“A new tent, don't you have enough tents already?” and our answer is “yes… but no”. Just like any outdoor gear, we have optimized our tents for particular activities, and for the past 16-ish years the lightweight (almost) all-season tent that we have used has been Rob’s pride and joy, a Terra Nova Super Solar 2.2. This lightweight tent deserves its own article sometime, as that thing has been up and used on mountain, hill, and dale and performed flawlessly at every turn. However it has finally started to degrade, and the inner is going crunchy (not a sound you ever want to hear from your tent!). So for the last couple of years we have been on the look-out for a replacement, but not found anything that tickles our bits. Cue the Hathersage Tent Show. This was an opportunity for us to look and compare a lot of tents from well-known brands, so we headed up to the Peak District for a good look around. We obviously found what we were looking for, given the title of this article, but if you’re curious as to what that entailed and whether it’s worth heading to the Hathersage Tent Show yourself (they have been running one each year for a little while now), read on!

Hang on a moment, don’t you have a Nemo Dragonfly that you used on your NFCT adventure?

Yes we do, however, it took a beating on the NFCT and although we found it great in hot sheltered conditions, it was not happy when the wind picked up, awful in the rain (water dips in the inner when you open the door), draughty, and is inner pitching first which is not ideal in the UK. Over the years we have found that in the UK we often end up camping in exposed locations, so the Nemo Dragonfly just does not make sense for us a lot of the time. Which led us back to looking for a replacement for the Terra Nova Super Solar.

What are our requirements for this tent then?

The the tent must (non-negotiable):

Comfortably fit both of us laying down.
Comfortably fit both of sitting up.
Be able to fit 1 x 120L pack and 1 x 45L pack inside the tent but outside of the sleeping compartment.
Be fully waterproof.
While it is raining, be able to open the door and not get water in the sleeping compartment.
Have a full inner to keep the bugs out.

The tent should (we hope to have it fill most of these requirements, but could be swayed):

Have a pack weight less than 1.2kg
Be able to be split into 2 equal pack weights
Be free standing
Be outer pitching first
Be in green, or another colour that will not stand out in the UK

The tent may (nice to have but not deal breakers if not there):

Have internal pockets in the inner
Have hi-visibility guy-lines

So how do you find a good lightweight 3(ish)-season tent for the UK?

Now that is a tricky question. Most of the highstreet camping shops sell lightweight tents that are aimed at DofE rather than your outdoor enthusiast. These tents tend to be lighter than a family tent and teenager resistant, but still rather bulky, and only meant to last a couple of seasons. Rob once had an interesting conversation with an ex-rep from a well known tent manufacturer who aims at this market. At the time they did not expect their tents to be used for more than 3 months of continuous use. This is not what we are after. So we usually end up looking at the smaller independent shops that sell tents specifically aimed at those who are going to use them for years to come.

When we heard about a tent show in Hathersage which was specialising in lightweight tents we thought “well we might as well give it a go and see what they have got”. Hathersage is in the Peak District and so there are many beautiful walks in the surrounding area. We do enjoy a picnic with a view, so we packed up a tasty lunch, our walking kit, and set off to see if we could find an elusive replacement.

Is it worth going to a tent show?

Yes and No, it depends on whose tent show it is. You may get a bit more discount than usual, but it is worth giving the sort of tent you are looking for a quick Google beforehand to let you know if the show prices are a good deal or not. The best part of a tent show is that you get to see the tents up and wander around them. It is one thing seeing pictures and looking at dimensions, but it is another getting in the tent and seeing if you fit.

It is great to wander around the tents and even get in and out of them to see what it would be like to use them. You just cannot get the same feeling from looking at a webpage.

What was the Hathersage Tent Show like?

In 2024 the Hathersage Tent Show was wet. Very wet. Which is a good thing. It rains a lot in the UK, and any tent we are going to own is likely to spend much of its time soaking wet; or at least a little damp. So we saw this as a golden opportunity to have a look and see how the tents perform in the rain, and it definitely would help answer the question of “can you get in and out without getting your sleeping bag wet?”. This tent show was pretty good. There were tents from both Alpkit, which have a cracking motto “go nice places do good things”, and Outside,a family run business that has been going for over 30 years! These are two shops that know their kit and they fielded an impressive array of tents. The show itself is a rather relaxed affair. You could park for free and wander around a field of tents. It feels somewhat strange wandering around what looks to be a campsite and peering in all the tents, but a great opportunity nonetheless. There were various chilled-out outdoorsy staff around who would strike up a conversation with you about what you were after and see if they could offer any assistance, but were at no point pushy. We physically got in a few tents, including those from Sea to Summit, MSR, Terra Nova, Nordisk, and Alpkit. Many of these tents would probably do for us, however one just had something a bit special about it. The Terra Nova Southern Cross 2 piqued our interest and we did end up getting it at the show.

