Our Blog

How To Stay Warm And Dry When The Weather Turns Against You

Those that are accustomed to the weather in the British Isles wouldn't exactly describe it as sunny or warm. Some would even go so far as to say that we have no summers at all and that perpetual rain and wind are the norm here! We love it for what it is though and, as a great man once said: 'There is no such thing as bad weather, just poor kit choices.' So, without further ado, we are going to talk about those great kit choices and what you can do to keep yourself dry and warm when the weather turns wet and miserable.

The key to keeping warm and dry in the great outdoors is known as the layering system. Wearing multiple thin layers will keep you much warmer than one very thick layer. It also allows much more flexibility when it comes to managing your temperature when you are out in the elements. It is much more comfortable to remove a jumper and put on a thin waterproof layer, should it be raining in the summer, than to wear a big and bulky jacket. The layering system can be broken up into four broad categories, which are…

Base Layer

The base layer is designed to sit comfortably next to the skin. Traditionally base layers have been created from Merino wool. Merino is an extremely fine wool fabric which has excellent wicking properties, meaning that it draws sweat away from the skin and so keeping you dry. Being wool, the merino also keeps the thin layer next to your skin very warm. There are a number of synthetic alternatives on the market which offer an excellent price to performance ratio and are designed to pack up extremely small for when you need to just throw them in your bag overnight. 

Mid Layer

The mid layer, or warmth layer or soft shell layer, as it is sometimes described, is primarily here to provide the warmth insulation that you might need. Coupled with the base layer, it works in tandem by trapping further heat inside the layer and also wicking moisture vapour away from your base layer, keeping you dry. Some of the better mid layers also offer an element of being water resistant, meaning you only have to pull out the waterproofs when the weather really turns bad. 

An excellent choice for mid-layers is a fleece type material. You will want to choose your fleece layer wisely, depending on your activity. If you are mountain climbing, you will likely want an active fleece layer which is not designed to be so thick. However if you are lounging about camp or just having a stroll with the dogs, you may want a thicker passive fleece layer. Target Dry offer an excellent choice for both a thinner layer with their new Atomic women's fleece and a water and rain resistant option with their new Gravity women's waterproof fleece. The rain resistant option is great for when you want to shave off that extra weight on a long hike. 

Definitely don't forget the legs as well. TargetDry offer a great pair of thermal trousers for those cold days which will combat the chill on a winters morning. 

Shell Layer

The Shell layer, or waterproof layer, is the top most protection that you will wear. This layer is specifically designed to keep you dry and to protect you from the wind. This layer is often designed from two types of material:

Membrane - this is the likes of GoreTex, Pertex and others of similar design.

Coated Nylon - this is generally lighter and cheaper but not as breathable. 

The shell layer is designed solely to keep you dry and out of the wind. This is the layer that you want to turn to when the heavens open (as is often the case here!) and the rain starts. It is important to remember to pack a shell layer no matter what the weather, especially when you are planning on an overnight trip. Being in wet clothing can be very dangerous, hypothermia can set in quickly and in surprisingly milk weather, especially if you have been sweating during the day as well. Be safe, especially for the sake of a few extra grams. Some excellent options for shell layers are the new Atlas Men's waterproof technical jacket and the Pioneer men's over trousers. 

Fine tuning

It is always important to protect your extremities. Even on hot days, at altitude the wind can be bitterly cold, especially when blowing around fingers and ears! It is always a good idea to pack some gloves and a hat, even in the summer. The hat can then double up whilst you are asleep in your sleeping bag to protect your head at night. Winner! 

Fabrics to avoid

The one fabric to avoid when out walking and camping is cotton and its derivatives - denim and other similar garments. Cotton soaks up water and sweat and retains that moisture, taking a long time to dry. This can be extremely dangerous when out on longer expeditions as when garments are wet for prolonged periods, especially when next to the skin, there is a much greater risk of developing hypothermia. This includes avoiding cotton underwear and socks, which are prime culprits! Always aim for a wicking, fast drying material as detailed above, for when you want to be warm, comfortable and safe when out enjoying the beautiful countryside.

The Best Foods To Take Camping

Put any guy in front of a flaming barbecue and all of a sudden he thinks he is God’s gift to the cooking world. In reality, most people struggle to not burn marshmallows when cooking in the wild, let alone making anything tasty and nutritious, and so any good pointers on what to eat and how to cook it are usually welcomed with open arms! 

