Building that perfect campfire… and a camping weekend

From cooking to storytelling, campfires are a key part of a magical camping experience, providing a comforting glow right up until the last flames are extinguished.

However, for a campfire to bring such lasting joy to a group of campers, it has to be properly constructed to ensure that it serves its purpose and not cause endless frustration.

There are a number of different types of fire that you can build depending on the size of the group it is serving. In terms of conventional campfires, the most trusted and dependable is the Teepee. This is a favourite among many campers and is arguably the most useful and straightforward to light.

Below are a few tips on how to create that magical campfire which will have you roasting marshmallows in no time.  All you need is some paper, dry wood of different sizes and something to light it with.

1. Firstly, place your paper bundle in the middle of your campfire site – the key is to wedge a few sticks into the ground to supply support for the kindling.
2. Above the paper bundle, form a tepee with some kindling, leaving an opening on the upwind side all the way to the middle where you can light the fire and where the wind can blow the flames onto the kindling.
3. Continue to add kindling to the teepee, working your way up to pencil-sized sticks, leaving plenty of air space between them.
4. Then place three or four pencil-sized sticks into the ground forming a larger teepee structure and lean some smaller fuel logs against it, using it as a support structure.
5. This should be easy to light and the heat will be directed upwards to a single point making it useful for boiling water above the teepee.
6. The structure will eventually cave in, producing a pile of coals. Once the teepee collapses, you can add more logs in either a criss-cross fashion on top of the flames or lay it around the outside like a log cabin to keep the fire and festivities going.

Good luck!

Do you love campfires?  

Well, I do and one of the reasons I have shared this much loved technique of campfire building is because I have a little surprise:

A little while ago Embers Camping, slowly becoming famous for their pitches with firepits for the perfect campfires,  approached me.

They ask if I’d be interested in visiting one of their sites to write a review. I browsed their website, read the reviews and loved what I saw. These two sites seem to have really captured the essence of camping.

However, as I was running through our schedule, I just couldn’t find the time in our busy pre-holiday and holiday calendar.  Also Embers is a tent only site and I’m keen to go camping in Campy if I go with the kids on my own. (Dadonthebrink is low on holiday quota, so there will be lots of solo parenting over the summer.)

So I asked if I can pass the opportunity to experience camping at Embers to one of my readers to visit.  Embers’ folk, being such a lovely bunch, said yes. So here we go: Up for grabs is a 2 night stay at one of the two Embers Camping sites for family upto the value of £200. You can bring your own tent or request a pre-pitced tent, where you just turn up and move your gear in.

Who wants to go?  

a Rafflecopter giveaway