Green original cube and walk-in run for sale

[Snowy]

Oooh, Outwells are very good! I would've gone for one if finances had allowed! I've coveted quite a few when we've seen them on sites we've stayed on.

[Willow]

Something else worth looking for is that one door has a canopy over it so if it is raining hard you can get in and out without getting inside of tent as wet (mine doesn't so after a wet week in Ireland I just ordered a separate canopy)

[Hen Watch]

Before I start I would like to say I am a camping novice having just bought a tent and spent a whole 2 nights away in it....... so this may be garbage and may be trashed by camping vetrans, but this was my thought process when we bought the tent a whole 4 weeks ago

 

We are a family of 5. And want the tent for weekend camping only rather than long stays. But hubbie wanted something small enough to put up with one person only so that if he went away with the kids alone he could manage it. (this is because I am a weekend part time worker and sometimes can't join them). But also it needed to be big enough for 5 if needed.

 

So..... we went to a camping exhibition with tons of tents in a field. We purposely bought a 4 person tent....... Yes I know what you are thinking "that's one less than 5", but it has 2 bedrooms for 2 people each and my hubbie just slept on a campbed in the main living area. So for our weekends away that's fine as we don't clog up the living area with stuff. I guess for extended stays that might be a pain.

 

It also was important to me to have a canopy of some sort.

 

Also, we took a photo of the tent at the exhibition so we had a reference picture as sometimes the instructions are just not detailed enough.

 

When we got it home and put it up in the garden it seemed to have grown massively and was much bigger than it looked in a field full of tents. My top tip would be to try and see the tent in the flesh erected rather than buy without seeing it.

 

Excuse the picture of my derriere.......but this is the Coleman Mackenzie x4 which cost us £199 at an exhibition.

 

 

Didn't buy it from this website, but they have a good pic.

http://www.camperite.co.uk/more/on/details/00033

[Ygerna]

Interesting that you say you bought a 4 berth for the 5 of you, I was thinking we could do that, as at the moment we could all sleep in the sleeping area (the tent I saw you could undo the inner seperating fabric) together, and then as the children grow, me and DH could simply sleep in the living area, putting our bed and bags into the pods during the day.

 

Great minds

[Olly]

What you're describing is perfectly possible, I just know from experience that you cannot have too much tent space!

 

Consider if it's raining (it does sometimes happen when you're camping! ) and you want to bring deckchairs, barbecue, cooker, camping table and any of the other detritus that you collect inside out of the rain - it won't be possible if you're sleeping in there. It could also be a little chilly, the sleeping pods have sewn-in groundsheets for a reason, it makes a slightly warmer enclosed area with a fly-proof screen, whereas the general 'living' area may be a bit cooler and subject to draughts under the sides.

 

If you're really only planning on weekends etc then it could be fine, but I would go for the extra space. Even though you don't spend a lot of time in the tent, you still need to keep clothes etc in there and be able to get at them! It's hard to find the spare underwear/dry socks/clean trousers in a bag that's buried under a pile of airbeds, sleeping bags and pillows.

 

I know this all sounds a bit fussy, but trust me it is important not to have too small a space - I've graduated from a 2-person, to a 3-person and now to a 4-person tent even though it's usually only me using it!

 

As far as putting it up is concerned, I honestly don't think it makes much difference - it will take longer to put up a bigger tent because there are more poles, but it isn't a lot more difficult than a small one. I can put up my four-man tent on my own, but really need a second person to hold the other end of the pole - but it's just the same with the much smaller three-man tent that I used to use.

[Busybird]

As I said in my previous post, we have been using a 4 man tent for 5 of us for a couple of years. The living area also has a sewn in groundsheet so is fine for OH and I to sleep in. On a wet day we can all sit in the living area (although this is v cosy!) on camp chairs but the kids tend to lie reading in their pods when it is too wet to go out. We store all our clothes in the pod my daughter sleeps in and the cooking stuff in the small porch. The rest of the detritus goes in the car when not in use. We also dry wet clothes in the car.

