...anyone wanna buy a tent ?
Things I have learned:
The Cons
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Do not pitch your tent near the children's playground. In fact, hide your children when you arrive, deny their existence and ask for a spot on the "Quiet Field" not the "Family Field." Do not let your children know the playground exists - you will spend all your time keeping an eye on them there and intervening in scraps between other peoples' kids (said people busy drinking beer in their awnings). Do not think playground will go quite after dark - beer drinking parents give their children torches.
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Beware noisy gangs of Liverpudlians pitching gazebos right by your tent. They had 3 sleeping tents and one "party" tent - in which they carried on 'til 2am, very noisily. I ended up shouting like a harridan at 1.30 in the morning (and I really don't shout in public) and we reported them to site management the next day but by that time the damage was done and we were all like the walking dead.
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There are tents with sewn in groundsheets and tents without. I didn't realise this - I thought all modern tents had sewn in groundsheets. Ours doesn't. It has big gaps round the bottom and creepy crawlies can get in. I'm not a big fan of creepy crawlies.
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Spousal snoring which you can sleep through at home seems ten times louder in a tent. Everyone else's husband snores too.
Pros
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The kids loved it - despite the lack of sleep on the first night.
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I liked the drinking wine after the kids had gone to bed bit (and whoever said bring a bucket to wee in - good advice )
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Sunday morning, after more sleep, sun shining, and cooking sausages for breakfast I thought "yeah...I could like this...."
But I definitely need a tent with a sewn in groundsheet. Now how to break the news to dh ?