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Hi guys firstly i would like to say what an excellent site this is been very impressed with the information on it .

Right as i said in my subject myself and my family 2 adults 3 children (10,7,3) have never been camping before and was looking for some advice off you kind folk !!!

Firstly we have a budget of about £200 for our first tent and was looking at the vango orchy 600 good choice or not ??

What fridge to go for ??

What you would recommend to cook on ??

Where as we are from South Wales a campsite to visit locally for our maiden voyage ??

I know i am asking alot but as i said earlier we have never been and need all the advice we can get thanks

Welcome to the forum !!!

Lots of questions. I love it when people use the word  "around " when refering to budget .I going to give you one tent to look at and if you search for it by name  ,look at the thread . Coleman Mackenzie X6 , which is still available for £219.99 at Amazon . The Orchy is another fine tent , but we need to throw some ideas ideas around so that we get that meets your needs. How would you like to sleep the children ? In two bedrooms? Bedroom each? Youngest in with you ? This is important as Within your budget , all these options can be accomodated. This is the basis which appears to be important to get right . Some tents have flexible bedroom spaces, with removeable dividers.

On the subject of fridges , I do not have an EHU, so I will that to those who use such items. As for , cooking, it depends on what type of cooking you will would like to do . Again, I would be tempted to address this and the refrigerator as separate posts on the equipment section, otherwise , this will become a bit confusing.

Welcome! Last summer was my first time and now totally hooked! We started by camping very locally (so we could be home within the hour if it all went wrong!). Could you borrow a nice tent from someone? Then if you have a great time (which I think you will) you can shop around for the right tent for you. On the other hand its great fun shopping for tents so just buy one! Try to get to a tent show if you can where you can actually see them up against each other and walk around them.

We dont yet have a fridge and get by happily on coolbox so I would be tempted to leave that until you know you like it. Most sites freeze your icepacks for you so you can keep it cold if you take a few. Then you dont have to get the electric hook up kit (£50-100) which you can manage without for a weekend. We only just bought ours. Would suggest one or two of the suitcase stoves ( £9.99 each) and only a few quid for gas bottles. Small to pack and cook well. Otherwise you are needing to buy a gas bottle which will set you back- half decent stove + bottle around £100.

Its a trade off as if you buy lots of cool kit it will be easier and more like home, but its a bigger risk and puts a lot of pressure on you to enjoy it if you have spent £500 before leaving the house!

i use a stella cool cube fridge which i got of ebay for around £30

I'm not going to suggest a tent, but having a young family too I'll just give you a few pointers about what was important for us when we bought a tent:

1. Sewn in groundsheet (that is the living area and the bedrooms, the whole thing sealed so no bugs). Also flyscreens on doors but that's sometimes more difficult to get.

2. Stand up height in the living area, and possibly in the bedrooms too. Some tents are 220 high which is great, others are only 180 to 190 ( or less) in the living area which leaves taller people stooping.

3. The tent material, At your budget you're only going to get a polyester tent (which is fine) but then you have to look at the hydrostatic head (HH) rating. A cheap tent in Argos or Halfords will be 2000HH, the most expensive ones will be 5000HH (HH is the water pressure the material can withstand). Actually 3000HH is enough, but getting a cheap 2000HH is going to leave you wanting a new tent this time next year.

4. Tent layout, door positions, size of windows. You sound like you've decided on the tunnel tent design of bedrooms at the back, living room at front.

5. Packed tent size and weight. If you opt for steel poles (like the Outwell Montana) it is definately more sturdy in windy weather but it takes up more space inthe car, whereas a tent which uses fiberglass poles may flex a bit more in the wind but the pack size is much smaller.

6. Pitch size. Most camp site are fine with tents that are 6 meters width. Any more than that, for example the pod style tents, you might run into problems getting a space or avoiding extra fees.

What we did is pick a few manufacturers (suggest Outwell, Gelert and one other), get their brochures and learn about their range of tents, as to why they might design tents in different ways, and what the different features are. There isn't a perfect tent otherwise there would only be one!

For £200 you'll get something decent enough. Good luck with your search. 

Finally, despite all your internet research, you can't beat seeing the tents up in person. Find the biggest outdoor display of tents you can and go and visit it in both wet windy weather and then on a hot sunny day.

Good luck!

Definately a fair weather camper. I don't like rain. Rain + Tent = Trouble.
2011:
July: Galpton, Devon
August: Duinrell, Holland