My dogs have Bravecto which is 3 months flea and tick prevention in the form of one chewable tablet. At the vets it costs around £30, I buy a year's supply online with a private vet prescription and it works out at £20 per tablet. I first used it last year, didn't get a single tick on the dogs.
My vet has advised me that in some areas of the country, dogs need to be wormed monthly (rather than the standard 3 months) because of the risk of Lungworm - where I live the incidence is very low, virtually no risk, so I only worm 3 monthly, but if visiting other parts of the country, I've been advised to check for the local risk of Lungworm (he said that Bayer do a map on their website but I haven't checked this out yet) and worm monthly (I use Milbemax) if Lungworm risk is high or if in doubt.
In the past, I've found careful removal with a proper tick remover to be the best solution, together with checking bedding etc daily - I found a couple of dead ticks in dog's bedding in previous years whilst in the Wiltshire area - in fact that year (2014) was the last year I used Frontline on the animals (2 dogs, 1 cat) and became convinced that the chemical in it (Fibronil) was no longer effective (or at least nowhere near as effective as it used to be) - my vet confirmed that it is suspected that Fibronil is no longer an effective anti flea / tick treatment, or at least that it is losing it's previous efficacy. I seemed to be taking ticks off the dogs almost daily that year despite them being Frontlined monthly.
Many of the over the counter products and Bob Martin products for fleas do contain Fibronil - many of the others contain Permethrin or derivatives which are highly toxic to cats. So do look at the active ingredients and if using a Fibronil product, you may need to accept that it's not going to be the best product and may not be effective.
As for midgies and the Avon products, it's an urban myth - there's no hard evidence that the original formula of the Avon Skin so soft Woodland Fresh was effective against insects but it did contain citronella which is a natural insect repellent, and this is thought to be the reason for it having some insect repellent action. The name and ingredients have now changed (I think it's called Soft and Fresh or similar now) and there is masses of debate about whether or not it works - but difficult to substantiate as some people react very badly to insect bites and others don't (so they may think that their Avon product is working). It is thought that the body oil also helped as a protective barrier to the skin but this needs to be regularly reapplied (hourly or more frequently) as it's easy to brush this protective oil layer off the skin.
Basically the cheapest and most effective way of protecting yourself and dog from insects is to buy a bottle of citronella essential oil (about £3 from a health food shop) and then make up a spray bottle with a fine spray, about 15 - 20 drops of oil in water, and liberally spray yourself, your hair, your clothes, the soft furnishings in van, the dog, the dogs bed etc with the stuff, repeating every couple of hours if midgies are bad. Put about 10-15 drops in your bath water (if you ever get the luxury of a bath) and you could even put 5-10 drops in washing machine instead of conditioner.
I'd also advise a good Jungle Formula insect repellent containing 30 -50% DEET and reapply every few hours. And apparently insects are attracted by strong perfumes so might be worth avoiding smelly soap, shampoo, body wash, deodorant etc whilst you're away - try switching to unscented products or products containing citronella and/or tea tree (another well known insect repelling plant).
Any form of smoke will help too - so citronella candles, jossticks, the mossie coil incense all help too.
I know all this as I seem to have the type of blood which midgies and other biting nasties just love and I react very badly to bites - I come out in massive lumps so I've checked out all the best ways of keeping the nasties at bay and found out what works best for me - which is citronella and Deet, a combined assault.
For afterwards, a tube of antihistamine cream and Piriton tablets, to minimise the local reaction to the bites and prevent scratching which can cause bites to develop into huge nasty blisters. A bottle of Lavender essential oil is very useful too, it can be dabbed neat on bites (every 3-4 of hours - more often may cause a skin reaction) to help reduce itchiness and help healing, and again put in bath water, which is actually very good for sunburn. Or again, make up a water spray and mist your skin as often as required.
