Something very foreign to us in the uk is having a barbeque by your car in a car park. If you live in America it’s a favorite weekend past time. Know as tailgate parties hundreds turn up at sporting events, park up and start cooking. Coleman have released a new piece of kit that good old George Forman would be looking to use the Coleman Roadtrip Table Top Grill.

You don’t need to use it at the car you could use it on a camping trip as it’s powered by a propane gas cylinder. That powers a hob that heats the grill which has a massive 1580 square cm cooking area. That’s a lot of room for a lot of meat! A Insta Start electronic ignition gets the grill going and it heats up really quick.

It features a temperature gauge and the all important grease catcher. The recommended retail price is $219.99

New Zealand based company Icebreaker are giving away a free bag to one lucky competition winner. The bag features merino outerwear fabric and a Bodyfit+ camo lining, they’re pretty rare so you should you entre into the competition pretty soon.

Head over to the compeition page to get your name in the hat!

A Canadian retailer, Mark’s Work Wearhouse, is piloting a very interesting new store concept – it has installed a custom-made walk-in-freezer in its store in Edmonton. The purpose? To allow customers to try on garments and test how warm they are.

The freezer is set at -15  but the customer has a choice to experience chills of up to -40!! Useful for those contemplating a venture into Antarctica perhaps?!

The store also features a number of other interactive services, such as different surfaces, including concrete, for consumers testing footwear.

If the concept, known as “experiential retailing”, proves successful, Mark’s will roll it out to the rest of its stores in Canada. It might even give rise to other similar concepts. Maybe one day we could walk into an outdoor apparel store and try on a windproof jacket against a strong fan or in a wind tunnel, or cooling garments in a built-in sauna, or even waterproof clothing in a walk-in shower…

Anyone have any thoughts on how useful this could be? Would you use it if the experience was available?

It’s less than a month until The International Caravan & Motorhome 2009 which will be held in Birmingham. The annual event is held in the NEC area from the 13 to the 18 of October. Last year around 70,000 people visited over the five day period.

The show features caravans, motorhomes, and holiday Homes of a wide variety. There is also plenty of accessories including some new to the market. It’s a great chance to also see some of the 2010 range of products that will be coming out at the start of next year.

The show is a great chance to just browse the odd product but there should also be some great offers and discounts only available at the show. The list of stands goes into the hundreds but there are also events throughout the day including a buying clinic, towing experience and many more.

If you fancy going there are even on site pitches to park up and hook up for the night. Tickets can be bought online or on the day for around £14.95, there is also a 6 day pass if you want to take your time or try and negotiate a price on a new caravan over a few days.

Head over to the official site for more details.

After tests the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation  have been able to confirm that Nikwax waterproofing contains no fluorochemicals.

Fluorinated chemicals are often used to aid waterproofing but have been found to stay in human tissue. The chemical could be ‘soaked’ up by human skin and then not excreted from the body, the chemical can cause harmful effects on hormone and fertility functions. The toxins are also not great for the environments polluting air and water.

Nikwax’s Managing Director Nick Brown  said

‘At Nikwax our commitment is to the wellbeing of our consumers and our employees, which is why we never have and never will use fluorinated chemicals in any of our products’.

Applied to clothing Nikwax helps seal a the material making it waterproof which extents the garments use.

Plans have been revealed for a £24 million visitor centre in the Lake District. The plan involves a redevelopment of the Brockhole Visitor Centre into a brand new centre for all tourist activity in the Lake District.

It’s hoped that the development will be funded by mony from the LDNPA with grants from Heritage Lottery and the North West Regional Development Agency.

Specific details include an area for outdoor events for 5,000 people, a Go Ape high-wire forest adventure, adventure playground, watersports centre and a second jetty on lake Windermere.

So, how do self inflating mattresses work? If you’ve had the pleasure of using one you may be wondering how the mattress inflates without the need to pump in any air?

When the mattress is new or being stored it’s rolled up which compresses the open-cell foam inside the mattress. Open-cell foam wants to expand so when the mat is unrolled the foam expands and literally sucks the air into mattress once the valve is opened.

If you leave the mattress for around 8-10 minutes the mattress will be pretty much fully inflated, one quick blow on the valve then firms the mattress up.

The great feature of self inflating mattress’s are that when rolled up it’s pretty much the same size as a cheaper foam mat while giving a much more comfortable surface to sleep on.

A blow up mattress’s do given an even better surface to sleep on but are heavy to carry and you also have to blow them up.   So next time your looking for a new surface to sleep on we fully recommend the self inflating option.

PitchUp.com is a brand new site helping you find a pitch in the UK and Ireland. Only set up in July this year the site has 5,000 locations which can be searched via post code, town or site name.

If you know the general area you want to stay in there’s a really good map which then pin points each campsite. You can zoom in and click the pin point for more details. Even more important there are reviews for the camp sites to get an independent view of the camp site. As expected not all locations have a review but should build up over time.

There’s a blog, offers on weekend breaks, suggestions of places to go near to each campsite, local events list and it helps that the site is nice and easy to navigate around.

So PitchUp.com is a great new site and if your looking for a pitch take a look over at PitchUp.com

We are coming to the end of the festival season in the UK and this weekend is Bestival which takes place on the Isle of White. This year’s artists include Kraftwork, Doves, Lilly Allen, Elbow and Little Boots who will all be performing at the festival which is in it’s sixth year.

Getting to the festival is slightly different from your average festival as you need to get the boat over to the island from the south coast. There is the option to swim over this year with 12 people taking up the challenge.

They set off on this Thursday and with help from the local lifeguards team and will raise money for three charities Imibala, St Catherine’s and Christopher’s Smile. Only 12 swimmers can compete each year but places are open for next years event.

They won’t swim with their camping gear but if you do need to cross a river many backpacks with a waterproof bivi bag will keep your goodies dry and afloat.

It looks as though the trend for “staycation” holidays is not just restricted to those on a budget. The Man United ace and England defender Rio Ferdinand was snapped taking a caravaning holiday at Presthaven Sands in Prestatyn, north Wales, with his fiancee and two sons.

While most footballers are known to holiday in countries such as Dubai and in resorts accredited with no lower than 5 stars, the celebrity opted to stay in a luxurious top of the range £400 caravan for a weekend at the end of August.

You can imagine the surprise of budget-restrained fellow holidaymakers to find the star holidaying at the same place!

According to Haven Holidays, the idol was happy to sign autographs and mingle with other fellow campers and caravanners. What a nice bloke eh?!