Recommendations for a family tent please.

[LittleB]

We want to buy a family size tent, as our two person tent is no longer big enough for 2 adults, + dd (aged 2) + puppy with his crate. We know that we'd like 2 bedrooms, one for us one for dd, not so important now but useful when she's older, and if her cousins/friends come with us. We need a reasonable size lobby to allow room for cooking and for my puppy's dog crate (where he sleeps), ideally my husband would like to be able to stand up too, he's 6ft. We're only planning to holiday in the uk, and only in the summer for up to a week at a time so don't need anything too flash. Anyone got any recommendations for tents and where did you get yours from?
Thanks!

We've just bought a great Khyam Ontario 8. We chose this because like you, we wanted a large indoor area, plus plenty of height room as my husband is 6ft 5in. It has 3 bedrooms, one on one side and two the other and a large middle area, it has a sewn in groundsheet which we wanted to keep any bugs away from our rather wary 5 year old. All this and its pretty easy to pitch which is just what we wanted with a toddler running around.
It cost us £199 which i think is fairly reasonable for an 8 man tent. We bought ours from a stafford campshow, can't remember name of the shop But World of tent are doing one online at the moment with a free footprint for the same price.

We just spent our first week in a lokon vario 6

Fulfills your requirements, and we didn't pay more than £180 for it. Can't actually remember how much, but it was about that.

Very straightforward to pitch, and plenty of headroom for a 6' bloke.

We also had a lokon vario 6 and have been very pleased with it. We have just upgraded to an Outwell Vermont L which we also love but its much more expensive than the Lokon vario.

This Vango Wyoming 8 from Milletts is the current bargain of the season as it's half price at under £150.

So you get the reputation of a Vango, with a tunnel tent that sleeps 8 - fantastic buy according to my camping magazine

this is ours and we love it. Dh can stand up everywhere in it, lots of room inside on rainy days and front canopy is fab for cooking under.
We only paid £299 for ours though.

We have the Coleman Cedar Creek and i really recommend it. Millets have a deal on that it is still reduced in the catalogue with a 30% discount and are honouring it (so i hear!) so it is £125.

Two sleeping pods - it is optional to attach them (toggle system to the flysheet) so using the biggest one for the moment would be great for the three of you, leaving more room for your dog crate.

Its TALL too

Pro Action from Argos. Blimmin' marvellous. Friends have one which sleeps 8, big space in middles of tent, 2 'bedrooms' one with permanent divide into 2 doubles and one with a removable divide. Goes up very easily, plenty of head room etc. Was about £224 but in sale at moment maybe, for around 120?

july good housekeeping and last sat's guardian (personal shopper in family section) both reviewing family tents.

we have this one used for the first time at the weekend. It would fit your requirements & is plenty tall enough to stand up in - not only in the central bit, but also in the bedrooms
The outside bit has 2 sides & canopy so is good for cooking (although I think we will also get a windbreak for added shelter)

we've gotthat one too! and it was fab on our first outing. We only used the back two sleeping bits, for all five of us, so had stacks of room with the knowledge that as dc get older we can put in the other bedroom iyswim

We got an Outwell Montana 6 last year. Was about £400, so not the cheapest - but we love it. Very well designed and spacious for 4 (and a dog!)

One thing to double check before buying your tent is that your husband can also lie down in it . We nearly bought the Vango Breckenridge as it had plenty of standing headroom for my dh, but when he tried the bedrooms out for size he couldn't lie down without his head touching the inner , as the inners slope and the sizes given in the spec are at its largest of course. Just something to watch out for, for those of you married to the taller of the species . BTW bought a Khyam Ontario 8 and he fits width ways in the larger bedroom

Thanks for all the tips. We're going to a tent supplier tomorrow where we can see over 100 tents put up, including the makes and modles suggested here, so dh can test them standing up and lying down, while I consult my list of mn recommendations!

We have the same as Debbie, we got ours from the camping and kite centre althouh thats only as we could p[ick it up- outdoor world are cheap. Its fab, and they aslo do a 6 man version which may suit you better. We've already used it 4 times without a quibble (and as a tent obsessive I am very picky LOL)

the only other models I would consider atm are the Vango breckenridge and the vango vail, both of which are stunners.

there are a couple of phtographs of opur tent (with the optional suncanopy which adds £50 but can be bought any time) on my picture trail.

If you do get a SIG, try and find one with a footprint, which is a groundsheet that goes underneath and offers good protection from stones etc- with a non sig yopu can replace groundsheets, sig tents are dead when their groundsheet is. I think out footprint cost £38, but outdoor world sometimes offers one for free.

Deb your DH must be huge!!! The one we liked but ahd to ditch was the Aspen 500- you can only get 1 cam bed in each of the small rooms, whci means we wpuld either have a child in with us or we would ahev to sleep in separate rooms! er- no LOL!

(Oh and Debs and anyone who ahs an Ontario- if you look on UK campsite (search on the message bopards for messages from Peachyclair, or Khyam Ontario- either should be OK) there is DH's essential guide to packing the tent up. A MUST LOL)

lol that's a classic peachy - not something to be done with a hangover I imagine!

Great help peachy - dh gave up getting it all back in and had to pack the tent and poles seperate . So will pass that on and try it out !
Yep dh is quite big 6 1/2 ft which has lot of advantages at gigs, supermarkets and changing light bulbs, but can be a problem with holidays - romantic four posters are a no no as is a caravan and as we found certain tents.
But ontario was my first choice, so no great hardship

If you get your bum to Aldi asap they may still have some fabby 6 person tents in, that have a great standing room space at the front, 2 x bed, sleeps 6 people max for about £69.99.

LOL Debs

If you cant find it on UK campsite Dh will type it up here again just for you

Have found it Peachy - thanks - pasted it into word so can be printed off and referred to if needed .

Hi Ya

Can you please post the instructions on how to pack away an Ontario 8 Tent. We currently have it folded up in our garage as we gave up trying to fit it in bag!!! Cheers