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Hi Dave and welcome to the site, you've come to the right place for advice and support.  First of all, re: the tent, have a look at this search result, it contains a great thread about how to put it up as well as opinions.  If you don't like what you read try the tent review section above for some more ideas.  As to choosing the site itself this website has the most amazing search facility for that purpose, check out   above.  Good luck in your quest for a well deserved holiday!

Hiya Dave and welcome to UKCS!

Glad to see you are thinking about giving camping a go, be warned though, it gets rather addictive ;)

Coleman are a good make for tents, we have a coleman ourselves and love it.  We are a family of 4 and we have an 8 berth so I know where you are coming from when you say you would like the room :)

Camping prices really depend on what time of year, where abouts in the country, if you want extras like EHU etc?  We on average pay between £15 and £20 a night for 4 of us with EHU.

Not all campsites allow dogs, so it is always good to check with them first!

Enjoy yourselves when you go, I am sure you will!

hi dave and welcome! i am fairly new to the site too although been camping for a while. this tent is a really good price. the only thing is the size! as it is almost 8 metres wide you would need to make sure that the sites you are going to have big pitches that will take the tent and your car. also it will probably take a while to pitch. if you are going away for a week or longer its not so bad but if you are planning weekends away too then it probably wouldn't be worth pitching such big tent. you should put a post on the sub topic - tent info - and ask if anyone has one and what its like to pitch. also think about have you got enough boot space/how heavy it is/do you have somewhere to hang it when you get home if it gets wet etc. 

we have just bought an outwell nevada m tent for a family of 4 (we have a dog too but he usually stays with granny!). it cost £190 and has a sewn in groundsheet. it only has 3 poles and takes about 15 mins to pitch. its ideal for weekends and for longer stays with a good size living area and bedrooms. one of the rooms can be taken down for more living space too.

i think if you are new to camping you should maybe start with something a bit smaller, although it is a good deal. have you looked at halfords as they do deals with tents, sleeping bags and beds etc included. might be good to get you started. also argos have some cheap tents too, and quite a few big ones for under £100 though don't know what the quality is like. again you could post on tent info to ask if anyone has one.

i would say as a rough (very!) guide it is around £12 - £15 per night. if its a smaller quite site it may be less and if its a bit bigger with more amenities it will be more. also if you want electric it will cost extra. most sites allow dogs on leads and provide an excercise area, although you should check ahead.

take a look at the campsite search on this site. just put in an area and you will get a list of sites along with their facilities. it will have a link yo their websites if they have one and it will tell you about cost/dogs etc. also there will be reviews from other campers to tell you the good or bad points about the site.

i hope you find a tent soon and you can start to enjoy camping again! good luck!

wendy

First of all welcome - you will find the site & camping addictive!!

Use the UK campsite advanced search - a lot of places allow a dog - there are rules (not allowed off lead, must go to a certain place for walking etc) but these are usually reasonable.

With regards to your tent - I agree - the bigger the better - we bought a 6 man for 4 of us & i wish i'd bought the 8!!

You dont need to buy everything at once (borrow some & see how it works for you) - you also need to speak to people & see the items in practice (& obtain advice from this forum!!) then invest in your equipment - it will grow over time.

Over three years, my camping equipment has expanded (EHU very useful) - & we are very comfortable & could live in a field for months!!

Best of British

Hi Dave

Welcome and nice to see someone local to me.

Not sure whereabouts in Dorset you are but the camping shop at John Browns Garden Centre (?), Three Legged Cross - The Forest Camping Centre.  Been there recently and they have quite a few tents up to look around, plus all the usual camping shop stuff.  Their prices seem fairly good too on equipment, but I always pop home and check out the web first, just in case there is a bargain going.

You can also get a coffee in the garden shop too!

Happy camping

Hi Dave

I am not as experienced as the other people on here, having barely camped myself, but this weekend I bought a six birth tent from

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/redirect.asp?redir=http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/5709388004499 for a taster to camping the price is right even if you only get a few weekends.

Easy Camp Parma 600 Tent Code: 5709388004499 Easy Camp Parma 600 Tent: This tent has two spacious inner tents which will comfortably sleep up to six people. The generous porch area creates extra living space and an area to store luggage. The dome design makes this tent compact and stable.  Features: 185T Polyester PU coated flysheet 2000mm Hydrostatic head Fully taped flysheet Pitching - flysheet first or as one Breathable polyester inner tent Polyethylene groundsheet Fibreglass poles Accessories: 2 upright steel canopy poles, detachable groundsheet for porch Pack Size: 75 x 32cm Weight 16.6kg If you go to the tent reviews section  on this site, someone else has reviewed this tent. Pity no gooutdoors near you to go a see one errected. I stand six foot two tall and my head just misses the roof in the centre. Hope it helps.

Please Select: Quantity     RRP £200.00 NOW £49.99 SAVE £150.01

Hi Dave

The tent i bought is easy as hell to errect and comes with colour coded poles!

I can just about put the tent up in my garden, yet it packs down to a reasonable size roll/bag. Go read the review, see if gooutdoors offer posting.

Hi,  We are new and novices too.  Only camped twice, but loved it.  There is only two of us now and we have four dogs.  We bought a Gelert Horizon 6 for £159 and love it!  We only use one bedroom and the the other end we use for the dogs (in two big cages with covers over - only two dogs sleep in the cages).  The top of the cages we use for 'working tops' and the rest of the area is a living area.  It's great!  There's plenty of standing and walking about room.  We tether the dogs outside when we get up and up until just before we go to bed.  The dogs are so tired out from all the walking they barely lift their heads up off the grass! 

Before we bought all the stuff we borrowed some as it's quite pricey to buy it all in one go but once you have it you're off!  Trouble is, like an earlier poster said, it's a bit addictive and we've now gone and bought a trailer to drag it all about.  Before this we had to pack it all in tight in the backseat and a roofbox.  That gets a bit much if you're packing in the rain.

It's probably cost us about £450 altogether, including the tent when you add all the bits up.  Although I spent a bit more than I should've on things like rubber mats for the floor.  After the first camp I had to seriously rationalise because  I realised I'd taken much more than I needed.  I think the best advice is buy as little as you need, borrow as much as you can and then buy - don't get carried away like I did. 

I hope you like it if you do decide to go for it.  The best thing about it is it's so different from every day life, doing practical things lke putting the tent up, not having an en suite (maybe not too good for some folk) no telly, no computers, no electric stuff, just candles, gas lamps, feeling tired at night and sleeping properly!