We are first time campers who hope this will be the start of many a camping trip. We have a small family ( 2 boys aged 1 and 3 ) but would like a largish tent with 3 bedrooms and plenty of interior space to hide away from the bad weather. Would like sewn in ground sheet and electric hook up access and anything else you can recommend to increase comfort. I certainly do not want a back to basics experience rather all mod cons with bells on for a reasonable price. If that's not too much to ask I would greatly appreciate any advice. As advised by kind responses I would like to add that we would like to get the tent for less than £300 and we are going by car (citroen picasso) The campsite we have chosen is Padstow touring Park. Thanks already for v useful responses
Post last edited on 12/05/2010 20:00:34
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Go to a shop like Go Outdoors or the like where you can see tents erected and that you can view both their interiors and the way they are erected.
Not all of your (excuse the word <G>) Erections, will be on sunny and calm afternoons when the burdies are singing and all is peaceful. Erecting a tent in windy conditions, after a long drive and with 2 now screaming wains wanting fed and get off to the play area can be made even more taxing if mummsie and dadski have to struggle with obscure instructions, carbon fibre tent poles and flapping nylon.
It is all well and good to want a "a largish tent with 3 bedrooms and plenty of interior space to hide away from the bad weather.", but the reality is that the bigger the tent, the harder it will be to erect and the longer it will take you to set everything out in place.
I am not trying to put you off, camping is the best hobby ever, but I seriously suggest that you buy a tent where you can set it and a minimum of gear up to start with and then take your time to get everything else set up at your leisure.
If you look in our gallery, our wee van gives us a minimum set up time and then later, after we have had a cuppa or 3, we can then set up the awning etc whenever we fancy, or if it is too windy, the following day when the weather improves. But it has taken us a very long time to arrive at this set up and a number of tents and other units have sailed under the bridge along the way.
Good luck with your search. You don't say where you are located but if you do, I am sure someone will point you in the right direction of a display of tents.
------------- Lobey.
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We have a tent that you won't see pitched as it is a 2009 model so I thought I'd mention it - the Vango Columbia 600, which has 2/3 bedrooms (the large one being divided by a curtain into 2 - excellent for checking on the little ones without getting out of bed but still giving them their own "room). Its got a top spec (was part of Vango's Premium Family tent range) with 5000HH, SIG, steel poles for stability and a TBS internal strapping system which you clip in place to add even more stability in very windy weather, a large open living space, an enclosed wet weather entrance for balls and wellies. Its also straight forward to pitch. Can still get for about £275 (RRP last year £450).
The footprint groundsheet that goes under the SIG to protect it and the carpet for the Vango Sungari 600 will fit and if you get a sage one, the Sungari's canopy will also fit if you want even more space.
We have table and chairs, stove, a full Thomas train set/ play mat and plenty of space to walk around in the living area. Vango's pitching video on YouTube gives you good interior shots of the tent.
Suggest you do a search on the tent reviews section to get an idea of what others think of the sort of thing you would like and then go and look at them somewhere they are set up. We have two tents, one large 6 person Vango Diablo 600 for long hols (takes ages to put up) and one not quite so large 4 person Quechua Base Seconds 4.2 from Decathlon for weekends, (takes 5 mins to put up). Luxury comes at a price, the set-up can be lengthy and with two small boys that can mean a fraught start to your trip. Also, since this is your first foray into camping and you may not get hooked, it might be wise to buy second-hand to start with so the outlay is not too great. This is what we did and got our whole set-up for about £400 (less than the cost of a week in a cottage) - tent and other bits bought second-hand and some stuff bought in sales and in Tesco/Argos (much cheapness).
The ideal first timers tent is the Vango Icarus 500 or preferably and at a bit more cost, the Icarus 600.
They're not hugely expensive, well enough spec'd and very easy to put up. If camping is something you really take to at some point in the future when the kids are up a bit, get something steel poled with a bigger living space.
There's a Vango Icarus 600 DLX this year as a special edition. A bit more expensive again but from the pics it's huge inside!
It is enormous but it is very easy to put up and they often come up on eBay for reasonable prices.
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Depending on where you are in the country get yourself to a few displays and then look through the reviews section of this site to see what others think of your choices.
We area family of 4 with a 2 and 5 year old and chose a vango tigris 800. Its 8 birth with 4 pods but one can unzip into a big one leaving 2 others.Putting it up was ok but not quick.It probably took 40minutes first time without tweaking etc.Its a huge tent though with the side canopy and just right for us.Before i saw this one i wanted a monty 6 or vango sungari but seeing some at a display changed my mind.
If you fill in your profile so we know where you are im sure you can get directed to the nearest tent displays by this extremely helpful and friendly forum.
We have just taken a gamble and bought our tent unseen. Not many companies stock Royal tents, yet they are well built and strong.
We, like yourself, are 1st timers with 4 yr old twins and I am not ashamed to call myself a 'champagne camper'! Have a look at the Royal Havana 6. It will sleep up to 8 people though. It has 3 sleeping chambers, separated by a canvas wall, which we will remove anyway. It has EHU zips and the living area is v large. Great to occupy kids, games plus camping stuff.
We paid about £230 from www.intertent.co.uk a few weeks ago. Absolute bargain! Have a look on the tent review I posted to see piccies!
we have just come back from our first night camping with kids aged 3 and 6.. we bought the Coleman Coastline 6 man. and everyone commented on how big it was inside. It was easy to put up. We just used the 2 back bedrooms this trip which left an area inside you could park a small car in (not that you would) but when the kids are older we can add the 3rd bedroom pod to give a separate area. I cant recommend it enough Bought ours from Amazon which had the best price I could find £189.99 (I think it is now £199) I can see it lasting my family a long time. We were the only one of our friends who had totally build in ground sheet.
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Topic: which tent? help please
