In our search for ever more exotic forms of existence, Darlingest and I have decided that we need more holidays. Now that we have two small Nollyettes (actually called Eleanor and Rosie), holidaying can be a very expensive process. I myself cannot spare a couple of grand every summer in order to find a beach on a deserted part of the Cote d'Azur (oh, alright then, Skegness). We therefore needed to think laterally, and I don't mean on our backs!
I was very dubious when Darlingest suggested we buy a tent. My mind was struck by memories of big, ungainly and awkward tents a la 'Carry on Camping', the kind of thing that needs an engineering degree or the strength of fifteen men to erect, or the miniscule canvas thingies that I had shared with one other when in the cadets 20 years ago. Therefore some research was in order.
Upon researching the matter, it would appear that there are 6 main types of tent- Folding Camper (obviously one for contortionists), Frame Tent, Ridge Tent, Dome Tent, Hoop Tent, and Geodesic (apparently clears headaches as well as accommodates). Therefore we had a good look.
There is a camping shop near us that, luckily, has a number of tents in their erect states (this is full of innuendo, I must say), to allow you to choose what tent you actually need. We looked around and decided that we ideally needed a dome style tent. This is a tent that uses two or three flexible poles to create a freestanding tent with reasonable headroom (handy when you're six foot seven like me). There are two main manufacturers as far as I can see, Coleman and Vango. I may be wrong, but that's the impression I got. They both seem to offer similar quality and similar styles of tent, and being a camping virgin, I was totally mystified and asked a nearby man for advice.
We opted for a new tent style, called the Coleman Bi-Space 500. The 500 bit means that it will accommodate 5 people in relative splendour, if not actually tickling my feet with a stick of celery (but what I get up to in my spare time is my business). It appears to be a big tent with a bit on the side, which makes it a hybrid known as a 'dome and tunnel tent'. The recommended retail price of the tent is £250, but we got ours for £215, which I thought was a good deal. I was just worried about getting erected, which is something that preoccupies me from time to time.
Using the Blasted Thing ===================
We decided that we had to do a test run. We asked my in-laws whether we could use their back garden for a night, to see how we existed as a family in our new acquisition. They said yes (the fools), and we thought it would be fun.
Do you remember how hot last summer was? Do you remember that there was almost no rain whatsoever? Well, we arrived at the garden and Darlingest looked after the girls while I said I would try and get it up (the tent, you mucky lot). You must remember that it was the first time that I have tried this, and Darlingest told me that it didn't matter if I couldn't manage it as it happens to lots of people. However I was resolved to have a bash at it and take the matter in both hands.
The tent itself comes in a very nice case with three compartments- one for the groundsheet, one for the flysheet, the groundsheet and inner tent (the sleeping compartment) and the poles and pegs.
The way you put up the tent is by feeding various colour-coded poles through colour coded sleeves and then putting the ends of them into the holes ready and waiting for such insertion on webbing straps in the correct place. In other words it took no fewer than a few minutes to get it up, so to speak. Once the poles are in position, and the structure is as rigid as it can be, it's time to fix it to the ground. For this, plenty of pegs are provided, and the guyropes, luminous in case you decide to pitch the tent in fog, are already attached to the tent, which I think is jolly nice.
You then have to fit the groundsheet, which covers the living area of the tent. The sleeping quarters are an all-in-one inner tent which attaches to the outer flysheet. All these various bits also have mosquitop meshes and are green in colour, which apparently does not attract insects.
The tent has two doors and two poles to allow the gazebo effect, as I term it.
There is loads of headroom in the dome, so much so that I managed to stand up straight. Sometimes I do have a little trouble getting myself to stand to attention, but in this tent it was no bother at all. But on this long hot summer, how were we to test the waterproof aspect of the tent?
The tent has a hydrostatic head of 3000mm. This means that it would take a stream of water 3000mm long to penetrate the waterproofing, which seems to me to be plenty for a family tent, as we were not, I repeat not, going to be camping up Mount Snowdon. We were also blessed by the fact that we chose the one Monday in August when it chucked it down with rain. It was soaking wet outside, but inside the tent we stayed warm and dry. So the tent gets a thumbs up from me on that score. However I was unable to cook the family supper, due to the pouring rain, and therefore our first ever camping supper was fish and chips!
As the rain was very hard and persistent, it took a while for the tent to dry, but when it had we dismantled and packed it away. I am the only one who can carry it as it weighs in at 15.8kg (35lb), but it appeals to my machismo!
Conclusions ===========
It was a great buy. We love camping in the tent. It's spacious, warm when we need it, and cool enough when we require ventilation. It will happily accommodate 2 adults and 2 small children with room to spare, and means that our future holidays will be somewhat cheaper than they had promised to be.
