was planning to buy a normal tent..... do any of you have a bell tent??

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now i'm salivating over one of these am i mad? i have slept in one years ago and loved it. Not sure how it would work with having no different sections!

It's fabulous and I don't even like camping . It'd make a brilliant den/summer room - not a bad price, either. Are you really tempted?

ds;s scout troop hav ethose. been in constant use for twenty odd years. they all seem to love them.
no idea why most tents have sections in the m anyways.

Yes, we have one and I gave one to my parents when they became grandparents, so we could sleep the whole family in. Theirs is 5m diameter, sleeps more than 10 people plus stuff. Ours is 4m diam, more cosy and fits in our garden. But don't go to that website to get it, we got ours from a dutch company, Obelink : their website is here somewhere.......aha!

Look at this page to see the Sahara 400, the one we have. Very cheap, 159 Euros. My daughter loved it all summer, but the lawn sadly didn't, not sure what to do about the strange mossy patch this year, probably just put the tent up again!!

By the way, the tent we have has a removable groundsheet, but I think this is the link for the type of tent with an attached groundsheet, it costs more and is probably not so draughty, but we like fresh air and being able to roll up the sides on hot days.
Other links:
The Sahara 500 (the 5m diameter one, very nice and airy inside)
The Sahara 500 plus - with an inclusive groundsheet

Good luck! We love camping in ours, excellent for festivals and our daughter and her cousins LOVE it.

main disadvantage of no sections is you can see the mess rather than zipping it away...

Argos have some too

I just checked out the two sites below again, and the first one appears to be selling the exact same model of tent, but for £249 instead of £120 . Not that I am biased or anything, but that is such a rip-off. Go with Obelink, I did it online and the shipping costs were the same, I don't understand Dutch but the ordering process seems to be so straightforward that it doesn't seem to matter.

to be fair the dutch site has it on special offer - their list price is £300

At that price, even I'm tempted !

Thanks so much for the link to that website. We have wanted a bell tent for ages but £249 seemed a lot for a tent when you've already got one (not canvas though!). have just ordered one from Obelink and saved £100. Bargain! Can't wait until it gets here!

thanks woolymum. really good price. my husband is much more in to us getting a gelert vario 6 which is a sythetic tunnel tent. hmmmm... don't know what to do. if we don't get a bell this summer i'd be really tempted to get one if we ever got a garden bigger than a handkerchief

The two tents I bought have been the same price for two years now, I don't reckon they ever sold any for £300, a bit like punnets of strawberries supposedly knocked down from £3.99 to £1.80.....

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Help, I really want one with a groundsheet sewn in, but can't understand which has it and which doesn't!

It is the Plus versions (400 Plus and 500 Plus) which have the sewn in groundsheet. Taken from Woolymummy's post above, this is the link to the 400 Plus with SIG:

www.obelink.nl/ws/assortiment_overzichtpagina3.asp?cat=1&id=18&arid=2444

Thankyou so much. I have ordered the 400 plus

It's like a Weasley tent!!!!

as Mrs Badger says the main disadvantage is that there is nowhere to put anything - unless you are planning on rolling your bedding up every morning and there is nowhere to sit in the tent if it rains, especially at night when the children are asleep.

The rolling up the bedding thing is the reason that our Guides use them, they also have separate mess tents, so the bell tent is just for sleeping in, not living in as a family would.

Thanks Lucycat.

This just confirms that it would be perfect for my family...we never make our beds, we seem to do everything in one room (including sleeping sometimes!) - though obviously not bathroom stuff
so I can see it being a lovely sort of duvet and cake packet type of arrangement - if you can call it an arrangement!

Now where did we leave that port key...

Though I can see it might be a problem if there were muddy boots etc and sleeping bags covering the floor.

I think we might get away with it if we keep the bedding to one end, as there are only three of us (two littlies and me!)

Spooky! I was thinking about bell tents last night.

I think it was Fillyjonk who was toying with the idea of buying one last year but have no idea if she actually did.

You could always get yourself a tarp to cook under and sit under when it's raining?