The credit crunch is biting hard. People all over the country are trying to work out how they’re going to afford to pay the bills over the next few months. The last thing on people’s minds is next year’s holidays. But it will soon be spring and people will be overcome by an overwhelming desire to get away, have fun and leave their money worries at home. Cash is tight, so a fortnight in Orlando or a villa holiday in sunny Spain is out of the question. More and more people will be looking for cheap ways to get away at home next season, which means there will be another surge in the popularity of camping holidays.

As well as families setting out on summer trips to all four corners of the UK, young couples and groups of friends will get together for camping holidays in Cornwall, Dorset, South Wales and other coastal hotspots. They all have something in common… they’re going to need a pretty large family camping tent to house them during their slimmed-down summer holiday.

Tent manufacturers are doing all they can to support the demand for large camping tents. Gelert has introduced a behemoth family camping tent big enough for eight people. The Gelert tent – known as the Horizon 8 – has a huge tent footprint. It is a whopping 7.4 metres long by 3.5 metres wide and 2.25 metres high. But this is not the tent manufacturer’s biggest tent. They also do the Meridian 10, which is a humungous 4 metres wide and spacious enough to sleep ten people. Packing ten people into one tent on a campsite close to home sounds like an ideal way to beat the credit crunch.

Is there no end to the different types of gear and gizmos you can take camping nowadays? Just a quick search for tent equipment on Google returns a list of thousand of websites full of different items designed to make camping more comfortable and enjoyable.

There are the standard and essential: sleeping bags, camping stoves, roll mats, lanterns, torches etc. Then there are the unimportant but useful: camping toilets, folding chairs, camping tables, cool boxes etc. Then there are the exotic and downright weird: fold-up wardrobes, dried meals, hammocks, wind-up radios and tent wall art!

There’s one thing for sure – there’s no shortage of things for us campers to spend our hard earned money on. The manufacturers have made sure of this. Camping used to be about getting back to nature. It’s not any more. It’s become as commercialised as just about everything else in the modern world. It’s a shame but at least we’ll never run out of ideas for Christmas presents for our camping friends.

One day I plan to go camping in the Scottish Highlands. It will be a dream come true to pitch a tent in the shadow of Britain’s highest mountains and wake up each morning surrounded by the spectacular splendour of the wild countryside. I can’t wait. In fact I’m so keen to go camping in the Scottish Highlands that I’ve already looked up some of the region’s best campsites.

The Lazy Duck Campsite in Nethy Bridge sounds awesome. Situated inside the Cairngorms National Park, the site is in the middle of a pine forest with views through the trees to some imposing peaks on the horizon. It only has a small number of pitches, keeping the mood laid-back and the facilities rustic. It sounds like a great place to go camping in the Scottish Highlands.

The Glen Nevis Caravan and Camping Park has an enviable position at the foot of Ben Nevis. It looks like a big site, so it won’t be as quiet and private as the Lazy Duck, but its position alone would make this an ideal place to go camping. Needless to say, it’s the breathtaking scenery and access to some of the best hiking and biking in the British Isles that attracts me to this campsite.

Although not strictly in the mountains, Clachtoll Beach Campsite looks like it could be one of the best campsites in Scotland. It is located in the north western Highlands, besides a beach that – on a calm day – wouldn’t look out of place in the Mediterranean. This remote corner of the Highlands has a pristine coastline, rugged scenery and abundant wildlife. I know I’ll be heading to Clachtoll when I journey north to Scotland!

I love camping shops or outdoor stores. They are ‘Aladdin’s Caves’ of treasures, packed full of everything you could possibly need for a camping adventure. Just walking into a camping shop evokes a sense of wonder and inspires the desire to take a camping trip. The sights, smells, sounds and textures make it a truly sensory experience; a shopping excursion to be relished and enjoyed. Of course, this might just be my own special fetish. But who could fail to be excited by all the goodies on display?

When you come through the door, you are usually greeted by a sales desk beyond which there is a row of waterproof jackets and trousers on one wall. In the centre there will be display stands of fleeces, thermal liners and travel clothing. On the other wall will be rows of neatly stacked waterproof hiking boots. These will include leather and man-made waterproof hiking boots, and styles for men, women and children.

Then you go through to the next section, which has all the camping hardware such as items for the camping kitchen. There’ll be a whole wall of stoves and fuels, pots and pans, cutlery and kit to equip a camping kitchen. In the same area you’ll find rudimentary camping food, like dried meals, energy bars and other packets of easy cook camping food.

One of my favourite areas of the camping shop is the section for sleeping bags. They look so soft, warm and comfortable hung up in a display that it’s a pleasure just to linger among the sleeping bags, reminiscing about camping trips of years gone by.

