🕒 4-5 minute read
We didn’t make the show last year as a result of coming down with the dreaded Covid, so it was great to be back at the NEC this year to catch up with some of our favourite brands. Here we bring you some of our highlights from the 2023 camping and caravanning show…
Coleman
We have always been huge fans of Coleman tents and camping gear, and they’ve won countless awards recently proving we’re not the only ones to rate them. The Coleman collapsible camping wagon is super useful and thoroughly recommended and we love their passive cool boxes too.
The Coleman Weathermaster 4XL inflatable is a fantastic, premium family tent, ideal for couples who like a bit of space wanting to make a sound investment. The Coleman Castle Pines 4L Blackout Tent is a big and easy to pitch family tent that’s great value for money we also really liked the Journeymaster Deluxe Air M BlackOut Drive Away Awning. and the Monstera Single XL Sleeping Bag.
Vango
The Vango Avington Flow is a great airbeam tent that’s great for summer family camping trips, and the Vango Joro Air 450 which is a spacious airbeam tent made using Sentinel Eco Dura Fabric. We love the Vango Keswick II 600DLX Air Tent, the Vango Studio extensions available in two different sizes, the great value Vango Carron tent, a traditional pole tent at under £200.
On the camping furniture and accessories front, we’re most excited about Vangos continued strong commitment to using recycled materials and we loved their new kingsize Shangri La Luxe sleeping bag, the double Vango Combi IR Grill and some of their fab SIMs including our favourite 15cm Shangri La (with a massive 20cm dropping soon!).
Olpro
Olpro tents are excellent quality and this year we’re loving the Pop Up Extra Large Toile tent which is super useful for family campers. Tents and awnings wise, we particularly like the Discovery 6 Berth Inflatable Tent, the Hive 6 Berth Poled Tent, and the Cocoon Breeze Inflatable Campervan Awning and Loopo Breeze inflatable awning.
Bellisima Bell Tents
We’ve talked about Bellisima Camping tents before, because if there’s a brand with an aesthetic that matches our own, it’s definitely Bellisima! They have a small range of gorgeous 5m bell tents with some great features like taller than normal entrances, higher sides and colour matched guy ropes. With such beautiful vibrant patterns, what’s not to love?
Outwell
Stars of the high-quality family camping scene, some of our favourite picks from Outwell include the award-winning (and huge!) Queensdale 8PA tent, which is ideal for serious family campers along with the Jacksondale 7PA tent. Whilst for campervan owners, we like the robust new Outwell Shalecrest awning.
We also liked the Outwell Kentucky Lake Chair, the super comfortable Outwell Fremont Lake Camping Chair and the even more comfortable Outwell Fontana lake lounger chair (below left)
Regatta
There’s always great value to be had with Regatta and their always popular festival tent, the Malawi popup tent is back in some bright funky colours. We also really liked their affordable inflatable tents, including the Kolima 3 inflatable tent (bottom right) the bigger new Kolima V3 6 person tent (bottom left) which will suit small families on a budget.
Zempire
We like the Zempire aesthetic and loved the look of the Zempire Aero Pro TXL TC V2 Tent a tent that’s big, making it ideal for larger families, that’s also quick to put up thanks to its single inflation point.
Other notables from Zempire included their new Kozy Nightz heated sleep system and their Roco Low Rider V2 Camping Chair, with its stylish wooden frame and as always, we love their super comfy Monsta Matt SIM.
Snow Peak
Everything that Snow Peak makes is a functional and aesthetic masterpiece as far as we’re concerned and we particularly loved their commitment to drinking good coffee even when camping or traveling. We loved their folding v60 coffee dripper, packable cutting board and their range of portable folding campfire and cooking systems, including the Pack and Carry Starter Kit.
In terms of furniture, we really like the styling of their folding luxury low chair, and the Snow Peak Dome tent.
Bo Camp
We talk about Bo Camp every year, but they remain relatively hard to find in camping shops. This year we loved their dark wood and black metal industrial-style folding camp furniture including the Melrose folding camp table and cook sets, and as always their folding butterfly-style camp chairs (check out the Bloomsbury relax chair) are a thing of beauty!
We also liked their Bo-Camp Urban Outdoor Table lamp with Shade.
