Want to upgrade your group camping trip to a luxurious DIY glamping holiday? Here’s how with a Canvas Awning.
- Bryony Villiers-Stuart
- Mar 25
- 4 min read
So, you’ve boed a group camping holiday and you’re wondering how to make the most of the experience?
We’ve learned that group camping can be a luxurious experience. DIY glamping if you will. All you need is some great outdoor kit. If you’re ready to upgrade your group camping holiday, here’s our tried and tested guide to using a Canvas Awning, the single best bit of DIY glamping equipment, to improve your outdoor adventure this year.
Our guide to creating a luxurious family camping holiday using a Canvas Awning.
Group camping with friends is our favourite kind of family holiday. Whether we’ve got a crew together to attend a festival or we’ve booked a camp site with a few good friends and their kids, group camps are our chance to spend quality time together.
What we want from these group camping trips is to slow down, cultivate a sense of connection and enjoy the simplicity of outdoor living - including cooking over a fire, long walks, hopefully a bit of wild swimming and definitely gathering around a campfire in the evenings.
Our kids love the adventure of sleeping in a tent and the freedom to roam and explore the countryside with their friends. And perhaps it’s a chance to have a break from screens for a few days as well…
So, if you’re planning your family group camping holiday or booking a festival group pitch this summer, we highly recommend investing in some good quality group camping essentials to help you and your friends get the most out of the experience. (Acquiring the best gear is part of the fun, non?) We’ve always found that it’s worth getting the good stuff so that your camping essentials are mission-ready year after year when you go to dig them out of the shed in Spring.
Start your camping gear investment portfolio with one of our freestanding Canvas Awnings & upgrade your group camping holiday this year.
This is a sturdy, stylish canopy shelter that we designed way back in 2011 exactly for the purpose of group camping missions. It's thoroughly tried and tested. Here's how we use ours...
Arrive at the campsite
When we arrive at a campsite, we always set-up our Canvas Awning first. Before we do anything else. We take the poles off the roof rack and lay out the canvas, drive in the ground stakes and push the awning up. It takes two of us about 30 minutes to get the awning out and fully set up. Then we can put the (Kelly) kettle on while we unpack the van. If it rains before we’ve set up the rest of the camp, everything and everyone stays dry under the Canvas Awning.
Set up a cohesive group camp
Next, we set up our family tents around the central Canvas Awning – with tent entrances facing inward so you can easily come outside into a sheltered space. We like to keep the tents pretty close to the Canvas Awning so we can keep an ear out for the kids while we chat and play guitar around the fire into the evening.
Use your canvas canopy to create a sheltered camp kitchen you’ll love to use.
One of our favourite things about camping is the outdoor cooking, so we tend to create a fully-equipped camp kitchen under our canopy.
Unlike pvc gazebos, the canopies of our Canvas Awnings are specifically designed to be fire-retardant, meeting the BS7837:1996 standard for fire resistance in tents and structures – so, having a camp fire under your awning shelter is not a problem.
For us the camp kitchen always includes both a fire cooking set-up (which is great for big fried breakfasts on lazy mornings at camp) and a gas camping stove (which is crucial for that first cup of tea in the morning or for quick meal prep after a long day out and about).
Create an enviable hang-out space for your group camp
When we set-up camp at festivals and camp sites we get so many comments and enquiries about our Canvas Awnings. That’s because we’ve taken group camping to the next level. In fact, we’re not really camping anymore, we’re definitely glamping now.
A pitch with a Canvas Awning stands out as the most practical and comfortable group camping set-up on the site and that includes when we’re camping all week-long with the pros at festival crew camping sites.
What size Canvas Awning is best for a group camp?
For most families, where space in your car or van is limited on camping trips, we recommend you go for the highly portable 5m x 3m compact size Canvas Awning. Made from a lighter weight canvas and with shorter length poles it’s the ideal solution for group camps. With this size of canopy you’ll have space for all the camping chairs you need and a fire bowl.
"I bought a slightly smaller Canvas Awning which was totally perfect for a group camp at a small festival. It was easy to set up and it is so elegant... Love the colour and fantastic instructions that made putting it up very easy. I would recommend Canvas Awning Company 100%"
Clemmie james
Want a bigger canopy shelter?
Our standard size 6m x 4m Canvas Awning is a fantastic size for larger groups – say 3 or 4 + families. You’ll easily have space for a fire bowl, a trestle table and your camping chairs.
Whether you choose the compact size or the standard size Canvas Awning, you’ll have the ultimate base camp for you and your buddies. A worthwhile investment piece for family camping holidays year after year.
Got any group camping tips or stories to share?
We’d love to hear from you!
תגובות