Camplight - Pre-pitched 2nd Hand Tents

[Gnomicide]

From the ticket payment confirmation mail:

Camplight has been set up as a solution to the problem of people leaving their tents at events. They do this by offering pre pitched recycled tents at an affordable hire price. What is more, all their tents have been salvaged from other festivals, having been abandoned at those. So instead of going to landfill they are popping up at the festival the following year. It is a great option if you don't want to buy a new tent or if you just want someone to pitch a tent for you. Camplight would like to offer Green Travellers the first opportunity to book a tent. Tents will go on sale at 10am on Sat 5th April. Tents will be available from http://www.camplight.co.uk

Wonder where they'll be set up?

[Gnomicide]

Bit more info from their website:

CampLight takes the stress out of camping at festivals by offering pre-pitched tents for hire. When you arrive the tent is pitched and ready, in a great location with a comfy air mattress and warm sleeping bag if you choose.

All our tents are picked from those abandoned at UK festivals. So by hiring a tent you are helping clear up events and supporting a solution to Campsite waste.

Travel green, reuse a tent, save money, lighten your load.

[Gnomicide]

Stand by Operation Fume, Stand by Operation Fume!

The Camplight Campsite is in the heart of the Festival Site on Pennard Hill Campground near the Stone Circle!

[psychology]

Stand by Operation Fume, Stand by Operation Fume!

That's going to upset a lot of people!

Edit: I mean the positioning of it

Edited April 1, 2014 by psychology

[Brave Sir Robin]

They were there last year.

[Gnomicide]

They were there last year.

I didn't know that. How much space did they take up? What sort of numbers?

[Boris]

Controversial location.. I guess I didn't realise, but god knows Pennards filled up fast so that presumably was part of the reason.

[Gnomicide]

I can see the attraction, particularly if you were travelling from afar. Tent up, can add mattress and sleeping bag, reserved space in popular spot and less stuff to carry. More attractive option to me than Worthy View but I'll stick with saving my money and humping my own gear.

[ProperTea]

Michael has said he sees the festival being entirely pre-erected camping in future years, so I expect to see more of this.

[dan05delaney]

that actually looks really tempting... I like the "book a guest spot" bit where you can book a space for your mates to turn up and camp next to you

[bsolxiv]

I didn't know that. How much space did they take up? What sort of numbers?

DIdn't look massive from what I saw, fairly ramshackle affair. Seem to remember it was at the west side of the biggest (south east) quadrant of pennards - near the stewards base. Could be totally wrong though!

[pie_and_a_pint]

It was at the bottom of Pennards last year (you know, that bit, the bit that floods... )

Didn't seem to be taking up too much space, but then I guess the size of the site depends on the number of bookings they have. I had a look at it and it is quite expensive, especially as they've essentially got the tents for free, and you have no say on the size or quality of the tent you get - I was alarmed to see that some smaller tents are single skin, which is really unacceptable.

However, anything that reduces the risk of people leaving camping equipment behind is a good thing - makes it much easier for people travelling from overseas too.

[LondonTom]

The tent for one isn't a bad price if you was coming on plane etc even by coach.....I'd be tempted if they had more info about exactly what tent you was getting etc.

I like the idea but reserving spots in nice areas meh!.....What would be cool as a cheap option is to hire the tent but pitch it yourself somewhere on site? That way it could be fairly cheap for a decent tent, that if you was going by public transport, you could just take back to the stall on your way out?

[bsolxiv]

Yeah, it's not quite right - yet.

Pros:

Inside the fence

No setting up / tent carrying

Reusing discarded tents

Relatively cheap

Cons:

Don't know quality of tent

No showers at glasto

?Security - couldn't see any extra last year.

If GF are so committed to "leave no trace" why don't they run something like this themselves? They could use the tents in Worthy View (which was run by tangerine fields staff anyway), or better still take over one of the camping fields inside the fence - they don't seem to mind camplight taking over a bit of the most popular field.

I would also worry about the message it sends out to people: "don't worry about leaving your tent, camplight will reuse it".

[frostypaw]

Cons:

Don't know quality of tent

No showers at glasto

?Security - couldn't see any extra last year.

Tents were as good as any you would bring. I had a good wander through last year and they're all respectable types.

It IS right up at the top of Pennards right by the big tree near the Tipi-posh-village - they had built a entrance gate structure out of tentpoles in a spray.... was pretty and quite memorable.

Showers in greenpeace field about 15 mins walk away.

