Mumsnet Talk

Are they good as they look? how easy are they to set up?
Have a chance at a bargain one to replace our crappy leaking trailer tent.

We have a Pennine Pullman (2000). We find it great. Nice to sleep off the ground - much warmer and beds are comfortable. Only take about 15 mins to set up (without awning). Awning takes about another 20-30 mins I think. We would only put up awning for anything over a weekend.

When we go away for our long holiday I put the sleeping bags and pillows on the beds and fold them up in the camper which saves space in the car, plus the beds are ready for any overnight stops.

We have just taken out the wardrobe in ours this summer, having had the Pullman for 5 years. We found it much better as you can crawl through and put the fridge on before you set out on your journey plus we seemed to have much more room inside. The only thing I missed was the light and mirror that was on the wardrobe, but the light was easily replaced and I'm still looking for a mirror to hang from a pole.

There's loads of storage room under the seats and in the cupboards.

I love the fact that we can sit around the table sitting on the "settee" seats and that the beds are permanently up. If it's hot you can take the table outside and eat around it there.

Ideally, I would like a caravan, but I have to be logical and think that that is only because it would be a bit easier to pack before we go away, although taking out the wardrobe has almost fixed that problem. A Pullman is much smaller to store than a caravan and an absolute doddle to tow. We've towed it to Lake Geneva, South France and the Rhone-Alps for the last three summers. DH and I shared the towing and I'm sure that any overnight stops we had would have taken us less time to set up than any trailer tent.

In short, I highly recommend ours and we all love our holidays in it. We couldn't afford to go abroad any other way (DH wouldn't countenance a tent under any circumstances.)

we got one

Now cant wait to use it. Ours is the older style one without the wardrobe, but really like it.
Will the beds fold in ok with beeding on them then??

Where is best to by the skirts for either side??
Thanks loads

Haven't been on MN for ages so just seen your post.

Yes, you can fold the beds in with bedding on them. Skirts v difficult to buy separately, but there is a site on the web that shows surplus stock, but I'm sorry I don't know the name.

Hiya we bought our pennine pathfinder last year, after tenting and caravanning we thought we'd try the folding camper, my god we love it quick to get up and ready, a doddle to pull and sooo comfy real mattresses!!! go for it you will not regret it, our only regret is not getting one earlier x

am very excited. we spent the weekend putting our bits in and cleaning it out. Have left bedding on beds but take down the bed pods at top bar part, is that right?
Havent got space to put up awning yet, is it difficult?
very very excited family here

i dream of owning a folding camper having had a trailer tent inthe past fc's are the future! .

well if i sell mine you can have it

oh thats very good of you lol - i atually spent first half of last night googling bell tents and 2nd half drooling at fc's. Comfort wins e over i have to say - one year i will have one i tell ya! Id love a pathfinder in my wildest dreams but think a sterling or pullman is as big as i could tow. ENjoy your new toy

we have a oldie pullman, but dont get excited its the same as this one here
we got it for a bargain at end of the winter last year.

was it free? . Just jesting - it would do me - we bought a sunncamp 250 trailer tent yrs back which was grim inside so i did a makeover on it and we even made a profit onit when we sold it on!

oh i had a suncamp before this it was very grim, only used it once and then gave it away
This one was only £300 (shh) and had everything you could need, kettle, plates, knife and forks, ect.
We have to yet cover the cushions but i have materials for that and DH spent weekend laying new floor, so will be fabby for us.

Lisa, our Pullman is 2000 model. The awning isn't too difficult to put up. I don't know if your model goes up the same.

Just wrote a whole long description out for you, but realised it didn't make sense. Best thing is to go on ukcampsite, someone there will have the instructions that you can print out. I printed them out, laminated them and took them along the first couple of times.

Do make sure that, once you're sure the awning is up correctly, you label the poles in a clear manner (ours said front right, centre right, etc, but we always had to remember was that looking at the camper or out from it!)

We can zip out the windows in our awning and do that as it makes the awning much lighter to put up. That outweighs the fact of having to zip them in every time.

Still really love our Pullman. My brother just got a caravan (which I hanker after, but don't have a powerful enough car or anywhere to store one atm). Took two of the DC to see it, but they both said that they much prefer the Pullman! I was very pleased. We've just booked our Dover-Calais crossing and can't wait to go away again.

I am very excited too as i just paid a deposit on a conway crusader today! I have been waiting for a folding camper thread as I have developed a bit of an obbsession.

We don't want to buy a big gas guzzler just to tow a caravan and it should fit in the garage after a tidy up in there.

We actually like the fact that they are not just white boxes too!