Just bought new bell tent, very excited, tell me what else I need...

[MrsLovely]

....before I waste my money on a load of old tat due to severe over excitement!

What tried and tested extras have you done the hard work to find so I don't have to?

The tent will be expected to take two adults, two children (one 7, one baby coming up to 12 months when the tent will first be used) and occasionally two dogs.

What do I need???

How lovely!
For camping, or specifically for a bell tent?

And what type of camping / sites do you think you will favour?
The newer sort of 'wild' sites where you can camp in woods, having a campfire to sit round or cook over, or the type of sites that have loads of facilities and electric hook ups that you would like to use?

Lots of equipment is standard, but the high tech / low tech outlook will suggest cobb oven and campfire grill rather than a kitchen set-up and EHU, or Icey tek v electric coolbox.

Very exciting. Which size did you get

Oh and of course you must have bunting!!!!

Hurrah I need bunting and fairy lights, just the answer I was looking for!

Have bought a 5 metre from Soulpad (after much hmmming and hahing over sizes). With a separate groundsheet. And a quarter sized inner for the baby to sleep in. Please tell me these are good choices as I spent ages scouring the camping section of MN before deciding!

I think we'll probably do a mix of both types of camping, but as we have had tents and a campervan before we do tend towards the more 'wild' style... we most recently had a campervan, so a bit lacking on camping stuff like beds etc!

ooh, I am excited for you, dh and I are about to buy a bell tent too, so I will be following your thread.

dh wants to get a stove for it, but i'm not sure it is such a good idea with a 6 yr old, 5 yr old and 18 month old!

Ah yes, we've looked at stoves (after much trawling on here, it would seem the Frontier stove is a good bet), but with the baby I'm not sure, unless we light it when she's gone to bed (because of course, she'll sleep beautifully whilst camping!)

Just had email from Soulpad to say it's being delivered on Thursday - I only ordered it yesterday! Will be spending the rest of the month itching to put it up, bet it rains every day.

www.thehappycampers.co.uk/
Inspiration for cool camping here

I see the bunted madness has already started and we are not even into the camping season proper yet.
[folds arms]

MrsLovely, congratulations on your lovely canvas purchase, may it bring you many years of pleasure. And welcome to the camping topic too if you are new.
As for bloody bunting. Bunting is a load of old fire hazard nonsense. You neither want nor need it. It will get wet, tangled up and will flap noisily against your tent in the small hours giving you a tic.
FREE YOURSELF FROM BUNTED URGES.

Let's talk proper camping kit. What are you going to sleep on?

Can I ask about fairy lights? How do you fairy light fans fuel them? EHU? Car battery? Or do you have soalr powered fairies?

(curious) (I have bunting, but we hang it high in the trees round our glade. territorial )

Yes, bunting is a step too far imo..

After having to stop our tarp blowing away in a howling gale last year, I'm damned if i'm running around trying to catch errant bunting.

Yes a bed, that is my last purchase before this years camping season, after our crap airbed finally gave up last year. Any recommendations

?

You NEED one of these.

I swear to all the camping gods, it changed my life.

Blu I bought DH solar fairy lights from Maplin on MN's recommendation.

And Slubber is right, don't have anything that flaps in the small hours. Your fellow campers will despise you.

Self inflating mats all the way. Almost all, if not all the tent manufacturers make their own, as do Aldi (you'll have to wait until they start bringing in their camping stuff though). Other brands are Thermarests and ...ooooh now they used to be Fat Airics and then Dozers....mmm will have to google.

Anyway with all things, you get what you pay for. In sim land that will be thickness, quality of materials and length of guarantee.

Ha, I clicked on the link, expecting to see a luxury camping bed!

I'm not sleeping on one of those!!!

I don't think we have the room for a toilet, the car is crammed to the roof anyway.

yy Dozers from Alpkit. V popular on mn.

See dh just doesn't believe in the self inflating mat, he just thinks they are too thin looking to be any good - he is keen on an aerobed, any opinion on those?

arf at Quenelle and her bog

Get him to a camping shop Hazey and get him to lie on one. I sleep better on my 5cm sim than I do in my bed. The fresh air and copious wine probably contribute a bit to that too.

I just don't know about beds, we used to have some self inflating ones, but they're very thin and not that comfortable...well, everyone else in the family slept well no them apart from me, so I've made a unilateral decision they're too thin!

I was kind of hoping for something a bit more substantial..that i can (ahem), drape with throws...is this going too far? Please slap me if I'm just being an embarrassment, I've always been a functional camper till now and this is all new territory to me.

I am worried worried about making a rubbish decision on beds, so all advice gratefully received.

We have a Coleman Comfort double airbed and I love it. It has two chambers so we don't roll into each other or bounce up and down when we move.

My recommendation is that you don't use one if you are TTC though - we had to replace them twice last year!

Oh, and I am so envious you have a bell tent. The Mister has banned me from even looking at camping shops!