If you are planning hiking or cycling while carrying your tent you will have to be prepared to pay for a lightweight and high tech design to enable it to be easily carried.

There are currently eight leading tent designs, however as time goes on the features that distinguish these different types are blurring slightly. Below i will look at todays most popular designs.

Dome Tents

Dome tents are freestanding tents held up by there flexible poles. These tents have recently become the most polular option overtaking the conventional frame tents of yesteryear. Many dome tents have external porches and are particularly popular with hikers, cyclists and family campers. Lightweight versions are available but expect to pay a premium.

Frame Tents

There was a time when frame tents were all you could buy in your local camping store but have recently been replaced by the dome tent which is lighter and easier to pitch. This type of tent has interlocking poles that hold up the canvas structure and are usually triangular in construction, when you think “tent” this will usually be the one that is on your mind.

Geodesic / Semi-Geodesic Tents

This type of tent is particularly favoured by those into mountaineering and expedition camping probably due to there stable dome–type design. These tents will usually have approximately four poles that cross (giving them stability), however three pole designs (semi-geodesic) exist and are regularly used by hikers and backpackers.

Other types of tents available include folding campers (trailer tents), ridge tentss, tunnel tents and vis-a-vis designed tents.

If you are camping and buying a tent to suit more than two people it is strongly advised to increase the capacity of the tent by two, for instance if there are four people camping a six man tent would be perfect.

Over the years I have had many situations where the campfire did not want to light, burnt out or flamed far too high – seeing me go hungry or being forced to eat what was no more than charcoal with a hotdog flavour, therefore I bring you my top tips (learned from my mistakes)

1. Firewood – Never collect enough firewood to keep the fire going, always collect far too much. Fires will burn faster, it will get colder, or you will decide to stay up for longer if you have only collected “enough” firewood.

1. Good tinder bundle – It is important when camping to always be prepared and by that I mean assume there will be no dry suitable tinder to light your fire with. Once you start bringing your own you will find that the forces of nature will leave far more for you in the wilds. The reason for this is all to do with chaos theory. I believe the technical term is sods law.

1. Always be first up in the morning to light the fire, because even if you do absolutely nothing for the rest of the day everyone will remember that the fire is yours which comes with certain benefits; first to eat, first to warm up and the secret satisfied feeling of knowing that you have beaten the elements.

1. Finally, remember that fires are dangerous especially when there are children around and make sure the fire is out when it is time to retire for the evening (luckily this is a mistake I have not made).

It is a good idea to think about what you want out of a camping experience and specifically what the area in which you intend to travel can offer in terms of making that experience come alive. The execution of a perfect camping trip is all in the planning.

Once you have decided on a location or a handful of potential locations it is important to research the area by all means available. Search the internet for local attractions, walks and restaurants (for those days that everyone may need cheering up).

Once a specific location and campsite has been chosen, or just an area if you intend to camp in the wilds focus your concentrations on what you will need to take with you. Probably the biggest spoiler of camping trips is the weather so it is important to think ahead. If you are visiting an area such as Scotland weather will be a huge factor (as will midges).

Draw up a list of everything you need to pack and what activities you plan to do when you are there. Make sure that some of these activities can be done on days of bad weather as this will be important for family moral.

Once you are there enjoy yourself. Make sure everybody else enjoys themselves and if you are with children make sure that they are involved in every stage of the planning and setting up camp.