Ella puts an inflatable tent to the test on her family camping adventure
🏕️ Plan a swim-camp adventure 🏕️
The UK is blessed with beautiful coastal, riverside and lakeside campsites ideal for wild swimmers. All you need is the perfect tent that's easy to pitch and is a cosy
home-from-home. Editor Ella puts an inflatable tent to the test...
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We all know the cost of living crisis is making it
harder for families to get away together. Holidays are a luxury many of us struggle to afford.
The beauty of camping is that it's fun, adventurous and affordable. Campsites are so much cheaper than booking a hotel or B&B, and when you find a gem of a campsite right next to a beach, swimming lake or river, in
my opinion you just can't beat it!
Yes, camping can be a faff, which is why choosing the right tent for your family is so important. You want something sturdy, durable, comfortable and QUICK AND EASY to put up so you can relax in your camping chair with a glass of wine as soon as possible.
For a recent family break on the East Sussex coast, I was lucky to try out Vango's Savannah Air 400 4-person tent. The tent features Vango’s pioneering Airbeam® technology, which means instead of tent poles, there are inflatable beams that create the bones of the structure. Yep, it's an inflatable tent. How did we get on with it? Scroll on to find out!
We camped by Norman's Bay, a long beach between Eastbourne and Bexhill. The forecast offered up sunshine, but this came with strong winds, and unseasonably cooler temperatures. So it was a great opportunity to seriously test our kit, which included...
Savannah
Air 400 tent
Vango introduced their first inflatable beam tent in 2010. This four-person tent is great for a family or friends, with two midnight bedrooms as well as large living area and attached front awning. It is designed to be quick to pitch and everything is provided, including an additional groundsheet and pump.
Arcadia Self-inflating sleeping mats
Both the double and grande (single) self-inflating mats are a great design, with a flip valve inflation and
deflation allowing ease to set up and comfort for sleeping.
Polaris Kingsize Sleeping Bag
Wider and longer than a standard double bag, this makes sleeping so much easier when camping. We foolishly worried about being cold and wore way too many clothes the first night. This sleeping bag is toastie!
Fiesta Chairs
These simple and durable chairs are ideal for camping. They are lightweight and easy to fold and pack away in a carry bag, which can then be slung over a shoulder. Ooh, and it has a cup holder. Very important.
And what was our verdict?
Pitching the tent was such a simple
process. According to Vango, it takes 10 minutes to pitch. For us amateur campers, it took 20 minutes, which we were still impressed with. The pump and pegging systems were easy to understand and set up. Our first impressions were how big the tent was, but also how easy it was to pitch.
Inside the tent are two midnight, king-size bedrooms. As
well as plenty of space to sleep there is a large living area and awning space, which we set up as the kitchen with our camping stove and Fiesta chairs. It was also an ideal drying area for hanging my wet swim kit!
Other features we loved were the bedroom pockets, for those bits and pieces you need at night, the toggled curtains and lantern
hanging points. There was also a Tension Band System – we realised how important that was on our second very blustery day.
Taking down the tent was even easier that we could have imagined. The strapping systems for both the tent and mattresses enabled us to pack the kit as tight and clean as we unpacked it. Easy peasy, job done!
Despite the changeable spring weather, we loved our swim-camping adventure on the coast. Now we know how easy and affordable it is, we can't wait for more.