The trick to cooking outdoors is, quite simply: Keep It Simple! See what I did there…? Cooking an amazing meal in the comfort of your kitchen is sometimes hard enough, so when out camping you need all of the little hacks that you can get. Check out below our top tips on the best food to take camping and how to cook it while you're out there.

Equipment

Equipment will always play a big part in what you are cooking. If you plan on having loads of nibble little bits then you may not even need any cooking equipment at all. A cool-bag stuffed with treats and you're away! For the more adventurous of you, the aim is to do as much cooking as possible on as little amount of kit as possible - keep the list short and think of taking:

• A few lightweight aluminium pots
• A camping cooker or, if you're allowed to cook on an open fire where you're going, think of taking some long tongs to move pots around on the embers.
• A lighter (to get the fire started)
• Some cotton balls covered in vaseline as fire starters. These burn steadily for a long time, giving you ample time to build your fire around them.
• Cutlery
• A lightweight frying pan if you have one. Most decent aluminium pot sets will have a lid that doubles up as a small frying pan as well! 
• A Washing up scourer
• A small bottle of biodegradable washing up liquid

Breakfast

One word springs to mind here: Carbs. Depending on what you have planned for the day, whether it is a leisurely stroll through the countryside, a day’s rock pooling on the beach with the little ones or climbing one of the beautiful mountain ranges that we have here, you are going to need some real fuel to get you going for the day. Carbohydrates are what you should be aiming to fill yourself up on early on. The best types you can get are small packs of ready made oats which you just have to add boiling water to. This way, you're not burning porridge onto the bottom of your cooking pots at the start of the day and you have a good belly full of porridge to keep you going for the day! 

If you're feeling really adventurous and have got enough pots with you, then it is super easy to fry up some sausages and boil some potatoes (yup!) to really fire you up as well. Potatoes are a great alternative to bread as they are much easier to transport without squishing in your bag, they don't go mouldy and they're a prime source of those carbs you desperately need for the day! Just remember that anything too complicated means a lot of cleaning up afterwards and so you don't want to be bogged down with that at the start of your amazing day! 

Lunch

When we are out on a hike or down at the beach rock pooling, the last thing that we want to be doing is cracking out all of the cooking gear and getting bogged down for hours making something complicated. Just as we always think on our feet, we always eat on our feet as well! Taking foods that you can eat on the go are a must, some of our personal favourites are: 

• Homemade granola bars
• Carrot Sticks with hummus
• Grapes
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Apples
• Hard boiled eggs
• Scotch Eggs 
• Sausage Rolls (Always a favourite with kids!)
• Crisps
• Dried fruit and nuts
• Dried/cured meats

When you're out and on the go with the family in those hills, it is important to remember that you're going to need a lot of energy to keep doing all of that fun stuff and to stop you lagging during the day. You shouldn't worry about how much ‘fatty stuff’ you're eating or feeding the kids, they'll burn it off today, just don't make a habit of it! Well, unless you're out here every day… 

Dinner

Now is the time to really shine! You've had a hard day’s walking and adventuring and now all you want to do is have a good hearty meal and relax. There are some interesting facts to talk about before we get onto what food to cook. Your body regulates warmth better when you have had a good sized meal. So, if its cold out, don't skip dinner! You will be warmer at night in your sleeping bag if you get some food in you. We have all been there - After arriving back at camp after a long slog, all you want to do is climb into your sleeping bag and sleep; well fight that urge! 

Now onto the good food… Some of our real favourites revolve around an open fire. Always remember, when cooking with an open fire, that you should never cook with the flame. Always wait until the fire dies down to the point that you have hot embers, then you can rest your pots on top and get going. Some of our favourites are: 

• Chop up a load of carrots, leeks, potatoes, beans and any other veg that you love before you leave home and put it all in a sandwich bag. Fry up some diced chicken and put that in a separate  sandwich bag. When you get to your camp in the evening, empty it all into a pot and fill to the brim with water, throw in two oxo cubes and some pepper and boil away for an hour. You will have the heartiest and most rewarding chicken soup that you have ever made. 
• If you have been fishing that day, why not try freshly caught grilled fish and potatoes. Prepare the fish as you would at home and butterfly half it. Grip it between two green sticks and stick them in the ground, holding the fish above the embers. Whilst that cooks, boil up some potatoes and you'll love the result. A few freshly picked chives and some wild garlic and you are in heaven. 
• If you're really adventurous, bringing some chicken to slowly fry and picking a wild salad can be an extremely satisfying challenge. You need to be sure of what you are picking, but March through to September in the UK can yield some real wild salad treasures. Do your research and you'll be surprised on what you can find out there! 