Then right at the back of the shop, most probably on a raised platform, will be the ‘Holy of Holies’ - a display of small and large tents. It’s always fun to peek inside at the latest designs; crawl into a bivvy bag or one man tent or walk into a large tent or family camping tent.

In the middle of winter, when we don’t get outdoors as often as we’d like to, a visit to the camping shop can temporarily relieve some of the withdrawal symptoms of months away from the real thing. I’d thoroughly recommend it.

If you’re lucky enough to go camping in the Peak District, you’ll be spoilt for choice for places to pitch a tent. As the country’s original national park and the most visited, the Peak District has some of the best facilities for people who want to go camping when they are walking, biking, climbing or just relaxing in the great outdoors. It is possible to go wilderness camping in the Peak District, but officially you are not supposed to camp wild unless you’re in a particularly remote location, such as at the top of a mountain. For those who need the comfort of toilets, hot showers and shops, restaurants and pubs nearby, it’s better to go camping off the hill at one of the park’s many fine campsites.

Knotlow Farm in Flagg near Buxton is a small, quiet family run site, set in over 100 acres of farmland. It is only a stone’s throw from the Limestone Way footpath so it is great for walkers. There are two pubs and a tearoom in Flagg, so there are plenty of places for refreshment. Nearby Cold Springs Caravan & Camp Site in Buxton is a well-equipped, tiered site situated one mile out of town with panoramic views. Buxton is centrally located for visiting the Peak District and is perfect for accessing the Goyt Valley and surrounding countryside.

If you want a campsite near the Peak District’s highest mountain Kinder Scout, one of the best places to go camping is Fieldhead Campsite in Edale. This spot has stunning views of the surrounding peaks and is close to the start of the Pennine Way. Edale makes a great base – it’s a picturesque village with two pubs, two cafes and a shop.

I’ve recently moved house. I count myself as one of the lucky ones who managed to sell up before the whole mortgage market went nuts. In any case, I moved down the road from my last place. Our new place was a bit of a bargain as it was a run-down bungalow that needed a bit of work done on it and a large, overgrown garden. I call it a garden, when in fact the word jungle is probably more apt. The house and grounds have been uninhabited for four years prior to our purchase so the garden has gone slightly wild. When we first looked round, it needed a machete to get round the whole place. It turns out we have some wonderful trees and plants growing; elm, ash, yew, eucalyptus, firs, hazels…the list goes on. So where do we start in clearing it back?

The first step was to buy a pair of hunter wellingtons each. The wellies have been worth their weight in gold as my legs would have been scratched to ribbons from all the brambles if I hadn’t had them. I never knew how essential a pair of wellingtons would be as I’ve always been a bit of a welly snob and refused to buy them, preferring my waterproof hiking boots. But, with the sheer amount of mud, brambles and anything else my garden has to throw at me, waterproof hiking boots would not have been the best choice and the wellingtons have proved indispensable. The jungle is still out there, but in a couple of weeks it will look a whole lot better with the help of a landscaper and tree surgeon who will no doubt turn up in willies rather than waterproof hiking boots.

We have a few manmade lakes here in Cornwall and they tend to be owned by the South West Lakes Trust who run watersports activities from them as well as tending to the upkeep. One of the best things they offer is lakeside camping, which means you can get away from the noisy seaside in the Summer and pitch your one man tent or family camping tent next to the lake shore.

Stithians Lake is situated between Penryn and Redruth. It’s got a great pub right at the entrance selling top notch food, as well as camping in two areas. One of the camping spots is a bit pricier, with on site facilities and hook-ups if needed. The other campsite, right on the water’s edge is more basic, with a short walk to the Stithians reception and main building for a shower or toilet trip. For this type of camping, you’ll need your own power; camping lantern, camping kitchen. Basically anything powered by gas will do! During the day, you can hire or use your own kayak to go off and explore round the lake. Being one of the windiest inland waters in England, you are pretty much guaranteed conditions for windsurfing or sailing. If you want to stick to the shore, you’ll keep fit hiking the five and a half mile hike round the perimeter. And after all that exercise you’ll have earned a rest in your one man tent or family camping tent.

Siblyback Lake on Bodmin Moor is a great place to visit. I don’t know if it’s the onsite tea room that tempts me or the miles of moor hiking surrounding it, but you’ll never get bored here. There’s a whole range of aquatic sports you can do on the lake. And all this is a stone’s throw from your tent – whether you have a one man tent or family camping tent. Again, it’s worth taking your own camping lantern and camping kitchen. Siblyback, for me, has the edge on Stithians purely because it is a more beautiful setting. On some parts of the lake, the woods come down to meet the water, and the hike round the lake will take you about an hour. There is everything for a family here too. You can learn to sail, windsurf or kayak. Or you can pay a launch fee and do it yourself. Sounds like the ideal camping adventure.

