My history with tent goes like this:

Buy one, take it to a festival – usually abroad, leave it there because its too much off a faff to carry home x4

My girlfriend has agreed to give camping a go. As we’re not sure if this is going to be a one off, i don’t want to spend loads. But it’d be handy to have a tent to hand if needed (arguments/natural disasters etc).

2-3 man, it’d need to fit 2 adults and an American Bulldog. Maybe a little canopy to sit under.

Where to start?

Decathlon, go for a medium sized pop up – cheap and ok for summer.
If you both take to it, then invest in something better.

The fear is that if i get something too basic, she wont take to it anyway cos the tent’s shit!

Decathlon, go for a medium sized pop up – cheap and ok for summer.

+1, I spent a week in one without issue and this included a night of howling gale force winds and another night of torrential rain. A doddle to put up and take down. Love it.

those decathlon ones aren’t “basic” as such; they’re cheap. as in, relatively low cost. but they’re not “cheap”, if you get me. they’re decent tents.

Show her this

And then buy a bell tent. They’re ace. My wife hated camping until we got ours.

Untitled by redmancunian69, on Flickr

Completely disagree with the above. If you do that and the weather is shit you will never go camping again. Get something with at least a fly sheet and an inner, and a decent amount of space, it doesn’t need to cost loads…

http://www.cheaptents.com/acatalog/nordisk-jumala-3-camping-tent.html
http://www.simplyhike.co.uk/products/Vango/Omega350Tent-PineGreen.aspx#
Vango

Agreed, the Quechua 2 seconds stuff at Decathlon is great – we’ve had plenty of use out of ours between festivals and weekends away. We have an XL which has a small porch (good for boots, chairs, etc) or they do an XXL now with a bigger porch that would be big enough to sit in.

They go up very easily, for folding away just watch their video on youtube – it’s easy once you have the knack, and it’s hard to explain in words and diagrams on the instructions.

Only downside is that the packed shape (a big disc) makes it useless for carrying far, but really they’re the ideal car-camping tent.

Get decent camping mats and take extra blankets or a duvet – women tend to feel the cold more and it can still get pretty chilly at night in summer.

Go to v festival this year and pack up any of the hundreds o tents left behind. Oh your one of those fellas, so that’s no use! We’ve got a good pop ul Quechua tent from the last two v’s we’ve been to. Ace for taking on the beach as a makeshift picnic spot/changing room.

V festival? Oh, you’re one of those fellas!

Had a Go Outdoors open near me last week so i’ll take her there and see what takes her fancy. A few in the links above look nice though, especially the one with the zip down canopy.

Y not festival this yr, so one ode those fellas too 😉

I’d go for the Decathlon pop up too. We’ve got a 4 person one (without the porch) and we use it loads. Really well made and easy to pitch and put away (just practice with it before you go to avoid packing away arguments).
Get one with a porch though for extra flexibility and somewhere to keep your dog, shoes etc overnight.
We bought one of their tarps too for a bit of outside shelter for cooking and shade on a hot day – adds options and for a quick overnight pit stop, we don’t always put it up.
Check out alpkit for self inflating mats or Gelert for one of their 10cm Adventure XL mats (could be cheaper and just as good).
If car camping, you can take duvets from home but if you opt for sleeping bags, treat the “comfort rating temperature” as the minimum temperature as ratings can be a bit erratic and it’s always better to be slighly too warm than cold.
You should be able to get everything you need for around £250.

Vango Banshee 300 is what I have and it’s a great tent. i do like the look of those bell tents though, I bet my Vango would win in bad weather though.

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/vango-banshee-300-tent-p140013

It could do with a porch for cooking though.