Bell Tent Report

I have just spent a week in my new bell tent and think it warrants a review! It was all much easier and straightforward than I expected!

I arrived at the camp field to an array of yurts and benders already constructed, along with a few other bell tents, some nylon jobbies and a sprinkling of caravans and awnings. Yurts are such beautiful structures, criss-crossed to the heavens, cosy-warm and carpeted and open to the sky when the top slides off, old rusty burners chugging away and doors like little hobbit holes - wonderful. Benders are lovely too in their random naturalness. The camp looked so extraordinary and exciting, fluttering there in the green, nestling against the hills, smudged with woodsmoke and happy. Tomorrow all this will begin to slowly be taken down… hail to the camp crew, hard workers all.

To the bell tent… a fellow novice belltenter and I had made a date to learn the lessons of erection together, and this was accompanied by much Beltane innuendo and laughter. Setting out the ground sheet is really a two person job - especially when a wind gets up - one to peg out and one to hold it steady. Laying out the canvas and constructing the central pole and A frame was simple enough but involved lots of crawling about under heavy canvas and ‘ooo errr missus’ humour. Getting the pole into position was the most physical bit. Then to the pegging and tightening of the guy ropes - a long job but important to get it right. I made the mistake of not pegging out the base of the canvas close enough to the ground sheet which made it more difficult to tuck the rubber waterproof skirt under the ground sheet for weather proofing. It would have been easier if there had been eyelets to match this up.

The tent withstood two days of heavy rain and was cosy and dry throughout. One night in particular was cold and I was glad of my hot water bottle and extra quilt, and though you can get stoves for the tent, I am told that a quick brew up on a camp stove takes the chill off. It took two mattresses (I had a guest on the first night) and a lot of kit easily, I could set up my camp chair and even had a little altar. One minus point is the inability to hang things - and we Druids like our finery! I had a few friends round for drinks and nibbles one evening and seven of us were in there fine with tea lights lit and carpets to sit on - very civilised!

Sleeping in the bell tent was a delight. I have a little solar sun jar which stores up sunlight by day and glows yellow by night - the whole tent looked warm and welcoming after a nightly call of nature. I felt secure and the wind just billowed the canvas - it was like lying under a washing line full of linen sheets. Twice during the week I tightened the tension on the ropes to keep everything taut. There was some dampness on the inner canvas roof in the mornings which soon aired out with some dry weather. I positioned the head of my bed in the east and opened the windows in the morning to let the morning sun stream in - lying warm in my sleeping bag and basking in the glow.

I visited yet another novice bell tenter who had purchased a heavy duty version with a sewn in groundsheet. I hadn’t opted for this as the extra weight had put me off - but hers did look very neat and no doubt she will feel the extra benefit when the Cailleach is with us at Samhain as there will be no little gaps for the wind to creep into!

I was lucky on the day I had to strike camp - it was warm and breezy and the tent dried out nicely. I didn’t waste time in getting it down after a week of unpredictable weather, and the whole business was a doddle - despite being pestered by a daft and lovable Jack Russell to play fetch at the same time. Having a peg extractor really helped - as did the mallet to get them in. I had my usual frustration over trying to get something which came out of a bag with room to spare back into it again and finding it was like sitting on an overstuffed suitcase - even though I did follow the advice of putting the pole bag in the middle before rolling everything up.

Something in me is sorry to be back in bricks and mortar and I am looking forward to the next outing - complete with guests and picnic - next month in Glastonbury!