The sun is shining and normal life has started again, both on a large and small scale. Corona is fading more and more into the background; baby Jonas is almost nine months old and sleeps through most nights. I even went to the theater again!
Soon the summer holidays will start! My husband and I used to go camping. Car full to the brim and on an adventure to Slovenia, Luxembourg and Italy. And in 2018 we went to Sweden with our red Ford Nugget camper van.
Unfortunately, we no longer have our camper van, but we do have a caravan! After two years, the much-needed makeover phase is almost complete. It was still in good condition, but I think (almost all older) caravans do not show much style. As if they thought; we cannot choose a fabric that everyone likes, so we will choose something that no one can really appreciate.
But the feeling of freedom, being outside in nature, sleeping under the stars; I love it! It is of course no coincidence that the 'theme' camping often returns in the illustrations that I make. I also like to make fellow campers happy with my stuff, such as the unbreakable enamel mugs , happy cards and handy notepads . And even when it's not camping time, I hope my illustrations give people that camping feeling.
Did you know?
Nowadays camping is for everyone; the fact that you don't necessarily need much makes it very accessible. But in the past, say from the second half of the nineteenth century, camping as a recreational activity was something for the elite. Wealthy people went on cycling holidays, and they sometimes spent the night in tents pitched at hotels.
In 1901, the Association of Cycle Campers was founded in the United Kingdom by Thomas Hiram Holding, a British travelling tailor. This man also wrote (in 1908) 'The Campers handbook', in which he explains for the first time the basics of camping.
At the initiative of tent manufacturer Carl Denig, the Dutch Tourist Camping Club was founded in the Netherlands in 1912. I think that sounds so nice! Especially the word 'club' immediately conjures up all kinds of images of sew-on patches, car stickers and a club magazine 🙂 The club still exists and in 2019 it still had more than 9000 members.
The first official camping site was opened in 1924 in Vierhouten. In the thirties of the twentieth century, the 'ordinary person' also went camping more and more often. But it was only after the Second World War, when people had more free time and a bigger wallet, that it really became popular.
Still got the camping itch
This summer we are leaving our trailer at home and going to a cottage in Denmark. Camping with a baby and an adventurous toddler seems a bit too much of a challenge for now. But all those caravans and campers driving around are starting to make me itch. Maybe we will go away for a long weekend soon.