The jamesr family are off camping for a week next month, but are currently sans tent.
There’s four of us, so we’re looking for something big with a couple of ‘bedrooms’, and we’re staying in one place so portability/ease of pitching isn’t a massive issue.
Does anyone have any recommendations on what to buy and where to buy it? Or, better still, have one they are looking to sell?
Any suggestions gratefully received.
Cheers.

I bought one of these yesterday, they did do a two bedroom version which I can’t find. I chose it because you can stand up inside and for the money it seems to be good value.

I could do you a Coleman trispace with one small repair for £60 posted

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/tents/p/Coleman-Trispace/658

Click pic and ha root around for more

I have a very little used Kyham Tourer 400 easy put up tent
for sale around £300

nice tent for 4 persons and pitched in 15 mins allegedly

You don’t mention budget,but if this is going to be a regular holiday home in the future rather than a one off, seek out an Outwell Montana 6

Or the Minnesota 6… Outwell tents in general get a big thumbs up – we’ve got 2, a 2 bedroom, 4-6 person Minnesota for longer trips and a 1 bedroom 3 person Arizona L for shorter trips (weekends and the like). Family of 2 adults and 1x 3 1/2 year old, we got the wee man one of the kid’s bedroom pods for the big tent to replace the standard one, makes a big difference – black roof lining (with glow in the dark stars) so he’s not woken up so early and a jungle print around the lower half, also came with a suspended mesh ceiling with various sized holes and a 3 sponge balls for playing games…

Halfords Family Tent is doing well for me. £100 including air beds.
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_786705_langId_-1_categoryId_236908

+1 for the Montana 6. Worth getting the optional awning if your budget will stretch to it.

no bedrooms though

linky dinky second hand

I bought a Montana 6 inc awning, footprint and carpet off ebay… there is only two of us. I hadn’t seen one put up before.

We were after a bit more space, imagine my surprise when I found out it was big enough to probably park my T5 van in it, twice…

Well made, big space and some neat little details. Does weigh a bit though…

Monty 6 (S of France here) great tent.

Another vote for Outwell. Our £200+ Cleveland (cool name! discontinued I think but they’re all similar) has lasted 8+ years and is doing fine. Heavy, slow to pitch (<15 mins) and a big shock after lightweight backpacking tents, but worth it for the family.

As portability is not an issue, I would go big. We’re a family of four and got a eurohike Buckingham 8 very cheap in the sales last year (£90, down from £400). The kids have a two man pod each at one end, and Mum and Dad have the four man pod at the other, giving us all lots of room for kit. There is also a living area in the middle for seating and it is tall enough to stand in. Given the weather a living area is really useful. There are loads of deals around at the moment, but I would recommend going large for a family holiday!

We’ve got an Outwell Vermont XL.

It’s the size of a bungalow but is great now the kids are older as they get a sleep area each and there’s room for everyone to sit int he tent without feeling cramped.

I’d recommend all the Outwell tents, well thought out and well made.

If you’re not brand conscious, the Easy Camp Milano 500 has survived many camps with the 16 family… cheap as chips on the Bay, too (ours cost around £70) and child’s play to erect. If you can stop the child playing it’s even quicker.

We’ve just ordered a Kampa Frinton 4, the main selling point for us was their sleeptite bedrooms which are almost blackout rooms, and the side entrance where you can get out of wet shoes/coats before getting in the main living area.

I agree with drdjpower, felt a bit odd buying a big tent after the usual backpacking ones, but should be better for family camping trips that the laser 🙂

the main selling point for us was their sleeptite bedrooms which are almost blackout rooms

Is that not sort of missing some of the main reasons for camping?

Is that not sort of missing some of the main reasons for camping?

I dont see it that way, for me the point of camping is to spend time outdoors with the family, with a darkend bedroom the little one might sleep all the way through to 6:30am, rather than 4:30am, still plenty of time to enjoy the day.

I’d agree with blackouts being good – our kids used to wake at 4:30 in our original tent (and when they were younger).

Trying to keep a 2 year old quiet for 3 hours before the rest of the site started wakign up is exhausting.

We put blackout material over the liners after that and they slept until 8am.

Is that not sort of missing some of the main reasons for camping?

Main reasons for camping include getting a crap night’s sleep?! 😆

Quechua popup tents

Fair dos I suppose. Our horrors are 4 & 7 , when I think back to the early morning starts, I can see the point 🙂

I bought a Vango Colarado 8 5 years ago and it has only just started to look tired it has a couple of leaks and some of the pole holders are waring but 5 years for £200 was a great buy in my eyes. I want something smaller now so will be going back to Vango.

Have a Vango Colorado 8, free to a good home, collection only. need 2 poles replacing. bought a bell tent, cant be arsed to fix the poles on the vango, and i need the space! Apart from the poles it is in good condition.

Another vote for Outwell here. We were staying near Gairloch a few years ago in the camper, winds were gusting well over 50mph one night. A lot of tents were ruined but there was a great big Outwell on the headland taking the abuse very well. I was impressed.

Montana 6. They have steel poles so are loads more sturdy in the wind.
Pretty much full height throughout. Not cheap but money well spent. That Tri-Space up the top ^^ for sale…thats a good buy. We have one.
One of the best made tents ever. Thickest groundsheet I’ve ever seen. Theres lots of tents that have copied the Montana design now, saw some with fibreglass poles & they were pants in high winds.
Buy the best.

A lot of tents were ruined but there was a great big Outwell on the headland taking the abuse very well. I was impressed.

Sounds like my Halfords one at Polaris couple of years ago!
All the other big ones were down along with our gazebo…
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r90/dezb99/Polaris/IMG_1779.jpg%5B/IMG%5D