Would we be crazy to camp down cornwall for a week in this

[ifeelsleepy]

Okay so we will be first timers at this camping lark and we was shocked at the cost of holidays this year, so we came up with the idea of going camping for a cheap holiday.
We didn,t want to buy a real expensive tent at the moment in case we don,t take to it.

Anyway when I tell you about the tent we are considering to have as our home for a week down cornwall which will be something like a 240 mile drive from where we live, please don,t laugh.
It is a Pro Action 240 tent that sleeps 4 people with 1 bedroom and well thats basically it.
It does have a porch which is quite a generous space, an attached ground sheet.
I can stand up in it but I am only 5ft 2.
Although it sleeps 4 there will be just 3 of us myself, my 7yo ds, and my dh.

We have bought 3 single airbeds and plan to just stack them up pushed away up the one side of the tent when not in use, giving us room to move around in the day.
The inner size of the tent is 210 x 240cm.

Are we crazy to consider a week in this.
I do have visions of getting to the camp sites and all of these people having fantastic tents with several rooms and loads of room to walk around in etc, and there will be us with this relatively small tent.

We're going to start of local to test it as we are at the bottom of the peak district then hope to come to devon towards the end of the holidays for a few days. There's only me and ds and we've never had a holiday before so I'm hoping it'll be fun. Camping in Windsor would be nice so I can take hin to Legoland.

We went to Cornwall for years with just a 4man dome that 4 people could lie side by side in and it had a small entrance porch. You couldn't stand up. All 4 of us squeezed in and we had many, many great holidays - only replaced it when it wore out through too much use. So I reckon you'll be fine.

OMDB - only take chairs and things if going for longer than a day or two. Otherwise, just rug on floor is fine. Have been thinking I must get a wind-up torch before we go camping this summer. [Makes mental note.]

Ifeelsleepy - don't take only plastic knives/forks etc. Take at least one 'proper' knife. Otherwise you'll end up passing round the block of cheese and nibbling bits off it [voice of experience ]. Heater unnecessary - just take lots of layers and be prepared to wear all of them in bed [see above re. voice of experience]. A woolly hat is very good for chilly evenings/in bed.

Re. space... small tent is fine, as long as you don't spend too much time in it. Have a few bolt-holes in mind in case of inclement weather. Where in C'wall are you going? Have you decided?

We do have a wind up torch.

You would need somewhere to put the stove onto whilst cooking. the table I am hoping to get has a heat resistant top.

They do some nice wind up torches in Blacks, mine has a radio and an alarm too and can be recharged by it's solar panel/battery/wind up. It's fab!

avenanap: I have one of these camping mattresses from the days (BC) when dh and I used to go off camping on his motorbike (so space/weight was of the essence). It weighs next to nothing and packs up into a little bag about the size of a shoe (an adult's shoe, that is). It blows up in about 2 mins and is comfortable, if a bit narrow (but I'm wide!). Camped with a friend on Friday night and she was very as I sat on my (narrow but inflated) mattress and drank wine while she pumped and pumped at her 'luxury' airbed with a foot-pump.

ifeelsleepy: We just put stove on the ground.

Ohh. That looks so comfy. I could get one with the £10 I'm saving from buying the tent from Argos and not Milletts.

IMHO they are much better than the foam 'camping roll' kind of thing, and much much smaller and easier to carry.

. I need to keep the weight as low as possible as I will be carrying everything that won't fit into ds's trolley.

avenanap
I would say to go for a tent thats slightly larger than what you need so if there is just 2 of you maybe go for a 3 persons tent.
That way it gives you just that bit of extra room to put any bags. clothes, etc.
The trouble with mattresees is that they can fill a tent up with no room to move.
We didn,t want the hassle of inflating and defalting the mattresses so we have bought 3 singles that can be pushed out the way.
There is only 3 of us and the tent is for 4 so it gives us that bit more space to make it as comfortable as possible.

I've just looked at the UNISON web site. They give money to members for a hoilday if they havn't had one for three years. I think I qualify . Do you think they'd give me a tent?

That mattress is under 100g, avenanap. You won't get much lighter than that.

Single inflatable mattresses are much better than double ones, ifeelsleepy. Unless you are the exact same weight as your dp, one of you will end up on the floor while the other bounces around on something rock-hard and boing-y.

bigger = heavier.

Just re-read 'the other bounces around on something rock-hard and boing-y'. Obviously I didn't meant it like that.

Lol!

avenanap, I know I'm repeating myself here, but I only have a two person tent and it is fine for DS and I. Plenty of room.