Camping in comfort: from inflatable tents to a stove that charges a mobile

Wild camping expert Phoebe Smith checks out some hi-tech gear that could coax the uninitiated into the great outdoors

"I got really badly sunburned, chased by sheep, bitten to death by midges, got a tick which went bad; but when I got back, something had really shifted inside me." This is how Phoebe Smith recalls her first time wild camping, an area in which she has since become an undisputed authority. At the age of 33 she is already the author of seven books on the subject, most recently Wild Nights, published last month.

Like most outdoor-types, she takes her technology with a pinch of salt. "People love kit, they love toys. They love buying stuff," she says, "I'm not against progress, it's great that people are making things easier, lighter and greener, but you need to know you can go out there and not rely on it at all."