Talk tents to me

DH has had a decent tax rebate and he's said we can now go on holiday!!!!

We've always camped and with the smalls and the dog staying in the uk is preferable.

We have a 6 man tent.
It has two small sleeping areas which each can only sleep 2 people and 1 small living area where you cannot stand completely upright in.

We managed with it for 4 nights when we only had James - but it was tight and when it rained we were stuck for cooking space. We ended up buying a heap gazebo whilst we were away so we could sit under it and eat at the table if it rained.

Thinking of a 10 man tent , with decent living space and a porch-style area.
It needs to house 2 adults, 2 children, a big dog and all our cooking stuff/ food and clothes etc.

Any ideas ladies??

[clothmama]

I have no idea about brands etc but totally agree with you on the size thing, if you are going to have proper holidays, rather than just the odd weekend it is really important to have a tent where there is plenty of room for you all to be inside comfortably. Where are you thinking of going?

If the two children could share a space then the Montana Outwell 6 is one that I've been lusting after for ages.
It is huge despite being a 6 person, with massive living area and plenty of space add ons, like an awning to make it even bigger. Have a look on utube.
http://www.outwell.com/en/Products/Tent ... tana6.aspx

If that's not big enough, then the Concorde which has sleeping at separate ends with living quarters in the middle, but I prefer the Outwell. Hartford is an 8 man and has 3 separate sleeping areas, which might suit better.

UKcampsite often has people selling them second hand.

Eeeeek. I've not got much of a clue about tents. Have you tried asking around your friends. It's the sort of purchase that someone might have in their loft/garage for you to borrow.

When in comes to tents, the bigger the better.

We've been looking at buying one for a while now, and will probably get a 10 man tent (or more if I can find one).

For me it has to have - a separate area with a porch style thing so all the cooking table and stuff can go under there. 2 sleeping areas would be a bonus, but I'm not that bothered about that bit.

hi we are a camping family of 5, 2 adults (debatable!) 3 girls, age 14, 7 & 5, and love it, all of us are already planning our camps for this year. all of our holidays for the last 4 years have been and will be under canvas (well polyester). we currently have an outwell Vermont XL, 3 bedrooms, living room, walk in wardrobe and enclosed porch area. it's fantastic loads of room regardless of inclement UK weather and has so far stood up all that's been thrown at it. I can strongly recommend it, however big tents take up loads of space so we have a roofbox and trailer on our zafira. that's for loads of stuff for a really comfortable holiday but just to give you an idea the tent in its 2 bags fill 3/4 of the boot.