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Lots of us ex tenters end up with caravans.  A little bit of luxury makes the experience just that little bit more pleasant on rough days.  Enjoy the van.  i am sure you will love it.

We started with a tent too altho we only lasted one season in it -  we'd bought a monster Vango Diablo 900 that took ages to get up & went up inner 1st so pitching in the rain was a nightmare.  It was during a very wet week in Wales when we were pitched opposite caravans with solid walls & ceilings and heating that we decided to switch. 

We go away much more often now as it's no hassle & we don't have to be paranoid about the weather forecast.  Still love looking at tents tho & am seriously thinking of buying a smaller one for quick last minute get-aways...

Ours is the usual tale - had a trailer tent which was bril, then bought a cabanon 440 which is a fantastic tent and we thought it would last us for years.

What we forgot to consider was the kids getting to an age where they no longer want to come away with us

So we bought a second hand caravan last October.

WOW! It's fab

We have had loads of weekends away because it's no hassle turning up at 8pm in the rain on a Friday night. And you don't have to worry about taking wet canvas down. And the real bed -mmmmmmm. And the toilet at night. And the wine already being cooled in the fridge when the legs are put down on the van...........do I need to say more

We're definite converts, even though we did love our tent.

Happy caravanning - hope you enjoy it

I had been on only a couple of camping trips in my youth but after a disastrous cottage 'holiday' in Devon in 2008 (p*ssed it down solidly for 5 days), I went out and bought all the tent stuff, even though the wife wasn't too keen. My thinking was that if we got weather like that again, we could just call it quits and go home early - saving me the £800 the cottage had cost me for the week .

Spent last year in the tent and it was pretty good but we had all the issues described by the others on here - 3 hour setup time was the worst bit!

The final straw was going away with some friends who had a caravan - even though we had good weather that time out, we spent most of the week in their van and awning; being warm in the evenings was a revelation!

Bought the van last September and had 5 trips so far - gets better each time as we slowly work out a routine and get all the little odds and ends we need...

Just need to persuade the OH to take the van skiing in Feb now... 

Quote: Just need to persuade the OH to take the van skiing in Feb now...

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