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Choosing the right tent for your camping trip

Written by Fiona

May 02 2018

In my recent Sunday Mail column I took a look at some of the many tent options for campers. From bivvy bags and festival tents to family tents and glamping, I suggest a range of tents to suit your next camping holiday. See the Outdoors pdf or read the copy below.

Tents for all

With a hint of summer in the air, many outdoors fans will be planning to go camping. But what kind of tent will you choose?

These days, there is a wide range of tents to suit different styles of camping. Here are six options to suit different camping adventures

Bivvy bags

 If you like to walk or cycle and getting off the beaten track is your favoured option, a bivvy bag will be the ideal choice.

A bivvy bag is made for solo, lightweight travel on multi-day adventures and it offers a low-hassle, quick-to-set-up alternative to tent pitching.

Essentially, a bivvy is waterproof and windproof bag that fits over a sleeping bag.

One to consider: The Alpkit Hunka bivvy bag weighs less than 400g. It is made of a waterproof and breathable fabric and packs into a small bag.

£48, www.alpkit.com

Two-man tents

If you like a little more room when you’re sleeping and you prefer to share your summer adventures, a simple two-man tent will be ideal.

A tent gives you space to store a rucksack and many have a porch for cooking if the weather is poor.

And if you are travelling with a friend you can split the parts of the tent between you.

For walking or cycling trips where weight is an important consideration look for lightweight tents with minimal foldable poles.

All-in-one designs make it easy to put up the tent.

In general, the more you spend the lighter the tent will be because it relies on more sophisticated technology.

One to consider: Robens has launched a Lite range of quick, easy-to-pitch technical tents.

The two-person Goldcrest 2 weighs 1.33kg and is made with Robens’ waterproof HydroTex AWT-LT 20D ripstop polyester fabric.

Goldcrest 2 £449.99, robens.co.uk

Weekend tents

 These tents are usually unpacked from the boot of a car and pitched close by at a campsite or wild camping location.

Weekend tents can be spacious enough for two, three or four people and they tend to have a cheaper price tag because they do not require so much design input or the use of sophisticated materials.

The shape of a weekend tent – such as dome, wigwam or A-frame – will allow users to sit up or even stand inside.

A weekend tent is generally heavier and therefore not aimed at backpackers.

One to consider: Vango Nemesis Pro 300 Tent (2018) fits three people and offers a geodesic design that is stable and great for headroom.

RRP £300, www.vango.co.uk

Family tents

 This is definitely a car-to-campsite tent and might even be considered to be “glamping”.

Family tents are heavier and larger but offer the advantage of lots of space for everyone.

These tents come with divided bedroom and living areas and some even have room for a toilet (chemical, of course0.

For ease when pitching a family tent look for inflatable poles.

One to consider: Outwell TOMCAT 5SA is a two-bedroom tent for up to five people, with a living area.

The tent benefits from Outwell Advanced Air Tube System technology with “fast and easy One-Go inflation”.

The front canopy can be zipped on and off or rolled back quickly to extend flexible outdoor living options depending on the weather.

£1,199.99, www.outwell.com

Yurts, katas and wigwams

This takes glamping to the next level. A yurt doesn’t even need to be owned, carried with you or erected.

Glampers simply arrive at their yurt, at one of a growing number of glamping sits across Scotland, and “move into” their new home.

Most yurts come complete with campbeds, airbeds or sleeping platforms, a wood-burning stove and lots of space.

Some have kitchen, dining and living areas for home-from-home living.

One to consider: The katas at Comrie Croft offer fairly-tale style camping. Pried from £99 for a night, Sunday to Thursday. See www.comriecroft.com

Festival tents

When you want to spend less time putting up the tent – or sleeping in it – and more time partying, you need a festival tent.

These tents are usually easy to pitch and come in all sorts of bright colours and fancy patterns. (After all you want to be able to find your tent again after dark and in a field of other tents.)

One to consider: Easy Camp has a range of Carnival tents that are “inspired by the bohemian spirit”.

The tents called Daybreak, Nighttide, Daylily and Nightfall, sleep two to four people and are sold in different designs that are all straightforward to pitch.

£54.99 to £79.99, easycamp.com

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