Hi

After garden sun etc cover, to go over table and chairs, act as a sun shade etc, will be mainly on a patio, but when grandchildren are here it may be wanted to be moved to the lawn.

What I think would be helpful
– erectible/storable/movable by one short elderly person who is likely being told how to do it by someone stood next to him (*but who is not actually helping 😁)
– tough enough to stay out all summer (and poss some off winter)
– can deal with very occasional 30mph+ winds (or be quickly dropped etc so safe)
– fairly compact for winter storage, maybe max 35kg weight
– about 3ish metres square, or 3 x 4.5
– can be pegged on lawn but not patio (*leg weights etc)
– can get spares/new roof as I suspect sun will fabric over time.
– detachable side walls available to add

Rock awnings do a variety of gazebos which look ok and you get the fabric Coleman/outwell/kampa event shelters, including an inflatable ones.

The air shelters seem light, easy to move and quick up and down. Rock awning looks pretty substantial esp higher end models but heavier and harder to move store.

Experiences/suggestions please. Ta

We have a Rock Awnings pop up gazebo (affectionately referred to as “The Beer Tent”) . It’s the 3×4.5 Explorer range. https://rockawnings.co.uk/gazebos/explorer-series-pop-up-gazebos/3m-x-4-5m

A great and solid gazebo, but certainly not one that is easily put up on your own. I can just about manage ours with some faffing.

We have a Coleman event shelter deluxe, and think it’s fantastic.

However, I’m not sure how erectable / storable / moveable it is by one elderly person. I am rapidly approaching 50 and can do all that with ours – unless it’s windy – so if I’m elderly, then yes. However, a 70 year old neighbour has one (non deluxe) and gives me a call when he wants to set it up.

I’m not sure you can buy a cover without the frame (sidewalls are available).

As I understand it, the event shelter deluxe is designed to be left standing for extended periods. HTH.

As above, we have a Coleman Fast Pitch which is excellent, it does go up quick but I’m not convinced a single, elderly person would be ok with it!
Pegged down it is very sturdy even in wind, not sure about just using weights on the legs though, never done it… it’s basically a gigantic sail 😃

Yes the erecting/storing/moving issue is making the air shelters seem better, just deflate and weight or turn upside down and weight load when windy and buy a new one when it stops working. They seem to weigh about 10k or so and a few minutes to go up/down.

I have a Kampa air shelter in the 3x3m size, comes with side panels included.

Good
– pretty quick to put up, would say about 10 mins and you’re good.

– Does well in the wind. First use of ours we were up on a hilly campsite in Devon which was quite exposed (there were wind turbines in the adjacent field) on a particularly windy weekend with 40mph gusts. When the gusts were really strong it just sort of collapsed a bit and then sprung back up. That said one of the side panels lost a toggle which attach the panels to the main thing.
-packs up to size of medium holdall bag and is light.

Bad
– it was quite expensive at £250. I’d get the bigger 4x4m one if leaving up for longer too
– the tens mins to put it up are mostly pumping the air chambers up to pressure which I think would be hard work for an elderly person.
-not sure it has great anchor points if you want to leave it on a patio for an extended period. No issues on grass.

I bought the Halfords event shelter last week (because I could collect it quicker than I could source a Colman).
It did a brilliant job providing shade for a party this weekend. But as above, tricky to put up! Took me, partner, and a desperate call to the 3.5 yr old to come help out as we tried to erect the frame.

We have a Coleman event shelter, with a couple of detachable sides. Once you know how to put it up it’s not that tricky and can be done solo, takes me about 15 mins from taking it out of the bag to knocking in last peg. Trickier in the wind, but not impossible.

Once up, and pegged down by legs and guy ropes, it is solid. If not pegged down though it can get caught by the wind quite easily. Ours flipped in the wind a couple of years ago and bent some poles. It was quite an expensive fix as you can’t buy sections so I had to buy a whole 5(?) piece arched pole. Can be awkward to move on your own, and involves a bit of dragging and to-ing and fro-ing to keep it in shape.

If it is going to be left up then it might be OK for someone less mobile etc – could potentially get some help to put it up, then again to take it down at the end of summer.