Category Archives: Inspiration

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Children of the Tribe’s stunning camping-inspired fashion shoot

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I’m in love with the campaign shoot Byron Bay-based children’s fashion and lifestyle brand Children of the Tribe have done for their AW2014 collection. It’s called When Stranded and there’s some great little pieces I know my boys would love and surely there’s something there for your kiddies too, no?!

Children of the Tribe design seriously well priced clothing that captures the “innocence and wonder of childhood in its natural state, inspired by the harmonious connection of tribal children with the outdoor world around them. We create quality, timeless, stylish clothing for free-spirited little people who love to roam in the sand dunes, daydream in treetops, and run barefoot through long grass.” Love it.

I’m also kind of thinking that if these kids can camp and look fabulous, then my kids need to seriously up their game …

Enjoy the shoot, and shop the collection here.

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Photography by David Hauserman for Children of the Tribe.

 

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Great camping finds on Kickstarter

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Have you ever spent any time checking out Kickstarter? I like to for a bit of inspiration and to help get my creative juices flowing. It’s incredible to see the things people are coming up with and some of the things you can find and fund are seriously brilliant. This morning I found some great stuff for campers on there too. Some of you might even like to fund something yourself!

Here are my favourites:

KANGAROO LIGHT

712 backers so far. £39,911 raised. 4 days to go.

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The funky creatives behind Studio Banana have come up with this brilliant flexible light that you can take anywhere. It’s made with a white, high-quality silicone exterior, meaning it’s splash proof and is simple to keep clean. You can fold it, bend it and roll it and think how brilliant it would be to light up your tent at night. It has 24 built-in LED lights that emit a soft glow on one side. It’s outfitted with a lithium-ion battery that gives you 2.5 hours of non-stop light and then it easily recharges via a USB port. Fund it here.

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CAMPFIRE IN A CAN

231 backers. $US29,751 raised. 37 days to go.

Campfire In A Can is a great little portable campfire and stove. It burns wood, charcoal  and fire logs in a vertical burn chamber. It’s designed to house all the parts inside the canister which also makes storage easy. The fire is simply extinguished by putting the canister over the base. And you can cook on it too and they’ve  included the tools you need to make it easy whether you’re cooking over charcoal or wood coals. Fund it here.

TYNY TOOLS

830 backers. $US25,719 raised. 8 days to go.

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Key clips, swivel clips and lock bands make up the first TYNY Tools Collection. Created by a Californian-based cyclist to enable him to carry stuff while cycling but these little goodies would be hugely helpful on a camping trip. Fund it here.

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SPICEOLOGIST

325 backers. $US21,637 raised. $1,637 over their goal.

This is what happens when a chef and a food blogger at Farmgirl Gourmet, put their heads together. This collection of spice blends just sounds magic, and I’m seriously hoping it won’t be too long before I can get my hands on some. All their spice blends are 100% natural (no msg, no artificial ingredients, no preservatives, no funky stuff).  They’re also gluten free, dairy free, soy free and blended with the freshest spices known to man and there are 10 super delicious flavours to choose from like smokey honey habanero, purple haze and cowboy crust. Yummo. Keep up with Spiceologist here.

 

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A little inspiration: A refurbished school bus gets a new leash on life as a travelling cabin!

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I was in need of a bit of inspiration this morning and this refurbished Canadian school bus had me at hello.

In ten days this trusty 1979 GMC / Bluebird 36-seater school bus was transformed by Marco Khalil and Caroline West, owners of pop-up vintage shop Eight Inch Rule. Impressive. First everything in the bus was stripped out: the seats, stanchions, heaters. The floor was covered in vinyl, a timber day bed was fitted as well as out cute pieces of furniture sourced from many flea market visits. When not serving as a mobile store of travelling wares, the bus doubles as a camper for the two when they hit the road each Summer.

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Images by Caroline West, with thanks.

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How to create that campfire magic with Campfire Cologne

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Beards are pretty big in East London. But not as big as they are in America. Hell, is anything?! And while the shorter, more manicured man-lawn seen around these parts may not be enough to qualify as a beard by American standards, this may just be the product that kicks people into hirsute-ville. Ditch the beard trimmers men, and get onboard! Respect. The. Beard.

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These hilarious scents are created by American brand Campfire Cologne. Order some here. Buy it for yourself or convince your man to turn that stubble into more of a growing concern.campfirecologne-1campfirecologne-3

 

 

Images via Campfire Cologne with thanks.

