There’s something very satisfying about the sort of hangover that involves waking up with your feet sticking out of a giant teepee, sun beaming down, desperately scrabbling around for a lukewarm bottle of water to satiate your badger’s bottom of a dry mouth.

Not my usual Saturday night, this hangover is the effect of spending the night nobly testing the phenomenon of party camping.

While many campsites are family-only and thus besieged with rules and curfews, there are the odd few more relaxed sites to be found. The idea is not to turn the site into a mini-rave, but to be able to play music and have a bit of a party without fear of finding yourself freezing cold in the middle of nowhere, having been evicted at 2am for singing Kum ba ya too loudly around the campfire.

I was first bitten by the party camping bug when I spent a blissful summer at university in France, where many a weekend was spent camping with a bunch of Aussie surfers. Four years later I decided that it was finally time to brave it in Britain.

A six-hour drive with three people, four tents, 12 sleeping bags, Pirate FM blaring and a boot full of food and booze somehow crammed into a Nissan Micra led us and our convoy up to our campsite, in New Polzeath, north Cornwall, wonderfully named Robbie Love’s by the locals.

Worryingly tranquil on arrival, I recalled that when booking the campsite, Mr Love himself had said, in his dulcet West Country tones, “No rules in this site, moy love. Do what yer bloody well loike”, off I trotted to hunt down some raucousness.

Among the graveyard of mossy, yellowing caravans, I stumbled across a leathery-skinned Love, tucking simultaneously into one bottle of rosé and one of cider, whereby he announced that as it was his birthday (although I get the feeling that every weekend might be similarly watered), there was to be a giant bonfire and party held that evening. Phew.

The night’s general vibe was one of chilled-out hippies and surfers strolling around with a guitar and bottle of Pimm’s in hand (do remember that Cornwall is Hooray Henry heaven, after all). Although there were of course a few resident nutters who cranked up the trance music at 8am.

I read a camping guide in advance of this trip, which not only suggested that you should “make it simple” by packing just the essential food stuffs (which bizarrely included maple syrup and coconut milk) but also that I should be perfectly capable of cooking up a beef stroganoff or Spanish tortilla for my guests.

Unfortunately, while I remembered to pack the stove, I forgot the gas canister, so it was a barbecue job for us. However, in my defence, I firmly believe that nothing complements beer quite like a burnt sausage in a bap.

Which brings us to the hangover. Normally rather efficient with my personal hygiene, there’s something blissful about being allowed, nay forced, to abandon washing for a few days and not be publicly flogged for being a bit stinky.

The braver members of my party (the girls, not the boys, despite having one Marine and one Army boy in tow) might have been brave enough to dive, bikini-clad, into the icy cold Atlantic Ocean, but a few minutes of paddling and a quick squirt of shower-in-a-can were more than enough for me.

Breakfast was a giant sausage, egg and bacon bap on the seaside with ever-flowing cups of tea, followed by a group sleeping session on the beach (smothered in sun cream — no one wants the embarrassment of returning to work on Monday morning resembling a giant raspberry), and a late afternoon portion of fish and chips.

Not even the seven-hour return journey could dampen my happy, salty, sandy spirit.

Harriet Addison’s car was provided by www.carrentals.co.uk, which is currently offering three-day car rental from London from £81 for an economy category car

Harriet’s top tips

1 Set up your tent and bed before it gets dark and keep your torch/headlight in your pocket, ready for when the night suddenly creeps up on you.

2 Take lots of supplies, because there will inevitably be no shops near by. Place lots of drinking water around the tents for the morning.

3 Take two sleeping bags per person. Open them up, lie on top of one, and use the other as a duvet.

My must-have A bottle of rum and a wind-up head-torch.