I need a tent for a family of 4 which includes a 3 and 6 year old. I won’t need to be carrying it anywhere other than from the car to wherever our pitch will be. As we will be camping in england (not till summer) I guess we will need somewhere covered to cook etc. Any suggestions? Budget depends on the value rather than cost if that makes sense but not in the thousands. Preferably less than £400 maybe? Cheers.

Are you wanting enough covered space to cook and for everyone to be sheltered?

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Some form of Quechua from decathlon.

Love mine for car camping.

(Have various other tents for hiking and bad weather but have spent 3-4 weeks at a time in my medium Quechua.)

You know the thread title promised much more, don’t you?

I guess so but am considering potentially having a seperate tarp if that would be better. Maybe more flexible system like that?

You know the thread title promised much more, don’t you?

Need to do something to draw you dirty buggers in…

Get something designed for 6!
More space means when it piddles down in the evening you won’t fall over each other and your luggage.

We have a khyam for 4-5. It’s sort of fast pitching when you get the knack but it’s really bulky when folded. I like it a lot as I can pitch on my own fairly easily.

It’s a bit tight for four with cooking gear set up in there unless you don’t mind loafing in the sleeping zone hence my comments above.

EDIT: Makes absolutely no sense now.

Some form of Quechua from decathlon.

Any experience of the inflatable ones?

Typical of stw….
I will reccomend something i own way above your budget…

We bought a vango airwave. Its fricking massive. 3 double bedrooms, main area which i could almost parky car in plus a porch and being airwave erects in seconds with the pump thing.

Could easily sleep 6 plus bikes i reckon. Was a shade under 600.

EDIT: Makes absolutely no sense now.

I saw what you had written before the edit. Made me chuckle!

Stevemuzzy I think you’ve nailed it on size that looks about right for home from home camping. There’s probably a quecha or eurohike size and shape equivalent.

Go outdoors ftw… go in and find something that looks good… ours sleeps 6 comfortably (3 each side), made by outwell, think it cost somewhere about 300 in one of their sales.

We bought a Outwell Montana 6 second hand off ebay following research and reading many reviews. In reality it was an arse to pitch, especially on your own, and was actually too big. Even in the bags, it filled the car boot!
We had a look around and replaced it with a new Vango Airbeam Monaco 500.
The price of airbeams have come down loads over the last year or two and ours can be had for 400 quid if you look around. Which ever design best suits you they pitch fully in less than ten minutes.
Id suggest getting to a camping shop and having a look. Just be realistic about how much space you actually need.

Is the airbeam tech ok? Seems like a good idea but have no experience of it. In theory my wife could help pitch but in reality she would probably just be trying to keep excited children under some semblance of control. Something I could put up myself would probably be useful. Any particular brands to go for / avoid?

There’s mine. Giving birth to a van. Perfect for camping next to the road (I’m scared to drive it any further away because I fitted daft wheels to the van, and I’ll probably get it stuck).

It’s great to just jump in after work, and then speed off to “get away from it all.” I love camping.

We usually spend two to three hours driving around looking for somewhere to “pitch” – a quiet country road with a perfect patch of grass next to it. We often end up in a lay-by though.

The tent attaches to the back of the van and only takes forty five minutes to put up, if everyone chips in. By this time it’s dark and we go to bed. I sometimes consider leaving the engine running.

Great to see you back at your best 😀

As said, we got the Vango after reading reviews. They have been around a few years now and the teething issues seem to have been ironed out. I would recommend them.
This said, I would be probably only buy a new one for peace of mind.
Dont get me wrong, they can cost an absolute fortune for the bigger tents. As said, you should go have a look at some up in a camping shop etc.

Hmm… Not sure I could convince the wife to get a van as well…

The airbeam things work great and its mega quick up… slower down though. No issues but only had it 8 months…

And as for the cost, adding a carpet etc. really can hike it up.

We went vango after reading horrific reviews on berghaus, outwell and decathlon airbeam ones…

Force 10

Faded orange mottled with mildew

Brittle peg loops

Dissintgrated tiny triangular mossie net on the inner fly.

Family of five.

Real family camping.

Force 10

Faded orange mottled with mildew

Carried one of them between two of us for three days through the Black Mountains when I was in scouts. Hell.

Force 10

Faded orange mottled with mildew

Brittle peg loops

Dissintgrated tiny triangular mossie net on the inner fly. sounds awesome where can I get one? 😀

I used to have a mammoth frame tent, 2/3/2 berth with actually enough room to park a car in the front (a leaking mini). Fantastic tent, so big we had several BBQs inside the tent when it was raining and I picked it up for less than £400, but it took a very large estate car to transport it.
The bag of steel tubes was bigger than pretty much any other tent I’d seen and the bag of canvas was even bigger.
Lovely to be able to stand up in it whilst skulling a beer though.

