hartford L or XL - nannyme?

[motherpeculiar]

who has hartford L or XL?

(I seem to recall Nannyme you were getting one)

do the inner linings of the bedrooms sag badly or are they ok?

anything else I should know? (saw an XL at the w/e and loved it but can't really afford it and wonder whether would be too big for me DH and two kids so am considering the L although have never seen it and probably won't before buying)

tia

We have the xxl, and yes one of the bedrooms did sag a little but this was due to us not pulling the corners out properly. We did pull the corners tight just before we took it down (din't have time before)and it was fine.

thanks HP - a few more questions - is it a beast to put up? does it seem embarrassingly enourmous when compared to everyone else's? (I haven't been to a campsite in years and so am not sure if we'll feel really out of place with a massive tent and only 4 of us, especially since most of our camping will be 1 or 2 nights to start with

I have just been told on ukcamping where it might be possible to get an XL for just over 200 quid (my budget) so that might be back on the cards again - just need to persaude DH now (oh, and measure the boot of the car )

It was a bit of a beast to put up, but that was because we didn't know what we were doing! I am very confident for next time now we know what we are doing.

It did seem quite big but then for some reason we managed to pitch next to a small tent, they liked the look of ours tho'.

We paid £300 for ours because it is last years colours.

Not sure what car you have, ours is a Mondeo and it fits in there fine.

We've just bought the XXL for only 4 of us! IT was last years' model - only £269 from gooutdoors.co.uk - well we bought it from one of their shops, but think price the same online. Bought such a big tent as wanted space for all our gear in one pod, and separate pods for DS and DD, for longer sleeping in the morning I hope, and also the possibilty of taking friends with us in the future!

Hmmm, we found out after we bought ours that gooutdoors was cheaper!

are we mad to buy an XL though, it'll be just for weekends for now and there are only 4 of us

(my reasoning is that if we like it we'll end up doing longer trips, possibly france etc and I really don't want to have to buy another bigger one if/when that happens!)

decisions decisions ...

(will check gooutdoors, thanks for tip, although doubt I'll beat blacks for the XL)

my thinking was that if we buy the biggest we afford now, then if we do longer trips we won't need to replace it. One of the seasoned campers aroun d here (I forget who) has said to def buy a bigger tent than the no of people you want to sleep, make for a much more comfy time. we spent ages researching our choice, and in the end decided that, of the fdeatures we wanted, this was the best/financially a good deal.

that's my thinking too pandaG, but I am a bit paranoid about buying something really big and then ending up only using it for weekends and it taking us half the time we are away to erect/take down

have you camped in yours yet? was it fab?

Haven't used ours yet, we are going weekend of 17th for its first outing - but hope to practise putting it up in a local park beforehand. Am getting excited. Hope whatever decision you make you are happy. We may have gone for Xl rather than XXL, but the offer on XXL was just too good to miss! And I was suffering from severe tent envy, as the last time we went camping in a borrowed tent, the other families had much bigger tents than us, and we appreciated their living space when it rained. BTW, the friends with the large tent 8 berth, similar size to xxl but I forget the make, bought it when they only had 1 child, and only have 2 atm.

look forward to hearing how it was when you get back then

from what I've heard, a practice putting up session is a VERY good idea

thanks sally - just saw them and replied (in a kind of garbled way which is all I am capable of right now)

Sorry I missed this!

Ours hasn't arrived yet - they are awaiting delivery at worldofcamping where we got our L for £199.

Will be putting up (still to immature to say erecting) in garden soon as we get it so will let you know how it goes.

I hope I am right in my prediction that L will be plenty big enough and XL would be a little excessive for us!

There are five of us but I really wanted to be sure we had enough room for 'gear' so hope we made the right choice.

Hi Nannyme

would you mind posting once you have put it up and let me know what you think. I am in a real dither about it, haven't managed to see the L at all yet but like the price !

Hope you love it.

Yep no problem!

Are you able to get to a tnt show where they have it maybe?

Maybe there is a Outwell appreciation society where you can go and admire them in people's gardens?!!

thanks - have been to one massive tent retailers and one tent show now (1 and 2 hour drive each way respectively) and have seen XL and XXL but no L. Can get the XL for not that much more on blacks (sorry!) now but am not sure extra size would suit

I am just worried it's too massive for us, mostly in terms of needing to be sure of big site and (more importantly) trying to put it up while also trying to look after the two smallies. Could take days - will be VERY interested to hear how you get on...

we are planning mostly w/e camping for now, tho' if we love it I wouldn't rule out a week or two in France at some stage, so I don't want to buy anything too small either

(god, I am boring even myself with my indecisiveness at this stage)

Hi, promised I would let you know how I got on with the XXL. We have just got back from our first weekend away in it, and had a great time. It took us about 1 hour 20 mins to pitch it for the first time, think it will be under an hour next time now we know what we are doing. Was very straightforward to strike, and really roomy inside. Looking forward to our next trip now, which is at the start of the summer holidays!