those of you with 5+ DC do you camp? and what tent do you have?

[sparklesandwine]

i'm looking for a new one to fit us all in

at the moment we have one with a room in the middle and 3 bedroom pods, one for us and the dc share the other 2 but there is very little room to store anything so we'd like to get a new one with more room

we have 5 dc and would like one with 4 or 5 bedrooms plus a middle/central room but i can't find one and i was wondering if anyone on here had one that they could recommend, or even tell us to avoid!

anyone?

Hello - we only have 3 but are expecting 2 more. We would like to camp but aren't quite brave enough. Although I get quite consumery over the big and complex tents, I personally think they're too big and complicated. Much better to have a central store/eating tent, one or two tents for the 'older' kids to share, and another for parents and younger children to share. Contains and separates the mess, less weight, and gets put up in half the time.

Hi.We have six children.We had,till last year,a Sunncamp Marathon.16 berths.Massive tent.Big centre living area.4 pods,each big enough for double lilo plus single,or 2 travel cots,whatever we needed at the time.Never failed us,no matter how bad the weather.Has big porch too to put muddy wellies,buggy.Lovely tent.Can still get them on line.We used a separate waterproof gazebo for kitchen/eating.

i agree i have a suncamp tent too not quite as big but it is a 12 berth tent many happy holidays in it

good luck and enjoy

ps. where are you planning to go camping? and good recommendations?

We've hung up our camping hats and boots for now.Last year's weather was the breaking point for us.You drive all the way across the country for Devon beaches and countryside.You get ten days of wind and torrential rain and up to your ankles in mud.That and babies in tow.Not ATM.The Sunncamp survived,not even a drip.

We had a good stay at Holland's Wood,New Forest.Woodlands is supposed to be good,think that's Dorset,could be wrong.We tend to go for the wild sites...which is probably why we end up wading in mud

I would mention that many sites (including caravan and camping and forstry commissio0n) have a max people per tent of 6, as we're at that now (4 dc's) we've stopped (not just that Obv PMSL)- whilst littlies will get away with it no doubt, it would be worth considering a pup tent when you older dc's are old enough

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Multi room tents are unpopular atm as many sites are funny about them so the range has shrunk; maybe check out ebay for some used but hardly used models from old ranges also?

Doh! What am I thinking?

The classic tent for your needs is called the ahrtford XXL; even if not included in this years range I suspect it will still be findable (and may be included).

For a different shape but still a good choice consier the gelert Michiganm and look at the Wynnster equivalent, IIRC Khyam does one also.

Often the easiest thing si to go to the tent manufacturer website if you need something a bit out of the usual; alllisted in neat order and then you know what to google to get a mail order for IYSWIM.

hartford XXL

michigan 4 bed pods but much easier to pitch shape (have had a tunnel and a geodesic (pod) type can vouch for that; have seen this tent in store as well, very nice)

had this under its old variant; it looks 3 bedded but the bigger has an optional curtain with it so amkes 4 bed. MASSIVELY recommended, dh could pitch single handed for a start

same divider, set up,another excelent tent

finally the one I swoon over when I see it up I LOVE LOVE LOVE this tent

that tent (vango) is gorgeous Peachy.

slight hijack...we now have 4 LO's and a Coleman Big Cypress which we're fond of BUT we now need to use both bedrooms to sleep in and so have no storage area.

What would people recommend as a solution for food & clothes storage, or are we looking at a new tent?

here is our current tent.

I'd go for a bigger tent TBH, we upgraded last year when ds4 was born.

You could opt for a day room but I'm not so sure about security with them, although you could then use your living space as storage and socialise in the day room- would work very well indeed. Most major brands do them, certainly Outwell and Khyam. here you are

Otherwise you'relooking for a new tent; we have an Outwell Sun Valley 8 which they discontinued this year (why? is fab) but still availble new on ebay; otherwise would really suggest the Khyam linked to before, did us proud. What we did was opt not to use the divider curtain but have that as our room / storage space. We got a canopy as well (they also do a zip off porch) and it worked wonderfully as a kitchen area / table place.

can deffo recommend the Hartfordxxl, we have one and it's a fab bit of kit.

Hi

This is an interesting thread - we have 4 kids and one on the way and are planning on getting a tent for camping next year......but are camping virgins!

We have looked at a few tents and have started saving (we will also need a trailer to transport it and all the equipment).

I have heard mixed accounts of campsites being funny about large tents....is it that you pay a bit more or are you actually not allowed to camp there? I don't want to shell out and then find we are massively restricted on where we can go......

SG

Thank you for this post.

We have 4 kids and although we have done Eurocamp and also used to have a small touring caravan, we havent ever put a tent up. We used to avoid using our awning when we had the van as DH is a bit hopeless at assembling things. We are now considering taking up camping as we feel safe with the kids on a campsite.

Obviously we need a roomy tent, but is there a kind of tent thats really easy to erect, because he even has trouble with a beach shelter (it ended up in the bin).