Talk

its cheaper to buy a nusery?

Depends on how basic you want to camp tbh! If you can do without the electric hook up, electric fridge/coolbox, camping kitchen bla bla bla then yes it probably is cheaper to buy a tent!

Goodness

I never had electric anything when I camped

One gas burner & a BBQ - my mum could make anything with that

We had to walk to the farm to get milk & bread & my brother had to finish the milk off after breakfast as a milkshake so it didn't go off (I never liked milk)

OK - Cottage costs about £460

Camp site costs about £100 (ish)

So I have £360 to spend

What on?

We went to a ready tent at May half term. Everything was there, all that we needed to bring were sleeping bags, pillows and towels.

Cost £230 for 4 for a week. Lovely campsite, clean toilets and showers, near Henley.

The campsite I want to go to doesn't have that sot of thing

How many of you are there Katy?

Sorry went to bed

Just DH, DD & me

We all have good sleeping bags as we sleep on the boat a bit

& actually my mum might have that cooker in a briefcase thingie (I must check if she still has it as that would save me buying a gas ring)

ooohh - you need this tent it's a four birth 'pop up' tent for £150 - bargain. watch the film demo

That looks interesting - I'm struggling to work out how big they are

Theres a plan here

If you look on the camping threads withing the last week (I think it starts, 'let me show you my new tent' or that sort of thing) a mumsnetter has got one, so you could ask here questions.

Katy, I have this tent there are three of us and its ideal as it gives us loads of storage and living space and its quite easy to pitch.

It's facinating

My mum has the cooking stuff - so I guess I just need the tent

Hmm Now I just need to persuade DH

Remember the cost of a cottage is a one off, once you have the gear you can camp again and again at sites that are fairly cheap - its an investment for the future KM!

we got excellent 6 sleeper ten with hug interconnecting middle bit from Eurocamping for £145 (was half price). a 6 foot man can easily stand inside (very important for when getting dressed) and really easy to put up (2 people).

Also keeps for years. Much cheaper than a cottage and great investment if you like camping.

We rented a cottage for two successive summers and yes, it was lovely but really expensive compared to camping. We're now into our second year of camping and the kids love it. As other MNers have already said, once you've got your tent you really don't much else, especially as you have a stove & sleeping stuff (you did say you had some stuff didn't you?).
Just keep away from camping shops and camping forums otherwise you can tempted into all sorts of camping essentials
camping paraphenalia you can live without.

I have a friend who bought a 'bargain' from Argos and it leaked. Worth checking out reviews before you buy anything. See if you can find a tent retailer with all the tents set out, that was how I decided on our one and it's been great.

"We've got this one"

Good luck

I'd recomment the tent. We had this debate last year and bought an Outwell tent from Millets that was 'exclusive' to them i.e cheaper than most Outwell tents but still the same good quality. It sleeps 6 and cost about £150 in the sale. It was such a good buy that its worth looking out for similar offers. Since then we've had loads of fun either going as a family or with friends. Its so easy to do spur of the moment things with other friends with kids as it only costs £20-£30 for a weekend to camp. The only other stuff we bought was a gas stove and some cheap foldaway chairs

My fried says I should buy this one

What do you all think?

DH is quietly positive

I asked him while he was poorly & I think he was too knackered to argue

My friend has this and I love it. We went camping together when it rained and stayed most of the time during the day in their tent, it was so warm and cosy with the integrated ground sheet and our children had plenty of space to play in the main area.

DH shouted downstairs that he wants to be able to stand up in the tent

He is 6ft2

We weighed it up, and even buying decent tent (Coleman Modulus X4 - £150), fat airics (£90), a cobb (£150), a roofbox (£150) and the site fees (£150) add up to not much more than the £625 we paid for a cottage in Cornwall last August.

But we've now got our accommodation for future years as well.

I'm sure we'll still go "cottaging" but we now have the option to go on a minibreak whenever we like, for just a few quid in site fees.

"fat airics (£90), a cobb (£150)" is this another language??

I won't need a roofrack or a trailer

Everything will fit in the car