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A tent of whatever construction is designed to be slept in, an awning is not.

Nowadays I sleep in a caravan and occasionally experience the annoyance of having to take down my awning because of expected high winds, as some members of this forum will vouch for especially during one UKCS Rally.

Ofcourse that would be the same UKCS Rally where 4 tents and 2 awnings, including the tent of a UKCS Member went blow about during the night whilst the occupants were asleep.

Thank god there was no one in the awnings. The UKCS Member slept in his car the rest of the night while the occupants of the other 3 tents slept on the floor of the gents toilet.

Aha the joys of the great outdoors.  Man versus nature.

I'm not exactly a Met. Office fan.... (shrieks of mirthless laughter from the OH there) - but neverthless there are usually indications of severe gales coming.

Grown-ups ought to be credited with a bit of common sense & be allowed to choose if the weather is suitable to erect an awning, leave said awning up, & finally, where to sleep in their own set-up !

If they haven't, then they ought to be grown-up enough to deal with the consequences. Down with Nanny-State mentality I say.

Quote: Originally posted by grapefruitmoon on 31/1/2010

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Sorry, but this thread caught my eye! I'm not usually lurking about the caravan threads. For us campers in tents this seems rather strange! You can sleep outside your tent on the grass if you want or in your car so surely you can sleep in your awning! If a site did have such an absurd rule about it surely you would say, "I'm not sleeping I've got insomnia" or, "My OH is snoring so I'm trying to get some peace" or don't answer and pretend you're sleep- walking!! Byeeee - I'm off back to 'camping under canvas' now!

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Im sorry, saying that awnings blow down is a bit daft.

its a matter of what it was designed for, our old frame tent would not stand up in any high winds, neither would most trailer tents, or the larger tents seen around,

however my old (passed down to me my my dad) force 10 ridge tent does exactly what it says on the tin, designed for a force 10 gale.

I have also seen caravans blown over/along the ground.

the biggest problem I have with my awning in winds is the wind coming under the van, making it into one huge kite...