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Hi Simon.

              Having a tent is great, and all the time we were on hols in the Ardeche some two weeks, this year, we had our meals outside the tent, under the Sun-Canopy, breakfast was my favourite time of the day to be out in the open, thing is that was Southern France mid-July, wall to wall sunshine and temps reaching +40Deg C, no sleeping bags, just a cotton sheet to chuck over us both, trying to do the same in UK just would not happen, I have been there and got the "T" shirt, so I have resigned myself to the fact, that when it comes to a fortnights camping holiday, I need to drive at least a 1000 miles South from home to get guaranteed sunshine.

Andy.  

hi we did exactly the same thing. had a tent then caravan and back to a tent. we felt theres alot more freedom camping in a tent  call us weird but we are tent addicts i think!!!!

anyony ever heard of tents anonymous!?!

especially now its summer i tend to eat sleep and dream camping.how sad i hear you shout, i know i cant help it x

Well this is my first post here as we only bought out tent today - due to our caravan finally falling to bits. We've had it 17 years and bought it by accident (long story) and it has been great whilst the family has been growing up. They are both at university now so funds are bit limited.

We always went to a site for 10 to 14 days at a time rather than touring. We also took so much junk that it took about an hour to empty the van and pitch. So we never really saw the advantage of a 'van. And to be honest the beds and seats weren't any more comfortable than decent quality tent gear.

Looking at the purchase price of a new 'van, and these days you'd be lucky to get 10 years out of one (many of our friends have had less before major problems) - the storage, servicing, insurance, we just wanted to make things simpler. And whilst our 2.2 Vectra tows it well, the last two trips have been blighted by high winds which made the journey tiring.

So with a friend's advice, and having read a few threads on this forum, we have bought a Cabanon Aruba off ebay. It looks to be in first class condition and cost us just over £200 - which is a bit cheaper than a new caravan. And come time to change the car I'll be happy to get a 1.6 estate and stop worrying about the insurance costs of the larger engine.

The biggest worry we had was finding good campsites as we've always booked via the Caravan Club and know their site facilities are good. But they don't take tents of course - that's just about the only regret we have, and why we seriously considered a trailer tent. But the small advantages just didn't seem worth the huge increase in cost.

people go on about pitching a tent and packing away in the rain and then you got the hastle of drying it?????

well a caravan is no diferent youn got to get out of the car to level it and you got to put the awning up and down in the rain and guess what...........you are wet and the kit with both methods 

also some of the tents fully kitted out are just as comfy and cosy as a caravan and the difference being the price

my mate has just splashed out on a van that has cost him a little over £20,000

and i have just bought a new maryland xxl which has got a lot more living and sleeping area than the van and awning yes the van has got running water and a shower and a toilet and tv but you got to empty the toilet in the morning and the tv......thats not camping........and the shower although handy i have seen bigger lunch boxes  and then you got to store it at a cost so and to top it all off you got to take the same kit with you so whats th point in spending all that money thats not what camping is about and finaly the money doesnt stop there storage and insurance a dam good car to tow it and the Fuel cost

so i realy dont see the point and you cant beat the old fashiond camping of which is getting very popular indeed

Hi Floydboy.

                 And well said, I spent two weeks in the Southern Ardeche France this summer, the weather was hot as expected, so everyone spent the evenings/mornings sat outside there units, having the evening meal or breakfast etc, no one was inside, thier units they were only used for sleeping, so why bother with a caravan, I can't see the point, for the cost of a new caravan I could rent  a huge static on the same site for the next 20 years!. it's a no brainer.

Andy.

That's one of the reasons why we sold our caravan when the weather is great, we're always outside of it and if it's raining and windy we didn't find it much fun sitting in a tin box watching tv, we can do that at home for free. 

We now have a choice of 3 tents, 2 were bought very cheaply second hand.  We keep an eye on the forecast and go out as often as we can.  If the weather's bad, we stay at home.

Quote: Originally posted by FLOYDYBOY on 23/8/2009

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people go on about pitching a tent and packing away in the rain and then you got the hastle of drying it?????

well a caravan is no diferent youn got to get out of the car to level it and you got to put the awning up and down in the rain and guess what...........you are wet and the kit with both methods 

also some of the tents fully kitted out are just as comfy and cosy as a caravan and the difference being the price

my mate has just splashed out on a van that has cost him a little over £20,000

and i have just bought a new maryland xxl which has got a lot more living and sleeping area than the van and awning yes the van has got running water and a shower and a toilet and tv but you got to empty the toilet in the morning and the tv......thats not camping........and the shower although handy i have seen bigger lunch boxes  and then you got to store it at a cost so and to top it all off you got to take the same kit with you so whats th point in spending all that money thats not what camping is about and finaly the money doesnt stop there storage and insurance a dam good car to tow it and the Fuel cost

so i realy dont see the point and you cant beat the old fashiond camping of which is getting very popular indeed

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I'm definitely with you on preferring to actually be in a tent Floydboy but I ca't agree that a caravan is no different as regards the hassle. Thing is you don't have to put an awning up at all !

We've often used our little 'van with no awning for the entire camp.  Sometimes we've just waited till later when we're not so tired or if it's raining wait till it's stopped, but at least we can get into the 'van and it's all ready & comfy. It didn't even cost that much - 2 Vango 4 man tents wouldn't cost much more. You don't have to have a fancy big new caravan, the old uns aren't all damp heaps of junk

An added bonus of a caravan is if you need the loo when towing you can pull over somewhere & use your own loo !  When you're a female that's especially welcome cos try as I might I just can't get the hang of squatting behind the car door at a lay-by without my bare bum being on view for passing motorists  lol

There's always the option if it's raining when you arrive of just stepping into the caravan where everything is already set up. Don't even have to put the legs down if you leave it hitched up & you're careful. We're not obsessive levellers either and honestly don't spend much time faffing about there.

Don't have a shower in the van, never take a tv (perish the thought) and all in all we're probably more basic than a lot of glamper campers in tents so I don't think you can really say we're not really camping .... except, when all's said & done - we don't feel like we're `really camping' with the caravan either   It's not the same really is it ?! Lol