Bundle Blog

"When we’re camping, especially after a long day of walking, I often find myself craving a sweet treat. Lots of camping recipes, including many of my own, revolve around meat or fish, and dessert tends to get overlooked. So I thought I’d share a few baking ideas- outdoor style!"

The easiest way is using a dutch oven (it’s not what you’re thinking!). This seems to be more common in America, but it’s so easy and a great way to broaden your campfire cuisine horizons.

After we’ve cooked our main meal we let the fire die down, you need to wait until the embers are all grey. There will still be plenty of heat left for whipping up a tasty pudding. We then put a metal pot in the fire, making sure there are embers underneath and on top of the pot. Sometimes we have even made our own makeshift oven by covering a cooking pot with a few layers of foil.

The most straightforward thing to make is to use a packet mix, ideally one that only needs water added, and just mix it up and pour into your cooking pot. It only takes about 10 minutes and then just dive in with a spoon! We’ve tried cookie and cake mixes and both worked. You can also do a similar thing with chilled cinnamon swirl dough (check out the chilled pastry section in your local supermarket). Line your pot with foil, then simply slice the dough and arrange in a layer in the bottom of the pot.

If you fancy being a bit more adventurous, try a black forest dump cake (I promise I’m not just going for comedic titles!) It’s called a dump cake as you simply dump the ingredients in your pot and as if by magic it comes out perfectly.

Try emptying a tin of cherries into a lined pot (even better if there's no kids around and you can find some soaked in some kind of alcohol) and then make up a chocolate cake mix and chuck it on top of the cherries. It’s not a scientific process so you’ll need to check it from time to time. The cherries should keep the cake nice and moist.

Top Tip: you can buy dutch oven liners online which make the whole process easier -and cleaner!"

Horsing around the campfire – Middle Ninfa Campsite 

We love camping.

What we really love is wild camping, where you feel as if you have completely escaped the hustle and bustle of everyday life and are surviving simply with your tent, campfire and inventive cooking techniques… Oh, and the bottle of red wine to sip whilst around the campfire of course. 

For us, a campsite that has exceeded in provided a perfect location for this kind of camping isMiddle Ninfa near Abergavenny. The road leading up to the site itself is a perfectly steep, winding, bumpy road which is sufficiently long enough to take you away from the main road. We arrived to the sight of Richard collecting vegetables from their poly-tunnel, all of which you can buy from them along with salad, fruit and duck eggs. And if that isn’t enough for you, they can order in other organic, local produce from the farm shop two miles away.

They have seven small private sites away from the main site, all of which have a firepit and plenty of space to pitch a tent or two. We chose to stay in Deri, which is perched on the top of the hill and has a rather friendly horse called Fly who loves to join you round the campfire in the evening!

The walks and local pubs nearby are fantastic and the views over the Usk Valley of Skirrid and Monmouthshire are really stunning. All in all, a fab campsite if you’re looking for a back-to-basics site with delicious local produce on site and breathtaking scenery.

IMAGES:

Map – taken from Middle Ninfa website’s

Harriet giving Fly a cuddle by the campfire

One of the many commanding views on our walk

The nearby lake

Link:

http://middleninfa.co.uk