Petits Haricots

we had a great weekend chez haricot. friends started arriving from friday. friday was spent busily making our house look habitable [i think we made a creditable effort!] some more baking [the delia chocolate bread pudding was a real treat – i microwaved choc, butter and sugar as have an aversion to bain maries, added the cream to the eggs and then the warmed stuff]

we painted the pirate ship and on the sat chris put it together – we were most proud!

jax and the nic and families arrived on friday and the fun started. we did jobs and drank wine and talked until way too late on the fri! but always nice.

so sat dawned and it was sunny – hooray. we were excited at everyone who attended. we all had a great time, which i think is best shown in pictures. i made the sangria slightly too potent, so had to lemonade it, having had to sit down for a bit after one glass. The kids enjoyed bashing 7 bells against each other using the lagging, clambering all over the pirate ship and general aarghhhing about.

michelle brought a pirate ducky game that they all enjoyed, and the waterpool was then v enjoyed by BB and minx, and the later on by all the bigger girls – they got rather wet!

more drinking and chatting by adults, and total wildness by children, but eventually all kids fell asleep, adults chatted on sofas and went to bed too late.

so today was a rather laid back affair, i was last up, gradually goodbyes and settling down. seems a shame to go back to work tomorrow!

i am thinking of listing our khyam frontier with a reserve of 150 and a BIN of 180 in ebay. if anyone was considering buying one similar, or knows someone and would like to see photos or consider it before i do flog it, please let me know!

This is a great Special Edition tent from Khyam in their ridgi dome range, with their quick erect rapidex pole system. utterly reliable, and we have had it leakproof through dreadful storms. in the original khyam adverts they said they were tested in a wind tunnel, so good for all weather. They have the original 4oz spec material [5000mm hydrostatic head!] rather than the newer 2oz spec. I would agree with their weather worthiness, having camped safely through gales in the UK. They are a high quality good name and this is one of their high end spec tents. The main frame poles are aluminium, the porch poles are powder coated steel and the top poles are fiberglass. They use the rapidex system for quick erection of the main square. [just like the current editions]

its a lovely spacious tent, exceptionally spacious central living area, at max 5.1 x 2.9m. It has a front porch – pictured, which opens up and has 2 extra poles to become an integral sun canopy. The weatherweave outer material also rolls up, and there is a mesh door underneath, which increases ventilation, but protects from flies [and midges in scotland]. It has a back porch as well with a J door, so their can be a good through draft for ventilation when needed. there is a window beside the J door. It is tall, you can stand easily in both the main living area and the inners. The middle is just over 2m high, with very little tail off to the edges.

It has 2 very spacious sleeping areas in addition to the central living area. These are polycotton inners with integral ground sheets. One of them is a 4 berth [which can easily sleep 5], which has a divider that can come down. the other is a 2 berth [though we have slept 4 in it easily! - see inner picture for its 2 person/playroom use]. I need to measure these accurately, but as a rough estimate needing cconfiramtion, i think they have a longest length of 280, and the 2 birth is 175-200 and the 4 birth 200-225 [why i need to measure!] giving the tent a rough groundprint of 7x7m. when i bought the 2 birth sleeping inner, it stated it was for the excelsior range [which is the frontier] rather than classic [which are the lower height tents] but i found it to be tight to the loops at the top. this was resolved with the use of hair bobbles to add more stretch, and has always been used that way without problem [hair bobbles included!]. i can find a photo if required. The inners have internal pockets and integral groundsheets, and the doors have a double system of both material and secondary mosquito net doors, so in hot weather they can keep cool. The inners are poly cotton that khyam semi-proof to prevent dampness from condensation penetrating. they both easily sleep 4.

it has the correct khyam fitted groundsheet. This is of woven polyethylene with taped seams. the tent was bought in 2003 and has been used approx 2ce per year until 2007 inclusive. the tent packs down into one bag with dimensions 135 x 45 x 45.

http://www.khyam.co.uk/technical.asp

we have patched 2 tiny holes on the flysheet with the patch set – caused by embers from another’s fire [always irritating] but is obviously completely watertight. There is plenty of the patch kit and khyam seam sealant.

