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We bought this tent from Costco last year. Ours is a Villa 9 so presume it's the same one? Does yours have the mesh sunroom on the front?  If you google Sportiva you'll come across some Australian camping retailers with some great techy descriptions of the tent.

 I'm working on the presumption that we have the same tents here so hope that this stuff is relevant!  We were first time campers last year and this tent just seemed to tick all the boxes for us.We are really pleased with it- but then again first tent so nothing to compare it to!  The rooms are light & airy due to the colour of the tent- although once we fill it with our "stuff" the effect is somewhat reduced!!

We have no complaints about the tent.  The poles aren't colour coded so we bought some coloured velcro to make them idiot proof (learnt that the hard way after first pitch!).  The mesh sunroom is a great addition to the tent and would be fab whilst abroad however..... in wet UK weather - say no more.  Again learnt the hard way when we pitched in a hurry during heavy rain in Anglesey. Threw load of stuff into the porch overnight & the next morning everything was drenched.  Our fault- mistake learnt.  Also don't pitch the sunroom into the wind- less chance of the wind blowing rain in.  There is no groundsheet in this part so we throw a plastic backed picnic rug down mainly to wipe feet on & shoes are kept just as you step into the tent in one of those collapsable crates.  We use the front to store things we wouldn't mind getting wet- balls, buckets/spades etc.  We love our gadgets and invested in a camping kitchen. We put that in the front & do our cooking there, making sure that the kids are out of the tent & that the main tent doors are zipped up.  So far this arrangement has worked well. Again, the weather dictates doesn't it?

Overall we are really happy with this tent & can't wait to get it out of the loft for our first trip of the season.  By the way I was in Costco last night & in Liverpool they are selling a 2 man Sportiva tent & a Coleman Wyoming (?).  Had to scurry past without looking because I had the joint account card in my hand & all that camping gear to tempt me!

Hope you are still awake after reading this waffle.  That's me- why say 1 word when a 100 will do?  Ooh I might just go & add that to my signature! 

Good luck!!

Dear Sue P

Thanks for the comprehensive review. Yes, it does sound as if we've got the same or very similar tent, only bought ours last week from costco so have yet to attempt putting it up. There was one up in the shop when we bought it but we couldn't get in it, though it looked good from the outside. To hear such positive stuff about it when we bought it a bit "blind" makes us happier with our decision to buy our summer holiday and weekends away this year under canvas! It does have the sunroom thing on the front, we had thought that it'd let the water in, in inclement( ie typical british summer) weather. We have camped before, both dome, ridge and trailer tents, as well as using my parents caravan, but not for about ten years and not since our son was born. Not sure the kids have grasped yet that they'll have no access to computer, tv or playstation when we're camping (have no intention of lugging all that stuff even if we have electric hook up). Thanks again, Jo D

Jo- if you google Sportiva Villa tent you'll find a link to it there.  Head height 210cm & HH of 3000.  You can stand up straight in the bedroom pods- no stooping required.

 Believe me, it does hold up to rain- been there & got the T Shirt! I was really paranoid about that but it was absolutely fine.

When we bought ours it was on display at ground level so we had a good scout around it & knew that it was quite big- think it's 6m x 5m.  Having said that we have had no problem getting it on a pitch.

I think it was a bargain & but that's my opinion. Hopefully you'll agree! We are having our main holiday in it this year plus as many weekends away as we can. 

Good luck- hope your jaunts with it are as fun as ours have been, Sue.

Thanks to all for the replies so far.

Thanks Sue, will try to google it later. We are quite looking forward to trying it out, but will have plenty of practice putting it up in the garden first so we don't become the cabaret on site when we first go away! Appreciate the tip about the poles, am going to hijack some of the kids acrylic paints or my daughters nailvarnish to mark the poles (yes, I know not to get it on the canvas), we had to do the same with our old caravan awning. Hadn't thought about it not fitting on a pitch, will remember to check that out when we book our sites.

PigletandTigger - we also wondered about the rainproofness, but decided to bite the bullet in the end and go for it, as these things are never there if you go back after a week (we waited a day while we were chewing it over). The height was also a concern for me, as I like to be able to stand upright inside, even though none of us is over 5ft 8. When we camped before, we had a very expensive ( for what it was) dome tent which collapsed in the first puff of wind so our expectations aren't too high. Needless to say, our first couple of trips will be less then an hour away from home, just in case! Also, having paid so little for it, we figure we haven't lost too much if it doesn't suit us and the price is a lot less than a cottage anywhere during the school holidays. Again regarding the size, that hadn't occurred to us and we'll check out the section you suggest, we are likely to use c+c club sites, this year at least as we've done commercial sites in the past and didn't enjoy it. Don't know what HH means but will look it up, thanks, shows how long it is since we've been proper campers!

Skatty - appreciate you don't have a high opinion of this outfit, care to elaborate why?

I'm sure you'll be fine with the tent. Perhaps when we get our next one we may realise that this one was a turkey, who knows ? But so far so good- it does the job for us & I'm sure you'll the find the height to be fine for you.  We were really nervous that it wasn't going to withstand the elements but it has so far.  In the unlikely event of hot weather there are plenty of vents to keep the air flowing through too.

Good luck.

 Thanks for  lots  of  replies -  Have  been  very   busy  for a couple  of weeks  so  apologies for not  responding  quicker.

We   did  buy  it   mainly  for  use    in  mid  France so  it should be OK

 Good point about the  mesh-annex we'll try and avoid rainy  days.

Regards,  Martin