Month: July 2023

As a child, every summer meant waiting and waiting. We didn’t go on holiday until mid-August, so it always took a while before my holiday spirit bubbled up. Camping in the garden provided an excellent antidote to that endless wait. I pitched my tent in the backyard, but, or so I reasoned, away from parental control. Even if I had put my pegs into the ground in Yellowstone, I would not have felt one iota freer than in that garden in Mol-Ginderbuiten.

But camping in the garden does not only appeal to an impatient child. As an adult, I regularly bivouac in the yard of strangers, especially during multi-day hikes in densely populated areas like Flanders. Wild camping is illegal here, an official bivouac zone not always on the route. With some luck, you will find a campsite within stumbling distance of your trail. As a self-sufficient hiking camper, however, you’ll often end up sleeping between walls of mobile homes, white fridges towering so high that it feels like camping between New York apartment buildings. Not always the experience I look for on such a trek.

A small, cosy garden becomes a worthy alternative. But how do you find a suitable spot?