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Hi All,

im new to the forum so ill put a little backgorund first:

Im looking into camping for the first time as a family (i went a couple of times when i was in my early teens but nothing for about 15 years) as a cheap and easy get away with the family, were a family of 4 with 2 daughters 6 & 2 and are looking into getting a simple but comfortable budget setup to give camping a go this summer during my 3 week break from work starting mid August, i also work shifts meaning i get 3 days off every set so its conveniet to get away for a weekend or during the week during term time. we want a cheap setup this year as we have never done anything like this before with plans to upgrade the kit when required if we enjoy it.

the plan currently is to go to an easy option of a local Haven campsite for 4 days as a trial run early in my holiday period as this is close enough to come home should the weather ruin it but the Haven option means easy entertainment and activities for the kids as well as onsite (overpriced) food and convenience store. if we enjoy it we then plan to go for a 7-10 day stay somewhere, maybe go back again but maybe go a bit further away and break the journey up visiting a few places.

We had a trip to Winfields today to get an idea of tents on offer but all large enough were out of our price range but gave us a better understanding of what we require which is enough to sleep all 4 of us with seperate sleeping and living areas, the one we are currently looking at is the Argos Regatta 6 man tent as advice was a 6 man minimum to sleep 4 in comfort, this gives us 2 seperate sleeping areas for us and the kids and is currently on sale for £102 with offers on a table set we were looking into saving 25%

an essential is the ability to stand up but as I am the tallest at 5'10" the regatta tent should be adequate.

is there anything that would be a great improvement over this as i dont want to spend too much as this is a first trip and its somthing we have never done before as a family

any other essentials that you would reccomend so far we have: a tarp a bit bigger the the tent itself for protection, an extras set with extra pegs, ropes and a mallet, a compressor/pump, readybeds for the kids and a double for the wife and I and a light of some sort. we will also have the car for charging phones.

I do believe in you get what you pay for (in most cases) but i dont want to get a £300 tent just yet, unfortunatly we have asked but no friends really have camping gear that would fit our needs

sorry for the hefty post but any advice on the general plan would be good,

I have had a look around gumtree locally and there is a Vango Colarado 800 DLX Tent for sale near us which seems like a very big tent and possibly bigger then we need but at £100 seems like a good price.... any ideas?

im guessing it would be better then the regatta and would be easier to sell on i we no longer require it.

either way i have emailed the seller just to check they have it before planning on its availability

i have also looked on ebay and there is a regatta superdome 6 man tent for £69.99 but looking online the reviews are terrible where as the current regatta tent has pretty decent reviews

reading about is it possible the colorado is too big? were looking at haven and the campsite limits maximum pitch as 7.2m, the information i can find says its 7mx6m will this be alloud or will the guide wires need to be included

looking on the site the photos are just tents plopped in a feild not marked out pitches so we may be ok but i dont want to get kicked off or asked to pay for a second plot if this is the case

were looking at the tent for a place to stay more then a place to live during the holiday as we want to see the sights but the bigger better tent seems like the better option on all things other then the initial setup

Edit: i have just noticed the Gelert Corona 6 is on offer in Tesco for £70, i know this isnt comparable to the colorado but would it be a better bet then the Regatta?

im going to email the colorado seller and if its in good condition i think i will take the risk on the size as almost all reviews seem positive