What’s a “Campfire Tent” when it’s at home – well the video below IS at home – my “Backyard Test” of a new tent very suitable for Landrover Camping. Similar in layout to the popular “Oztent” that has gained a lot of attention recently in the Landrover community, the “Campfire Tent” is a concept that dates back to 18th Century Canadian explorations featured in Ray Mears”Northern Wilderness” series currently running on the BBC (and BBC iPLayer of course) where fur traders needed a simple canvas tent suitable for shelter and importantly cooking and living in on long exploration journeys, many months away from any civilization, as they traded with the Native American tribes in beaver pelts in return for modern tools such as metal axe heads and cooking pots.
The “Baker Tent” as it was known then was later made popular in the Canadian ‘open’ canoeing community (i.e. not kayaks!) through the inspirational works of explorer, filmmaker and writer Bill Mason (the “Grandfather of modern canoe-camping”) – see image below or get the fantastic book “Song Of The Paddle – an illustrated guide to Wilderness Camping”.
The tent I am trying out here is from an environmentally aware outdoor products company Green Outdoor who feature natural hemp-cotton canvas tarps, tipis and tents as well as some really innovative materials using recycled PTFE & polysester. It’s based squarely on the traditional Baker Tent though in design. Why this design? Well the advantages of a Campfire Tent are having a flexible living space that’s importantly “open to yoru surroundings” – Why go into the great outdoors only to lock yourself away inside a closed tent? In addition the open front means cooking in bad weather under the awning is manageable, and in cold weather the ability to have a campfire that reflects heat into the tent itself is a big advantage – Ray Mears in his Swedish Artic series shows how a long fire set lengthways in front of this kind of shelter can burn all night providing reflected heat in minus 30-degree temperatures.
Bill Mason’s Campfire Tent from “Song Of The Paddle”:
But the main benefit is in this openness to your surroundings – if you’re out there you don’t want to miss a deer wandering past your camp, or the chance to make a wish for a lottery win on a shooting star burning up in the atmosphere above you. Or an owl that flies low across your camp in the early evening. Using open tents these are all things I’ve experienced on my travels.
I’ll be testing this tent specifically as a Landrover camping product over the winter and will report back as I go – so far it’s a beautifully made, well finished, tough and durable tent with just the characteristics a campfire tent needs. Stay Tuned!
For more detailed specs and info on the tent see the Green Outdoor website
