3 bed tent recommendations please

[chrisfs150]

Can anyone recommend a tent suitable for: me and the missus, a 6 yr old and twin boys of 3? ideally 3 bedrooms and large communal area, wieght not important but needs to be a reasonable cost (sub £450) any help would be most appreciated.....
thanks ---- chris

[Big Al.]

I was in this one in Decathlon today and it looked pretty good. I was able to stand fully upright in the comunal area and I'm 6ft 4in tall. Not a bad price either.

[chjo]

Have a look on campsites uk got a good tent review section on there.

[mr grumpy]

Can anyone recommend a tent suitable for: me and the missus, a 6 yr old and twin boys of 3? ideally 3 bedrooms and large communal area, wieght not important but needs to be a reasonable cost (sub £450) any help would be most appreciated.....
thanks ---- chris

We have got a wynnster mercury 9xl which has three rooms and large living area. It is big enough to stand in and entertain in if the weather turns. It weighs a lot though, not sure i'd want it in the canoe!!

[Headman]

Hi Chris,
Have a look at the Outwell Vermont XL. Cracking tent. Well made, cosy and bug-free due to sewn-in groundsheet and very spacious. Three rooms, good living space, storage and porch. We have had three excellent years of car touring with two adults and two big lads. Highly recommended. PM me if you are interested in it.
Headman

[EdL]

Have a look at what the limitations are on campsites on sizes... I think that some of them are going to get stricter on sizes, and the emplacements in France can be perhaps 7m x 7m or so, so if the tent is too big it won't fit!!!

Otherwise have a look on Obelink.nl as their tents can be good value for money.

[Soggy Bottom]

Give millets a look they have a tent sale on at the moment. Had one of their flyers through my door today.

[rbd70]

For use in mainland Europe you cannot go far wrong with Outwell tents, good price, well made, with a good spec. Always hunt around for previous years models, which can save £100 or there abouts. We are cuurently in a Outwell Montanna 6. There are 2 kids and 2 adults in it and we have used it for up to 3 weeks at a time across Europe. The kids have a bedroom each and we kip in the main area. There is an extention uyou can get which we don't have but would be sorted for you with the extra kid!

[POTS]

Many years ago I got a Coleman 9 man Quadspace, end of summer buy costing £200.
They still sell for more than that now(although I think I saw it being sold somewhere for£174).
Its a very heavy tent because of the main structures steel poles but this makes it quite strong. A bit of a pig to put up/take down especially in the wind but it can be erected solo.
When I have had the option I have tended to leave one of the rooms out and use the space as a small kitchen/storage area, this still leaves 2 rooms for 6 people.
Quite a basic tent but with some good features.
Low tapered rooms for good wind resistance from any angle but big enough for kids to walk in, loads of guy lines/peg points/tension straps, a good vallance/skirt and an unclippable ground sheet for the main area(for me this is ideal as I preffer not to use one in the main standing/sitting space).
Also an excellent mesh feature in the centre of the main dome vestibule.
This is capped from outside with its own adjustable hood.
This feature works great for ventilation when you are cooking inside with gas and the door closed.
I have even been able to sit a barbeque in the middle and have everyone seated around it, providing the porch is left open. Not ideal with little kids about though.
The door could do with having more of a tunnel to it although this would make it impractical or dangerous to use the barbeque inside or at the door. And slightly better adjustment with regards to leaving it guyed open in the rain(the rain will collect on the door then run off at the entrance).
I have had many years use out of this tent and its still going strong.
Been in some quite stormy conditions and the tent has performed remarkably, considering its size and price.

Maybe something even bigger would be more practical for you and your family as although the main standing/sitting area is adequate, because the rooms take up all the available sides you would find it difficult to have an exclusive cooking area unless you removed a room.

One other consideration is the flexability of the entrance configuration.
For example, you get tents now that have more than one door.
This can allow you to enter the sleeping areas without travelling through the sitting/standing space or have the versatility to be able to changed the entrance because of the direction of the wind,rain or sun.

I quite like the look of this as a reasonable value easily erected family tent, allbeit a bit conventionaly flat ended and a sewn in ground sheet.
http://www.khyam.co.uk/detail.asp?p=708

PS. get them to take their shoes off before they go into the bedrooms and no running round the tent

[TGB]

I thought 'Kyham' had gone bust?

TGB

[Crow]

I thought 'Kyham' had gone bust?

TGB

Well their website still looks as if they're going strong.

Unless you're thinking of Victor Kyham, the man who liked Remington shavers so much he bought the company. He's dead now.

[POTS]

Seems to be advertised as Wynnster, maybe that has something to do with it.

The Marseille is similar to my quadspace but with taller deeper rooms.
Instead of having a third room the Marseille has a porch space
(although it does actually have 4 rooms).
This one is even cheaper than the Perpignan8, almost half the weight and packs smaller.
A bit more complicated to put up but still pretty simple with no bending of fibreglass poles and better wind resistance. Will probably feel a bit more cozy too.
The porch looks ideal as a cooking space with nice door configurations, while the kids can enter and exit mostly via the other big back door.
Also looks like the groundsheet in the porch is optional, which I think is ideal.
The room configuration is probably better too as you will be able to either have the kids in with you and get even more space by leaving one or two of the opposite rooms out or have all your kids on the other side of the tent.
http://www.wynnster.com/detail.asp?p=495

Obviously you could get a much smaller tent for 5 people but its nice sometimes to have the luxury of space, especially when the weather is bad or you are camping for more than a few days.