I am in the US so I don’t know much about the UK specifically, but generally speaking I would think about starting small and working your way up.

For example, in the US there are many state or national parks that offer campsites where you could rent a basic cabin so you don’t have to worry about a tent. Or you could get a site with a covered pavilion with tables and benches so you don’t have to worry about seating or shade. Many have built in charcoal grills and fire pits. I would also recommend you start with somewhere that has access to plumbing and maybe even electricity for your first few go rounds.

There are also privately owned parks that cater to the “glamping” crowd where you can have access to a fancier cabin and other amenities like swimming pools, sports equipment, etc.

As far as camping equipment I would highly recommend you start off buying used gear. Good equipment can be pricey because it is meant to last, and you are not even sure if this is something you’re going to stick with yet. Try out some used gear and see what you like and don’t like about it. If you decide to stick with this you can always invest in better gear later. The basics should include a sleeping bag, tent, and maybe a propane stove. There are many things you probably already have or can make do with something. For example you don’t need to go buy specialty camping cookware when you can just bring a pan and utensils from home. You don’t need a backpack unless you plan to do some actual backpacking; a trunk or duffel bag is fine if you’re driving into your site.

Anyway, hope this helps! Enjoy your journey!

It’s only as overwhelming as your trip. Start simple: Overnight in a tent somewhere close to home. Bring what you think you’ll need, and if it turns out you overlooked something vital, you can always go home whenever.

Baby steps. Nobody camps a week in the wilderness alone, miles away from civilization their first time.

One thing I’d recommend is to start a little less all-in. You don’t have to go straight into backpacking out to the middle of nowhere and roughing it, you can start with car camping at a for-pay campground that’ll have some basic amenities, and just pitch a small tent there.

This’ll give you a chance to practice some basic skills in a less demanding environment before you really have to fully rely on them. Won’t cost much, and you’ll still be getting a chance to unwind a bit. Then once you’re more comfortable with your skills you can expand your horizons.

I’ll echo the most given tip: start slow, with only an overnight at a place near you.

If you want a “longer” trip, you could also consider going to a campsite where they have all the commodities like water and showers, setup your tent there and do day hikes from that place. You’ll get a feel of what you need for food and cooking, but still have the safety and commodities of a public campsite at your disposal.

youtube rabbithole and gear: Don’t get dragged down in the youtube rabbithole and all its gear recommendations. Gear is really, REALLY personal. Before you know it, you’ll spend hundreds of pounds on gear. Although you could view reviews of what you’re looking for, most “top 10 things you need when backpacking” are just ads for specific brands and/or very much a personal preference. Accept that you will buy gear you dislike in actual use. And that (if you find out you like backpacking) you can gather your gear over the years to suit your need. You’ll learn more from 1 actual backpacktrip than 40 hours of Youtube.

Don’t buy everything all at once, it will most likely be a waste of money. The stuff you have lying around will be heavier than “backpackgear” but will be more than sufficient to see if you like backpacking at all. You’ll find out what type of camping/backpacking you actually like and can buy gear accordingly:

• You like hiking but not setting up all the stuff? You won’t need sleeping gear as you’ll go from lodge to lodge/hostel to hostel
• you like having one base camp where you’ll hike from? You’ll buy heavier, more durable luxury gear.
• you like walking many miles and only have the minimal gear to sleep and eat? You’ll be buying lightweight gear that is super light.
• you’re a combination of any of the above? The gear will be a combination of the above.

There are so many ways of backpacking and camping. That is where Youtube will not help you. It is so important not to impose any arbitrary rules on how you should backpack/camp yourself until you actually know what aspect of it is important to you or what you enjoy most.

One more thing about buying gear(which again, I would try to minimize buying anything for a first trip) You’ll (almost) always have a tradeoff between 3 attributes: Weight, Durabilty and Price

1. Gear is durable and cheap, but heavier.
2. Gear is lightweight and cheap but less durable
3. Gear is lightweight and durable, but expensive.

Then, 2 rules for what gear to bring:

1. You need less than you think.
2. Always, ALWAYS test your gear at home if you’ve bought something. Have a tent? Set it up. Have a stove? Try it out. You don’t want to be out and about without a clue and a guide to setup and use your stuff.

food: Check your local supermarket for products that can be easily prepared without needing cooling. Some types of bread have long expiry dates and are excellent for backpacking trips. Nuts and energy bars can be great too for snacks. Something like an apple is a great snack too. Try to see what you normally eat, and see if there is anything that would be practical to take with you on a trip without needing a fridge.

