My soulpad is here, it is up (in back garden), alleluia

[luciadilammermoor]

Please begin praising whichever deity or evolutionary principle brought us to this pinnacle of camping brilliance.

I waited a whole 24 hours before putting it up in the back garden. That was long enough and I suspect we may all sleep out in it tonight!

'Tis a thing of beauty and much much space, DCs are hyper, I have wine and am vvvv smiley. All is good. ;-)

[FlingonTheValiant]

Congrats :o

[Lovecat]

Yay!!

And of your back garden being big enough to put it up in.... (ours ends up pegged in the borders on one side and v. short guys on the other if we have to put it up to dry it)

[luciadilammermoor]

re size of garden - only juuuuuust. guys are tied to fence posts and in borders!

It's so spacious and light and easy to put up and the DCs love the little windows and I am already planning how I could make a carpet to go in it (IKEA trip looming). My hessian doormat goes neatly in place and looks fab.

Bloody heavy though. We may need one of those garden trolley things. Something to look for this evening on line while I sup a little and listen to the raindrops on the canvas.

[Lovecat]

Isn't it fab? I just love mine soooooooooo much!

I got the garden trolley (lugging stuff at last year's Latitude was NOT fun and we only had a normal tent then, never mind all the glampy crap essential and deeply necessary stuff I've bought since!), we'll be road testing it in July.

I'm making a carpet atm with 4 kingsize cotton throws I got from an Indian shop and some tarp underlay. If it works, I'll post a pic...

[luciadilammermoor]

oooooh a fellow addict! Yes please photo of carpet would be fab!

Did you get a solid metal garden trolley like this?

have found folding ones on OBelinkamazing folding one

How are you going to fit the trolley in the car? (first timer at Camp Bestival this year emoticon)

I have found a bunting website overexcitement this way please I will now step away from the credit card.

Looking forward to proper trips now. woooooooo!

[Lovecat]

My trolley is like your first link (but in green) and it was about £20 cheaper via Amazon, if you're interested. I wish I'd seen the Obelink one however, that looks amazing! (and much easier to store - ours is languishing under a tarp by the bbq because it won't fit in the shed!)

I am not sure about how it's going to fit in the car. The wheels come on/off very easily so I reckon they can go separately and everything else then folds flat. Will have to road-test this theory before Latitude... and maybe persuade DH that we need a roofbox...

Nice bunting site - I'm torn on the bunting thing... I think it looks lovely, but I'm not sure if DH would cope with it (plus I've been told it flaps and drives you mad with the noise in a high wind!). Having said that, I love this site here for bunting and other stuff! I'm making DD a felt garland thing of flowers and hearts atm for her bedroom which by complete co-incidence happens to co-ordinate with my camping stuff and is going to be wound around the central pole when we go away....:o

[needanewname]

Aren't they fab!

The bunting from soulpad is very lovely and good quality, I can recommend. I also got an extra canvas bag from them so we store the ground sheet in one and the tent in the other - means I can lift the bag!

We have the outwell hartford xxl carpet in ours and it fits perfectly, unfortunately they no longer make it, so if anyone knows of another tent carpet that is as big I know a few people who are looking for one.

[QueeferSutherland]

How long did the tent take to arrive?

(Sorry, have asked that question on the Bestival thread too.)

[QueeferSutherland]

Duh, just found it on the website.

[LoopyLoopsBettyBoops]

After many festivals, many failed trolleys and much research, we have discovered that the only trolley worth the hassle is a decent carp trolley.

[Lovecat]

carp trolley? Do you mean cart trolley ?

Linky, pretty please...:)

[ReshapeWhileDamp]

When did you order yours? I know they've been out of stock - wondered how long it takes them to restock and fulfil orders.

Could you not put bunting out round the entrance/entrance guys as per compulsory for bell tenters , and then take it in every night? I am beginning to think we're headed the direction of a nice sensible Outwell nylon jobbie but I will probably smuggle in some bunting after DH's done the car-packing, and thought I'd take it in at night to avoid unnecessary flappage.

(PS - bunting is really really easy to make, you know. )

[luciadilammermoor]

Hello, It's still up. beginning to think I should take it down to protect the little grass we have but hey, it's fab.

