Hi! We've borrowed and pitched this a number of times now so I may be able to help a bit.
1. Lie the fly out flat, find the door (zipped up!) and make sure the tent is facing the way you want it to be. The key thing here is to have the roof section lying in such a way that you can see the whole roof streched out before you like a pale blue rectangle.
2. Insert the four thin, black poles into the pockets on the pale blue roof. Each end needs to slot into the black, plastic, right angled holders to be found at each end of each pocket. You need to push each pole so that with tension it creates a slight arc. The arcs are more pronounced at the very back of the tent and the front of the tent so you need to use a little more strength to make the pole fit into the right angled holders at these points.
3. Lay the thick, silver poles on the ground next to each of the eight right angled plastic holders that holds a black roof pole.
4. Begin at the back of the tent. You need two people, one at either end of a roof pole. Work on one 'roof pole' at a time. Slot the top of the silver pole into the bottom of the black plastic right angled holder. At the bottom of the tent wall (navy blue), below each black, plastic, right angled holder you will find a metal ring with a metal spoke pointing from it. This is attached to a piece of elastic that will eventually run across width of the floor of the tent. Push the metal spoke up the bottom of the silver tent pole. Peg out the guys at the back of the tent to provide some stability. ( This is a big ungainly!) Repeat for the other three 'roof poles' working towards the front of the tent. Don't worry about the fact that each complete pole section will fall back and forth until you complete section 5. Just let the tent get on with it!
5. Pull the silver leg poles as far apart down the length of the tent as the fabric allows and then attach them to the navy blue tent wall using the velcro. Peg each silver leg pole using the silver ring (the spoke of which is pushed up the silver leg pole) into the ground, as you go.
6. Peg all the guylines, adjusting the original back ones. Work from the back forwards.
7. The bedrooms clip onto the fly inside the tent using toggles. There are clips of the sort you may find on a push chair harness in each corner, clip them in before fixing the toggles. Again work from the back, forward. This is very easy. The ground sheet is separate, peg it down inside the tent in front of the bedrooms.
It is very easy to pitch. It handles rain well but isn't good in the wind. We were in it in the storms in Norfolk last week and to be fair, it didn't bugdge but the wind gets in under the walls and blows the bedroom piece like a billowing sail on the Mary Rose. We also suffered in this way in France last year with much lighter winds. Having said that, the space is great inside and we've had great, great times in it. Apologies for the many inuendos to be found in my rather amateur instructions! Wishing you happy holidays and calm winds!
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