I was expecting a bit of B&B.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tJaapIXUds[/video]

I have a 5-man tent similar to the Outwell mentioned above. I don’t cook in it and it is used for 3 people. Try to find a tent with a lower ‘roof’ for the sleeping area as it will be warmer. I believe it was made by Outwell but can’t recall the name now, sold for £450 5 years ago, I got it for £100 after being used once. I think the equivalent Outwell is about £400-ish.
The tent takes up the whole boot of my Fiesta but I can pitch it myself and takes me about 10-15 minutes. It suggests at least 2 people but no issues on my own.
I’d recommend a carpet as it does make the floor warmer which also helps.
Used in October with great success and I’m expecting it to be fantastic during summer.

We bought an outwell package from go outdoors last year… Tent,extension footprint & even a carpet(I know) all within your budget.
Taking the missus to buy it kicked the budget into orbit as she wanted matching new sleeping mat & bags for all… Be warned.

I got a second hand vango 5-man family tent with awning for about £250. It was in great condition and we used it a few times last year. We cooked in the awning but it does create alot of condensation so this year we’re going to get an event shelter like the one in the link below for cooking and our ‘dining’ area giving us more space in the actual tent. This seems to be a pretty common setup on French campsites. Although the wife is on about getting a T5 camper with drive away awning but the prices of decent ones with sensible mileage and a van that has some of the creature comforts we’ve got used to in cars like a/c and cruise control are pretty eye-watering.

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/hi-gear-dome-p321450?gclid=CLTM7YTVr9ECFRRmGwodheEAmw&gclsrc=aw.ds

Outwell Montana 6 here with porch/awning. Quality bit of kit. Loads of room to cook in the front.
Easy to put up if you’ve got the skills and a keen/helpful other half….

There’s a useful video on YouTube showing how one person can easily pitch a Montana 6. It’s certainly not the way that Outwell recommend.

Where/how do folk dry these monster sized tents?

/engage four Yorkshireman

Back in the day, I slept under the Fiat Amiga with my brother, heads in awning, with mum, dad and sister inside…

/disengage four Yorkshireman

I don’t think I could bring myself to use such huge things – do they not blow away? Are they not cold? A pain to move around/pitch/store/transport?

Is the airbeam tech ok? Seems like a good idea but have no experience of it. In theory my wife could help pitch but in reality she would probably just be trying to keep excited children under some semblance of control. Something I could put up myself would probably be useful. Any particular brands to go for / avoid?

They’ve changed it a bit over the past couple of years and now it works pretty well ime. Super easy to pitch, particularly compared to traditional family tents, and seems reliable. The system works a bit like a bike tyre with a replaceable inner tube in a zipped, reinforced sleeve. You can buy spares, which would make sense, though I think exploding tube syndrome was an early thing, after which they beefed up the spec and introduced pumps with a pressure blow-off valve so you can’t over inflate them.

We now have an inflatable Vango awning for the T5 and it’s great. Big and quite heavy, but seems tough and well designed and goes up really fast.

We bought a 5m Nylon Bell tent from Boutique Tents for £250. Much lighter than the cotton ones and bags of space inside.

Matt. I just pitch ours in the garden for a couple of hours. The materials aren’t absorbing water so it doesn’t take long to dry off. Storage: large cupboard or garage. Transport: car or van. Cold: nope – 3 folk in a Montana kept it cosy enough.

They are a bit cumbersome for a 1 or 2 night trip but ideal as a Basecamp for longer trips. Room to hang up wet gear, wetsuits etc is always appreciated.

Maybe I need to try. Biggest I’ve used is works 12 person Helsport tepee….

The drying aspect is what puts me off the big family tents. Plus all the paraphernalia

Don’t get me wrong, I like camping, but minimalist style ones where it’s not like moving house. It’s a pain enough drying tarp, bivvy etc after a wet bit of bikepacking

Colemans make some pretty decent tents at not too great a price. Easy to pitch too.

We picked up a Wild Country Etesian for about £100 a year or two ago as an ex demo. Just 2 of us, but bought as a backup group tent for wet camping weekends with groups of friends. Not too big to encourage clutter or take up an acre of space, but big enough for 8 to get pissed and eat cheese. Sleeps a cosy 4 adults.

Only downside is the height makes it prone to wind, but despite this it has stood up to Welsh summers.

The drying aspect is what puts me off the big family tents. Plus all the paraphernalia

Just pitch it in your garden the day after you get back. No biggy.