South West weather forecast for tonight 02/03 September

[Ripeberry]

Our local forecaster was on the news just now saying that gusts would be enough to tear tents to shreds if they were in an exposed area and caravans on headlands may end up on their sides
I bet there is a mass exodus this evening!

We came back from Dorset todayand the forecast was right. Our tent didn't shred but it felt like a close thing. The poles over the sleeping pod bent so much it was touching my face during some gusts of wind. while my dd slept through it all my dp and i planned our evacuation strategy - was it the car our the family bathroom on the campsite. Luckily it never came to that - I was worried as I had to sew and glue some of the edges together before we went camping.

I went to the loo at about 5.30am and our neighbours were in their car leaving. They left behind them a gazebo a large and small tent. I don't know what had happened.

Glad you survived it! The wind was quite strong here (S.Gloucestershire) between midnight and 2am but then dwindled down to nothing.

Just returned early from Brean Sands, winds trashed our tent, plus most of the others on the camp

Sorry to hear that Dellie. I'm a fair weather camper but I don't like the modern tents as they are so fiddly, too many poles and they are so flimsy.
We have a Soulpad tent and it's made of proper canvas and has the ground sheet built in.
Only one pole to put up and two rows of pegs.
It has survived very strong winds and torrential rain.
The strenght of the canvas is good, but it can be a pain to dry out if you have to take it down in the rain.

We were camping at Durdle Door last Wednesday night. The wind was so bad by 7pm that we moved into a caravan! We're not fair weather campers (honest!) but the previous night had been awful and reception were saying the wind speed was going to double. On Thursday morning only one tent out of our party of 4 was undamaged. One was so bad it had to go in the bin

Still, a double thumbs up to Vango customer service. Rang them this morning for a quote for a new tent pole and was told to put the broken one in the post to them and they'll fix it free of charge. I offered to pay the return postage but was told there was no need