We are selling because it is too big for us – our family size did not reach expectation. In 2008 we easily fitted a family of 4 in each side. [this is the pictured holiday].

We will miss this tent, but it is an excellent, sturdy, easy to pitch and seemingly impossible to blow down option for comfortable family camping. It is in a ready to go camping condition.

Do you think this would be a bit wordy?

edited to add in 2010
some photos here ( as some of them not v flattering, only flickr friends can see! if you seriously want to buy the tent, drop a comment below! still been to lazy to put on ebay!!): side view, back view, front view, inside, another inside view, in the allegedly 2 bedded room – we have fitted 4 in there easily! half of the fourbedded - two double airbeds without a prob plus suitcase space, my fav tent pic!!

specs from elsewhere:
Fly Sheet: 4oz polyester 185T Hydrostatic head: 5000 mm,
Inner tent: poly cotton Inner tent ground sheet:

1. Reinforced double shock corded pegging points.
2. Reinforced webbing pegging points.
3. Unique removable Rapidex® locking joints on the main pole system aids simple and quick erection.
4. Aluminium main poles provide flexibility, stability and are very light weight.
5. Breathable poly-cotton inner tent fabric with robust stitched in polyethylene groundsheet. 1×4 berth with roll down dividing wall and twin doors and 1×2 berth with single large door.
6. Gusseted ventilation ports control temperature and help to reduce condensation.
7. Fully taped fly sheet seams.
8. Fully taped triangular inner tent suspension loops for greater strength.
9. Solid fibreglass top poles for strength and flexibility.
10. Flame retardent 4oz polyester Weatherweave™5000 fly sheet fabric achieving over 3000 mm hydrostatic head.
11. All Ridgi-dome main poles operate around a central hub and therefore lock permanently into position during use providing greater stability.
12. Fly Sheet: 4oz polyester 185T Hydrostatic head: 5000 mm,Inner tent: poly cotton Inner tent ground sheet:
13. Limiters supplied on each of the four main tri-guys support the tent when necessary, also preventing over tensioning of the guy ropes during erection.
14. Quick Clip Pole (QCP) System – Easy to attach clips allow the pole to be secured faster than by traditional sleeve systems. Reduces weight and pack size but not strength or resilience.

and finally a link on how to put up and take down similar tent [smaller] on you tube

STILL got the brownies timing wrong. overdone this time. sighs and goes to bed.

the girls having bath as the lickings were black, and spread everywhere!! lots of baking to do this eve, as don’t need so much energy to bake as i do to tidy.

i think it takes about 15 mins for me to be threatening to throw all toys away and move out. it is an area i have no tolerance for. i hate tidying, especially miscellaneous trash treasures.

luckilly, applying music has a miraculous effect in this house , listening to a french song cd!!

edited to add – btw, this will hopefully get house to a level that i won’t die when guests come out of embarrassment, rather than actually tidy, and heaven hope for neat!

bb fell asleep on the way back from gym, so we had a peaceful evening with SB, and then BB woke up with SB asleep [and still awake actually] and she has been generally playing with her mosp [a possible wasp or moth she made] and just generally being the kind of BB that you just find yourself saying, oh i love you bb. this is very lovely, since at the beginning of the year this was mostly said through gritted teeth. i’m not saying she is any more biddable… just that she can be more easily approached on the whole lets work together. [though it was SB chanting the best kind of work is teamwork!] and possibly because we have learnt how to work with bb. we are still working on the whole how to balance 2, as that is a crux problem at times, SB getting dramatically upset if the slice doesn’t fall her way. Whether its something to do with the whole unhappy unsettled thing? but i try and build as much individual time with SB as i can, doing something hers and fun. mind you, i don’t want tag children on the whole, i want to work to us 50% at least loving and enjoying the same thing. i guess we are getting there!