ME & MY TENT
Check out a reader’s tent set-up
WHO ARE YOU?
We are a family of four, living in the Fens of Cambridgeshire. We all go camping as a family unit as often as we can. However, quite often you may find my wife and daughter enjoying a little back garden camping in our Coleman Kobuk Valley 3. You may even find our family tent set up during nice weather in the garden along with the swimming pool… the other facilities aren’t that bad either, to be honest! Or me just wandering off for a coddiwomple in the Fens for a little wild camping (with a Leave No Trace ethos), and if I am lucky, one of the kids may join me, usually my daughter, Anais.
HOW OFTEN DO YOU GO CAMPING?
On our family adventures, three or four times a year, six or seven if you include local sites like Fourwinds Leisure in the town of March, when the parents visit with their caravan.
WHAT’S YOUR TENT?
As a family we own around eight tents in total, if you include the bivy and trekking tents we own, as well as the Coleman. Our main family tent is the Vango Inspire 600 (2015), a good, sturdy tent that has seen us through some harsh conditions, including snow and storms, and never let us down once.
DO YOU ALWAYS DO THE FULL SET-UP?
No, never, we plan accordingly every time we go away. We have all the extras for the tent (sky shield, side awning, front awning and sun canopy), but hardly use them apart from the sun canopy. Now, when fully pitched with all the extras, the colours no longer match due to UV damage over the years. With a trailer and being fortunate enough to have a garage attached to the house, we can store all the equipment the mice would love to have a munch on, along with the essentials for us to just hook up and go.
HOW MUCH HAS YOUR SET-UP COST IN TOTAL?
I’m so sad when it comes to camping that
I keep a spreadsheet with every purchase, warranty details and cost. Including all the prizes we have won in competitions, it comes to around the £6,000 mark.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO GET SET UP?
From five minutes if on my own to two hours for the whole set-up on family adventures – including the sun canopy but not including the two awnings.