sleeping bags for (chilly) uk camping

[stopitatonce]

I've bought my tent, thanks to advice on here! Now, I need to get kitted up. any recommendations for sleeping bags for adult-sized and for a 4yo who both feel the cold? I've heard 4 season is the way to go in the uk - is that sensible? I want to avoid spending ££££, and we have fleece blankets we can take too.

It's a hard one as being warm is very a personal thing. But this is what we have!
All the kids have a 3 season bags. But they are warm bodied creatures and at home sleep under a 9 tog duvet when it's really cold 4.5 tog most of the time.
I love to be warm, my old bag was an all season mummy bag, and I was soooo hot, too hot in fact. So I've got a new cocoon style ( more room) 3 season bag and hope that will be better.
We alway take blankets with us just in case, and sleep on SIMs which are on picnic blankets, on top of two ground sheets! So nice and warm underneath.
Although I did read the other day that blankets, in theory, make your sleeping bag less effective, as they flatten the loft of the filling, reducing the air trapped inside.
The size of your tent, and the number of people in it also makes a difference.

Thanks - perhaps I'm being overly cautious! maybe it will be fine to just get cheapest half-decent 3 season ones I can find once the summer sales start

If you put your blanket inside the sleeping bag you avoid the flattening, so it won't make it less efficiënt. It does take a while to get snuggled in properly and you don't want to get out again though!

that's ingenious!

I can't see that a fleece blanket puts enough pressure on a sleeping bag to flatten the loft! I find a blanket on top of a sleeping bag makes a huge difference.

4 season sleeping bags are generally v expensive. Get 3 season from a good make and you should be fine, especially with a fleece blanket on top.