Camping in a bell tent all year round in Cornwall...Advice please

[Ruth]

Hi All,
Im new to this but came across your site whilst trying to browse for information about all yr camping in the uk. Me and my partner with our little girl of 2-3 yrs and our dog are hoping to invest in a bell tent, this one to be exact http://www.belltent.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=273
and the 5 mt one attached to the side as well as a heated stove and an additional tent for cooking etc...
We are planning on pitching on a camp site to make use of facility's there such as toilets, showers and main hook ups etc.

Our obvious concerns are keeping warm in the winter and trying to avoid damp.

Any advice????

Thanks Ruth

 

[shaggystu]

good luck with your adventure, it sounds like a good one. one thing to consider is the feasibility of staying long term on a camp site, there's a world of difference in the legality between staying on a campsite for a few nights/weeks and staying there on a permanent basis, the local authority may well have something to say about it.

on a more practical level i'd want a raised floor of some description in a permanent tent, the ground inside is going to get really muddy otherwise

stuart

 

[kram245]

We have exactly that tent, great bit of kit and a nice space to live in. Legalities aside of camping a whole year on a site, but on a practical not, good idea on raising the floor area. Also, you will need to re-proof the tent , probably after 3 months or so. We have a frontier stove, which makes the interior very warm. The problem will be a supply of fuel, it will take up a lot of your time cutting it up to size and feeding the stove frequently. Good luck it will be a great experience, but you might want to 'test drive' it first.

 

[Ruth]

Thank you guys, I think we would look to move on say three months or so. I have read that for the size of the tent we should have at least a 5kw stove to keep it warm. Also with the bell tent does it leak when you touch the canvas?

 

[yomperalex]

I would have concerns regarding the youngster - damp, cold, anything with a potential health and well being issue.

I am not trying to slag off your idea, but I think that these are valid concerns, and the authorities might do too. Your research may need to include these.

Alex

 

[furryface]

maybe some pallets as a raised floor could be usefull and cheap,just cover them with some boarding and cut to size. as for the legalities of camping long time, if you find a small quiet campsite thats off the main roads, a friendly chat with the owners and let them know what your plans are, im sure they will be glad to have the three months worth of pitch fees.sometimes the offer of doing a few chores around the site from time to time can go a long way in building a good relationship and make a good impression. good luck with it,and hope it all works out well.

andy.

 

[Ruth]

Hi Alex,
Yes i couldnt agree more with you, hence why we are looking at all options, one is to poss rent a house over the winter months or look at a caravan over the winter months. Our main reason for looking at doing this is because our cost of living is just too much with us as a couple trying to improve our qualifications and careers to earn more money. Its just trying to find the balance and have some fun at the same time. Im sure we would start to have the same problem when we cant afford heating and damp comes into our house. Its just trying to get the balance right with out it becoming a nightmare.

Thanks everyone

 

[yomperalex]

Ruth

I'm glad you took my post in the spirit it was meant, and I wish you all the best.

Alex

 

[Nonsuch]

There was a very interesting thread on this subject over on songofthepaddle.co.uk. A lady member (search MotherHearne I think) lived in a community of tentipis (very similar tent) down in the south or south west through a whole year I think. In the end their tents were trashed by a storm, but they had a fine time up until then.

I would have thought a big winter blow (eg 70 mph) would be your main concern. It doesn't look like a design that would handle big winds well, although I have no first hand knowledge. With a calm mild winter or a very sheltered pitch I think you would be ok.

I echo the other comments about a wooden floor. Comrie Croft near us has tentipis up all year round for renting out and they have raised wooden floors.

Maybe get a stove you can put coal in for more efficient heating. Many of the tent stoves would melt with coal.

 

[Seabeggar]

Hi, interesting idea. We spent 3 months living in small tent as family traveling is US with temperatures down to -12 C and bears outside . No child welfare issues they loved it ( age 4, 9 & 11) We now have a 4m belltent from canvas and cast ( new website belltent.biz) The tent is bomb proof with heavier canvas 350 g ( rather than usual 285 g) They also do a 5 and 6m bell. With minimal heating our tent soon warms up. Good luck

 

[pastymuncher]

Sounds like a great idea.
Are you sure you need 3 tents though, there are a lot of similar issues to living on a boat (which we used to) everyone goes for a bigger boat /tent than they need. Heating in one tent, cooking in another means 2 heat sources when you only need one etc.
Many people put all their "must have" gear into storage when moving on board a boat only to sell it/ give it away 2 years later, if you get rid of/ store all the "essential" clutter when you move in you may find it a lot easier i.e. less to deal with.

BTW we heard the same concerns about kids when living on board, the kids will love it.

