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Advice:

• Have a go. But have a practise locally first.
• Don't go overboard on a tent - polyester tents and cotton/polycotton tents have upsides but they all have downsides too.
• Polyester is not breathable, can attract condensation and is "louder" in rain" BUT modern tents are well-ventilated these days. BUT it is also much lighter and packs into half the space of cotton. It is also waterproof (up to a limit defined as the Hydrostatic Head (HH)(3000 and above is good).
• Cotton is breathable and a cotton tent may be cooler in hot weather. BUT it becomes waterproof in rain by soaking up rainwater, its threads expanding to fill the microscopic holes between the weave. This means no touching the tent sides and it means packing up a wet cotton tent (& drying it out later) is a bit of a nightmare.
• There is an argument put forward by some who say serious camping = cotton/frame/Cabanon etc. Their greatest champion was a bloke called Rex. I regard myself as just as serious and used to argue with Rex that its actually down to preference (and budget of course). I prefer manmade tents because they're more forgiving of a bit of misuse, lighter and take up far less space in the boot (many frame tenters also have trailers & I hate towing, driving all day at 60mph)
• When buying your tent make sure you have plenty of room. You want a bedroom(s) that'll take a large (look for Queen sized) airbed with room to manoevre. You also want a decent space to keep stuff and live in if nights are damp/cool (can happen in France). As a rule of thumb tents can reasonably accommodate half the number of people they say thay can, and give loads of space to a third.
• Buy a good queen-sized airbed, perhaps double thickness from somewhere like here http://www.only-airbeds.co.uk/?gclid=CKan_anOkJoCFVeE7Qod_EXEFg . In France we then use sheets & quilts from home rather than sleeping bags that we use in the UK.
• The only other piece of dedicated kit would be a double burner cooker for tea & whatever cooking you feel up to. Most other stuff can come from places like Matalan, Lidl, Aldi, TESCO etc very cheaply or you may have suitable stuff already that'll do the job.

My own advice for a tent would be an Outwell Montana 6. They're £400 but a huge favourite, & you'd get nearly the whole price back on Ebay if it turned out you didn't like camping. http://www.outwell.dk/frontpage.aspx?b=Outwell&bid=2&lid=1&l=en-GB

Alot of people probably do get into camping because of the concept of it being cheaper. We did in fact.  And it probably is, compared to a luxury villa holiday.  But, camping...or even glamping can't ever be compared to staying in a house or villa...there simply is no comparison, so you have to have other good reasons why you want to give it a try.

We bought cheap equipment to begin with...and how on earth we weren't ever put off is anbodys guess...we were cold, wet, damp and miserable.  However, we persevered, picked ourselves up and bought some better kit ( Outwell Hartford XL with sewn in groudsheet ).  We bought decent high rise beds, better cooker, stand and I'm afraid a hook up aswell, so we could have a heater.  All this made the whole experience MUCH better and has meant that it has kept us camping.

But, we love the great outdoors, love cooking and eating outdoors and sitting out until its dark watching the weather ( quite often watching the dark clouds gather ! )...but its things like that that tip the balance.

I would Love a villa holiday with a pool...but I will probably always camp too.  For us, camping is the only way we can afford to have a holiday ( for the past two summers ), but in time I would hope that we can go back to doing other things aswell.

Once you've paid out the initial outlay the equipment is there to use over and over...we did buy a trailer aswell for another £450....plus other odds and ends over the years ( like last weekend we spent £60 on two new chairs and £25 on a tarp)....but overall it has now paid for itself in the three or four years we have been camping.

Everybody is different with these things...some people are really rough, tough and resilient and relish sleeping in a bivvy under the stars...I couldn't do that...and camping has been a steep learning curve in order to find a level that we're comfortable with.  No, you can't choose your neighbours ( especially if you choose to camp with a big kit, hook-up etc ) and thats another consideration, if like us, you would rather not take your holidays rubbing shoulders with the Shamless family.....but again, careful choice of site usually guards against this ( though it has still happened to us ! )  There are so many options and avenues to take which suit the indivdual ( though it can be a weigh it up, pros and cons balancing act )...but I think everyone would agree that no matter how much kit, or how little kit you have, camping can be very good for the soul.

