I WANT a bell tent and dh says no!

[rogersmellyonthetelly]

Miserable soulless bugger that he is. We currently have a vango amazon 800 which is a behemoth of a tent, takes up the entire boot and takes bloody ages and a lot of muscle to put up. It's also like an oven in the sun even with the whole front section zipped off. It was a great buy last year as we got it v cheap on fleabay, but this year we are considerably more financially enabled and I want something with a bit more style. And that I can hang tea lights in ;0)
Are the bell tents really really fantastic? Where can I have a look at one to see for myself?

[Ripeberry]

Is DH one of the herd? I say this as a bell tent does look 'different in amongst all the usual dome tents. Some people say they look like a teepee and you might get the odd comment.
But most people are very interested and want to have a look inside and they are MUCH easier to put up than the dome tents.
Only one pole for a start and that folds down, you peg out the base first, then crawl in with the pole, locate the center 'pad' then stand up!

I always bring along a magnetic spirit level with me to make sure the pole is dead straight, but you can still put it up on slopping ground.
The guy ropes are then pegged out and that's it! Takes one person a maximum of 15-20 mins to put up.

The only drawback is that when wet it can be very heavy to pick up and can take ages to dry out. So you need to have somewhere big to dry it out.

We've had ours for 3yrs now and I want to start camping out in winter once we get our wood burner and flue put in

[rogersmellyonthetelly]

He thinks it's just a silly gimmick and a waste of money. Trouble is I remember last year sweating my norks off trying to put the tent up with 2 bored kids whinging and hanging off my legs. And also the 2.5 hour packing up session trying to get the bloody thing back in it's bag! It weighs 58 kg with the poles in, an absolutely ridiculous weight for a tent, and it really is a 2 man hour long job to pitch it properly. To top it all off, it's really noisy and flappy in the rain, we had 2 nights where I barely slept due to the noise, even a light shower sounds like torrential downpour. We are going to Norfolk for a week at the weekend, and while last year I was really looking forward to camping in the new tent, this year I'm dreading all the hassle of putting it up.

[mel2005]

where are you going in norfolk?, you can have a quick look at mine up in the garden, i am near norwich. also show him the bargain ones new.canvastentshop.co.uk/canvas-tents/bell-tents/bushcraft-5m-bell-tent-used.htm
i dont think they come with a groundsheet but they are £30ish from soulpad for a 5m one

[victoriasmith]

I had the same problem with boyfriend thinking it was a waste of money getting one, had to keep pointing out to him that

1. we would only ever need to buy one tent and it would last us forever whereas modern tents rip etc and often need replacing.
   

1. bell tent, apparently, warmer in the cold and cooler in the heat.
   

1. easy to put up/take down.
   

1. i want one!!!!
   

1. in your case much much lighter and smaller than your mountain of a tent which you have already.
   

if you search for bell tents in google and then go to images there are loads of great pictures, or go to belltent.co.uk and they have some lovely pics there as well.

he finally caved when he saw my face as i stood in a normal tent at Go-Outdoors and realised that buying the bell tent was inevitable. One 4m bell tent from Soulpad winging its way to us as we speak!

[rogersmellyonthetelly]

Nearest civilisation appears to be Sheringham or weybourne, so miles from norwich. We won't be camping again until next yr I don't think, as moving house in a couple of weeks, we would like to go off for weekends but it's not worth the hassle of putting up the tent for a couple of days.