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 Hi all, i'm new here, (we are a family with 3 small boys from 10 to 4 and a dog!) - and wonder if anyone could help us make up our mind.......

At the moment we have a caravan and enjoy using it, however, because of where we have to store it - we've just moved areas - we find we don't use it very often at all anymore. (Its a one and a half hour round trip just to collect the van by which time weve lost the enthusiasm to go anywhere!)
This also means we are paying out hefty amounts for storage and insurance for something we hardly use.

We have been seriously thinking of selling the caravan and getting camping gear instead, because we could store a tent/accessories/trailer at home in the garage and have access to it instantly.

Our dilemma is, we love the comfort of the caravan and want to know how comfortable it can really be in a tent! For example, i would want to have the full works - TV, heating, really comfy beds and something really comfy to sit on in the evenings!!
Our main worry is that we would be bothered by damp/condensation as some of our family have asthma.

if anyone has ever made this swap from caravanning to tenting it would be great to hear your experiences, any opinions most welcome!
Thanks in advance
Thanielle x

 hi thanielle and welcome to ukcs!

ive never had a caravan, so cant comment, but i do have a tent and love it!! i like it more than my house!

could you not borrow a tent before you make your choice? that way you`ll know whether you like it??

Just because you have a caravan why do you have to watch tv, and why can't you cook outside?

We think that maybe in the future we would have a caravan (when we're retired) but we love  'camping'  and we would not want a tv in the 'van, we would still cook and sit outside, in fact all the things we do now with our tents but with a different place to sleep and sit when  its raining.

Hi Thanielle

If you want a cheap package to try camping out someone on here has a whole load of stuff for sale.  It might be worth a look.

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=6&TopicID=80518&PagePosition=1

There is an awful lot of discussion about damp and condensation on here.  All I can say is, tents are not all equal when it comes to suffering condensation.  We have a Montana 6 and suffered no damp or condensation, not even under our beds, which apparently is a common one.  I think having a SIG helps as this prevents damp from the ground coming up, and having really good ventilation all round the tent is very important.

Good luck!

We upgraded from a caravan to a tent   Although our caravan was quite spacious & we had a full size awning on the caravan, hubby still felt too cramped & claustrophobic (spelling???) with the caravan - he loves the feeling of space in our large frame tent.

As for home comforts, we have a fake fur rug on the floor of the bedroom, comfy airbeds, rugs on top of the groundsheet in the living area, padded loungers to relax on, a stainless steel sink & drainer on a shelving unit, and lots more, but NO TV as it's nice to get away from it and enjoy the sounds & sights of the country for a few days.

In a similar vein, my dad recently put together the figures for owning a caravan as he thought he might like to spend some of his retirement travelling around France.

Taking into account storage, maintenance, depreciation, loss of interest on capital used for purchase, additional ferry, fuel and toll costs etc. he calculated that unless he was planning on spending more than 6 weeks a year in France it would be cheaper to rent a Gite every time.

i'm having similar dilema, we are having to sell lovely caravan because we would like to move and can't afford both.  I think if you get the right tent plenty of room etc it won't be too bad kids are really excited to go proper camping and i'm sure it will be fun.

paula