If you have a stove with you on your backpacking trip, special dried backpacking meals are lightweight, easy to make and (can be) tasty without being too expensive.

Part of the hobby is the journey itself. So give yourself the time to find what you like, what you need, and how get the most reward/enjoyment out of the hobby.

Read a good book on the subject (or two). In my experience that’s way better information and more comprehensive than gathering info on the internet.

And I’d agree, start small. Practice first and raise the bar as you learn.

With the equipment, that’s indeed a bit difficult. You’d need to learn the specifics and how to decide, or ask someone in the shop and hope they tell you the truth, or join a group or have friends who can help. You can buy cheap stuff and learn with that. But you’re bound to buy things twice that way. But the more professional equipment is all specialized stuff. You’d have a different sleeping bag depending on season plus extras like if it needs to repell water and what makes you comfortable. And there are a lot of tents. Some are lightweight so you can carry them on your backpack, some are larger and you can sit inside and cook during a rainstorm, some can withstand storm and lots of rain. Lots of requirements are mutually exclusive. And it can get really expensive anyways, so you have to decide. And with backpacks: I’d go to a store and try a few, it needs to be large enough to fit your stuff but it also needs to fit you.

About water supplies etc you can read in a book. And you should have a try with a cooker and food at home (probably outside). It’s easy to forget salt/margarine/a spatula or a suitable bowl for soup if it’s your first try. Or misjudge how much fuel to carry for the cooker. Or what kind of (dry) food is lightweight, tasty and fills your stomach after a tiring day in the woods. I mean you should test your equipment anyways, maybe for a weekend first, maybe in proximity of your home or on a camp site. And see what’s missing before walking into the wilderness.

And you should also read about how to care for the environment, what kind of soap and toothpaste to use, how to poop…

Also don’t buy too much unnecessary stuff. I’d say it’s not always obvious what kind of equipment is super handy and which is just dead weight. And not everyone needs the super expensive tent or cooker that can burn almost everything…

Test your setup by camping in your backyard.

In the US we have KOA campgrounds which have a camp host and usually a store. I used them for my first RV trip and found it to be very helpful. Maybe you have something similar?

https://www.countryfile.com/uk-travel/holiday-ideas/a-beginners-guide-to-wild-camping seemed like a pretty good guide. Maybe combine it with a holiday to Scotland if you’re worried about the legality of wild camping.

I don’t have a resource to point you towards, but firstly decide how you’re doing things. Are you hiking? Or are you hitting green lanes (BOATs and UCRs) in a 4x4? The first will make you need lightweight and smaller kit, the latter less so. Figure out what you’re looking to do and buy accordingly.

Bushcraft is a good search term if you want to go as old school as possible. Ultralight is similar but using more modern equipment. Backpacking is the general term for long trips through the woods. Any of those will get you some good info on YouTube or various blogs to start with.

In warmer weather you can have a fine weekend with a very small amount of gear. A water filter, a dehydrated meal or two, and a small camp stove would be just fine for a beginner and shouldn’t cost too much for the basic version of any of them. Obviously many people would also want a tent and/or sleeping bag but you can decide how you want to handle that. Sleeping outside isn’t so bad and helps you appreciate a tent much more. Hammock camping is fairly popular as well so maybe consider that option if you want at least a bit of shelter without commiting to buying a tent right away.

I wouldn’t recommend foraging for food until you have some experience just being out there. Maybe bring a book about local plants on your first trip so that you can work on identifying them without the stress of them being your only food source.

The biggest piece of advice is just to get out there and see how it goes. Maybe you’ll love the freedom and challenge of having very little gear with you or maybe you’ll hate not having one specific comfort. Just pick a spot relatively close to civilization for your first trip so you can get out of any trouble you might find yourself in and you’ll be fine. Decide how you want the next trip to go based on the first one and just keep getting building from there.

Check out the YouTube channel Camping with Steve. Each episode is an overnight camping trip in various settings, either in the wilderness, or abandoned places, even stealth camping in a roundabout once. The guy has a good energy about him and you’ll get a ton of tips on the practical side of camping.

