Hi all, i'm new here, (we are a family with 3 small boys from 10 to 4 and a dog!) - and wonder if anyone could help us make up our mind.......
At the moment we have a caravan and enjoy using it, however, because of where we have to store it - we've just moved areas - we find we don't use it very often at all anymore. (Its a one and a half hour round trip just to collect the van by which time weve lost the enthusiasm to go anywhere!) This also means we are paying out hefty amounts for storage and insurance for something we hardly use.
We have been seriously thinking of selling the caravan and getting camping gear instead, because we could store a tent/accessories/trailer at home in the garage and have access to it instantly.
Our dilemma is, we love the comfort of the caravan and want to know how comfortable it can really be in a tent! For example, i would want to have the full works - TV, heating, really comfy beds and something really comfy to sit on in the evenings!! Our main worry is that we would be bothered by damp/condensation as some of our family have asthma.
if anyone has ever made this swap from caravanning to tenting it would be great to hear your experiences, any opinions most welcome! Thanks in advance Thanielle x
I have asthma, I dont get it when camping.
If you take home comforts and buy the right tent for you
then you'll be fine.
I've done the caravan vs RV vs Tent and the tent wins
(RV is close but i didnt have a tow car on it)
just get a large tent you can stand up in (over the whole area)
i'm not going to mention Vango Aspen 700DLX as a starting point...
We had a lovely caravan with all mod cons but decided to sell it this year as we were not going to use it very much. We brought a large family tent with three bedrooms and I enjoyed our holiday very much. We didnt take a telly or rely on ehu but there was electric so we did use a light for sitting outside at night. I loved the tent coz I love cooking outdoors etc etc, and no telly, it was bliss! You will probably like a trailer tent as these have separate kitchens and beds off the ground which make it a bit more comfortable. We had one of those too.
Just because you have a caravan why do you have to watch tv, and why can't you cook outside?
We think that maybe in the future we would have a caravan (when we're retired) but we love 'camping' and we would not want a tv in the 'van, we would still cook and sit outside, in fact all the things we do now with our tents but with a different place to sleep and sit when its raining.
There is an awful lot of discussion about damp and condensation on here. All I can say is, tents are not all equal when it comes to suffering condensation. We have a Montana 6 and suffered no damp or condensation, not even under our beds, which apparently is a common one. I think having a SIG helps as this prevents damp from the ground coming up, and having really good ventilation all round the tent is very important.
I have had tents, trailer tents, caravans, a static and I am now back to a tent. If you want a tent that is EASY to erect and will withstand all the elements plus have plenty of room..... have a look at an Outwell Bear Lake tent.....they are superb We have just bought one after selling our trailer tent, Trailer tents are a pain to erect!
Have fun!
We upgraded from a caravan to a tent Although our caravan was quite spacious & we had a full size awning on the caravan, hubby still felt too cramped & claustrophobic (spelling???) with the caravan - he loves the feeling of space in our large frame tent.
As for home comforts, we have a fake fur rug on the floor of the bedroom, comfy airbeds, rugs on top of the groundsheet in the living area, padded loungers to relax on, a stainless steel sink & drainer on a shelving unit, and lots more, but NO TV as it's nice to get away from it and enjoy the sounds & sights of the country for a few days.
In a similar vein, my dad recently put together the figures for owning a caravan as he thought he might like to spend some of his retirement travelling around France.
Taking into account storage, maintenance, depreciation, loss of interest on capital used for purchase, additional ferry, fuel and toll costs etc. he calculated that unless he was planning on spending more than 6 weeks a year in France it would be cheaper to rent a Gite every time.
------------- I can remember when this was all fields.
i'm having similar dilema, we are having to sell lovely caravan because we would like to move and can't afford both. I think if you get the right tent plenty of room etc it won't be too bad kids are really excited to go proper camping and i'm sure it will be fun.
We are really lucky, we have a tourer on a seasonal pitch, so it's just a case of open the door, switch on the electric, pour the wine and relax. We also have a frame tent for going to different places and a wee dome tent for overnights. so I suppose we 've got the best of both worlds
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Topic: Caravan or tent????
works - TV, heating, really comfy beds and something really comfy to sit on in the evenings!! 
Although our caravan was quite spacious & we had a full size awning on the caravan, hubby still felt too cramped & claustrophobic (spelling???) with the caravan - he loves the feeling of space in our large frame tent.