I remember years ago when I was a long-haired student being far too tight to ever pay to go camping. So I slept wherever I could without getting moved on by the police in the middle of the night. One of my favourite spots was a secret location I called The Ledge in Newquay where I used to sleep after a long day of surfing and hiking. It was precipitous and pretty dangerous as we usually negotiated my way down to The Ledge after several pints, carrying our sleeping bags and survival bags. The path to The Ledge had a 20-foot drop onto rocks and the sea from the path, so one false step and I would have been fish food.

Another favourite was a certain car park in the Lake District that has a football pitch right behind it. Again, quite a bit of alcohol would be needed to go camping here as it was usually Winter and it required a bit of inner fire before crashing out for the night in my four-season down sleeping bag with the drawstring pulled so tight only my nose would stick out. I would wake up on a crisp clear morning, looking like a white crispy slug as I cracked the frost and ice off my bag and wriggled out to brave the freezing air and get myself to a cheap café for a fry-up.

And my last reminiscence brings me to the Llanberis Pass up to Snowdonia. I had actually forgotten to pack my tent this time (doh!). I was with my girlfriend and she wasn’t too pleased that we had no shelter. However, we were blessed with a clear night and we drove along the Pass to find a suitable place to park up and go camping. Neither of us had particularly good sleeping bags at that point as I had been burgled recently so had lost my trusty four-season sleeping bag. So we decided to zip both sleeping bags together and keep warm that way. The only downside was the smell of sheep poo and the bleating as sheep stumbled over us in the dark!

I find it very sad that there are only a handful of wild, non-campsite, places that you can go camping without fear of being called a trespasser or being removed by the police. But it is something everyone should experience, at least once in your life.

Continuing my look into campsites to rest after a hard day of sightseeing or shopping in the city centres, I head further north to Edinburgh, Newcastle and Liverpool.

Gilsland Caravan and Camping Park in North Berwick is just a short train ride to Edinburgh city centre, with its amazing attractions including Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Mile and Princes Street shopping. It has a great coastal location, so visitor should also pack their camping boots for a spot of hiking or wildlife watching.

As the City of Culture 2008, Liverpool has had an influx of visitors this year. Those in the know would have headed to Hollybank Caravan Park. Although a fair way out of the city it has a great rural setting close to the idyllic Historic Village of Lymm. A quick car journey will take you to the heart of Liverpool with its thriving music and arts scene. It’s also close to Manchester and the Trafford Shopping Centre.

Derwent Park Caravan and Camping Site is situated just outside Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. It’s a small site but convenient for exploring the city’s attractions, such as the Quayside and Gateshead Millennium Bridge, or enjoying the buzzing nightlife. It’s also close to the Metro Centre for shopping.

It seems a strange concept to camp in the city. Surely camping is all about getting away into the middle of nowhere and enjoying the countryside? Well, not always. There are times when you visit a city to visit friends, go shopping, attend a business meeting, see a show… whatever the reason, the benefits of camping in the city far outweigh any downsides created by noise and potential crime. It’s obviously cheaper and more flexible than staying in a hotel. Plus you get to see a greener side of the city that other people rarely see.

Having said that, city campsites are a bit thin on the ground. But if you know where to look you can find some real gems at which to base yourself during your time in the city, whether you have a one man tent or a large family camping tent. Here’s part one of our pick of the best city campsites:

London has some good camping options, including the Lee Valley Camping and Caravan Park. Located in Edmonton, in the north of the city, Lee Valley is a quiet, lakeside venue just 40 minutes from Central London by tube. Epping Forest, the 1,000-acre River Lee Country Park and historic Waltham Abbey are also nearby.

In the heart of the West Midlands countryside, yet only 15 miles from Birmingham, the Clent Hills Caravan and Camping Club Site is a tranquil place to stay on the outskirts of the city. The Bullring Shopping Centre and National Indoor Arena are easily reached, and the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley and Cadbury World in Bourneville are great local attractions.

The SS Great Britain, Clifton Suspension Bridge and arts scene of Bristol are just a short hop from Brook Lodge Farm Touring Caravan and Tent Park in Redhill, south of the city. This rural camping park nestled in the Mendip Hills, also makes a great base for visits to Cheddar Gorge, Wells Cathedral and Weston-super-Mare.