Message Forums

We want to camp in both North Scotland and Cornwall, not at the same time of course!! We would do the drive to either over two days so need a one night stop. We would like a small tent that we can use for the one night stop. Idea would be small tent, normal sleeping gear, trangia and leave everything else packed.

Any suggestions on a decent small tent for 3 people. Two adults and a 5 year old. There is no rush to buy as I susepct we will do Scotland in 2010 and Cornwall in 2011.

What about a Gelert twister 4 ?  Or a 5 if you want a little more space ?

Angie

I noticed how the suggestions were all for pop ups. Unzip the bag , free the tent and up it goes, Doesnt get much easier than that :)

But there are lots of nice small tents that would accomodate 3 people overnight that wouldnt take more than 15 minutes to pitch.

Now if only they made a pop up pyramid tent lol

Angie

Am I right in thinking that I can only buy the Quechua at a Decathlon store? Or at an inflated price on ebay?

Mind you the nearest store to us is Sheffield and there is a Towsure in Sheffield, I could call it a day out do you think hubby would be convinced?

Quote: Originally posted by purplebean on 29/6/2009

---

Am I right in thinking that I can only buy the Quechua at a Decathlon store? Or at an inflated price on ebay?

Mind you the nearest store to us is Sheffield and there is a Towsure in Sheffield, I could call it a day out do you think hubby would be convinced?

---

Sure he will lol

Angie

For a long trip like this we will need to buy a trailer and get a towbar fitted, mainly because we would want to use the Norfolk Lake and we can't fit it in our car so right now it sits all alone just waiting for its chance. That is why we won't be doing it until next year. My intention is that everything for the long holiday will be in the trailer and roof box and all the overnight stuff will then easily fit in the boot, so packed size shouldn't be an issue.

I have plenty of time so I will try out as many as I can before deciding. it may only be one night but I do not like being uncomfortable. And of course I have started thinking about it now as I need a tent buying fix LOL

I have a Vango Beta 450 that we use for one nighters. Once I did it a few times I can pitch it within 10 mins. It fits myself and 2 children in easily with lots of elbow room to spare. The porch is  large enough to put bags, shoes etc

You can't stand up in it BUT I've tried and tested sitting on a luggable loo in it on several occasions

Just adding. With the Vango Beta tents go for one more berth than you need, if it's 4 berth then it's *only* just fits 4.
We have a Vango Sigma 300 (similar berth allocation), that we use for garden camping. It does fit 3 but not in a particuarly spacious way  It's been up in our garden for a week, I let the 2 kids have the Fat Airics (wider mats) , saw how much space I had left, went  and had to get out my lightweight Thermarest trek mat. The  boys seemed comfortable

Quote: Originally posted by Snocat on 29/6/2009

---

I didn't find any anywhere else & I had a good look as we are no where near a store but as you are not in a hurry pop in & have a look when you are passing, I can't comment on the Sheffield store but the Merry Hill store had loads up on display even the 4.2. worth a visit you can't order on line but you can check stock & reserve in store.

I would say the only down side to the pop up is that the packed up disk although thin is about 80cm diameter so one style over the other would depend on where you are going to put when on the move as you will want quick access?

---

Can anyone help me with the packed up disk? Does it matter if you put them at the bottom of your boot and then load other stuff on top? Or do you have to put them on top of the packed boot? Does that make sense?

To put my question into context we're off to France for 3 weeks this year and doing things a little bit differently for us. We're staying in a pre-erected tent for most of it, then 3 nights in various hotels. We have 1 x 2night stay and a quickie 1 nighter (before getting on Eurotunnel) where we'll be camping.

Going to take v  basic gear and the Vango Beta 450, but with 2 adults and 2 kids thought may pick up a very cheap 1 man pop up tent or 2 man fesstival tent. If it's hot we're not going to want to be crammed in! I could also use it at a festival we're going to. Not sure I want to take my beloved backpacking Terra Nova.

Quote: Originally posted by Littlebug on 29/6/2009

---

---

Can anyone help me with the packed up disk? Does it matter if you put them at the bottom of your boot and then load other stuff on top? Or do you have to put them on top of the packed boot? Does that make sense? <IMG alt=17