 

Keeping food etc. in the car is actually essential if camping somewhere like the New Forest as the ponies have been known to come INTO a tent (and damage it) if they smell food in there. We have seen this happen so are very careful.

 

Bigger tents look great (ours looks very puny pitched amongst the palaces many people have ) and most people have them for very sound reasons - perhaps with younger kids it would be necessary to have more space for them to play. I just wanted to say that it is possible to enjoy a camping trip in a smaller tent if that is what suits your family.

[Ygerna]

What you're describing is perfectly possible, I just know from experience that you cannot have too much tent space!

 

Consider if it's raining (it does sometimes happen when you're camping! ) and you want to bring deckchairs, barbecue, cooker, camping table and any of the other detritus that you collect inside out of the rain - it won't be possible if you're sleeping in there. It could also be a little chilly, the sleeping pods have sewn-in groundsheets for a reason, it makes a slightly warmer enclosed area with a fly-proof screen, whereas the general 'living' area may be a bit cooler and subject to draughts under the sides.

 

If you're really only planning on weekends etc then it could be fine, but I would go for the extra space. Even though you don't spend a lot of time in the tent, you still need to keep clothes etc in there and be able to get at them! It's hard to find the spare underwear/dry socks/clean trousers in a bag that's buried under a pile of airbeds, sleeping bags and pillows.

 

I know this all sounds a bit fussy, but trust me it is important not to have too small a space - I've graduated from a 2-person, to a 3-person and now to a 4-person tent even though it's usually only me using it!

 

As far as putting it up is concerned, I honestly don't think it makes much difference - it will take longer to put up a bigger tent because there are more poles, but it isn't a lot more difficult than a small one. I can put up my four-man tent on my own, but really need a second person to hold the other end of the pole - but it's just the same with the much smaller three-man tent that I used to use.

 

Thank you. A very well reasoned argument. I am going to make sure Hubby reads it, so it will help push those 'guilt' buttons and he helps buy the big tent I want

 

Seriously though, thanks, its something I hadn't given much thought to, I only considered the actual space, not how it would be used during all contingencies.

[Chicken Licken]

I would swear by a Vango tent - they have been making them for years and have a really good range to choose from. They also come with a repair kit wehich is always handy and are really helpful if you need to replace poles etc (I used to run a D of E group and we always needed to replace bits and bobs). There are loads of good deals around at the mo. Here is the link to the go-outdoors tent sale family tents section....

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/Index.aspx?Page=product-list&Category=1265&SpecialOffer=1&StartPage=1&?utm_source=27_07_09_familytents&utm_medium=homepage&utm_term=sale0809&utm_campaign=sale0809

[Willow]

Another thing to consider is as long as the living space is big enough you can always add a small 2/3 berth hike tent for teens to sleep in. Many sites only charge a nominal amount to add what they call a PUP (not sure if that's pop up tent or put up tent) right beside your tent.

 

Although we used to camp all the time when I was a child I found the various options very confusing.

 

The only thing I'd really like to change is how bulky the tent is packed up as it take a lot of the boot space and by the time I add a decent cool box we're running out of space for everything else. And there is not a chance I will ever get the tent into the original bag just for the canvas - it takes the shaped ground sheet nicely though. Fortunately Vango supplied a nice big bag to carry all the bits and the canvas/poles etc all fit into that.

[Ygerna]

I was dreaming about tents in my sleep last night

[Willow]

Another consideration (just in case you weren't already overwhelmed with things to consider ) is how easy it is to get information on the tents and what accessories might work with it.

 

Vango are totally hopeless in this regard

[chelsea]

Oooh, Outwells are very good! I would've gone for one if finances had allowed! I've coveted quite a few when we've seen them on sites we've stayed on.

 

 

Outwells are gorgeous! I love the "tunnel" style with the big canopied area at the front that you can cook under.

 

We used to have a massive Khyam - that was a great tent.

[earthmam1]

Hi

 

How old are your children. We have a canvas bell tent for us and a vango 4 person tent that our boys use (they are BIG boys now) but we have done this since they were about 10yrs old. We used to use a gazebo in between the tents so we had a dry "sitting" area.