Is a tent show the best place to purchase a tent?

Maybe, it depends on the organisation running the event and your comfort level, but we were quite happy to purchase ours at the Hathersage Tent Show. Some try to suck you in with “Show deals”, which may well be a good price, or may not. As always with purchasing anything of significant value, we would always recommend getting an idea of not just how much that specific item is retailing for generally, as well as what the equivalents are going for. Some less scrupulous retailers will artificially inflate their own brand prices to later in the season sell them for significant discounts. However, if you look at comparable features with other manufacturers, you may find that they are still not worth the discounted price. Tents can go up and down in price over a season and this is normal. Often tents are cheaper in the tail end of the camping session, so August/September time can sometimes be a better deal than a tent show in May as retailers try to get rid of their summer stock before getting next years models in. This tends to be most noticeable for “Family” tents rather than lightweight “hike” tents. The Hathersage Tent Show seemed to be pretty good to us in terms of both deals and selection, so if you are in the market for a new hike/expedition tent then check out both the Alpkit and Outside websites and you’ll get a flavour of what is available at the Tent Show weekends.

To make a weekend of it

Having driven all the way to the Peak District, we decided to make the most of it and went for a walk, as by the time we had wandered around the tent show perusing all the tents in the morning the weather was looking up. Now it had been wet and raining for what seemed like months by this point in the year, and we swear that everyone within a short drive or ride away had realised that it was going to be a nice afternoon to be in the Peak District enjoying the outdoors. It was a bit of an eye-opener for us, as normally if we are going for a walk then we start off pretty early, but starting later looking for a car park (after going to the tent show it was about midday) was an undertaking in its own right! On the 4th attempt we found one that had spaces. Little tip: it is well worth using your OS maps, as well as Google Maps to find car parking. Once we had found a carpark in the vicinity of Ladybower Reservoir with spaces we went for a pleasant 10km-ish walk and along the way found a nice spot out of the wind for a picnic.

Having a picnic with a good view has to be one of our most enjoyable activities.

We actually used the walk to discuss a few of the tents, and by the time we’d got back to the car, we’d made our choice of the Southern Cross 2. Returning to Hathersage we collected our purchase and headed home. When we got home though, the hankering to get out and try our new tent was too much, so we used HipCamp to find a campsite that had availability that night to go and try it out. We also got to go somewhere we had never been before. We’d definitely recommend HipCamp, it is a fantastic service that you can find a wide range of campsites on, and is particularly good if you end up looking a little bit last minute as we do (and get £10 off your first stay if you click here). Within the hour we were packed up and ready to go. A quick detour to pick up a few ingredients for dinner (BBQ Pork Wraps, if you’re curious), and within another hour we were at a campsite excited to put up our new tent! (with our Nemo Dragonfly packed as a backup, just in case)

The Terra Nova Southern Cross 2 goes up quickly and easily. A nice touch is that the peg bag and pole bag are one and the same.

Initial thoughts

A few initial thoughts on the Southern Cross 2:

We found it relatively simple to put up and we think we will get quite quick with it.
The footprint is sold separately, but it covers the vestibules as well as going under the inner, which is nice for shoe removal.
It is a warm tent, but handles condensation well as it runs down the outer rather than dripping on the inner.
There is more than enough room for the two of us in the inner.
The loops for holding the rolled up inner door need a couple of stitches in to make them smaller so they work better.
We need to think about wind direction in the summer to maximise the effectiveness of the ventilation
The tent bag is generous enough if you have to just shove it all in at some point.
You can pitch it with the inner in the outer, which will be helpful if it is raining while you are putting it up.
The generous vestibules will be able to hold all the stuff we don't want in the inner when we are doing activities that require a lightweight tent.

Finding a new tent can be arduous, but the Hathersage Tent Show was fantastic for us in this instance, allowing us to see such a wide selection quickly, compare between them, and ask all the questions we had prior to purchase without any pressure. If you are looking for an expedition tent, then it could be a good show to visit, even to just get a feel for the tents available. Being in Hathersage, the show is well-placed if you want to make a day (or even a weekend) of it and get out in the hills too.

New Tent Weekend!