Camping is something of a recent discovery, or perhaps I should say re-discovery. It’s a pastime I indulged in during my teens as part of youth group activities, but certainly wasn’t something I’d considered as a holiday option in my adult years! This all changed last year, when I was invited to join some friends and their kids for a long weekend. The result was me, with a 20-yr old rucksack and a quickly acquired tiny pop-up tent, fondly referred to by all as ‘The Coffin’. It was fun, but it wasn’t comfortable!
When I was invited to join them again this year, for a longer break, one thing was certain – I needed a bigger tent!

Vango came to my rescue with the Zetes 300 (along with a Sherpa 60+10 Rucksack), which is a superbly sized 3-man tunnel tent, with a decent porch area.

For size, or at least for comfort, (and as I’ve learnt in the past year), unless you are living out of your car and just sleeping in the tent you always need to go at least one person bigger than the number of people who’ll be using it. So, although I was going alone, I decided to simulate the space of the 2nd person by using a double air mattress. Once my rucksack and other bits & bobs were alongside the bed, it was still a touch on the cosy side, but it wasn’t cramped. I would say that if you didn’t know your tent mate fairly intimately at the start of the trip, you probably would by the end!

Pitching the tent was extremely straightforward, flysheet first followed by inner for the first time, but thereafter it can be taken down and put back up again as one. It took about 20 minutes, which is a little longer than the 5 minutes Vango suggest. I’m a bit of a tent pitching novice and I wasn’t exactly rushing, so perhaps I could have done it in 10 if I’d tried.

Once it was up, it stayed up! Through a good variety of weather too, amazing what a UK Bank Holiday weekend can throw at you! It withstood some fairly high winds; although nothing to match up to the gales we encountered the previous year, and plenty of rain, with no hint of a leak. The ground sheet is fully sown in to the inner and it extends outside of the inner door to give cover to the porch area. As it isn’t fixed in the porch there was a bit of water pooling at the edges, but sensible use of this area ensured nothing important got damp. Additionally the zip closures on the front door have an extra flap that seals with Velcro and this definitely helped prevent water seeping in through the seams.

The porch area was good for storing things like the cool box, but it wasn’t really big enough to cook safely in, which did mean dashing out between spring showers to make meals or boil the kettle. Possibly, if I’d had a set of poles to prop up the door that might have made it more feasible to put the stove in the doorway.

Vango have included fluorescent guy ropes on the tent which should, in theory, mean people can see your tent lines in the dark. Unfortunately, possibly due to a combination of inattentive campers and it being a 3-man swapped by a sea of 5-8 mans, these didn’t seem to prevent anyone tripping over me at all! After 2 nights of near misses I ended up attaching the kids glow sticks to each rope for added brightness.

Overall the Vango Zetes 300 provided me with an excellent experience, I was warm, dry and confident in its ability to weather whatever the British spring could throw at me. Size wise it was ok for one, would have been cosy for two and in fairness I wouldn’t want to try it with three. I’d certainly score it a comfortable 8/10, and the Vango brand is definitely one I’ll look into further.

As for next year – I’m already signed up, but you guessed it, I need a bigger tent!

RRP:£60 - But available online for less from Amazon, www.outdoorgear.co.uk and many other retailers.

See www.vango.co.uk/tents for more information.