We have only started camping this year.  We decided to go and buy all the stuff rather than borrow it.  Our reasoning for this was that we wanted electric hook up and a kettle and other bits to make it the kind of camping WE wanted and we didn't want to be shouting at our kids every time they touched something for fear of them damaging it.  We bought an 8 man Vango Tigris which included carpet and footprint for under £300 and I think in all including a second hand trailer we have spent approx £1000.  We have already had a 2 day break away, it rained, it was cold and WE LOVED IT!!!!

We have now booked 3 more holidays this year and that is only for starters!  Last year we paid £3000 for 4 of us to go all inclusive to Turkey for 2 weeks and at the end of 2 weeks that was it over.... with a tent you can go away for a long weekend at a moments notice when the rat race is all getting too much and spend less than £50 including food!  I found my 2 day break camping much more of a break than the 2 week holiday to Turkey because it was so relaxing (If you had told me a year ago I would write THAT, I would have thought you were mad!)  I know camping isn't for everyone but give it a go, if you spend or not, just try it,  I am so glad I did!

Good luck whatever you decide

Fee

Im sure you were only joking but you wouldnt be very popular with fellow campers if you were really noisily drunk especially after quiet time - but most of us like a beer/wine or 3 & still manage consideration for others around us.

We have a Montana 6 and its a great tent but we've bought a Cabanon canvas frame tent from Ebay as a warm weekend in September made us realise how unbearable it would be in the height of Summer.  One option we were considering was to throw a canvas tarp over the Montana to cool the inside down but decided to go with the Cabanon, we just use a roof box we don't want a trailer.  They are very traditional looking (well most of them are) but really are fabulous tents and the interior is a similar layout to the Montana & other modern frame temts anyway.  I would imagine you would spend most of your days outside of the tent in France so a porch or extension/sun canopy for your tent would be a good idea

I've never felt a street cred amongst tents, its a rustic outdoors holiday and there are so many types I don't think anyone cares about who has the best - but its great to have a wonder round and have a nosey from a distance at other peoples set ups you get loads of ideas that way.

We used to stay in fantastic places with private pools & such like but its just a couple of weeks a year which come & go so quickly - I love the fact that my holiday is stored in my house and I can up and go whenever I want to wherever I want and in that way the expense feels more of an investment (thats what I tell my husband anyway).  The other fact is that the kids absolutely love it - camping children are the most sociable kids I've ever met, so my two are never short of little pals.

Thank you all for your very helpful and informative posts. I have been won round, so camping it is for 2009. I think I’ve concluded that so long as we’re comfortable (ie: not unbearably hot or lying on something unbearably hard), then it should be great fun.

So, it needs to be a breathable tent which is easy to erect (so we will actually use it more than once a year). It also needs to fit in the car (I’m afraid if I’m towing a trailer then I might as well tow a caravan!), with some comfy mattresses.

We’ll buy the bare minimum to begin with (so I will have to control my OH’s desire to get all the kit which may be difficult since I’m at work all week) and we will try camping here before we venture abroad. For what it is worth we did spend a week in a static last year as a trial and it was great fun.

Finally, despite the comments I made in my original post, rest assured I am more concerned about the inconsideration of others on the campsite, rather than the likelihood that I might cause offence/upset to others.

Really excited now – can’t wait

Thanks again

We've got a big outwell ' breathable' tent (Wolf Lake 7), and that fits in the car no probs, along with a 2 year old, and all of our other bits and bobs.  If you have a big (ish) car, or can fold the seats down in the back (presuming there will be no children sitting on them!), then you should get away without a trailer this year.  As you collect more and more 'essential' stuff - you might need to think about expanding your space!

Buy a decent tent, but the minimul of accessories, and I hope you love it!

