you campers with the hugenormous tents what is the rational behing it?

[chevre]

i thought our old tent was hugenormous but i am humbled by some of the creations i saw this weekend.

why not just buy 2 smaller tents? why do you need such huge tents? what are you all doing in there?

well, we have a bell tent, but I can imagine if you have teenagers you really really want them to have their own 'space' but not be totally removed from you.

I wonder at the size of the pitch sometimes - do you have to pay more for a whopping pitch?

For me the height's more important than the size - it's great to be able to stand up inside your tent, makes it much easier getting dressed and so forth!

Also, if the weather's dreadful, it's nice to be able to hang out in your tent for a while without being squashed on top of each other.

Having said that, my tent isn't that humungous - some people seem to have virtual marquees which puzzles me also. What are they doing, playing tennis in there or something?

yes it is the marquees that intrigue me. we could stand up in our old tent.

• have a very big tent - has a hexagonal living area and 4 sleeping pods.

we bought it after being in a very small tent in the rain, and having severe tent envy - our friends had much bigger tents than us! We had intended to get the slightly smaller one, which had 3 sleeping pods, but the tent shop had the larger one on offer, the last year's design much cheaper than the current year's 3 podded one, so we wnet for the XXL rather than the XL

I wanted a bigger tent so if (when) it rained we had space to sit and read and play games, and eat a meal - all are holidays are either staying with family or camping so I wanted a bit or space and comfort!

we also have a smaller tent, which is fine for a weekend - the kids share a bedroom, or is roomy for DH and I if we camp on our own.

Ours has 3 bedrooms and I must say it's made life easier as dcs aren't used to sharing a room and ds is not a great sleeper (they're 2 and 4). When they're older we'll move over to having smaller ones.
We generally camp with a load of friends and a couple of times when the weather's bad it has been nice to be able to have everybody cramming in together for a meal.

we have a big tent because dh is 6'5 and I can't ask the poor man to spend his holiday doubled over

No idea - but I would like to congratulate you on the word 'hugenormous'. It shall be my 'word of the day'. Please could you tell me if it is a hard or a soft 'g'.

It must be great to be able to stand up in your tent! That would make getting dressed and undressed so much easier!

soft g!

eating out of the rain is nice! but are they not a total pita to pitch, take down and store.

We have a big tent

Because there are six of us

Don't want two tents, boys can't sleep away from us (2 asd, too young anyhiow) and I ant to sleep with my DH when away not in the tent next to him

It's not one of those geodesics mind, but a big Outwell 8 berth. I could envisage having a monster tent when the boys grow older- separate rooms for them.

PMSL at PMDB- I remember those days LOL when dressing meant a strange feat of body contortion- ds2 cub scouting camp ina few weeks for first time ever in a similar tent, should be amusing to see his reaction afterwards LOL

Ours takes dh 40 mins to pitch single-handed - longer than a single small one, obv, but I'm not sure that's any longer than several little ones would take in total.
Storage - if you have the space already it isn't any more trouble than a small one would be!

Re pitch space, the sites we like always let you pitch anywhere in the field and we never go when it's crowded.

we have purchased an 8 person tent for 4 people. It seems just about right spacewise .

We took the partition up between two rooms to make one big bedroom which accommodates our double airbed plus DD.
DS had his own room. There is one spare room which will be used for DD when she is older. It means the children will have space for a few clothes/toys in their rooms. We initially tried putting them in one room but they found it so exciting being right next to each other that they were unable to get to sleep.

There is a large space in the middle of the tent with a tent carpet..it will be nice to sit in on a rainy day.

I used to hate camping when I was younger as it seemed so claustrophobic cooped up in a small place with no room to stand..its nice that there is a bit of luxury available these days!

The only drawback of a large tent is storing it when not in use and the space it takes up in the car.

we have just bought an Outwell Florida 6 plus the extension canopy to go with it. See it here

It is a bit of a monster for 2 adults and 2 kids but we plan to use it for trips of up to 3 weeks so the space is essential. Having camped in the rain in our old, small, dark pod type tent we knew that a light and airy tent is a must if we are not going to go insane.

The plus on the Florida is that we can keep the stove and camp kitchen with all the associated gubbins outside in the awning. The awning extrension then allows us to sit and cook outside if raining as well. There is then loads of space inside for the children to have a toy corner and for us to stretch out and read / play cards when it rains.

2 smaller tents would mean double the pitch fees in a lot of cases whereas our still fits on the the normal pitches as it is only 7m X 5m without the extra awning.

We have bought a big tent because we aim to be spending 2 weeks or more at a time in it as from next year so need to have some comfort and with 3 growing children we wanted one that would last us a while and not have to keep changing it every few years.

We've got a big tent, Vango aspen Dlx, so dd can have her own small bedroom (she 4 so needs to be able to come in with us, can't be in a seperate tent), and a spare seperate bedroom for if she brings a friend when she's older. Also decent main area for games etc when its wet. And a decent size porch where the two dogs go with the cooking stuff. High enough for DH to stand up in. But it is a pain to pitch, takes me and DH about an hour and takes up loads of room in the car! We're saving up for a camper van, used to have one before DD!

littleb, campervans are definitely the way forward. no more wrestling hugenormous tents into their bag when you pack up. bliss!

At half term we were pitched next to a enormous outwell, you could fit our tent 3 rooms2x adults 2x children 1xdog inside 3x over, it was huge, huge, huge..... for 2xadults and 1x baby!

When we heard them talking it almost echoed.

They never came outside, on lovely sunny days.
Bizarre.