Looking at getting our 1st tent this year - are carpets really necessary

[quint]

DH doesn;t think so, however he does seem to be looking at teh more sensible bits of camping equipment needed whereas I think that the Outwell kids room is so cute and we really must absolutely have one!!!!!!

They are not necessary at all but they are very nice We have one for our Vermont l but tbh they are a lot of money for what they are and if I was buying now i would get a couple of picnic balnkets instead. Much cheaper and easier to clean.

Sensible is good but its not as much fun

Thats whay I reckon Dusty!

Dh keeps going on about water carriers - I want nice pretty comfortable things!

Not too sure if I'm cut out for this camping lark but my god I can;t wait til we go away - getting very excited now and we don;t go til August!

whay not whay

Tell him not to bother with a water carrier. Just use an empty squash bottle (or similar). We have had 2 water carriers and they both broke after one holiday.

Save your money for the good stuff lol

Will show this to DH - thanks Dusty!

I hope you enjoy it I love camping and can't wait for our first trip away this year. we usually go at easter but it was too wet and cold even for us this year I was hoping we might get away on May bank holiday but DH has work commitments so we'll have to wait until Whitsun

What we do for water is buy a gallon bottle of mineral water when we get there,a nd after we've used that just refill from taqps- saves transporting any bottles at all.

Carpets- I'd say really useful if you camp out of season a lot (insulation) or have a tiny child- something soft to put them on etc- but toherwise not at all necessary. We do have one, but I did my apprentice years with a knapsack and 2 man ridge- now I like the luxury (ish- we don't do electric) side lol (p[lus we have an extremely tiny baby who will be 8 weeks at Whitsun when we go away)

No, we don't have them, if you want a more civilised camping trip then just make sure your tent has a sewn in groundsheet, it'll be warmer so you won't need the carpet - we do have a couple of picnic blankets as my dd's have an aversion to sitting on chairs so lie on the floor a lot and it's much warmer with them.

Fun stuff are things like head torches!

Well we're looking at the Outwell Hartford XL or XXL as even DH insisted on sewn in groundsheet and I insisted on at least a room for the girls a room for us and a store room not in the main central bit.

A carpet !

I'd go for the XL rather than the XXL as some campsites may not accept you or even have the cheek to charge you for 2 pitches with the XXL!

We always take a couple of old rugs. Nicer underfoot or to sit and play on, and go in the washing machine when you get home.

Carpet?

I know thats what DH said!!!!!

In the end I managed to get a Hartfod XXL (2007) off of Ebay, if I hadn;t have won that we'd have probably got a new XL one.

We won;t be getting a carpet, however I still want to get the kids room as it looks cute and I know DDs will love it! So there's my extravagance!