Then I’ll probably have Buck’s Fizz and smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels for Hanukkah.
“After that, we’ll do presents and have a large mug of coffee before Christmas dinner in the pub.
“And then we’ll have a few beers, so the afternoon might be a blur”.
Apart from a few video calls with her five children, including one son who lives in Melbourne, Sue plans to have a media-free Christmas away from the telly.
Sue’s Christmas camping will also be cheaper than spending it at home, she revealed.
She added: “You know, I think at my age, I want new experiences. I don’t want to do the same thing I’ve always done”.
Three camping tips from an expert
David Scotland owns camping equipment retailer Outdoor World Direct and knows all about how to make a camping trip run smoothly.
When visiting any campsite this summer it’s important to make sure you’re not making simple mistakes that could ruin your holiday.
Check your tent
David recommends putting your tent up a couple of weeks before you’re due to travel to give you enough time to repair or replace any damaged parts.
He told Sun Online Travel: “You’d be surprised how many people turn up with broken tents.”
Test the ground
Picking a good spot to pitch your tent is difficult, with lots of things to consider.
One of those should be the condition of the ground you’re putting your tent on top of, according to David.
He said: “Once you’ve found the perfect spot, test the ground with your pegs before you commit to camping there to make sure the ground is soft enough.”
Don’t nap in your tent
It may seem the perfect place for it, but a nap in a tent could end badly, if it’s done at the wrong time of the day.
David explained: “If the sun’s shining and it’s hot inside your tent – don’t do it!
“One of our friends nodded off in his tent during a heatwave at Glastonbury and ended up at the medical tent with heatstroke.”
Instead, he recommends finding some shade outside or somewhere well ventilated.
Meanwhile, this is how you can avoid making everyone hate you while camping.
And these campsite etiquette mistakes are some of the worst you can make.
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