Regardless of whether you're camping in the Alps, the Lake District or the Himalayas,
you'll need a suitably robust shelter to provide a haven from the elements.
Dome and tunnel tents are particularly good if you're car camping, but if you've got
to carry everything on your back, you'll want to trace some living space for a reduction
in the weight and bulk of the tent.
There's an array of different tent designs on the market.
All of them are trying to strike that perfect balance between maximising the living and
sleeping space whilst minimising the weight and pack size.
Here are four very different backpacking tents.
This one person tent is constructed around a single traverse hoop.
The sleeping compartment runs perpendicular to the pole, which is secured using lightweight
guidelines combined with power frame, power clips and internal bracing.
It's a surprisingly stable tent and there's room inside for the solo traveller or two
at a push.
It might look small outside, but inside there's enough room for someone who's six foot like
me to lie down and sit up comfortably.
If you're camping with a companion, you'll probably need a tent with two or even three
poles to increase the amount of living and sleeping space.
Some tents like this one can be pitched inner first, outer first or together for maximum
flexibility in varying weather conditions.
This tent also has a gargantuan covered porch, which means you can keep all your kit under
cover outside the sleeping compartment.
This feature makes living in a tent during an extended period of bad weather much more
pleasant and pockets in the sleeping area help to keep things tidy.
Like a lot of high quality tents, this one has a bathtub style floor, which significantly
reduces the chance of water creeping in at ground level.
Another popular type of backpacking tent is constructed around a semi geodesic skeleton.
Unlike a traverse hoop or a tunnel tent, a semi geodesic tent is self supporting.
Once you've erected it, you can simply pick it up and move it if you want to get a better
view from the front door or to keep the porch out of the wind.
High grade aluminium poles like the ones supplied with this tent are lighter than cheaper metal
poles with no compromising strength or durability.
However, if you're planning to camp above the snow line or on a very exposed site, you're
probably going to want a full geodesic tent.
A geodesic tent consists of a number of interconnected panels that form a self supporting structure.
Unlike a three pole semi geodesic tent, a full geodesic tent has a minimum of four poles.
This two person geodesic tent is impressively stable in high winds.
One of the differences between geodesics and other types of tent is that they usually need
to be pitched in a tent first.
This means that you'll have to get the tent up quickly in wet weather.
This particular tent also has two entrances, which is useful in bad weather and when camping
with lots of gear.
It also helps to maximise airflow on hot nights.
If you want a generous amount of living and sleeping space, get a two person tent like
this if you camp on your own or a three person tent if you go camping with someone else.
Regardless of the type of tent you use, place a nylon footprint, a piece of plastic or your
close self format under the expensive sewn in ground sheet to reduce the chance of it
being damaged by rough ground.
This tent has mosquito nets at the back and front.
They allow a cooling airflow in hot weather whilst keeping bugs at bay.
Cotswold Outdoor stocks dozens of different tents, but how does the company decide which
models to stock?
To find out, I'm speaking to senior buyer Dave Housley, who is responsible for selecting
the tents.
Dave, there are literally thousands of tents on the market.
How many make it to your short list each year?
Well, I probably start looking at around five to six hundred models in my preliminary selection
and then I have to price that down to a size of range which offers the best possible choice
to the customer.
So, I end up between 48 and 52 models a year and what I try and do is offer the best value
for money that you can possibly get for any given price point.
View clearly put a lot of time and effort into selecting the best possible range of
tents, but when it comes to Cotswold, that's only half the story.
Yes, it is.
What we're doing here today is actually we've got members of staff from a lot of our southern
stores, some of our team from Maylord and some of our head office team as well.
And the idea is that obviously they get to see all the tents, get to pitch them because
at the end of the day it's nothing quite like a customer coming in and actually speaking
to somebody that's actually had a chance to pitch the tent.
Don't get me wrong, a lot of our teams are enthusiasts anyway and have probably got experience
particularly with the backpacking tents, but this gives them a real opportunity to see
the whole range.
It also gives me an opportunity to explain to them why I've selected the range because
sometimes it's not that obvious and particularly these days there's so many different tent
models to look at.
This gives them a chance to ask me questions and I can feedback that information to them.
What sort of features will you look for when choosing an ideal tent for say lightweight
backpacking?
Well, I think the key consideration is obviously the weight of the tent and obviously how much
room is inside, but also if you're going cycle touring, you want to have fairly short
pole sections that fit inside the panniers, that's less critical for somebody that's
actually going to carry the tent, but also it's really horses for courses.
If you're going super light backpacking or say doing a mountain marathon, then weight
is absolutely critical, but ultimate durability isn't, whereas if you say going off on a trip
around the world then something a little bit more durable but perhaps a little bit heavier
is worthwhile considering.
So we're trying to really cater for all those markets.
You can see Dave's latest tent selection in store, in the catalogue and online.
Cotswood also hosts several tent shows each year where you can directly compare dozens
of different designs.
