Aaarrghhh.... Help me decide! Sprayway or Bell tent?

[PerArduaAdNauseum]

5m bell tent or Sprayway Valley 4 (polycotton)?

It's got to be cloth or canvas - can't stand any more billowy nylon in my face.

And I seem to be getting more and more claustrophobic - can't stand having the ceiling in my face (and I'm looking lustfully at double height airbeds now).

So - me, DH and DS (6). For use twice a year for a week or so, possibly the odd festival.

I love the ease of pitch of a belltent, but have never actually been in one since I was a brownie. How in your face are the walls when you're lying down? And if we had the double in the middle of the tent would there be space to curtain off DS to the side for privacy? We'd get one of the inners, as first trip of the year is always end of May with big temperature diff night/day. Does it still feel that luxurious? Have been thinking about a bell tent for about a year now...

However, we were in a sprayway today and it was rather lovely. Just the right size (assuming we can put DS in a puptent in a year or so) and nice and upright. But heavy (steel poles!) and looks like a bitch to erect. It was rather lovely though - and probably a lot easier to find a pitch for in the under-prepared private field we're headed for.

I don't know.

If we got the bell tent, we'd also take it to the local common for picnics. I make it sound like a dog don't I...

If we got the sprayway it would all be a lot neater...

Help me o wise and wonderful campers...

haha @ slubber and the 'soul' quote. i made the same point on a bell tent thread and everyone snubbed me.

Touareg looks divine and gets my vote for sheer green knee socks adn neck kerchief practicality and sensibleness.

oooh Bariatric, those bell tenters on masse can ge a grumpy lot

It's really sad that bell tents and kath kidson upper-middle class smuggery seem to have fallen into the same bed (that's what the companies selling them would have you believe anyway).
A bell tent is a round, canvas tent. No more no less. They are aesthetically pleasing to some and (imo) canvas is a nicer fabric to camp under. All this bullshit of vibes and souls and people in naff plastic tents looking on with hopeless envy makes me jolly cross.

Camping is NOT meant to be about oneupmanship.

I am most definately NOT saying that ALL bell tent owners are upper-middle class smuggers.

Sal for a start seems very sensible and takes it all with a pinch of salt....and don't get me started on that Riven

no no no

It's the advertising of bell tents that give me the splayed toes.

and the Outwell ads are hardly any better

Ah, but you're wrong, the fairies come out from the woods and visit my magical bell tent every time I sleep in it...

Well, they would if I took it out of the car boot - I suspect they might get a bit intoxicated from all the fumes at the moment, and I'd rather not have the mass suicide of The British Fairy Society on my conscience.

We have a lovely bell tent with the inner. It's fab, no flapping about!
The sides are not in your face at all, even with the inner and sleeping with your head to the side. I

arf @ your Fairies Sal

sadly the fairies are crushed beneath the wheels of my camper

lol

I have French Fairies. They are an altogether better class of continental fairy, not like your common British variety who consort with gnomes.

After BariatricObama's done with them

I have reserved a bell tent from Canvas and Cast which should be in stock at the end of the month. The lack of embarassing advertising made them seem more solid and trustworthy! How silly that advertising has such an effect! (I doubt I'll be able to resist the odd bit of middle class tent dressing but it won't be Cath Kidson and at least the tent retailer hasn't tried to imply that my camping soul is a lesser soul without a bell tent!!!)

snort!

Quite right too fireandlife. All camping souls are equal souls unless you own a caravan

Erk fireandlife - you must be minted to be paying that much more for much less advertising!

This is all just making it harder...

But I was looking at the respective weights and thinking, hmm, that's 3 carrycots then - doable.

The sprayway comes in its own wheely-bag, but I don't know if the wheels are up to much offroading - anybody?

BTW, I've been forced to report Slubber's posts. Too much quote of the week material to ignore

OMG If I get my first ever quote of the week on the back of my made up retractable clitoris I'll never forgive you PerArdua.

Never used wheels tbh, although I'm pretty sure there is someone of here with a proper trolley for moving their tent about.

Bariatric, you know that little jibe at the caravanners wasn't at you. Campervanners are well cool (cos we used to have one ) and therfore not subject to flowery curtain mockery.

Hahaha Slubber, stop backtracking. You've declared war on bell tent owners, Outwell lot, caravanners... oh, and British Fairies! Fancy running the country? You've got the war bit under control, and can't be much worse than our other choices...

Go on, invade the Falklands - that one hasn't been done for aaages...

you've missed out windbreak corralers, inappropriate peg users, folk who don't use their guys properly, EHU-ers (subsection with microwaves and tellys), in-tent cooks, the tent-carpet brigade...

who else

basically everyone who doesn't have exactly the same set up as me is fair game

Why? Are the falkland islanders known for their outlandish and failworthy camping ways? Or is that the Argentinians?

(I bet they are propably quite good campers tbh, what with all the wind and tussocky terrain)

What's with the inappropriate peg thing?

do you really want to know or are you just being polite?

It really is fantastically dull.

Oh no, I really want to know. I love tent talk, but UKCS sometimes a bit much...

For example, I've heard of Delta pegs before, but is that overkill for weekend family camping (mostly in woods, so not that exposed) etc?

No! No! You can NEVER have peg overkill

heh heh

I suppose the inappropriate peggers and the rubbish guyers come under the same umbrella really - ie folk who don't attach their sodding tents to the ground properly.

When we were in Anglesey lasty year, man it was bastard windy, blow the dc over windy. This couple down the field a bit would rock up after a nice day out and then stand there with expressions of utter suprise and bewilderment to see their gazebo tits up right down the other end of the field.

Down they'd go and bring it back and tap the pissy little ELC play pegs back in with the 4 little guys and then they'd bugger off to the pub and......

tumbling gazeboamundo

In the end the campsite asked them to take it down

PEG YOUR TENTS DOWN PROPERLY YOU NUMPTIES