We did camp this summer; four days at Fairport Convention's Cropredy Folk Festival, our annual outing that quenches my thirst for the 'romance' of camping for the next 11 months. The festival was fantastic and four sunny days in a row (miracle!) made camping just about tolerable (though still chilly at night). In the old days, my husband and I would sling on our backpacks and hop on the train, then catch a bus to the village to pitch up quickly then pop down the pub. With two children (and a larger tent that we still haven't quite got the hang of) it's more like a military operation, and yes, we hired a car.

 

We hear a lot these days about green travel, but no one talks about eco-friendly travel that’s also family-friendly. As someone who’s been there, done that, I can say for the record, the reality is usually not pretty-as-a-postcard. Getting around London with two tots and no car can be grim enough some days (you'll note the dearth of sonnets about 'tube stairs and pushchairs') but travelling further afield is even more fraught and frustrating.  

 

I’m not advocating flights or long car journeys – I truly believe the train is a more family-friendly way to travel, especially if they’d get some family-priority carriages so one didn’t have to feel guilty about the children chattering (and maybe while they're at it they could reserve a carriage for those thoughtful folks who like to share their musical proclivities with other passengers via leaky earphones). In a car, kids are strapped into seats for hours at a time (tempting parents to succumb to electronic babysitters to avoid the 'Are we there yets'). On the train, children can draw, play games or walk around to stretch their legs. It also feels much safer (and is, statistically). 

The hardest part is what to do after you arrive at your destination station with your children – and all their gear. And if you're camping, forgeddaboudit. We're a family of train veterans, with trips to Cornwall, Dorset, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Surrey and more. We even made the eight-hour trip to Aberdeen relatively unscathed, but partly because our friends met us there with their own cars (and car seats). If you're hiring a car at the other end, it means schlepping car seats on the train and transferring by taxi to the car hire office. And if you're braving public transport in a backwater, have your Bach's Rescue Remedy to hand.

Virgin Trains has linked up with the Whizzgo car club to make that transition to hire car hassle-free. Once you’ve joined (quote WGVTU Virgin Trains for a £10 discount on the WhizzGo smartcard, bringing the cost down to £15, plus a refundable insurance payment of £125) you can simply book a car near your station online. We’re quite happy with our Streetcar, but we’ll be joining this network as well, and hope it will make complicated trips that little bit easier.

 

Now if someone could sort the transitions for train/ferry/train travel. Our 'green getaway' to Brittany this summer (similar to one planned by David Cameron and co) promised to be blissful. Dinard is a lovely resort for the car-free, with restaurants, patisseries and the beach just outside your door. The town was superb, but the journey was a nightmare. As foot passengers on the ferry from Poole to St Malo, we were truly at the bottom of the totem pole. The ferry left an hour late, then limped along on limited power, arriving at 11pm instead of 7pm – not ideal for middle-aged parents with two children in tow, especially in a taxi desert. The return journey was below par too. The ferry was late again, and due to a taxi shortage at Poole (thanks to zero communication between ferry and taxi companies), we missed the 15.30 and 16.30 trains and ended up on the 17.30 back to London. I simply can't recommend (sane) travellers take this journey just to go green (especially as the belching fumes made us sceptical of any carbon savings over a flight). As we'd caught a bus at daybreak in Dinard that morning and arrived home after 9pm UK time, it was quite a long day (we could have flown to Rio de Janeiro in that time, for goodness sake). I kept repeating, "There's no way Sam Cam is on this wretched ferry." We did hear rumours that they flew at the last minute, and after our experience, who could blame them?

The Isle of Wight has the train/ferry combo down to a T. We caught the train to Portsmouth Harbour and zoomed straight aboard the ferry (foot passengers only, so no waiting for those pesky cars to board). The ferry ride is around 15 minutes (long enough to savour the view, not long enough to feel wobbly). When you disembark, you're inside the Ryde Pier train station. The 'vintage' Island Line trains are fine, but our holiday flat was well beyond the last station, meaning a clunky transfer (with bags, buckets and spades) onto a bus. I don't think today's modern, middle-class families would accept this as a viable way to travel for leisure (and pleasure). Even our parents think we're mad – or masochists.

 

I do wish the island could ban visitors' cars altogether – they clogged up the streets in every village. Forcing visitors to leave their cars at home would mean improvements in public transport and a better atmosphere (in every sense of the word) for pedestrians and cyclists. Next time, we'll book a hotel at a beach near a station – or maybe hitch our dreams to a sleek Airstream at Vintage Vacations (top). It's definitely a cut above camping, with an extra helping of retro chic.

 

The further away you get from actual tents, the more I can understand camping's allure. Yurts are often the butt of jokes, but you must admit they're more tempting than tents, especially Canvas Chic, in the Ardèche gorge and the Cornish Yurt Holidays at Yurtworks. 

 

If even glamping is a step too far, pick up Alistair Sawday's Green Places to Stay guide, for unique green choices worldwide, with many close to home if you're keen to polish your green halo by avoiding leisure flights.

 

EcoFriendlyTourist.com is a great online resource for info on earth-kind travel, with tips on how to see through greenwashing. The site’s new independent guide to green places to stay in the UK has details on thousands of rooms in hotels, guest houses, self-catering cottages and B&Bs. Must start dropping hints now about booking one for next year's Cropredy...