So what do you sleep on? Airbeds?

[Enid]

Dont they get absoltutely freezing in the night?

[dustystar]

They do early in the season. We use mats underneath and a duvet on top when we go at Easter. Some people use campbeds but they take up a lot more space in the car. The only thing i'd say about airbeds is get two sinlges or one of the posh doubles where the air on each side is kept seperate otherwise every time one of you rolls over the other is bumped about.

[Enid]

dont they quietly deflate?

[reconsiders whole camping idea)

[dustystar]

They do go down a bit after a few nights and may need a bit of reinflating but not much.

Not stalking you honest- i just have an addiction to camping threads1

[TheGiftedandTalentedGoat]

personally i prefer theramrests cos they are more cosy but dh insists on airbed which is comfortable but freezing. we use big fleecey rugs on top. ours hasn't deflated yet but i always bring thermarests as back up

[Blu]

Our Coleman airbed with two separate bits doesn't deflate. they have good valave things these days. In fact ours was inflated in the spare room for 6 months and hasn't deflated - despite having been jumped on by small people. Cheap. you need a pump - we have one that inflates when you pull the handle up as well as dopwn. Little footpumps take forever.

Thermarests - warmer, no tedious pumping with footpump, but they take up more space in the car. More expensive.

[Pixel]

We've got a rechargeable electric pump which was a very good buy. It deflates the bed as well in about 30 secs so you don't have all that crawling about trying to squash the last bit of air out!

[Enid]

more space in the car is not good as the roofbox is going to be full of the Bear Lake

[Blu]

Enid - don't forget that all this stuff has to be stored once you are home. I remember your thread about fitting a doll's hopuse into your cottage...are you still in the same cottage? SAtoring a massive tent and airbeds and pumps and camping chairs and gas stove etc...where will it all go?

Not that I'm attempting to micro-manage your life, you understand?

probably the shed.

[grannyslippers]

Thermarest for me. I camped with only a Karrimat for many years so to me it's the height of comfort. Mine folds in half before you roll it up so only makes a tiny package.

[Jaynerae]

storage of camping equipment - we store all ours in one of those plasic bunker things in the Garden - we reverse the car up - it comes out of the bunker straight into the car and when we come home - same again - straight out of car back in to bunker. So only clothes and bedding comes back in to the house - makes it so much easier that in and out of the loft which is were we used to store it. - Not such a trial to pack and unpack. And none of it ever gets damp or mouldy - bunker is 100% water tight.

Oh - and we use single airbeds - I put a plastic backed picnic rug under the airbeds and a blanket on top - lovely and cosy. Do have to pump up after about 7 nights though.

[MegBusset]

Thermarests are ace, never had a problem with getting cold on one, and they roll up so don't take up that much space. Well worth the ££ imo.

[Blu]

Mine isn't a Thermarest thermarest - it is Outwell, I think, and the thickest foam, and double. The bag is huge, compared to my blow-up bed!

[mosschops30]

We bought ours from Tesco with one of those pumps you can plug into your cig lighter, they were fab, very comfy and didnt deflate at all during 4 nights

[Lucycat]

Ours never seems to go down - well maybe after a week, the most difficult thing is stopping the dd's from using them as trampolines!

[serin]

Ours don't deflate either but why do we all wake up really damp?

[madm00se]

We have a double airbe (which JUST fits into the tent!) with a blanket on top, then we sleep in sleeping bags.