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Topic: Small tents in France

mjhorsfield

25/7/2016 at 10:14pm
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Hi,

I'm heading camping to France with the 3 children in August. We do a lot of camping in the UK and we have two small expedition style ridge tents.

We're fairly relaxed about where we end up so I haven't booked anywhere. I've been browsing on the web and most of the sites seem to book 'per pitch'.

In the UK we've always been allowed to put our two tiny tents on one pitch. Are the French likely to take the same approach? If not, then it would be worth buying a larger tent to halve costs while away. I'd rather not do this as we tend to backpack. I don't want to turn up and be forced into paying for two pitches per night.

As I don't know where we'll end up I can't ask the sites directly. I guess some of you will have seen plenty of tents over the years in French sites. Any thoughts?

Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!

seanfdh

25/7/2016 at 10:29pm
Location: North Devon
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We've camped with two small tents for the last couple of years. We've never been charged extra. I reckon that if you want bells, whistles, water-slides etc it may be an issue. Smaller/quieter sites and Municipals are liley to be fine. Just move on if they want to charge more, you're never far from a good site in France.

dolly21

25/7/2016 at 10:30pm
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Campsites in France are much more relaxed than here. You pay for the pitch and you can usually put whatever you want on it. Most sites just operate a maximum number of people per pitch - usually 6. You often see 2 tents or a tent and van/ caravan o a pitch.

lidds0

25/7/2016 at 10:46pm
Location: Yorkshire
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Quote: Originally posted by dolly21 on 25/7/2016
Campsites in France are much more relaxed than here. You pay for the pitch and you can usually put whatever you want on it. Most sites just operate a maximum number of people per pitch - usually 6. You often see 2 tents or a tent and van/ caravan o a pitch.

That relaxed attitude is changing though, in my experience, and many sites are now starting to charge extra for a pup tent. They must have cottoned on to the way British sites put the squeeze on!

That said, I don't think the OP will have any problem with 2 small tents. We've used small tents loads of times for overnights and never been charged any more than pitch and any additional people (over the usual two included in the pitch fee). Big tent and small tent you may have to pay extra, two small tents will be fine.

Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!

mjhorsfield

26/7/2016 at 2:15pm
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Thanks, that sounds very encouraging.

mgjackson

26/7/2016 at 8:23pm
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We've camped 3 times in France and taken 2 'Young family' sized tents and not had any problems.

It was a bit of a shock when I checked the rules at a large UK campsite in the New Forest - only 1 tent per pitch, can only camp on the gravelly bit meant for caravans etc.

kirsty12

27/7/2016 at 7:08am
Location: Herts
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I saw a Dutch family last year with a small caravan and then 4 pup tents in a neat little row. It looked a fab set up!.

Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!

Bossynix

27/7/2016 at 12:45pm
Location: South Wales
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We have never been charged extra for Caravan, awning and tent. The tent was not a small pup tent either - a 4 berth size!

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