Glamping for all seasons (From York Press)

Glamping with Jollydays near Buttercrambe

12:45pm Saturday 3rd December 2011 in Holiday reviews

Dave Stanford and family brave the elements for a spot of out-of-season camping at a luxury site outside York

“WILL Yogi Bear be there, Daddy?” asked Joe, all wide-eyed and innocent.

“Where?” I queried, as I packed the car in preparation for our family break.

“At Jellystone?”

“But we’re not going to Jellystone, Joe. We’re going to Jollydays.”

My three year old looked crestfallen. His confused expression was something I’d seen countless times before, every time I told friends and family we were going away for a few days. Camping. At the end of October.

Fast forward 18 hours and we’ve just spent our first night under canvas at Jollydays, nestled in an isolated wood near Buttercrambe, somewhere between Gate Helmsley and Stamford Bridge.

Karen, my wife, is struggling to force a smile as dawn breaks and we anxiously wait for the stove to heat up. “Camping is a bit like jogging,” she reasons. “It’s not very enjoyable when you’re doing it, but you know you’ll feel the benefits in the long run.” Seasoned campers and glampers we might be, but I was finding it hard to disagree with that sentiment. Oh dear. I now knew why everyone else packs their tents away at the end of September.

Fast forward another 12 hours and it’s Saturday night. The tent is silent but for the crackling of burning wood in the stove and an owl hooting outside in the still night air. I turn to Joe to give him a marshmallow I’ve just toasted over the roaring fire. His excited smile lights up the darkness, his rosy cheeks positively glowing from a day spent in the fresh air and I couldn’t be happier. Suddenly, sleeping out under canvas as October draws to a close doesn’t seem such a daft idea after all.

It had taken a few hours, but we’d finally found our camping feet again. You see, it wasn’t the cold outside that had left us initially ruing our decision to try a spot of autumn/winter camping.

No, what had really thrown us, what we really needed time to adjust to, was “nothing”.

And by “nothing” I mean having nothing to do except breathe in the pure, sweet air, take in the view and soak up the magical atmosphere of camping in a beautiful wood.

Amid the sometimes chaotic and frenetic pace of the 21st century, most of us have somehow lost the ability to sit still and enjoy the moment.

So when we woke up on that Saturday morning with a full day ahead of us and two kids desperate to be entertained but without the safety net of toys, electronic games, and a television, it suddenly felt very daunting.

We need not have worried. Jollydays provides the perfect opportunity to do those simple things we never seem to have time to enjoy any more, such as watching a flickering fire, going for a family walk, building a den, sparking up good conversations and, of course, toasting marshmallows.

Of course, some will argue it’s possible to enjoy the pleasure of doing nothing on a beach in the Canaries, with the added bonus of guaranteed sunshine thrown in for good measure.

That’s true, but then you have to factor in the considerable extra costs, travelling time and general hassle of hanging around at airports with bored kids in tow.

It took us about 20 minutes to get to Jollydays, and while we may have only been a few miles from our home in York, we felt so remote, we may as well have been camping in Jellystone.

Of course, unlike the Canaries, camping in England, whatever the time of year, can be cursed by the weather. But the tents at Jollydays, up and ready when you arrive, are so comfortable and large that even constant rain would struggle to put a dampener on proceedings.

Tents is actually something of a misnomer, for we were staying in a deluxe tent, a massive canvas structure, more like a hunting lodge used by Victorian explorers on the African savannah.

There’s no electricity – lighting is provided by oil lamps and candles. But our tent came with a front door, wooden floors, rugs, a huge wood-burning heater that was the focal point of the tent, a large sofa, dining table and chairs, a four-poster bed and two separate single beds for the kids and all furnished with shabby-chic, Cath Kidston-inspired décor.

More importantly, and what sets Jollydays apart from other glamping sites we have been to, is the private bath and shower room with hot running water and flushing toilet in your tent. Our kitchen also came with a two-ringed gas heater.

Outside our tent was a huge covered veranda that proved a great play space for Millie and Joe.

The site, home to some 22 tents dotted around 15 acres of a 200-acre wood, also has a tea tent where you can mix and socialize with fellow campers over a hot brew, and there is a covered firepit that offers a chance for a communal singalong if you were that way inclined.

But of course, for all the facilities, for all the natural beauty surrounding us and for all the wallowing in nothingness, the $64 million dollar question remains when it comes to winter camping: “Were we cold?”

Well, you might want to pack some thick socks, but once we got the hang of the wood-burning heater in our tent and had the flames roaring, we were toasty. Also, Jollydays provides a supply of free wood and lighters so you can keep the “home fires burning”.

Fast forward another 18 hours, it’s Sunday tea-time and the marshmallows have long gone. Joe is crestfallen again, but this time it’s nothing to do with Yogi’s no-show. This time he’s upset because we’re packing up and heading home. “Can’t we stay another night daddy? Pleeeeease!” His sister, Millie, pipes up too. “We don’t want to go home!”

I try to avert a mutiny by cutting a deal. “If you get in the car without any tears, kids, I promise we’ll come again.”

It’s a lie, of course - whether they cry or not, we’ll definitely be returning to Jollydays. They climb into the car without as much as a whimper. You see – “smarter than the average bear, Boo-Boo!”

fact file

A two-night weekend break in a deluxe tent in June would cost £575 and in November would cost £460, sleeping up to six people.

To book or check availability log on to jollydaysluxurycamping.co.uk/booking/step1