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I have never camped in a tent, just don't see the attraction. Call me a wimp but I just like my caravan.

David

We've just bought our first van and have a large family tent still in the garage but we would not go back to it. Yes, the space is great but the biggest problem is the setting up and, even worse, packing up - 3 hours of hard work which isn't fun in the rain.

With a van, reverse onto the pitch, steadies down, unhitch and you can go and sit in the van - bliss! Obviously, it takes me another 30 minutes or so to connect up the gas, get the water, fill the toilet etc, etc but still much quicker than the tent.

I agree with nelmo

infact we have kept our tent for a year in which time it has been packed away in the shed its not moved at all infact just causes clutter and takes shed space up  ...ebay for it this year

We had a few tents hanging around in the loft and garage that had been used as Horses for Courses lol as our daughters grew up. There were several old ridge tents, an 'Aldi Special' geodome, and a couple of cheap small PUPs that have now all been donated to the Scouts when we bought our Caravan.

Our main tent an Outwell Winfield tunnel is now owned by our grown up daughter, but we still have a brand new unused Monty 4 and a 775cm NR full awning from a previous van sitting redundant in our loft, so it is possible that as a family we will go back to tent camping one day with us sleeping in the caravan, and our offspring using the tents and gear we have remaining, although im unsure what to do with a 12yr old little used NR cotton awning, and would be open to any offers.  

We have also in the past with our last caravan done combination camping, back in the days when you rented by the pitch and not by the amount of people or what you put on it, so we often had caravan, awning, tent and 2 cars all sited for the same price with around 9 family members camping together, but that was all before the H&S people bought in the spacing between units rules and pitches were more basic and less regimented, but you did sometimes have someone with a small ridge tent squeeze virtually under the side window of your caravan at busy times, and we got to make several new caming friends by them doing so as they often appreiciated the offer of a cuppa if we were brewing or a meal if we had leftovers if they were basic campers without a cooker.

It could get amusing fun being so close though with the sounds of nature and the wild side of life during the night!

Julia

I have just got my first caravan but have no intention of getting rid of my 4 tents!! In fact my first trip of the season is going to be at Easter in one of the tents rather then the caravan.

Our large 8 berth can be set up and kettle on within the hour but I must say I am looking forward to using the caravan and not having to cope with soggy tents when you've had to pack up in the rain!!

We kept our tent for a year after getting our 1st van but didn't use it - too much time/hassle setting up & packing away plus we only have a small garden, no garage, nowhere at all to dry a huge soggy 9 man tent at home.  Shame really cos the space was great.

I'd love to go tenting again but prob only somewhere where they're already up & kitted out ready to move into...