How do you 'lock' your tent.

[youbethemummylion]

We are planning our first camping trip and this has never occured to me before but how do you secure your tent whilst out for the day?

Do all the zips right up to stop squirrels etc getting in.

But I put all the valuables in the car boot.

You don't. If anyone wants in they'll get in.
We secure any valuables in the car.

You don't. Or at least I don't and have never had anything taken. Having said that I don't leave valuables in the tent whilst I'm out.

We don't, to be honest. If you've got a car, I suppose you could lock real valuables in there, but if I go out I've always got my bag/purse/phone with me, so it's never occurred to me to try and secure a tent.

We never have, it has always been fine. Obviously handbags, keys, electrical are kept in the car.
I think other campers always look out for one another's things anyway.

You don't. Don't take lots of valuables with you and keep things (phones/wallets etc) with you when you go out.

You dont. Sadly there are some nasty people out there but mainly follow advice on here.

You don't really. Just zip it up, it occurred to me last year how weird this was but you never hear about theft from tents. I wouldn't leave money or mobiles etc in there but even the basic camp stuff can cost loads yet always seems safe.

Last summer we had a lovely weekend on a campsit and fancied coming back the next weekend. The owner said we could leave tent and contents there during the week and just come back to it the following weekend. Seemed weird driving away and leaving all the tent and gear but it ws all fine and it was lovely to arrive to it all set up

Sadly we has someone come into our tent while we slept and steal me mums hangbag
Now I sleep with a knife for two reasons and everything in locked in car.

Last year we camped at a lovely site on the Norfolk coast and after an idyllic day out at Sandringham arrived back to awful spectacle of our belongings scattered over the site and the tent nowhere to be found. It seems there are some people out there who are not to be trusted and we will NEVER go camping ever again.

Envama that's terrible. What did the campsite owners and police say?

Thats terrible, campers usually look out for each other in my experience.

I've only ever camped at festivals, so don't ever leave valuables in my tent during the day - and tend to leave it messy so it looks as though it has already been done over! At night I sleep with phone, camera, purse etc in the bottom of my sleeping bag. At some festivals, gangs would wander round during the night cutting the sides of tents and reaching in for valuables. Having said all of that, I've never had anyone try to break into my tent!

Some people padlock the zips on their tents but that just tells thieves that there's something worth nicking in the tent.

Leaving valuables in a locked car is sensible.

We don't and touch wood haben't had any issues yet

yy to locking in the car. Thankfully we haven't had any problems and campsites for some reason always seem so safe.

I was at Eweleaze one year when a gang of people came onto the site one day and went through a lot of tents and took stuff. Thankfully not mine!

Thanks for the kind offer EcclesAddict-would it fit the two of us and the terrible twins,Raymond and Roger.They so miss their father,he was in the Army but we are hoping to get in touch anytime soon.I have never seen security guards except when I went to Butlins on a school trip but thats another story.

I have only heard about stuff being stolen at festivals - never at campsites

Envama - I can understand why you dont ever want to go camping again as what happened to you must have been very distressing. What did the police and the site owners say?

We dont take valuables, and we do take we keep with us and leave the tent as if we will be back in a few minutes.

Same as ThreadWatcher, I've only seen this happen at festivals before. So sorry about what happened to you Envama.

We experienced the opposite while on holiday in France last week. We were out when a storm hit the site and our neighbours kindly rushed over and put our table, chairs and tarp in our tent for us so they didn't blow away. That I think (hope) is a more common experience than the other way round.

Never locked a tent - either on a campsite or at a festival.

Have also never left anything of value in a tent when we're not there either. All gadgets go into the car when we are out or overnight.

At a festival I sleep with my bag strap around my roll mat and the bag is covered by a pile of clothes.

We accidentally left DS's treasured and ludicrously expensive Chelsea shirt drying on a bush all day on a campsite last year and it was still there when we returned in the evening.

I have been camping almost every year since I was a baby. DH started camping in his teens. DD's first camp happened when she was 6m. We have never had anything stolen.

What do you with stuff when you're on a beach?

We have "The Bag" :)

"The Bag" is like our PFB and must remain with one of us AT ALL TIMES. Before leaving the tent we do a roll call of The Bags residents to check that they are accounted for. One of us carries The Bag while the other is in charge of DS and dog. It never leaves our sight and spends its night-times under a pile of dirty clothes on the camping chair (no burglar with any morals would be seen dead riffling under DS's dirty clothes, even for an iPhone :o)

Never padlock the tent as it seems to scream "We have left all our valuables inside" Though as DH pointed out, the mad British couple carrying a rucksack everywhere, even to the loo are clearly using it to hold all their valuables anyway :o

Also some sites have safe deposit boxes for hire.