Family tent help for beginners!

[potentialdogowner]

Not sure on the best tent layout for our family of 4 (soon to be 5, kids currently 4 and 2). We will be camping this summer for a family festival and plan to go each year, so the tent will mainly be used for this but might be used for more traditional campsites too.

I think we want at least 3 bedroom spaces so I’m looking at 6-8 berths. My main concern is on the amount of living space - I’ve been looking at the Berghaus air tents and am stuck between three options:

Adhara 700XL nightfall air: https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/products/berghaus-adhara-700xl-nightfall-air-tent-blue-754819?variant=55515231650118

Air 800 nightfall: https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/products/berghaus-air-800-nightfall-tent-blue-615726?variant=55616550895942

600XL nightfall air tent: https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/products/berghaus-600xl-nightfall-air-tent-blue-615728?_pos=1&_psq=600xl&_ss=e&_v=1.0&variant=55515240530246

The 800 air gives most sleep space but I’m concerned the vis a vis layout doesn’t give much room inside? And there’s no porch area so I don’t know where you’d put the camp stove and kitchen bit?

Insights from experienced campers welcome!!!

I would need a porch area. We leave shoes etc in ours and cook in it if the rain is bad. Can you go anywhere and have a look at different brands and layouts. We went with a vango tent in the end.

Yeah I did think that about porches. Because we’ve not camped before it’s hard to imagine how people layout the tents etc. We’ve got a Decathlon and a Towsure not to far away so might give those a visit!

I’ve seen talk about awnings or tarps to make a diy porch, is that sensible does anyone know? Or better to get something ‘ready to go’?

Definitely go for something with a roomy built in porch area. That gives you space to put all your gear and zip it all away from the weather / other festival goers / other campers / wildlife.

Definitely visit a big camping shop to try them for yourselves. It helps to see how big the spaces actually are.

Thanks so much, really good to hear from others!

With young children I would avoid the vis a vis layout, and for some reason I always find the inside feels claustrophobic.

Go and have a look - and look at the pack size and weight, too. Airbeam tents are heavy and bulky to pack!

we’ve got an air tent (a vango in our case) and I would never take it to a festival because it’s huge packed up and is heavy. quite often at festivals where you camp is miles away from where you park - so if you’re set on an air tent (and they do have lots of advantages) think about how you might get it from the car to the campsite. and also think about how much room it will take up in your car, because they are much bigger than traditional tents when packed up

Agree with porch comments. And also the pp - what you need for a festival is completely different to normal family camping. Unless you will be parking next to the tent, think about how you are going to transport 30kg plus across a field with your other kit and kids also in tow

How big is your car? We have just one child and struggled to fit all the camping equipment (tent, camping stove, pots, pans and cooking stuff, table, chairs, sleeping bags, sleeping mats / fold up beds, food, clothes, shoes, towels etc) into a reasonably sized car. We bought a seven seater that had a massive boot and had a roof box. We filled every inch of space!!! Although we didn’t go above the bottom of the glass (so kept everything in the boot not blocking the window), but we did fill the back seat beside our son. We were camping abroad for 7-10 days but even when we went for a long weekend in the UK the car was full. You might be do better or not need as much stuff for a festival. Space is a massive consideration especially as it sounds like you’ll need three car seats! So that’s an important consideration. Our tent was a Vango with an awning which took up quite a lot of space. Not inflatable.

And yes definitely go to a big camping shop to look at tents. Go Outdoors is good.

Good luck.

We are 2 adults one 3yo and a dog. I don't want to sleep separately to my child until they are a fair bit older so the layout that works for us is a 5/6man tunnel tent. Large bedroom at the back which we don't divide - all of us sleep together in there and there is plenty of room for our bags. We have a large living space and use this for a table, chairs and food storage, toys if its raining and dog bed. Porch is for kitchen/hob/cooking bits, shoes and coats, ours isn't enclosed so they all need bringing in if it's raining. Agree that festival camping is very different to other camping, you will need far less and should pack lighter

This is a really good point. We have a big air beam tent, 6 person with an enclosed porch and a side wing bit, and it’s absolutely enormous packed up. Takes 2 of us just to manhandle it into the car.

For a festival I think you’d want something much lighter weight unless you can drive there.

I do think a big tent is excellent for families though, if you camp with cars. We camp lots in the uk and it’s brilliant to have a 3 zone tent - first part enclosed porch with camp kitchen set up inside, boxes of stuff, games (balls, cricket set etc), wet things. Then the next zone is the nice carpet area with chairs and our clothes bags tucked at the side. We all sit around in this bit all cosy at night if it’s too cold for outside, or if it’s raining in the day. Kids had an inflatable double chair in here too. Cosy and fairy lights. Then at the end it’s the bed area. We liked the “two large rooms”’set up so it’s not just wall to wall lilo in there - kids had room for their little bags of stuff and aren’t treading on each other all the time.

It helps to have the enclosed porch as you can sit there with light on for reading and it’s still darker in the kids room with the middle zone separating you out.

Would definitely recommend the “nightfall” type rooms for bedrooms - it really helped with early waking up.

We cooked in the porch area but with the front a bit - or fully - open for air circulation. Or bbq outside of the weather is good but it makes so much difference to be able to cook in a dry place.

We are a family of 5 and used to have a vango normal tent that was fab, but very old. We replaced with an air tent. It's brilliant as when our 3rd was a tiny baby, my husband could easily put it up single-handed but it's absolutely huge and extremely heavy (to the point the courier refused to help lift onto our doorstep). We've ended up taking 2 cars, one a 7 seater with roof box on our camping trips since then. Our youngest is now out of nappies/cotbed and so we might be able to fit in one car this year but it will be a squeeze as the tent takes up the whole boot.

Thanks for all the advice. Taken on board the point that air tents ca be huge to fit in the car! We have an xc90 so boot is huge but we might take a roof box too if needed. Also thankfully where we are going allows you to drive up to your pitch to unload and then drive back to the car park area, must be tricky tricky to lug stuff across a field!

Good tip about the 3 zone tents, I think we’ll definitely be looking for a tunnel layout.

Not really relevant to the thread but it did jump out at me: if you're planning to cook in your porch, please please make sure you ventilate it extremely well. Carbon monoxide poisoning is a real risk.