 

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Kids Tent, Caravan & Treehouse Beds

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Now I don’t know about yours, but if my three little men could be anywhere, they’d be camping. They love it. They love sleeping in sleeping bags on their sheepskin-coated camp beds and they love inhabiting a tent. It’s their inner caveman I think. Obviously this isn’t going to happen all that often in the space of a whole (chilly, wet, English) year, so I figure these Belgian-made-to-order tent, caravan and treehouse beds by Mathy by Bols have to take top billing as The Next Best Thing, no?!!

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And do check out that crazy tree book shelf! I mean seriously, the great outdoors is going to have a lot of catching up to do…mathy1mathy3mathy7You can order them from Cuckooland. Which one would you choose?

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Spottly – A New Travel App

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Spottly is a great new app which allows you to create an instagram-like travel magazine on your phone. Snap pictures and add notes to create your own up-to-the-minute guidebook. Share yours and follow others to see where they’re been, where they are and where they want to go. The best bit? Use Spottly when you’re off somewhere, (anywhere!) to find other people’s top places to eat, sleep, drink and camp! The bad bit? You can only log in using Facebook and Weibo (a kind of Chinese Facebook). Let’s hope they change that soon.

 

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Friday Foodie: Dirty Kitchen Secrets

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If I ever find myself on death row (you never know, it could happen), and I made it all the way through to the last meal deal, I would choose Lebanese food. It is my end-of-the-universe, last-taste-ever favourite food. The care, attention and endless, yet impressively sociable hours people from this region are prepared to put into lunch is truly awe-inspiring. And the results? Indulgent in the best possible way, super healthy and criminally delicious. I just might kill for Lebanese food I love it so. (And that’ll be me on death row right there…)

It was with a squeal of greedy, great big joy that I  discovered Bethany Kehdy. A gorgeous, zesty Lebanese-American who now lives in the West Country of England. Yeah, well, strange things can happen to you too, you know.

Anyway, whisked away from the southern states of American to Lebanon, her and her father’s family distanced themselves from the Lebanese civil war in the mountains where her father established a farm. It was here Kehdy learned about Lebanese food right from watering orchards, harvesting fruits and chasing after chickens. She made cheese and milked cows. She really knows her stuff and she cooks with absolute delight.

There are hundreds of things I would make from this site, and plenty of recipes that will delight any fellow campers lucky enough to find themselves around your campfire when you serve up one of Kehdy’s dishes. Go Lebanese my friends. You will not regret it. Here are my camping-friendly faves:

Pomegranate & za-atar lamb riblets (pic above). Find the recipe here. 

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The recipe for rosemary & chilli ketchup is here.

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Lamburghinis with barberry and pistachio relish, recipe here

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Lebanese butterflied chicken, recipe here

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Make them all.

Dirty Kitchen Secrets was launched in 2008 after Kehdy moved here from Hawaii and she has since spun her lovely blog into her first published cookbook: The Jewelled Kitchen. You can buy it here.

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Photographs via Dirty Kitchen Secrets.

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Cool Campsites: Winter Camping in the Swiss Alps

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I always find that Friday mornings are great ones for a spot of daydreaming. It’s that nearness to the liberation that comes with a weekend I guess. Today mine comes in the form of the ultra-slick Whitepods in Switzerland. Originally launched as an eco-camp that could be entirely dismantled come spring and only open during the winter months. Now there are 15 pods and they’re kept up all year round. It’s easy to see why. Enjoy people …. and book here if daydreaming doesn’t cut it.

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Inspiration: Home Camping by Paula Sevilla

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The deeper I delve into the world of camping, the more I discover it’s far-reaching influence. Which is especially exciting when it’s in unexpected places! Take this flashlight/lamp by Spanish product designer Paula Sevilla. Her planned collection is inspired by all the bits and pieces campers take with them on their trips. Under her gaze, Sevilla noticed how they have changed over the years to adapt to the environment: lighter, foldable, portable, weather resistant …. creating a whole new family of objects. Her series of pieces under the title Home Camping, seeks to domesticate those objects. It’s like she thinks they’ve been left out in the wild for too long! And looking at this gorgeous pendant lamp, I’d have to agree.

As Sevilla says, “By domesticating an object that was created for outdoor life, its values, materials and even its meaning have changed in order for it to fit in to its new location”.

Camping just gets cooler and cooler.

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