Family camping for 1st time - HELP!!!!!!

sunnyb_3

We used to go camping many moons ago before our son was born. He is 4 this year, so we thought it'd be a great time to go camping in the UK. We have a lot of the gear from our previous trips, but we now need a new tent.
My husband is 6ft 3" so we would like a tent that we could move around and stand up in & are looking for 5/6 man tent.
Does anyone know of any great places for decent tents that won't cost too much? I know Argos have a sale on at the moment, but are there any good websites or stores???(we live in West Yorkshire)
Can anyone make any suggestions for campsites too that have great family facilities, maybe a pool, childrens activities etc?

Thanks - Becs & Family x

daveyjp

West Yorkshire has some excellent camping stores. Try http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/ - new one just opened in Pudsey, or one in Wakefield, they have about large tents erected indoors, but limited to a about three brands

Alternatively try http://www.springfield-camping.co.uk/. Based just outside Halifax in an old mill. They have a whole floor of tents from different manufacturers. Also Camping and Outdoor centre at Hipperholme - A58 between Leeds and Halifax.

We also haven't been camping since our daughter was born 3 years ago. We have been looking for a new tent and I'm amazed how much technology has moved on in about 6 years.

http://www.tentastic.co.uk/ is a good online store if you want to compare prices.

Forget pools and activity centres - all a four year old needs is a huge field and a football - just enjoy the camping and the outdoors.

sturll

My first choice would be GOoutdoors as has been said. You have to be careful though, they are by no means as cheap as they proclaim to be.

For example i bought a sleeping bag that cost £229 and thought i had got a good deal. Until i got it home and realised it was previously £189 and since the good weather had started they had increased the price - That said they did refund me when i went back and complained.

Try looking at something like the Vango Amazon 600, a great tent suitable for lengthy periods and very well made for the elements.

creased-leach

I wouldn't go near the "pro Action" stuff they do in Argos. Really cheap nasty wafer thin tents.

Gelert is a good brand to look out for, well made & sturdy without being extortionate.

borntoshop

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=993135&highlight=great+camping+hunt

A good read here. needs updating as well so maybe add a post.;)

gingerdad

https://www.ukcampsite.co.uk is prob the best place to start.....

Alias_Omega

My first night away would be to haven, pitch the tent then go swimming or to the club. You can get cooked food on site, and is about £9 per night per tent roughly (filey, scarborough).

Get little one use to sleeping in a tent, then look to move on elsewhere.

We have 2 tents, a gelert dome thing which is ment to be 4 man,but really only is for 2, and a outwell Hartford L, which is more than ideal in height, and size.

I would find a tent online, then start looking on eBay for it. I paid £100 2nd hand for the Outwell tent, which we seen for £320 in the shops.

rosekitten

try someone like Outdoor World they are
really good and often have some good
deals on tents.
They stock all the good reliable brands .
They have lots on display so it may be better
if you can, go and have a look somewhere big
like this rather than than rely on just looking
online.
One thing though you will have your hands full
with a four year old on a campsite for the first
time so the lure to wander off is huge when he
can hear kids outside playing and you cant lock
up a tent.we could zip ours from the bottom
to the top so when they used to wake early
they had to wake us to open the zips for them.

When ours were little like this we had a large
tunnel tent,easy to erect between the two of us
as it was just four bendy poles threaded through
the body of the tent,then just pegging out the
tent with a rubber hammer and two inner shells to
fasten in place.It was relativly quick to assemble
and take down.The inside was just two zipped
compartments each one measuring 12 ft by
10 ft and a head hieght of around
7.5 ft the centre area on it was 12 ft by 9 ft
We used to all sleep in one half and
store everything else in the other half,so
little fingers could not get their hands on
anything dangerous.We were able to get one
double and two single air mattresses and
a camping table in and all the toys quite easily
in one half.
We used the centre area as a sittingroom
and cooked on the raised up porch.
Once the kids got bigger we used the other half
as a bedroom for them.We always had loads
of room so nobody felt crowded out.
Ours was classed as an eight man tent and
was just as easy to put up as a smaller one
and did not take much more room than a
five or six man tent in the boot of our car

When we eventualy sold ours we were
swamped with offers and enquiries so it
must be a popular design.
We have a touring caravan now.


Handy if you can get an electric hook up
then you can use a fan heater,kettle,toaster
and lamps

creased-leach

I forgot to add my general rule of thumb- thought up after many years of camping in just about every type of tent imaginable.

For every two people, add one. In other words, if two of you are going camping- buy a three berth tent. That which tent manufacturers deem to be enough sleeping space for two inevitably isn't!

If there are four of you, you should be comfy in a 6 berth etc. It would also give you a little leeway to squeeze in an extra person should you need to on occasion.

Never, ever work to their capacity- you will end up buying/wishing you'd bought a bigger tent.

rosie-marie

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mark1968/sitereviewindex.htm

As creased leach said stay away from the argos stuff.

sunnyb_3

Thanks for everyones advice - this site is just the best place for advice & support! We went to go outdoors yesterday to see all the tents on display. We saw 2 Outwell tents that we love - the Utah 6 at £300 & then a rather more pricey Bear Lake 6 for £799. We're having a look around on Ebay & various websites for deals at the moment. We are thinking about going to Wales camping as there'll be beaches & castles & lots of places for us all to enjoy. Really looking forward to it!!!

Becs & family x