Advice on gravel pitches please?

[sneaker]

EEk - we're booked at Sandy Balls, and DH booked a gravel pitch. Can anyone recommend appropriate tent pegs, and also would we need an extra groundsheet?

here is our tent.

(Have only pitched it in the garden) 2 adults, 18mo, 3yo & dog going first time in July.

TIA

Gravelly bump

We spent a week on a gravel pitch last week- it was impossible to get the pegs in and in the end we only pegged one side of the tent down ( on a strip of grass separating the pitches). We had metal and delta pegs but neither worked. Some caravans had their awnings pegged but ive no idea how they did it!

It was still comfortable enough and didn't damage the ground sheet or anything.

Thank-you. Presumably it'd be ok unless there was high winds, in which case we probably wouldn't stay anyway.

Neat Freak - do you have an integrated/sewn in groundsheet?

We use these sort of pegs for our awning on hard ground.

dh puts them in with the cordless drill.

I think they can be used on grass as well if you wanted the drill to do the donkey work

Yes, those are the pegs I saw other people using but had no idea what they looked like under the ground! I had to travel for 4 hours with a basin of dirty dishes on my lap on the way home because we ran out of space in the car so I wouldn't like to imagine dh's response if I told him he had to take his cordless drill as well
We have a zip off groundsheet. The gravel wasn't too sharp- we all hopped across it in bare feet/socks at various points to get stuff out the car and it was OK.

There were high winds on the last night and I did get a little worried but it stayed put!
<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=i10.photobucket.com/albums/a135/missElaineous7/tents/darwin_7.jpg&imgrefurl=www.camping-touring.com/forum/showthread.php%3Ft%3D3293&usg=__9ros5TmhuxM4GptCKuEi3bhWH04=&h=127&w=320&sz=9&hl=en&start=0&sig2=2gHVgQSHRm4aGJ0HHJcGvw&zoom=1&tbnid=40gej66abXU_KM:&tbnh=67&tbnw=169&ei=DK_vTczRGNCp8APqromoCQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcoleman%2Bdarwin%2B7%2Btent%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1345%26bih%3D583%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=547&vpy=127&dur=2080&hovh=101&hovw=256&tx=133&ty=92&page=1&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0&biw=1345&bih=583" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this is our tent, can't rate it highly enough

Cordless drill??? Oh dear god what have I let myself into?? £40 for pegs seems expensive. This is extreme camping. I know sandy balls do hire them so maybe we're best not to make the investment yet.

could you ring sandy balls and change to a grass pitch?

I think that was the only option available - either because grass pitches are all full, or aren't available yet or maybe because we have a dog?

Rock pegs?

I think these would work.

You could make an extra footprint groundsheet from a tarp from b&q or for a softer underfoot feel some of that rubbery ecomatting that camping shops or caravan suppliers would stock.

re. the matting, Lidl are doing 3m x 2.5m rubbery matting groundsheets for £14.99 at the moment - I bought one for a different purpose but they look like they'd feel quite comfy underfoot.

On iPhone ATM so can't look at links yet, but just wanted to say thankyou for answering. LIDL will be worth a visit methinks!

Rock pegs and use a hammer instead of a mallet.