Bell tent advice? What size? help!

[Alanna1]

Hello, I'm looking at bell-tents and unsure of which size is best overall. We're a family of 4 but quite often we have one or two extra children with us, and we like our space! Currently the children are all small (under 5) but they are growing. I think a 4m would be too small, a 5m OK but maybe a 6m best? The emperor one looks just a bit too big. Are there problems getting a 6m onto UK campsites? Are they absolute monsters or is it in general OK? We are more likely to camp in smaller campsites for weekends / big parties at friends houses than week long camping trips. All views really really welcome.

There are 5 of us, and we have a 5m. It is plenty big enough - we all sleep in a line on self inflating mats along one side of the pole - the other half of the tent is empty (or at least nowhere near full of stuff). Our friends forgot their tent poles on a recent weekend camping trip and we figured we could fit all 9 of us in our tent rather than drive all the way back to get them, although never actually did it as the campsite had a spare tent they borrowed.

I suspect a 6m would be very heavy, especially if it gets wet.

Thanks! Yes, I'd forgotten what a 6m might be like when wet.

My advice would be to try one before you buy. I'm assuming you haven't, so apologies if you have.
We hired one this year to try before we bought as experienced campers and it's not the tent for us.

Random old thread!