What foods to avoid…

As with every activity out there, there are some big foods to avoid. When you're relying on your body to be fuelled and set for the day, you really should be concentrating on putting quality nutrition in in order to get the best results out. You should avoid: 

• Sugar based foods such as sweets, fizzy drinks and the like should be avoided at all costs save for a treat following dinner. The reason for this is that, whilst they may give you a sugar based high for a short while, they can cause a dangerous crash when you least want it. Not so bad if you're relaxing on the beach with the kiddies, but if you're halfway up Ben Nevis in poor weather this can mean the difference between a nice stroll back and some tricky times. 
• Avoid alcohol. Its great to enjoy a tipple when you're sitting around the campfire at night, but remember that unless you want to be getting up a lot in the night, its always best to be sensible when out and about.

Cleaning

Cleaning up sucks, doesn't it? Well, be smart! If you're the last one using the pots and pans at night, throw some water in the pot while you're eating and stick it back on the fire. The water will simmer most of the yuckyness off of the pots while you eat and the rest should come away easily afterwards. A clever trick that saves us hours of scrubbing (because I am notorious at burning food onto my pans!) is to drop a denture cleaning tablet into a dirty pot and fill it to the brim with water overnight. The tablet will do the trick of breaking down the food and by the morning your pots are nice and clean again! Minimal effort all round. 

Always be sure to take all of your rubbish away with you. We all enjoy our countryside as picturesque scenes and having rubbish blowing across it, harming the local wildlife, is definitely not what we all want to experience. All campsites will have space for you to leave your rubbish and if you're out and about in the hills, just keep a section of a bag handy to stick it all into until you find yourself back in civilisation. 

Last but by no means least… 

Water. Take lots and lots and LOTS of water. If you think you have enough water, take a bit more just in case. Your body uses water to break down food, to regulate temperature, to help you concentrate and of course to rehydrate you when you have been sweating in the glorious sun that we so frequently have here in the UK (ha!). 

Things To See & Do With Schoolgate Style; The National Trust

Before I joined the National Trust, I thought that it was a bit of a waste to be a member in Northern Ireland as there seems to be less to see and do here with a membership that costs the same as it does across the water. It took a 2 week family holiday to England to encourage us to join but even then, we thought we would use it to visit lots of the places near where we were holidaying and then maybe use it once or twice at home before cancelling the membership when our year was up.

4 years on, we're still members and do you know what? We hardly used it on that original holiday as we were so busy exploring generally and simply didn't have time to see as many of the National Trust place to visit as we'd hoped. Where we have really used and enjoyed our membership is at home - here in NI - because we've so many more weekends and free days here and we're always on the look out for inexpensive days out with the kids.

Hand on heart, every National Trust property we've visited locally (and across the water admittedly) has been a wow moment....when you turn that corner and catch the first glimpse....you almost have to pinch yourself. Invariably, we say to each other on arrival 'why have we not been here before?' and I can guarantee you that one visit is never enough....they're that good. Not to mention the regular National Trust Events that bring us back - like Halloween trails, Christmas markets, kite flying and antique fairs. Apart from the Fermanagh locations, which are just that bit further away from our home, we've been to all the other properties more than once and closer to Belfast properties like Rowallane and Mount Stewart, we visit multiple times per season.

For me, the main thing that keeps me coming back to these local properties is the gardens. National Trust Gardens are truly something special and it's seeing how they change over the seasons that I most enjoy. Mount Stewart is a favourite in this regard as it's got its own micro-climate that means it has plants that you'd never see in a garden elsewhere in Northern Ireland. But it's the walled garden in Rowallane that is the most charming in my opinion and the kids love racing around the paths, hiding from each other behind yew hedges while I sit on one of the benches, soaking up some rays and wishing it was my own garden!

