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Well... this weekend was our first outing with our new TT. 

We arrived on Friday at about 2.30pm and were shown to our pitch. The chap asked if there was enough room.. and we couldn't really give an answer as we'd never put it up before!!   Anyway he was very helpful and gave us a hand turning it around to face the correct way once I had backed it onto the spot... and a bit of backward/forward shuffling to get it central. He then left us to get on with it.. within 5 minutes the heavens opened!!  It absolutely lashed it down and we sat in the car and laughed about it.. Anyway it didn't last long and apart from a couple of minor hiccups we had the whole thing, awning and all erected in about 2hrs. The chap that had helped us was then walking past and nearly fell over when he saw how big it was!

We then spent a lovely weekend enjoying a nice site and just getting comfy with our new purchase.

The take down was about the same this morning.. and went quite smoothly though we couldn't get the beds to fold flat ... when they only contained the same bedding that had been in them on the way down... we resolved it eventually... 

Then it was off for home. It tows like a dream and having the braked trailer made me feel much more comfortable about our stopping power.

The one thing that did come up over the weekend was the size of the tent. The site manager approached us and said he had measured it and found it to be slightly more than a "standard pitch". It was not a problem to him as there was plenty of room where we had pitched.. but he went on to say that some sites may either a) refuse you on the basis of being too big.. or b) charge you for two pitches. I obviously countered that if the site we really wanted to go on wouldn't accept us at full length then we could easily reduce it by 50% by not adding the awning. He agreed that this would generally be acceptable.

Now although this seems a compromise and would get us on somewhere that might otherwise refuse us.. the idea of the tent was to use it all.. not stow some of it away and not use it for fear of being charged double.

I wondered what a "standard pitch" was and if anybody else with a similar sized TT had ever encountered any problems with the size of their set up. Ours was measured as 7 x 4 metres.. the Cabanon brochure sizes it at 7.5 x 4.4 metres.

That said the staff on the site were all really nice and the comments passed were in a helpful and advisory way.. not a complaint etc.

Looking forward to our next outing now... where to go ... where to go

Glad to hear you had a good first outing in your TT.

We have had to inform the sites we've booked at that we no longer have our frame tent (450 x 560 cm) and will be bringing our FC (620 x 460 longer with the annexe).

If you're concerned a site may not have large enough pitches to accomodate your unit and follow the 6m rule then ask before booking.  That way there won't be any mix ups and you can arrive secure in the knowledge your TT will be welcomed.

I have read the standard pitch size measurements on my internet wanders over the last couple of days.  Will have another look, but I think these are only guidelines followed by responsible sites anyway.

Thanks Shar & Dean,

This is what the chap said.. we are members of the Camping and Caravanning Club and it was a club site this weekend.. we loved it!   He said, don't book through the website.. but ring direct and confirm.

He did say that such TT's were becoming bigger and bigger every year and sizing themselves out of pitch sizes... and as such were/could become a problem at some sites. It just got us worrying a bit thinking we had bought something much too big that sites would be turning us away from more than welcoming us..

hi glad you all had a good time and it all went smoothly for you .  its also nice to know that some people do care and offer to help .

mal & keiron...