Keeping your tent and camping gear in good nick when it’s going to be stored away for some time is important. Before packing up until spring, it pays to unpack it all and check carefully for wear, damage, holes, tears, damp, mould, mildew or any other signs of wear. DRY IT Mould and mildew will make the tent smell bad and eventually it can make the fabric rot away, leaving it only fit for the bin. If your tent is wet at packing up time, shake off as much water as possible and wipe more off with a clean dry

  Under certain conditions, all awnings will suffer from internal condensation. Condensation is created by moist warm air coming into contact with a cool surface. This moisture condenses creating water. Depending upon the conditions, condensation could be quite severe and is commonly mistaken for leaking, especially as it can run down the inside of the roof and drip off ties, tapes and other internal fittings. A suspected leak will almost certainly turn out to be condensation. The primary causes of condensation are: Moisture in the ground. Moisture in the air. The weather. Condensation can also be created from: People sleeping

Health and safety gets a bad reputation but when it comes to camping it’s just plain common sense. Here’s Out & About's 16-step guide to avoiding danger on the campsite.   Don’t use naked flames, including candles, in or near your tent. Keep matches and lighters out of the reach of children. Smoking in a tent is a fire risk as well as anti-social. Gas cylinders and flammable liquids should be stored outside the tent. Keep a bucket of water and a fire blanket handy. Know where the fire points are and where fire-fighting equipment is stored onsite Don’t use

You may have blinked and missed it but, like it or not, our British summer is nearly at an end. There’s a definite chill in the air and that can mean only one thing... it’s nearly time to winterise, or pack away your tent. Easy, you may think!!!?! It took you 10 minutes to store it in the shed/garage/spare room. Wrong! There’s so much more to storing your tent then simply throwing it into a corner until you’re ready to take to the Great Outdoors again. Each year, thousands of campers are faced with rotting, smelly tents that are only good for the rubbish

Vango team member Mike Wise gives an in-depth explanation regarding the build-up of condensation in your tent, and how to avoid this. Rules: 1. Open all air vents for good air flow through the tent. 2. Don't cook inside the tent. 3. Avoid gas and oil heaters. 4. Don't have wet clothes inside the tent.

You may have blinked and missed it but, like it or not, our British summer is nearly at an end. There’s a definite chill in the air and that can mean only one thing... it’s nearly time to winterise, or pack away your tent. Easy, you may think!!!?! It took you 10 minutes to store it in the shed/garage/spare room. Wrong! There’s so much more to storing your tent then simply throwing it into a corner until you’re ready to take to the Great Outdoors again. Each year, thousands of campers are faced with rotting, smelly tents that are only

All you need to do is run down the list to ensure everything is ticked. Is the location of the site close enough to home or where you will use your caravan ? Do they have any security if so what type of security Is there CCTV in operation on the storage facility and on the perimeter ? How long does the CCTV remain in operation (is it 24 hours)? Will you have an allocated space ? Will you be required to sign a contract (a contract will give you terms of use, a period of storage and rules

The sun may be shining as we write this but we’ve sure had some wet and windy days to contend with in the past couple of months, making camping challenging for even the most experienced campers. Undaunted by the unseasonably low temperatures and high rainfall and, in true intrepid Crowland Caravans style, Helen Turpin and colleagues Lee and Andrea set off on a trip to try out some Outwell camping kit. Helen writes: “We hired a car as there were three of us and plenty of camping equipment – was that all going in a Mini? Not likely! After