The Kelly Kettle has been the camper’s best friend since it was first invented in the 1890s in County Mayo, Ireland, by fisherman Patrick Kelly. Its design is nothing short of genius: the kettle itself is tubular and sits directly on top of the heat source. The heat travels up through the inside of the tube and can boil water in less than three minutes.
There is no gas canister to plug it into – the Kelly Kettle works with just a handful of dry twigs. This is a blessing in terms of weight, although the kettle itself is a little too bulky for serious backpacking. But there are other benefits to the design: as well as creating its own special, primal kind of magic in the same way that lighting a campfire does, it also means you can send the kids off on a twig-hunting mission while you set it up.
There is no mystery when it comes to assembling it and the instructions are clear and easy to follow. Build your mini twig-fire with plenty of space for the oxygen to draw in and keep it alight. You’ll need to keep monitoring and feeding it as the first handful burns out, but as the whole process only takes between three and five minutes, it won't eat into too much of your relax-time.
Be warned: once lit, resist the temptation to look directly down through the hole unless you want to take your eyebrows off, as the heat shoots up through the middle and out of the top in a concentrated blast. It goes without saying that you’ll need to guard it from curious young children wanting to get a good look too, as their injuries could be more serious than a singed eyebrow.
It’s not without its drawbacks: if it has rained heavily, you may struggle to find what you need to heat your water, and it can be tricky to light the campfire without being under shelter. It's worth carrying a little bit of dry tinder to get your fire going – once it's burning, you can carefully maintain it with damp twigs, as the extreme heat will burn off the moisture straight away.
Facts at a glance
- Diameter: Kettle width 15.5cm, fire base 18.5cm
- Weight: 1.16kg (stainless steel), or 0.8kg (anodised aluminium)
- Height: 33cm
- Material: Either food-grade stainless steel or anodised aluminium with stainless steel base.
Want to explore some other cooking options? See our round ups of best camping cookware for a fireside feast, best camping kettles for an al fresco brew and best camping BBQs for grilling in the great outdoors.
Also consider:
Kelly Kettle Ultimate Base Camp kit
Expand the possibilities by choosing the Ultimate Base Camp kit, which includes a cooking pot, grill and shallow pan. There are two cups provided (500ml and 350ml) which stack neatly into each other, plus two steel plates, an ingenius pot support that turns your kettle into a high-heat hob (perfect for frying) and an equally brilliant ‘hobo stove’ that turns your fire base into a stove for longer cooks. Everything fits neatly into itself, and into the carry bag. It's your all-in-one cooking kit for two off on adventures.