Rachel

Quote: Originally posted by Hairywol on 27/4/2009

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Advice:

• Have a go. But have a practise locally first.
• Don't go overboard on a tent - polyester tents and cotton/polycotton tents have upsides but they all have downsides too.
  • Polyester is not breathable, can attract condensation and is "louder" in rain" BUT modern tents are well-ventilated these days. BUT it is also much lighter and packs into half the space of cotton. It is also waterproof (up to a limit defined as the Hydrostatic Head (HH)(3000 and above is good).
  • Cotton is breathable and a cotton tent may be cooler in hot weather. BUT it becomes waterproof in rain by soaking up rainwater, its threads expanding to fill the microscopic holes between the weave. This means no touching the tent sides and it means packing up a wet cotton tent (& drying it out later) is a bit of a nightmare.
  • There is an argument put forward by some who say serious camping = cotton/frame/Cabanon etc. Their greatest champion was a bloke called Rex. I regard myself as just as serious and used to argue with Rex that its actually down to preference (and budget of course). I prefer manmade tents because they're more forgiving of a bit of misuse, lighter and take up far less space in the boot (many frame tenters also have trailers & I hate towing, driving all day at 60mph)
• When buying your tent make sure you have plenty of room. You want a bedroom(s) that'll take a large (look for Queen sized) airbed with room to manoevre. You also want a decent space to keep stuff and live in if nights are damp/cool (can happen in France). As a rule of thumb tents can reasonably accommodate half the number of people they say thay can, and give loads of space to a third.
• Buy a good queen-sized airbed, perhaps double thickness from somewhere like here http://www.only-airbeds.co.uk/?gclid=CKan_anOkJoCFVeE7Qod_EXEFg . In France we then use sheets & quilts from home rather than sleeping bags that we use in the UK.
• The only other piece of dedicated kit would be a double burner cooker for tea & whatever cooking you feel up to. Most other stuff can come from places like Matalan, Lidl, Aldi, TESCO etc very cheaply or you may have suitable stuff already that'll do the job.

My own advice for a tent would be an Outwell Montana 6. They're £400 but a huge favourite, & you'd get nearly the whole price back on Ebay if it turned out you didn't like camping. http://www.outwell.dk/frontpage.aspx?b=Outwell&bid=2&lid=1&l=en-GB

 

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Hairywol, I agree with every word of this! As I often do with your posts.

It's a funny thing, but sometimes I think the more you love camping, the less important the kit is, if that makes sense. I've been camping for over 30 years, and the Khyam we bought 2 years ago is the first tent I've paid over £100 for (although, I've had a couple of good bargains in that time).

My first tent was probably dearest in real terms; at £35 in 1973 that was getting on for two weeks wages for a two-man ridge tent!

I’m also a beginner to tenting, although I’ve had some experience camping, be it in a motorhome, or kipping in the back of a van!

I’d say not to go overboard on expenses until you are sure camping is for you. Such things as accessories you can save a bit of money, personally I wouldn’t buy everything from outdoor shops, you can find perfectly good general outdoor equipment such as chairs etc, at big supermarkets like Asda and Tesco, as has been mentioned keep an eye on places like Aldi and Lidl as they often have good quality outdoor accessories also.

The most expensive part for us will be the tent, we’ve had a look at a few and the model we want is £300, a little more than what we were planning to spend but it really ‘ticks the boxes’ as it were.

For the time being we are borrowing bits and pieces of equipment and will probably buy things as and when we need them. The idea of going on a camping trip locally seems pretty sensible; we are going to stay overnight on a campsite a few miles down the road!

Sounds a bit silly but the site is well thought of and pitch fees aren’t much, at least it gives us a chance to practice pitching the tent and experience tenting on a campsite. The way things are with pay, it looks like we’ll be buying the tent and then going out in it on the same day!

As has been mentioned, camping does have a bit of financial outlay, but after that it is relatively inexpensive and very flexible!

If the weather’s good, there’s nothing to stop you just loading up and heading to the coast or somewhere nice for the weekend.

Good luck, hope you enjoy yourself!