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?
1/ Be social
Summer in particular elicits multi-day hikes or cycling trips. When the weather is nice, the terraces of bars are packed. To get invited to a garden, it sometimes suffices to simply put down your trekking rucksack and order a cold beer. On a terrace, people are good-natured and curious, they automatically enquire about your plans. If you are lucky, there might be someone sitting next to you who likes to hike with the tent himself. Campers are generous folks, and on several occasions, we have been spontaneously invited to pitch my tent in their garden. Sometimes I was even offered a plate of eggs or a cup of coffee in the morning.
Even those who never camp will have sympathy for your undertaking. As a hiking camper, you make yourself vulnerable, many people are willing to help at such a moment. If you don’t pass a bar or a terrace, look for people who are working in the garden, mowing the lawn or washing their car. Sometimes fate is in your favour. When we were stranded in Oelegem during a hike from Antwerp to Mol, a cycling passerby invited us to camp next to his swimming pool. Few camping spots have been so idyllic.
2/ Be prepared
Yes, this somewhat contradicts the previous point. But not everyone like to look for a place to sleep spontaneously. Fortunately, there are now websites that alleviate the need for improvisation. Welcome to my garden targets hikers, cyclists and other slow travellers – it’s primarily popular in its native Belgium. Using it during a four-day hike on the GR5A in West Flanders – a sparsely populated region lacking in regular campsites – we always found a spot near the route and even slept in the shadow of a castle.
The website is easy to use and allows you to overlay the network of long-distance trails on a map of available gardens, so you know exactly how far a detour you have to make for a camping spot in a garden. Welcome to my garden used to be free, but recently introduced a paid membership of 36 euros per year.
Campspace and HomeCamper offer opportunities for campers to set up their camps in gardens, orchards, farms and private forests. Similar initiatives, both free and unpaid, are 1Nite Tent and Hinterland (Germany), Wildpoint and Nearly Wild Camping (United Kingdom), Brug Min Baghave (Denmark) and Nomady (Switzerland). Some of these websites also cater to caravan or van campers.
Even through Warm Showers, a platform aimed at cyclists, we have successfully found camping options during a hike. While users typically offer a bed and shower in their homes, many are willing to open their gardens upon request.
3/ Be grateful
Hand out bars of chocolate to generous benefactors. Or pick up a bottle of wine in a local shop. If neither is possible – because you are trying to limit the weight of your backpack or there is no shop within walking distance – you can write down the address and send a postcard afterwards.
This blog post first appeared in Dutch on Kampeertijd.