I am going to do it!

[TheoriginalLEM]

I am going to buy a tent!!!

We looked at one today, a Vango avington - two bedrooms plenty of room and £280. Nearly bought it but it would leave me with very little to buy bits and peices so we took a reality check and are looking on Ebay for now.

Wht do i need to know? What are the basics we need?

We are watchin one on ebay that has all the equipment, its currently cheap enough but two days to go...

That is a really hard question OP as it is a very individual choice. I am happy on either really but DH can't bear SIMs as he finds them way to hard and too low down.

Airbeds are a sodding nightmare though as they always go down at the most inopportune moment. This Easter ours went down our first night in France. After almost no sleep we headed irritably to Decathlon as we had no other real choice and bought two of their slightly more expensive airbeds. I can't link to them now as their website is down but they have ribs going crosswise across the bed and come with a 2 or 3 year guarantee (can't remember which).

We had the most comfortable 6 nights' sleep we have ever had on those beds - for me more comfortable than at home as I find our mattress too soft. The great thing about them seemed to be their firmness and the fact that when one person rolls over it doesn't affect the other person (or in our case people as we have DD in there too).

Of course, with an airbed you need extra insulation under you to protect you from the cold air coming up from the ground, whereas there is no such issue with a SIM. The trade off is that SIMs (at least the bigger more luxurious ones) take up more space in the car than airbeds so you can bring extra blankets etc with the latter.

Oh, we are no featherweights either - far from it in fact.

Most comfortable nights camping that is - I have been slightly more comfortable in a 5 star hotel bed before. To be fair, it was a close run thing, but then, I could sleep on rocks provided I was warm so am no great judge. The big test is that DH slept well too.

I would take duvets also.

We are new to this camping malarkey also and have forked out on naturalmat travel beds. They weren't cheap but we bought as great as guests beds at home also, we have been storing both flat under our bed ( although can be rolled up to move). We camped the first time over easter for just 3 nights ( dh, myself and x2 children), and they were super comfy. We just bought 2 atm as children 4 and 5 and like sharing bed at home anyway so we put together and shared as one big bed ( kept everyone warmer!). We took a double duvet to lay ontop of beds, then a super king duvet to lay under. Plus mountain of pillows and blankets.

We all slept in ski thermals :)

Wow, Artandco, those naturalmats are not cheap are they! Still, by the time you replace an airbed every year (or so), I guess they pay for themselves after a few years.

Frozen - no not cheap but we bought just before Xmas and have had lots of people sleep in them at home as easier than pulling sofa bed out tbh ( or can have 2 guests on sofa bed and 2 on these natural mats). So have already got our money's worth tbh ( dhs family live in Greece so lots of visitors!). Before we used to pay for hotel locally if family ie parents and kids staying, but now we can fit everyone at the house for a few nights ( London hotels aren't cheap either)

Also we have decided to try camping more to give children more opportunity to be outdoors/ in countryside as live in small flat in London, rather than a cost issue. Dh has also ordered loads of random fancy stuff probably not needed! We have a tent chandelier on its way ( who knew they even existed!), and a camping stove that charges phones, a Biolite?? With grill and other bits. Dh saids we will be zombie ready now!

Your DH is right, Art - you will be very zombie-ready. I take it if you have a tent chandelier you have a bell tent? (If not, you are going to find it interesting putting it up).

Beware, there is all manner of stuff out there to tart up a bell tent (a clamp table for round your pole, for example - you can even decorate it yourself! www.hookedonglamping.co.uk/table.html).

For various pragmatic reasons, we haven't camped in our bell tent for a couple of years and I really miss it. DD (then 3) used to bring in all her little camping mates to visit our tent and admire the chandelier/turn the battery tea lights on and off repeatedly (I really must get it out again for her sometime this year).

V jealous of your biolight stove too - we just haven't been able to justify one yet what with all the other camping crap we have.

Oh yes there's 50 battery tea lights on order to go in the chandelier. It's a 5m bell tent. I really did think 4m might be better as only 4 of us and only planning long weekend camping for now, but figured 5m means we can invite friends etc as needed and better if raining. We only live in a one bed flat so the tent is stored at the office :)

I am not showing dh that's site! He said two years ago we are never camping, but now has really gotten into it as long as he can have semi luxury camping, he would love a table around pole I'm sure ( we only had picnic rug and cushions last time)

We ditched sleeping bags in favour of duvets, one to sleep on and one to cover. They're so much cosier. And definitely real pillows. Also Ikea do fleece blankets for £3 each in lots of colours, we had three to go across all our beds (3 of us). We have Vango 7.5cm sims and much prefer them to airbeds although what I would really like is 2 x 7.5cm sims on top of one another. I bought a large, foil-backed picnic blanket from Aldi for £7 which makes a brilliant, bedroom carpet.

I recommend using as much as you can from home for now then buying what you decide you need as you go along. We bought cheap normal saucepans from Wilkos and took the frying pan, washing up bowl, mugs, cutlery, cooking utensils etc from home.

Do spend some money on the comfiest chairs you can find though. Evenings are lovely spent lounging around with a bottle of wine but not if you're perched on a stool or your back's killing you in a crappy little deckchair.

Camping chair-wise, if you want some comfort but don't want to spend too much, these are a good buy (or will be from tomorrow) and have a headrest too: www.aldi.co.uk/en/specialbuys/thur-21-may/product-detail/ps/p/premium-camping-chair/

Artandco, definitely keep your DH away from that and other camping accessory sites if you don't want to have to invest in a bigger car or, like us, something like this: www.amazon.com/Rightline-Gear-100B90-Cargo-Saddlebag/dp/B0009NWQWI