Once you break free from the "must have a house" brainwashing you'll find the alternatives are much more interesting and fun.

Good Luck

 

[forest of dreams]

hi i have had one of belltent uk tents and several others, and have also lived in a truck in cornwall for a year so know what you can expect. Firstly belltent uk tents are relatively thin, incomparison to other manufacturers, and several suppliers in the uk get the from the same french supplier, all are designed for occasional use. You would be better looking at either ones supplied by Mark at Bell Tent Biz or ones by BCT outdoors both are of a higher quality canvas, though i would say marks are slightly better, the groundsheets are really strong heavy duty, compared to cheaper bell tent uk ones. You may end up paying a little extra but you will not be disappointed the quality difference will pay for itself within a few months. marks also come with an outlet pre fixed for a wood burning stove, you have two options for stove ed at parp industries or Kevan at Kp stove im on my second kp stove and love it but kevin does some great fire, have used his hot water wood burning stove for showers on a site and was amazing, intent to put one of these in my next truck. Yeah think long and hard about the designs in the fresh you would see haow apparent it is. You could check out www.cariadcanvas.co.uk who rent them out to see the difference in quality they have a flickr page pretty nice stuff and they do a hire lavuu with groundsheet, posted out to you, heard they have a fire for it but aint advertised could be just teh job for bushcraft stint. anyway if i can be of any more help let me know and will try helping.

 

[ged]

There are a few other threads on this forum that have covered a lot of the ground you're going to need to cover, and previous posters in this thread have mentioned some of it, so I won't start that all over again. But I will say that your idea of a caravan at least for the seasons with the worst weather is a very good one. I've spent a lot of time both in tents and in caravans in all weathers, and in really bad weather any caravan is far preferable to a tent. In hot weather in my experience most caravans get unbearably hot and I'd prefer a tent or at least an awning on a caravan. For a stay in a caravan of more than a couple of days an awning is easily worth the expense and slight trouble. Obviously caravans have issues that tents don't and vice versa, but for the most part I'll leave you to research that yourself as you're obviously capable. A dehumidifier is worth having in a caravan if you're going to have the windows closed a lot. Some sort of hard standing for a caravan makes all the difference in wet weather, you don't want to be wading around in mud. If you pitch a tent on grass for any length of time you will be wading around in mud unless you take precautions.

 

[Will Bowden]

We did 9 months in a caravan in a riverside field a few years back with our two boys who were both under 8 at the time. They loved the fish from river to belly in 5 minutes flat and the making stuff say on the riverbank and its something they often ask to do again.

We were off-grid from the spring through to Christmas so saw a good range of weathers from baking summer days to sub-zero nights.

The one major problem we had was mud. It gets everywhere.

Some stormy nights we felt a bit too close to the action as well, I wouldn't have wanted to be in a tent with a small child and all my possessions.

Personally I couldn't stick being on a 'campsite', we used to do it once a year for a night when we go up to Goodwood for the Festival of Speed. We wildcamp it now. On Campsites you are surrounded by irritating thick people on holiday and their irritating thick nosey kids. Maybe you are more of a people person than me though

Will

 

[forest of dreams]

toally agree with last post, when we lived off grid in a truck, mud and condensation where the killers, we were constantly cleaning and wiping surfaces. If it was me and you need to go canvas, go for something you can put a stove in, has insulation and and has way of venting humidity, a yurt with crown supports are pretty good and insulation can be added, cover permitting and a stove can be easily installed. We are doing another truck next year and the trick is to find the way you live and adapt your space to that way of living. Remember though whatever you choose when you move in the insects and animals move out for the first few weeks than the come back to reclaim there home. This aint so bad in a truck but my experiences of tents after a few weks is you need to be moving or be prepared to jack it up on a floor and solid platform, even then the mice will move in below you, thats just my experience though....

 

[swyn]

I would highly recommend 'Astro Turf' for all your heavily used areas. When living in tipiworld we managed to get hold of several strips from a tennis court maker, who made the bases from this stuff.
My wife and I are moving back under canvas in April 2012 as we will be trashing the inside of our poor old house to renovate it. The tipi is now more than 25 years old so not really up to anything other than summer living anymore. We will be trying a yurt!

The raised platform is a must as the truck folk have said. This gets you away from the worst of the mud, the creatures and off the cold of the ground. In the tipi we have a half platform which is covered with a coconut fiber mat then kilims. All shoes/boots are kicked off before stepping up onto this.

I wish you all the very best in this and would possibly suggest that moving to the East side of the UK where the rainfall is considerably lower than in the West be considered! The wind in winter is keener though
Swyn.