 

This has served us well in music festivals and on holidays.

 

T.here are a couple of web sites for bell tents

 

sue

[Ygerna]

Hi

 

How old are your children. We have a canvas bell tent for us and a vango 4 person tent that our boys use (they are BIG boys now) but we have done this since they were about 10yrs old. We used to use a gazebo in between the tents so we had a dry "sitting" area.

 

This has served us well in music festivals and on holidays.

 

T.here are a couple of web sites for bell tents

 

sue

 

I wanted to get a Bell tent but hubby said NO! he is such a bore Our children are 5 (and a half if you ask her ) 3 and 14 months so much to young to be sleeping in their own tent just yet. But, as I type an idea has popped into my head, I can have a small tent to myself and DH can share with them

[Olly]

I like your thinking!

[PurpleTree]

Our tent is a 4 berth and we find it fine for us and our 2 little boys. We got them child air beds with raised sides http://www.towsure.com/product/15376-Kampa_Eazy_Bed_Junior_-_Blue

 

We can fit 2 easily in the one sleeping area, and we've worked out that if we have another baby we'll be able to fit a 3rd in. We've had a couple of fortnight holidays in this tent in all sorts of weather, we found if we were confined to the tent for a while, we tied back the bedroom doors and the kids could sit on their beds, I could lounge on our bed and hubby could sit in the main area. Although I really want to get the sun canopy for our tent so we have a little bit of extra living space, but it seems Cabanon pretty much close down in August

[Old Speckled Hen]

Hi

 

How old are your children. We have a canvas bell tent for us and a vango 4 person tent that our boys use (they are BIG boys now) but we have done this since they were about 10yrs old. We used to use a gazebo in between the tents so we had a dry "sitting" area.

 

This has served us well in music festivals and on holidays.

 

T.here are a couple of web sites for bell tents

 

sue

 

I just looked these up and wow!!! they are fabulous

 

http://www.belltent.co.uk/index.php?gclid=CM7pmYTOr5wCFZMU4wodUzr0lA

 

I could put one up in the garden for the grandchildren to sleep in when they visit.

[earthmam1]

Hi

 

How old are your children. We have a canvas bell tent for us and a vango 4 person tent that our boys use (they are BIG boys now) but we have done this since they were about 10yrs old. We used to use a gazebo in between the tents so we had a dry "sitting" area.

 

This has served us well in music festivals and on holidays.

 

T.here are a couple of web sites for bell tents

 

sue

 

I just looked these up and wow!!! they are fabulous

 

http://www.belltent.co.uk/index.php?gclid=CM7pmYTOr5wCFZMU4wodUzr0lA

 

I could put one up in the garden for the grandchildren to sleep in when they visit.

 

We have now got one of the ultimate with a zipped in groundsheet from this site. It is really fantastic. We also splashed out on the candleabra, (you can when the kids are grown up).

 

We used it at the Larmertree festival (in all the bad weather) and when most of all the other tents were suffering ours was standing proud.

 

They are expensive but last years (we had our last one a long time)

 

sue

[Jules.]

Bell tents are

and there are chickens on their website

[dippy bird]

W e just upgraded to a Trigano trailer tent, we spent almost 3 weeks in the south of France in it - it was fantastic! The space is great and theres room for a loo(a must).We are going to Wales this Bank holiday, so it will surely be put to the test as it is usually raining and we normally freeze in our other tent!

[Ygerna]

DH has mentioned trailer tents

 

Why did I think this would be easy

[PurpleTree]

I'd love a trailer tent or one of those folding camper ones, we haven't really got anywhere to store it though. We're going camping this weekend in Mid Wales, really hoping it doesn't rain

[Ygerna]

I've decided to buy a tent first, second hand, and then if we really like camping move up to a trailer tent next year. If we got one I'd ask my FIL if he would mind us leaving it there as he has room and is a VERY keen caravaner so I could use the 'we'd be able to go on holidays with you' angle

 

Thanks for all the input on this, its much appreciated.