Three of us, the boy is 2yo. But planning on using it for the next 10 years or so, so don’t mind dropping some money on a decent one.
Usually stay on family sites, Spain and France so doesn’t have to deal with too much weather.
Don’t want to worry about returning to a tent full of water if spending a rainy day out and about.
Would like to be able to sit in a chair inside if raining.
Doesn’t need separate ‘rooms’ – if the lad doesn’t want to sleep with us later, I’ll get him a little Quechua tent or something.
Have got a good 10 years out of the last one, a cheap Vango 4 man, by looking after it. Do I need anything more than that?

We’ve had a 5m bell tent now for 6 years. We have two kids and the tent is just the best thing we have ever bought. It goes up in 15 minutes and is a one person job if you’re reasonably strong. Massive inside and with care ours will easily last 20 years I reckon.

This is not ours but is identical

And on hot days it does this

Got one of these during the summer.

It’s lovely and with the awning in place very sheltered for cooking etc.

http://www.campingtravelstore.co.uk/esvo/bedouin_340_esvo

I was looking at the exact same tent Bregante.
The bedouain does look amazing but maybe stretching the budget somewhat!

I do like an awning to cook under, though.

If you look at the dimensions of the bedouin is pretty big, the smaller ones are a bit cheaper.

Good resale values too.

http://www.oztent.com/oztent
30 second pitching and a range of accessories that allow space to grow.

I do like an awning to cook under, though.

This is mine, complete with “sail”. Whilst it isn’t a proper canopy I can easily stand under it (I’m just over 6ft) for cooking. From memory it cost me about £50.

To give you an idea of scale, that table and four chairs easily goes inside when all four camp beds are laid out – and there’s still space for a kampa kitchen unit.

Very tempted by the bell tent. Just not sure about having a pole in the middle, but that’s probably just an issue in my head that wouldn’t exist once in the thing.

Been looking for a while, and wanted something I could stand up in so got myself a large Vango tunnel tent. Probably too big for your needs, but I got it from these guys for about 50% off retail great tents They’re connected to Tamworth camping.

Was sold as a ‘second’ or ‘graded’ sent back to manufacturer. But when it arrived it was sealed in the original plastic and the tent had never been opened.

we have an outwell nevada for sale if youre anywhere near lincs?

also got the extension for it that makes it look like this….

cracking family tent, just dont think we’ll go camping any more, prefer our sunny foreign hols these days.

We had a khyam tent a few years ago. Erected in 5minutes by one person as the fly, inner and poles all connected. Great piece of kit

Go for an Outwell – great quality and ease of use.

We picked up a 2015 Outwell Bearlake 4 at the end of last season, half price as was the Extention.

It’s lovely, being Polycotton, it has nearly all of the benefit of cotton without the full weight penalty. Warmer in the cold, cooler in the warm not as heavy either, it is notable and if your camping in France with a young one worth having somewhere to shelter. Defo recomend cotton/pollycotton. The Bell tents look great though too, normally cotton aswell!

Seasoned camper here. Changed our vango orchy last year for an outwell Montana. Great piece of kit. Looked at poly cotton versions but weight and care put me off.

I would have recommended an Outwell as well (we have a Vermont LP). But its well over the top for what the OP wants. The Outwell really is perfect for UK camping, which IMO isnt required for camping in the sun!

All interesting suggestions thanks. Spent almost six weeks camping last summer so probably worth spending a bit. The thing that puts me off canvas is we’ve got literally nowhere at home to dry it, no garage, garden etc. whereas a plastic tent I can hang off the balcony.

Sadexpunk, we’re down in Spain but thanks.

We’ve a wild country homestead 4. Steel poles, standing room throughout, can open up the front door and add two poles to create masses of ventilation and shade. Loads of space for a table and two ‘bedrooms’ that clip in, or not if you don’t want or need them.

We got ours used and it has had plenty of use from us too. Still going strong. Despite having s camper van now it’s not for sale though 😉

Given that you’re going to France and Spain go for Polycotton or canvas. They polycottons from Outwell etc are heavier and consequently slightly more difficult to put up than the poly equivalents but they offer a much nicer place to be imo. Bell tents are heavy too but as said above are very easy and quick to pitch.

May be able to pick something up decent second hand if people are up/downgrading for this year’s models in a few weeks when camping (shopping) season begins.

Very tempted by the bell tent.

Mate of mine has one. It’s great, but it’s bastard heavy. Fine if you can park next to your pitch but it’s not something I’d want to have to carry any distance.

we have an outwell nevada for sale

I’ve been through more tents than is entirely sensible, and our current ‘big’ tent is the Nevada MP. It’s easily the best tent I’ve owned, though it takes a while to put up.

We had a khyam tent a few years ago. Erected in 5minutes by one person as the fly, inner and poles all connected. Great piece of kit

I had a Khyam Highlander for donkeys’ years and it was exactly that. Back in the days before pop-up tents were a thing I used to love turning up to things like beer festival weekends, hoying the tent out of the car in the rain, going *twang* *click* *click* *click* *click* and being inside the tent with a beer inside of 30 seconds whilst everyone else is still working out which way up their instructions are.

Got a bigger Freelander to accompany it and was a bid disappointed with it in comparison. Only half the tent uses the Quick Erect system, so you’ve still got to frig about with a traditional pole. Still a great bit of kit but it kind of defeated the object of having the QE.

“The Outwell really is perfect for UK camping, which IMO isnt required for camping in the sun!”

when it rains in summer in france and spain …it really rains – in that roads can be undrivable while it rains….

