A complete list of dos and don’ts regarding camping family holidays would fill a book, but number one on my list is make sure that you know how to erect your tent before you set off. It is not so important if you have one of those modern tents that more or less erect themselves, but even then there is no harm in having a practice first. If you have one of those large family frame tents, then some practice is absolutely necessary. There is nothing worse than arriving at a campsite, especially if it is getting dark, a breeze is blowing and it looks as if it might rain.

This is in fact what happened to me the first time we took our brand new bright orange frame tent to France. Before this we had used ordinary ridge tents or light weight hiking tents. On one occasion when we needed something larger we hired a large bell tent, but this wasn’t a problem as it was inflatable. All you had to do was attach a foot pump and pump away. This time was another matter. A frame tent is a bit like a Chinese puzzle. Ours had three sections each made of metal tubes that had to be slotted together to form the individual sections that then had to be attached to each other before the cover could be attached.

If one person is doing this in peace and quiet and carefully following the printed instructions, then there should not be a problem, but unless you can demonstrate that you know exactly what you are doing and can give clear authoritative orders to any helpers you might have then you will find that there is suddenly a committee erecting the tent and each member of this committee has a different idea about how things work. Just as a camel is supposed to be a horse designed by a committee, a frame tent erected by a committee can easily have the appearance of a folly which, in the architectural sense, is a building that was not designed for the provision of either shelter or housing. Practice before you go.