We did it! ... We bought a tent!

A couple of weeks ago, my mother and I were talking about the cost of family holidays and generally how expensive it was becoming to go away; coupled with the fact that now Ruby is at school, we don't have as much flexibility, and the only time to go on a family holiday is outside of term time but the premium for this is just silly.

We then started to discuss tents and caravans; for some time I have always fancied a caravan but because of the cost of them and having to take a driving test to tow one, its been put on the back burner; however camping - well I was not to keen at the start of it as we did had an experience a few year ago where I ended up with 3rd degree burns from a camping stove. This experience did not deter me though, but if we were going to purchase a tent there would have to be some stipulations, these included the tent had to be big enough so that it was not cramped and I would also need an electric hookup as well as my home comfort.

The best and essential piece of kit!

The task of finding a tent suitable for us was a bit of a minefield, there are so many different types available and all ranging in price from less than a hundred pounds to well over a thousand pounds. Once I had done a little bit of research it became clear that I wanted a tent that was tall enough for me to stand in as well as being easy to put up and would be large enough as Ruby and Lottie grow, it really wasn't that long before the brand new Vango Isis 500 caught my eye.

I spoke to several friends on twitter and facebook to get their opinions and thoughts as well as the lovely people from Vango who helped me to decide that yes, the Vango Isis would be a very good tent to buy. I love the tent because its big even without adding the awning, you have side windows so even if its rainy then you can look outside and the tent is still light rather than sitting in the dark, the living area is huge so can play with the girls, the bedrooms are fitted with a type of black out fabric that makes them darker and thus easier to get to sleep in. I would like to point out Vango have not asked me to write about how wonderful this tent is, but in my opinion its amazing and worth people knowing about it as I really love it. Ohh and how could I forget the tent even has a carpet! Who would have thought a tent comes with a carpet??

Our tent pitched at my mums

This last week or so has felt like Christmas as every day something new for our tent or a piece of camping equipment has arrived through the post. Never in a million years did I think we would own a tent and now we do I can't wait for the adventures we will have.