Camping gear for beginners: what to buy first, and in what order

The pad decides whether you are warm; the bag mostly decides whether you feel warm. Body weight compresses the insulation underneath you, so the bag does almost nothing there. An R-value 4 pad is the single best first purchase for three-season camping.

For a bag, comfort rating matters more than the eye-catching 'limit' number on the label. If two bags list the same temperature, check which figure is quoted.

Tent capacities are measured shoulder-to-shoulder with no gear. For car camping, buy one 'person' more than your party: two people are comfortable in a three-person tent and cramped in a two.

A porch or vestibule is worth more than a few hundred grams of weight saving when you are not carrying it far. It is where wet boots, the stove and the bags live.

A headtorch each, plus one lantern for the shared space, covers everything. Rechargeable units are cheaper over a season, but keep a set of spare cells for anything that takes them.

One 10,000mAh power bank keeps two phones alive for a weekend. Anything larger is worth it only if you are running a cool box, a camera or a longer trip.

A single gas burner, one pot, a kettle if you are fussy about coffee, and cutlery. You will cook better food with less equipment than with a full camp kitchen you have never used.

Water is the constant underestimate: plan around four litres per person per day for cooking, drinking and washing if there is no tap.

Camp furniture, a second stove, a fire pit, elaborate storage — all pleasant, none of them decide whether the trip is enjoyable. Buy them after three or four trips, when you know what genuinely annoyed you.