The last time I slept in a tent was when I was 17. It was part of my Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expedition on the North Yorkshire Moors and it was an eventful trip. We reached our campsite that first night and one member of the team pulled something out of her rucksack and said with a flourish “here’s the tent inner”. Seconds later another member of the team did exactly the same. Word for word the same. Now, I don’t know how much you know about old fashioned tents, but two tent inners isn’t exactly right. Especially when it’s raining!
Luckily things improved from that point on, although it was a trip that seemed to feature sun burn, wind burn and ice. So much ice that on the last morning I recall having to use a cigarette lighter to help melt the ice on the tent zip which was preventing us from getting out at the time. I’m not sure that’s best practice though!
Fast forward a few years and I’m sat here on my laptop researching tents. We’ve decided that 2016 is the year that we finally go for it and try camping as a family of four. My mum gave the family some money for Christmas (thank you Mum!) with the instruction that it should be spent on something for the whole family. We considered the idea of a family holiday, but then thought that if we could instead spend in on camping gear then hopefully it will benefit us for years to come on several family holidays. (And privately, it might mean that I finally get to go to a festival – something I’ve wanted to do for years!) I’m also hoping to go to the WI Tea and Tents gathering in the summer this year too. The only tent we own is something we bought for £20 in Tesco several years ago that the kids play in in the garden during the school summer holidays. I’m not sure it’s gong to be big enough or sturdy enough for four of us for a whole night, let alone any longer, and I daren’t think what might happen if it got rained on.
But, it seems that camping has moved on quite a bit since the days of the old bulky three man tents that school provided us with, and to be honest I’m totally lost in all the different options. And that’s just looking at tents. Campers now have things like air beds which seem like complete luxury compared to the paper thin sleeping mat that I slept on all those years back. Combine all this with the fact that Mr C is a man who likes gadgets and researching everything properly before buying any bit of kit and it means I’m starting to wonder if we’ll be able to buy anything in time to actually go camping this year!
We spent Saturday afternoon going round a huge camping and outdoors shop in Milton Keynes and if anything it’s made me realise how many options are our there and how many little things matter. Just in that one afternoon we’re already quite fussy about the exact layout of bedrooms in terms of what will work for us. And even getting picky about how the bedrooms are physically divided – a zip or not? Mr C is all excited about new air beam technology which I hadn’t even heard of before now. Then there’s also all the other kit that you need. At this rate we might need a bigger car too to transport everything to a campsite!
However, as much as I’m ready to thump Mr C over his repeated use of the “now is the winter of our discount tents” line, I figure there must be some good deals to be had out there in the winter sales, if only I knew what to buy.
We got a VANGO a couple of years ago. An Icarus 500, you can still pick them up for £180: http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/vango-icarus-500-tent-2012-p201938
I’ve replaced a couple of the poles but other than that it’s been great. It packs down fairly small and is a heck of a lot cheaper than some of the “posh” tents. The problem is, you spend a lot on a tent and you might get back to the camp site to find someone’s nicked it…
I did a fairly extensive post on camping/festival equipment the other year, http://www.daddacool.co.uk/2015/07/festival-essentials-101.html might be of some help 🙂
We have an icarus 600 – I’d stick with the 500 tbh if I chose again. Takes a bit of practice putting it up, but I can do it on my own in around 40 minutes to fully pegged out, which is important for me as I often go away without t’other half. Have been camping as long as I’ve been blogging – do shout if there’s anything I can help with 🙂
We reached a similar conclusion last year and decided that if we wanted to get away more for weekends then camping was the perfect option with 3 children as B&B’s etc rarely work and are expensive.
We bought a 2nd hand Outback Hartford XL, we liked having the pods for bedrooms rather than the standard tunnel type tent. We just stalked ebay as these things are normally pick up only so typically you can get a good deal as other bidders have to be relatively close by too.
We got a carpet with ours, which sounds bonkers but is really great as it makes the inside more comfortable to be in and walk around with no shoes.
The whole world of carpets in tents sounded so weird to me until I saw a load on Saturday and now I think it’ a must have. Off to google that particular tent. There’s just so much choice. I think the key thing is once you’ve found what will work for you trying to find one secondhand to save a huge amount.
Good luck! It sounds like you’re doing plenty of research to find yourself the perfect tent. Camping is something which fills me with horror, but my kids love it. My husband takes them for an annual camping trip and they’re forever ‘needing’ new equipment!
Ooooh, good luck choosing the tent, we bought one a few years ago and I remember being overwhelmed with the choice. I hope Mr C makes his mind up soon!
Good luck with it all. As I say mine is massive but it kept us all dry one very stormy night in Wales – and is also a Vango from Go Outdoors. You really should come to the Zombie Weekender.
I can remember camping a lot when I was a teenager but I haven’t ventured out with the children as yet
My little gang what to camp in the summer and I would love to do a festival with them.
I’ve not camped since I was a teenager either, good luck with choosing. Have you looked at P&J’s camping in Smallford at the garden centre there, they always did very well for my husband who is a scouter. Mich x
I’m definitely not a camper but if I was I’d want a really comfy spacious tent. Preferably with heating and lighting and definitely wifi 😉