But you're guaranteed proper wow moments if you visit the North Coast properties, which are just over an hour from Belfast...after all, the Giant's Causeway is a World Heritage Site and the Carrick A Rede bridge is an iconic tourist site known worldwide. Both see hundreds of thousands of visitors each year from all over the world...and we can go there as often as we wish with free entry! To escape the crowds, Downhill and Mussenden Temple is another breathtaking spot where you can admire the rugged coastline and stunning beaches in this part of the country.

We no longer think of our National Trust membership as being an expense or a necessity....we consider it a complete and utter privilege and I commend the organisation behind it for the work they do to conserve these historic buildings, venues and gardens. We worked it out last year that each visit cost us less than £10 in admission charges for all 5 of us. A no brainer I reckon!

Ax

#Autumnalstyle; WIN Your Favourite New Season Coat Or Jacket

With the change of the seasons, comes the change of your wardrobe. Out go the summer cropped jeans, sandals and shades and in go the woolen knits, ankle boots, scarves, hats and gloves. Of course no autumn/winter wardrobe is complete without a comfy, warm and stylish coat.

The past few months have been unpredictable to say the least when it comes to British and Irish weather. Sudden bursts of sunshine and showers have us reaching for sunglasses one minute and an umbrella the next. As we reach a new season, one thing is for certain, the days will get shorter, the nights will get a little colder and the heavens will open a lot more frequently. Beat the weather by investing in a coat or jacket that’s waterproof and breathable, keeping you dry and warm without feeling clammy.

Our new collection has exactly what you’re looking for when it comes to practical, functional and fashion-forward outerwear. From yellow nautical inspired coats to country quilts and perfect parkas, we have a great range to choose from when updating your wardrobe.

Join Our Instagram Fan Club

We would love to hear what your favourite thing about Autumn is, in return for the chance to WIN your fave coat from our new collection. All you have to do to enter is; 

• Follow us on instagram
• Like & comment on our post telling us what your favourite thing about Autumn is
• Repost on your own account tagging @targetdry and #autumnaltreats 

Three winners will be contacted at random and will get to choose their own coat/jacket from the new collection. The giveaway will end at 11.59pm on Thursday 17^th September 2015.

Good Luck!

Autumn sees the arrival of our new rain-ready collection with country quilts, berry tones and nautical styling. Since it’s been said that good luck comes in 3’s, we are offering 3 winners a new coat/jacket of your choice! All you have to do is follow us, like this post & leave a comment letting us know what your favourite thing about autumn is. Share this post on your own account, tagging @targetdry #autumnstyle for extra brownie points! #targetdry #fbloggersuk #instadaily #fashion

A photo posted by Target Dry Ltd. (@targetdry) on Sep 10, 2015 at 1:47am PDT

New Nautical, Parka Perfection, Country Style Coats & Technical Outerwear

Introducing The Autumn/Winter 2015 Collection

It seems a little unfair that after a pretty disastrous summer, we are straight into the new season with colder weather, shorter days and frosty evenings. Seasons change, that’s just a fact of life, but it doesn’t mean that you have to suffer indoors for fear of stepping out into the chilly air.

Our new collection will keep you warm, dry and cosy on rainy days and crisp winter nights. Waterproof, breathable, lightweight coats and jackets will give you the protection you need to battle the elements and still enjoy walks, weekend getaways and trips to the coast with your family. There is so much to explore here in the UK and Ireland, so beat the weather and head outdoors.

New parka Isabella is one of our personal favourites offering flattering fit, dark berry tones and bold shades. The long length and adjustable hood makes it the perfect parka coat for windswept adventures or for brisk walks with family and friends.

The Lola makes nautical style winter-proof with quilted padding, mid length design and adjustable hood and the zip cuffs add extra contrast detail and comfort. We predict that this will be a bestseller, so be sure to get in early!

The Darcey and the Nixon are reinventing traditional country quilts with colourful lining, curved hems and extra zipped pockets, not to mention being water repellant, windproof and breathable.

We always like to be ahead of the game and when it comes to practical, functional and stylish waterproof garments, we believe in innovative thinking and design. Fleeces Gravity and Vertigo have the unique feature of being highly waterproof and breathable meaning that they will keep you dry as well as warm and comfy.

Apollo and Atlas give you that high performance reassurance that when hiking, running or power walking, you are covered for whatever the weather may throw at you.

Our bestselling country coats Outback and Outrider are now available in 2 new colours, eclipse blue and jester red, because we always aim to have the right balance of great practical design and style.