Camping - About Us
A little about us...
We are Dave and Laura and we both play music, and with our little band, The Damp Rats, we play a mix of obscure but fun songs from jug band to reggae on various instuments and often can be found making a racket in local pubs and festivals - and occasionally round our campfire if the mood takes us. See:
http://www.youtube.com/user/thedamprats
At the beginning of 1981 we set off with a travelling theatre company, touring shows all over Europe in trucks and buses. We came back to Cornwall in 1984 and for the next few years did various kinds of work to keep us going. Eventually, in 1993, we set up Belle Tents and have been making tents here ever since.
How Belle Tents Camping was born.
In spring 2005 we erected some of our tents in our field and camped in them for the summer whilst our house was being repaired after a fire. All of our friends who visited us during that time were so impressed with the tents that eventually we decided that other people might like to experience staying in them too. So that autumn we set about terracing the site, putting in services and building a shower and toilet block.
Most of the furniture and fittings, including those in the bar, shower block and barbeque area, we
sourced from reclaimation sites and re-cycling centres, and the buildings themselves are made from reclaimed materials where possible which gives the site an unusual and quirky individuality. The bar, for instance, was made from a cherry tree that fell down in our garden, and the bar top itself is a beautiful piece of mahogany that appears to have come from a science block, it even still has ink marks on it.
We then made gardens between the terraces, adding trees and shrubs, and that winter we made the sleeping tents, kitchens and the bar tent. We finally opened our campsite for August 2006.
Over the years we have added to and improved the site to make it as pretty and comfortable as possible by installing wooden floors in all of the tents, putting in extra groundwork to improve drainage and paths to eliminate any mud. Now the site can cope with as much rain as the elements can throw at it.
Ongoing projects.
In 2011 we erected a polytunnel in the bottom field and last year we grew melons, french beans and a large crop of sweet potatoes. A neighbour, who hails from Papua New Guinea, tried planting peanuts, but sadly the damp summer meant that they didn't do very well.
During the summer we have lots of lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers in the greenhouse next to the workshop.