Spent all yesterday in the rain out there with the DC playing snakes & ladders and cards (+ drinking wine & reading magazines).

This afternoon we experimented with the rolling of the walls & ate ice lollies after school out there.

I ordered mine c.25th may, it came last Thursday. I knew it was out of stick but that more were due the first week of June.

Another plea for link for cart trolleys please!

I would like to be able to have the time to make bunting but it is not going to happen atm!

[luciadilammermoor]

out of stock, it's like 'Ello 'Ello all over again

[needanewname]

My bunting doesn't flap!!!!

[lifeistooshort]

ordered mine a last Sunday and it arrived the following Friday

[tyaca]

oooh, carp trolley is a very good idea. good tip off loopyloops

dh has been eying up fishing chairs (not for fishing, just for camping comfort) so have spent too much time looking at fishing websites.

an carp trolley

[LoopyLoopsBettyBoops]

That's exactly it, sorry didn't link.

[Lovecat]

And there was me thinking it was a typo...

Thank you! We have a mini version of that as well, that we got free with the disposable tent we had last year, so armed with that and the garden cart, we should be okay....

[Poppyjen]

Hello hello, sorry to hijack thread to ask what may be a very silly question to seasoned bell-tenters but would you recommend getting an inner tent if camping with toddler? At the moment is just DH and I and DS who is 15 months but you know, I am reliably informed that he will grow and there's always the chance of another DC in the near future...

Does inner ruin the loveliness? would we need one for (ahem) privacy? DS has a Nomad tent travel cot thing so not worried about him escaping...

So of those who have one already, we're still at the "research" phase at the moment but I think we'll take the plunge shortly.

Any advice would be fantastic

Thanks, and sorry again for the hijack...

[Lovecat]

Hiya Poppyjen, we have a 1/4 inner tent which we used for the first time over the bank holiday weekend; we needed somewhere to stash the KK as I wasn't leaving it sitting in full view of everyone, plus it was v. handy for keeping the rest of the tent tidy. DD (6) claimed it as 'her' area and would disappear in there for ages doing drawing and playing with her toys, so that was another unforseen advantage.

However... they're not pretty. They do ruin the loveliness (love that phrase) a tad, and no doubt this was me doing it up wrong (although we searched and couldn't see anywhere/anything else to fasten), but it sagged quite a bit down from the central pole to the tent edge, so you lost the sense of height on the inside and from the outside you had this saggy cotton thing going on at neck height.

For a toddler, I'm not sure it's necessary, unless you're worried that the tent will resemble a battlefield and want somewhere to stash stuff out of sight/reach. We're going to get a loo tent for next time to hide the KK in, as we really weren't keen on the way the inner looked, but DD is quite a tidy child (haven't a clue where that comes from!).

Hth :)

[needanewname]

Hello

Just to confuse youI'm going to give you the opposite view to Lovecat (can't idsagree with her as she's a fellow BT owner and lovely too!)

We have the full 1/2 inner and its great. It doesn't ruin the look or feel of the tent, you still get the great height and room. its great for keeping the bedroom area separate and if it is pissing it down LO can be in the bedroom whilst your in the living space. It also allows you to zip uo the area and prevent children from jumpnig on airbeds and wrecking your 5th airbed in 2 bloody sodding years!!!!!!

I can see why a 1/4 one would not look as good though.

[mumo75]

just 1 question please
how do the big tents fit on a standard pitch??

xx

[Lovecat]

So far I haven't encountered any problems - it's a 5m circle and most places (well, the ones I've browsed) seem to class the footprint of a 'large' tent needing a bigger pitch as being in excess of 8m x 5m. I always tell people when I ring up to book the size of the tent what it is, and thus far we've been fine.

And thank you, needanewname, you're lovely too :) The halfsize inners do look better on the website, tbh, I was just thinking about my bladder (as always...) when we got the 1/4 size!

[needanewname]

the 5m bell tent is actually smaller than my old tent (outwell Hartford xxl) and we never had any problems with that, though friends who have the xl only just managed to fit it in the space at a site in France.

I think it depends on what kind of site you camp at, fir instance we avoid those with set pitches instead opting for the more basic pitch where you like kind if places