www.nwcampers.co.uk

Hi
The original Cotton covered steel frame tent,as to be one of the roomiest, breathable, strong wind resistant tents ever designed and and campers are still using frame tents made 40 years ago and are as good as new ones bought today 25 years life span for these tents are common.
This Cananon 4 berth is in my opinion the best designed tent for family 2+2 camping ever made
http://www.theforestcampingcentre.com/f ... ndorra.php
And check this out for the large family
http://www.theforestcampingcentre.com/f ... espace.php
And this for Two one of the easiest tents ever to erect on your own
http://www.highbridgecaravans.co.uk/ten ... php?AN=558
And you can get some great deals on these tents on eBay

Now the tunnel frame tents.Personally I do not rate any frame tent were the frame is Externally parcialy sleeved.Frames in my opinion are their to hold the tent up against the strong winds,and as we all know it is the wind that destroys your tent not the rain. the frame should be behind the flysheet to give it maximum support and Be fully sleeved to hold in place
So tents with External partly sleeved pole systems are all suspect in my opinion.
Probably the best of the bunch is the good looking Lake series made from a good strong polycotton canvas ,Outwell know the problem tunnel tents have with the wind and have fitted an horizontal bar down both sides that will give the frame some extra support in high winds ,but they still only recommend their tents as Two season.just take a look at what is supporting that tent ,makes an engineer wince,If those poles were internal in full sleeves this really would be tops.
http://www.tradetalk.com/Outwell-Norfol ... roducts-uk
Now the family domed tunnel tents well there is only one type I would consider but once again very expensive but also an excellent design only require a couple of guy ropes to hold it up why because these tents have strong fully sleeved internal pole systems I have yet to see a bad report of one from wind damage and they have now in their forth year.
Once again my choice would be this the Cabanon Biscaya
http://www.camping-intl.com/products/te ... gle%2BBase
or what about this for lovers of the traditional shape
http://www.proadventure.co.uk/acatalog/ ... 4wodylk9bw

Regards
Rex.

Hi Rex

I had never wanted to try out a frame tent until reading your posts about the Cabanon Andorra - it completely changed my mind. You can still pick up a new one from a place in Ireland (£600 is quite a lot of money), so we picked one up from e-bay. It looks in quite good condition to be honest, apart from a small repair on the mud wall (seller did not mention this in the add, which was quite annoying when I found it) and also a few marks on the back where it looks like they have tried to remove several marks with something that has taken some of the colour out of the canvas (not mentioned in the add either).

We put it up in the back garden one evening, but did not peg it out and were a bit confused that the mud wall did not wrap around the legs of the frame. Whilst on holiday, we met a couple with an Antigua - they informed us that their mud flaps were the same as those on the Andorra - they actually stand the frame on top of the mud flaps. They had made their tent as weather proof as poss as it was very cold down there in Cornwall, quite a surprise after the previous week had been so warm. We have not tried to pitch the Andorra again as we have both been quite busy at work all week after coming back. But hope to have another go next week. If all goes well we might try this tent down in Devon in a couple of weeks.

Just to let you know I really enjoy reading your posts! :)

Kaz