Of course there's little more in the way of security It's just normal tents, for normal people who don't demand to be protected from the plebs so they can leave their iPad charging out in the sun with a top-of-the-range charger. The offer is purely for a tent, not a pampered glastonbury for the commoner-intolerant. Relying on security is barmy to start with as the tipi people regularly find out. Use the lockups so you don't need to worry wherever you camp

Massive plus that you're in normal people camping,

[pie_and_a_pint]

Tents were as good as any you would bring. I had a good wander through last year and they're all respectable types.

I wouldn't bring a single-skin tent (or indeed a double-skin with less than 3000HH) to my back garden in drizzle let alone a five-day festival. I'm sure the majority of the reclaimed tents are decent, but I still think buyers should beware:

From the Camplight site:

Tents for One: These tents are cosy with a single airbed but they won’t fit doubles. Your chances for a porch are about 50% and some even have inner tents.

Tent for Two: Perfect for the duo these are standard single and double ply dome tents.

[scaryclaireyfairy]

i was interested in these this year, however i emailed them months back asking about what types of tents they have (mine isn't all that but i'm not paying to downgrade) and didn't even get an ackowledgement email, far less a reply.

and for that reason, i'm out.

Edited April 1, 2014 by scaryclaireyfairy

[balti-pie]

It's a bit tricky if you're a tall bugger - I'm 6ft 2" and when me and herself went tent shopping a couple of years back, I only fitted into maybe half of the 2-man tents without touching one or even both ends. Which sucks if it's raining, cos water will happily come through if inner and outer are touching.

As for the pop-ups - I'd need to remove my legs

[ICGenie]

Did anyone actually use this last year?

[bsolxiv]

Tents were as good as any you would bring. I had a good wander through last year and they're all respectable types.

It IS right up at the top of Pennards right by the big tree near the Tipi-posh-village - they had built a entrance gate structure out of tentpoles in a spray.... was pretty and quite memorable.

Showers in greenpeace field about 15 mins walk away.

Of course there's little more in the way of security It's just normal tents, for normal people who don't demand to be protected from the plebs so they can leave their iPad charging out in the sun with a top-of-the-range charger. The offer is purely for a tent, not a pampered glastonbury for the commoner-intolerant. Relying on security is barmy to start with as the tipi people regularly find out. Use the lockups so you don't need to worry wherever you camp

Massive plus that you're in normal people camping,

Totally agree, being inside the fence is a massive plus (I did mention that in the unquoted pros part).

I was thinking of the comparison between camplight and other tent rental available. WV and TF have bumped up security and their own showers (Camplight also advertise showers on their website, but not at glasto). Like you say - it is literally renting a tent for the weekend, for which it's probably on the money. And if an independent company can do it, why can't GF do it themselves?

[russycarps]

I ranted about this last year, but a couple of friends of a friend who are travelling by coach have booked to stay here. 2 x 1 man tents for £40 each. They dont own a tent of their own so this is cheaper than buying a new one.

I guess this is a green initiative so should be applauded, and the site was pristine at the end of the festival last year.

I do think it's priced too high, though I wonder how much the dude in charge actually makes from it, probably not much.

It's in a prime location isnt it? I'm not sure it's a good thing that if you are rich you can secure a prime camping slot, but then if it wasnt a good location, then noone would use it.

[frostypaw]

I'm not sure the rich thing counts in this case. £40 is probably what people spend on a tent they'd abandon anyway

certainly a LOT cheaper than many i saw abandoned last year. considered the labour requirements of set up, pack down, clean, reproof etc it could easily be quite reasonable

but aye, i'd rather they were further down the field, ideally down the permaculture corner so they got more traffic past them and hence more publicity

[Gnomicide]

I'm not sure the rich thing counts in this case. £40 is probably what people spend on a tent they'd abandon anyway

These people clearly have more money than I do then, I wouldn't dream of abandoning a tent I'd spent £40 on.

[russycarps]

I'm not sure the rich thing counts in this case. £40 is probably what people spend on a tent they'd abandon anyway

certainly a LOT cheaper than many i saw abandoned last year. considered the labour requirements of set up, pack down, clean, reproof etc it could easily be quite reasonable

but aye, i'd rather they were further down the field, ideally down the permaculture corner so they got more traffic past them and hence more publicity

I agree with you. Try as I might, I cant see the negative in this. It's a good initiative isnt it?

But then if the whole of the festival was set up like this (as is ME's dream supposedly), with each field managed in this way, then it would mean an extra £40 on everyones ticket, but a guarantee of no mess at the end.

Is that a price worth paying for mess-free campsites? It would mean potentially pricing out people who might leave a meticulously clean area.

[Yesiamaduck]

I'm so tempted... SO TEMPTED!