I go backpacking regularly. Feel free to DM me with any questions. I have done both bushwhacking and week long canoe/backpacking trips. I wouldn’t say I’m an expert but I haven’t died yet, so I got that going for me.

Ppl are offering great advice about where to start, and it’s what I’d suggest too - start with car camping to get a feel for it. If you overcommit too soon, you could ruin the experience for yourself. I know many ppl who will never camp again because they treated it like a hotel stay, got rained out, and decided it wasn’t for them lol.

A couple of resource suggestions - you mention an interest in self sufficiency. Read the SAS Survival Guide by one of your own, John Wiseman. It’s my go to for general survival tips and skills, including the ones I hope to never need. But lots of good info just to be aware of too.

Some other great resources can be books on flora and fauna. One I have sitting on my desk is the Canadian Outdoor Survival Guide. Obviously it’s for Canada, but it teaches you edible plants and behaviour around some bigger beasties (I don’t think that’s an issue in the UK).

And a final thought - an old Parks Canada marketing slogan is a really good nature-respecting thing to keep in mind: Take only pictures, leave only footprints.

Nature is in our backyard, but it’s home for the animals that live there.

Happy camping! ☺️

I have a small van with a bed and a sink in. I don’t visit any campsites. I don’t see this as “wild camping”, but apparently it counts so I’ll pitch in my advice anyway. I feel like we would have very similar interests - my holidays consist of going to Scotland for roughly a week, walking wherever seems nice, and generally being away from other people. I park overnight in lay-bys or carparks that allow camping. I started out sleeping in the back of my car for the first few years, but it’s not as comfortable and I enjoyed myself enough that I decided to invest in a van.

The things I bring with me are

• bottled water (I have some 5L bottles that I fill from the tap, usually 30L is enough for drinking and hand washing for a week, with one “shower” from a bottle)
• books
• bedding
• camping stove and wok
• reusable plastic plates and forks
• clothing
• money (this is the most important, because if you forget anything else on the list you can buy it with money)
• map of where I’m going downloaded to my phone

I go shopping and find a toilet once a day. I drive to somewhere nice (just look at the map and take a guess). Sit and read,go for a walk wherever looks interesting, snack, sleep, repeat. In terms of food, it’s mostly pastries and salad, because it’s hard to find ready-to-eat vegetarian food. For cooking, I’ve found that stuffed pasta and readymade sauce is easy to cook, and the other go-to is vegetarian sausages in a bun. But generally I only eat one or two cooked meals per holiday. It’s not worth the washing up IMO.

My experience is probably different than what you’re planning, but similar enough to be useful advice I hope. You can literally start by just jumping in a car with some food and water, and driving somewhere nice. As long as you have a car, anyway. I’d suggest to start small and close to home, then it’s an easy escape if anything goes wrong

Congrats on turning your life around and getting into the outdoors.

A quick way to learn would be to find a friend who knows and go camp with them.

I think you should not try to acquire all the gear until you know what you will actually use (besides, you will be the one carrying it)

Things I would definitely bring:

-a hatchet

-container(s) to drink from and cook in

-lighters

-single burner propane stove

-tent

-sleeping bag

-tarp

-rope and/or ratchet straps

-water filter (MSR MiniWorks EX is my personal fave)

-garbage bag(s)

Based on what you described, I think you should just go for it with some basics for one night at a time, and you will quickly learn what you want to bring in the future.

Start slow. Car camping. (Drive in sights. Pitch a tent. Bring a cooler.) and the. Slowly remove the amenities while working on your skills.

The. Go up to walk-in sites. And slowly start walking in further from the car.

Always - always - let someone know where you’re going and how long you’ll be. I don’t think there’s anywhere in the UK that would be obscenely dangerous to go alone- as long as you use good judgement and don’t try to push beyond your abilities.

That said, having a camping buddy is definitely safer. If there’s people around, meh. Not as important. If you’re the only soul around… you twist your ankle you might get dead when that storm comes up and you can’t make it out and they can’t find you.

Using well-used trails to develop skills is a great way to learn. Map and compass as well as orienteering courses are helpful for navigation… just getting out is helpful. Having the car there so you can bug out (or hide out,) adds safety, while learning limits.