Tent advice for a family of 4 new to camping please?

[hippipotami]

Hope you can help. We are a family of 4 (dc are 4 and nearly 8) and we want to start camping. Nothing long, more like the odd weekend / long weekend type of break.

What tent do we need?

It has to be:

1. large enough to accomodate the 4 of us (obviously)
2. easy to put up and take down (that is a must as dh is refusing to spend ages getting tangled in wires etc)
3. pretty much waterproof - given recent weather
4. not too expensive - but I have no idea what a reasonable budget would be?

Thanks for all the advice. We need the tent by the middle of Sept as we are going on a Scouts Family Camp weekend. But would like to go away for a weekend with our tent first so we don't show ourselves up to be complete novices

(but WHERE were these tornados? WHERE? Am oddly curious)

Well we were second trow from front (front being beach) at pentewan, and the weather was TERRIBLE on the Sunday night- never experienced anything like it!

Oh and the tornadoes (sorry Tornadic Activity as Radio Cornwall called it LOL) were apprently what caused the storms we ahd. Apparently.

we were in shropshire, at a festival.

in a field where, until a few days earlier, there had been a lot of cows.

There were floods

also no showers

the upshot was not pleasant.

Euch, no showers and cowpats! Yuck!

Did once stay in a bungalow in ireland where the sheep ahd worked out the entry system , that must ahve been a similar experience, at elast we had a batht ehre though!

strip wash in festival portaloo, mmmmmm.

(have bathed since, btw)

At least our showers etc were pristine

That MATTERS imo

Right, am back! Dinner was yum. Had a chat with the powers that be (aka dh) and have decided to head Peachy's advice of buying a very basic cheap Argos tent to start with. To be honest we rarely get a free weekend (dh is contracted to work most of them so any free ones are booked up solidly) so to be realistic I cannot see us camping often.

So, we have bought the 'family starter pack' in Argos which is a (small I presume) 4 person (two bedroom) tent, complete with airbeds and sleeping bags. That will see us through the Scout Camp and the 1 night at Longleat we are planning for the end of August. If in the next year we do manage to get out camping more, and discover a love for it, we will go out and buy a bigger tent, one where I can stand up and where we have more space.

In the meantime the small one will be fun for camping in the back garden too.

Thanks for all your tips. You are probably all despairing of our choice (I don't think this tent has even hear of a sown in groundsheet) but for £90 for the complete starter kit, I am not too worried.
If it turns out to be a false economy you can all yell 'I told you so'.

The one we have gone for is www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3409158.hthhere
By the way, it states the hh is 1200 but in the catologue it states hh of 2000, will check catalogue is correct before buying.

Must preview, we have not yet bought, we have chosen..

And link does not work, will try again

www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3409518.htm

Our first proaction was fine, really it was. I'm sure will suit your needs to a tee. Have fun!

Last try

www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3409158.htm

Right, that one works!! Thanks Peachy, I hope it will be fine for what we need, and if we do get the camping bug we will upgrade
Am rather looking forward to trying it now, dh on the other hand is already grumbling about lack of creature comforts teehee!

Well my Dh ahted the idea of camping, he was a suite-in-Vegas kinda guy but we were broke and it was tent (in the sales £35 LOL) or no holiday- he's now totally addicted! there's hope for your DH too

I really hope so! I have very fond memories of our camping holidays when I was growing up (although my parents did have a trailer tent, so a wee bit more luxury) and I want the dc to have similar memories.
(or perhaps I just want to relive my youth - sigh...)

Dh is all excited - he has just got off the phone to a friend and has managed to organize a small gas camping stove maybe he is getting in the spirit of things!

He now wants to know, will I need a kettle or a frying pan, or both? Crikey, he is planning the full catering service

we have a kettle and frying pan, no more. Our stove though has a built in griddle and stir fry bowl . The pan does for scrambled eggs / curries as well as fried eggs, and the kettle for hot water obv. Pop a blanket down under the beds to insulate (makes mroe difference than you will believe)

www.outdoorworld.org.uk/coleman-galileo-weathermaster-tent-p-1687.html this is what we're after next btw- the addiction can grow rapidly LOL!, its onlyour third season this year, we seem to hve a new upgraded tent each year

Ah, brillinat tips, thank you! Will take basic frying pan, and kettle for essential morning coffee.

To be honest, the Scout camp is catered anyway - all the parents are chipping in and we are doing a big bbq, the scout leaders are providing all cooking equipment.

I think now dh has realised this camping thing is really going to happen he is determined to make it as comfortable as possible.

Wow, that is a cool tent! Fab price too, are you getting it?

Oh yes, for next season. Ours got a bit of a bashing last week sadly (although every tent on site did too) and the only tent there that survived intact was this one- pretty useful recommendation LOL

Right, am getting off here for the night, going to make a cuppa and see what's on tv.

Peachy, thanks for all your advice. Will let you know how we got on with our tent once we have used it.

Thanks
xx

Teehee, they will all sell out quickly now! I think if we have a weekend of bad weather dh will go back to looking at rented cottages!

Am off now,

bye.

oops this one sorry www.outdoorworld.org.uk/coleman-galileo-weathermaster-tent-p-1688.html?osCsid=3ac1dce4391c733 85eeeb118636231be, next size up

I like thattached windbreak as it clips to the tent and makes a safe cookinga rea away from the boys (we have 3 and 2 have sn and no sense of danger so this'll be handy)

We have a domed tent that has rooms either side and a main living area in the middle, it is fine and big enough but having used it, I would definitely recommend getting a tent that has 3 bedroom areas so you have one area that you are not living in to put all your stuff.