outwell vermont...or some other large tent with good porch area...your advice please

[mybabywakesupsinging]

We've had a Vango Orchy, with a large front porch thing, for years and it is beginning to wear out a little, leak a little...
We've always fancied having an all-in-one tent instead of the tent and canopy being two jobs.
We like having a porch without a groundsheet, where we can put a table to eat or even cook if the weather is very bad.
The Vermont would be a massive upgrade for us - but is on special offer at the moment...
or any other recommendations?
anyone got a Vermont and love/hate it?
thank you.

bump?

Had various Outwell's and love them. Not a Vermont but it's been around for years so it must be doing something right!! It looks like a good solid tent (was on a busy site on the West coast one year in a proper gale and by the next morning it was only us (in an Outwell Maryland) and a French family in a Vaude and the Vermont that were left standing! We had a joint celebratory fry up with beer and whisky as we took stock of the chaos around us!!

We have a Vango Lomond 600, love it! Good porch area, sleeps 6, and the porch doesn't have a groundsheet.
www.google.co.uk/search?q=vango+lomond+600&safe=off&espv=2&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=3Dr_U9OwHPOI7Abi8ICoDw&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAw&biw=1366&bih=653#facrc=&imgdii=&imgrc=eUJJrOJQZhW1qM%253A%3BcFd_MEwYzn2MAM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ftauntonleisure.files.wordpress.com%252F2013%252F03%252Fimg_0126.jpg%253Fw%253D470%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fblog.tauntonleisure.com%252Fvango-tents-buying-guide-2013%252F%3B470%3B353

A big second hand frame tent. Our has plenty of room and has a zip in front wall, allowing you to choose between a fully enclosed tent, or a tent with a porch, and because it's got a steel frame and poly-cotton covering, it's lovely and cosy in bad weather.

We had ours up in enough wind to bend over some modern tents last week, and ours just stood there totally unruffled.

I love my Outwell Vermont XL. It has so much space and means that even when it's rainy we have plenty of space to cook, eat and generally hang out. It is sturdy, weatherproof and (after watching the Youtube video) I can put it up by myself.
On the downside, the front area has a sloping front, so when it's raining, water comes into the tent whenever someone comes in or out. We just decided that the middle living area is a shoes-off area and the front bit gets a wet floor and is a shoes-on area. Also, it is huge and heavy when packed up. I nearly wept the day we arrived at a campsite where you had to carry all of your stuff from the car park!

I have an Outwell Vermont XL and it is great. SOO much space.

Just bear in mind you will need a very big car boot to transport it.

Thank you all. Cheebame we had a frame tent when I was a kid and it was like a small house - it was used by the local Guides for years after we left home and my parents downsized. It was great (although massive bag...)
we're sold on the vermont, I think...DH can see it for 615 on-line, which is a massive investment but we're anticipating many years of camping in probably not wonderful British weather.
I think I'd better read the roof box thread next! although we'd have to have a roof bag, we've got no spare storage space as it is.

We can't fit the tent in the roof box, but we put the tent and pole bag in the boot and squish the roof box full of other stuff

The frame tent isn't the most compact of tents I'll grant you - in fact is so large that we are thinking of getting another tent for quick weekends away - it's not worth putting up the frame tent for 1 or 2 nights. This looks excellent value - but the website has other lovely tents - the Dutch know about camping

www.obelink.co.uk/tents/tunnel-tents/expedition-4-nl.html?category_params=subcats%3DY%26features_hash%3DV373.V372%26full_render%3Dtrue%26s_company%3D4%26category_id%3D4188

Just got back today from our first trip in our new Vermont XLP - 'twas bloody marvelous.

The sloping front is a bit of a bugger, but there's a central guy line from the front so we got in the habit of unzipping and flipping it back over that which minimized rain getting in.

Otherwise I couldn't fault it, we had OK daytime weather, but every night was wet and windy and having an integral groundsheet makes so much difference.

Also found it surprisedly straightforward to pitch and take down which was great as DH & I usually end up threatening murder/divorce during the process.

The colour coded plastic pegs are incredibly sturdy and unlike our old tent, all the vents & windows fasten with zips rather than Velcro which is much better.

The drying rails are really useful if you are doing beachy things - strong enough to hang wetsuits as well as towels.