That said – the last alpine storm i was in at the foot of alp dhuez i was quite happy in my QUECHUA ARPENAZ job – sitting in the living area looking out so you dont have to spend loads to get a tent that will take the weather.

the living area would be my most important consideration with kids as if it rains youll quickly get fed up of each others close company stuck in the tiny living areas most tents come with…..

when i grew up we had a 10 man canvas scout tent – you could park the car in the living area , totally overkill but perfect for wet lakes camping.

took as long to dry out after the holiday as the whole holiday took…..

We bought a Coleman Cortes Octagon 8 last year. Like this one. Goes up easily enough once you figure it out. Its very sturdy and you can open it up as in the pic. No awning of course, but we use a separate tarp to cook under if its raining. One of the really good things about it is the bag – getting the tent and bits back into it is easy rather than the sweary wrestling match I have had with every other family tent Ive ever owned.

our current ‘big’ tent is the Nevada MP. It’s easily the best tent I’ve owned, though it takes a while to put up.

really? not sure what the MP is, but our M is ever so quick. 3 bendy poles and up it goes. unless youre comparing to diddy tents, or those pop-ups? 🙂

really? not sure what the MP is, but our M is ever so quick. 3 bendy poles and up it goes. unless youre comparing to diddy tents, or those pop-ups?

The P is “panoramic,” it’s got a more window-y front.

Thinking about it you might be right, I’m almost certainly confusing it with another one. The last France camping holiday we had was in a big tent that was new that trip, and it was a right frig to put up (I actually snapped a pole in the process and I’m a practical kind of guy). I’ll have to stock-take to check.

But yeah – the Nevada is a great tent.

The coleman cortes octagon tents are a lovely space to be in but they are very draughty and cold to sleep in. Outwell is always a safe bet for a good family tent.

Apart from durability is there any reason to avoid 5m Sil Nylon Bell Tents?

I’m wondering if condensation is a problem?

Finger hovering over the buy button on this, 5m bell tent with zipped groundsheet, and inner 1/2 tent. https://www.obelink.es/sahara-500-ul.html

Not entirely convinced it’s not too big but I don’t remember being limited for size in the usual places we go.

Hah.. all that canvas… I wouldn’t take one of those to France or Spain. Down south, where it’s hot, the thunderstorms can be so bad and the rain so hard that it smashes through the canvas in a fine mist.

Many times we also had so much standing water on our emplacement that water would simply run through the caravan awning. In that situation a bathtub groundsheet would be a big advantage.

I’d consider a smaller tent for sleeping, and a big free-standing tarp to sit under for shade or when it rains. Because a tent even with the sides open would most likely be too hot to sit in in the sun.

Don’t like driving too far with the weean Molgrips, so we generally go within a 3h radius of San Sebastian; Asturias to Arcachon say, or western Pyrenees where although it’s not unlikely to be mega hot, it’s generally more manageable.
The rain, I dont know. Three Julys ago it rained every day for the 3 weeks we were in Cantabria. Hence wanting the bathtub groundsheet!

Unfortunately decathlon/quechua dont make this one anymore.

but they do have some similar. It’s a great pop up tent, we can get it up or down in less than 6minutes. You can add “pop up” bedrooms to it when the kids get older (it opens on 5 of the 6 sides), or for now we all just crash in it like a big yurt.

they do these ones now
http://tente.quechua.com/en/tent/r-5,a-31,sejour-base-seconds.html

and then you can add bedrooms from popup tents

handy modular approach depending on circumstances.

@sadexpunk
just sent you mail about your tent
ta

Here’s ours. Stayed in a few bell tents in the build up to buying and whilst we loved the canvas aspect we felt this gave a much more useable space. Excuse the traditional English camping weather! Bought it from BCT in the end.

Sadexpunk – ygm

We tented for a few year before buying a Vango Kura 800 – the plan was to get everything we wanted in one tent:

3 decent sized sleeping areas
Room to have a table at and a cooking area
Sewn in ground sheet
Easy’ish to put up
Water and wind proof
Etc

The trouble is we bought a caravan so have hardly used it 🙁 probably only 5 times in total….

So if you want a bargain it’s for sale at £150

Some links here: http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/tents/p/Vango-Kura-800/424
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8rO8WEE8mI

Cheers, Iain – email in profile.

Gotama, looks interesting – what is it?

It’s a BCT Bronte. BCT are a uk brand and make the tents up in Yorkshire, I think they supply a lot of the scouting groups. You can get the same thing under Touareg tent if you google, the European website linked above sells them under that name I think but didn’t have stock when we were looking. We stayed in a few 5m bells on glamping sites as a test run which were great but the low door annoyed me on the bell, as did setting up the awning because of the low door height. The Bronte/Touareg has an almost full height door at both ends. The rectangular internal shape (4m x 3m from memory) also feels like it gives more useable space inside than the bell as well. There were three us of in there last summer and will be four going forward. We’re really pleased with it.

Another vote for the 5m bell tent. We’ve had ours a good 6 or 7 years now (after a recommendation on here) and loads of our pals have bought them after having a go in ours.

Ours has the zip out groundsheet which would be perfect for hotter climates as you can roll the sides up during the day (my wife hosts a tea party in the garden in the summer in this guise too) and in wet conditions you have a deep waterproof floor.

Easy to pitch up, even on uneven ground (had ours up at strathpuffer this year) and it’s just an all round nice space to be in whatever the weather.

Emailed you about one of these going cheap in Southampton

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/tents/p/Vango-Maritsa-600/2177

we have one of these:

Sunncamp 400SE

which we bought from ebay. The newer versions are not canvas so easier and lighter but probably less cool in the summer.

The beds are raised from the ground, and it has a 4m square living room space and a decent kitchen area.

you can also fit loads more on the trailer including a bike rack over the tent and a bike rack on the a-frame so pretty good for cycling families.