We have camped quite a lot as a family over the years, at festivals and also at campsites with friends and extended family. Over the past 3 years we have cheated a little at festivals and glamped with the various boutique camping companies instead, mostly due to me being pregnant or having a newborn BUT we haven’t really noticed a big difference in our comfort levels than when we had our own normal tent. Now that our family is bigger and we fully intend to camp a lot more we knew we needed a larger and hardier tent so this Olpro review offer came at just the right time.

The Martley 2.0 is considered a technical family tent – I am not a camping whizz so I will share a little bit of info from the manufacturer before telling you what we thought:

The important details:

190T polyester OLTech fabric
Easy to erect Tunnel Design
20-30 Minutes Pitching Time
5000mm Hydrostatic Head
10000mm HH Polyethlyene Groundsheet
Fully waterproof with taped seams
Fire Retardant Fabrics
Sewn in groundsheet
Pitch as one, take down as one
5 Fibreglass Poles
Ring and Pin system
Cable entry point on both sides
Black, grey and red design
Colour coded poles
Fly screens and ventilation
Drop down porch floor
Anti-trip toggle on both doors
Complete with canopy poles
Built in organisers – one on either side
Lantern hook
Draught skirt protection
Two Large Windows with Roll Down Curtains
Roll down curtains & full windows
Longer centre pole for extra height
Two Large Fully Breathable Inner Tents
10000mm HH Inner Tent bases

Firstly and rather importantly – the pitching time:

We fully expected this to take the 20+ minutes of time quoted and possibly more due to it being the first time we had used it so we were pleasantly surprised to get the tent up within 15- 18 mins maximum – this was also with two small children who delighted in trying to run into the tent before it was fully set up. The instructions were clear and it was really simple to follow using the colour coded poles. Once it was up, we were really impressed with the look and feel of the tent and even more impressed that it had managed to fit into one not too humongous bag. The separate bedrooms were easy to hook up and once the mosquito/fly screens were zipped up for the day I was satisfied that there wouldn’t be any creepy crawlies sneaking in for a visit. We left the main living area of the tent open for the most part to cool it down and for ease of access for the kids. The living area has loads of storage space with organisers hung up on either side which I found so helpful with keeping all the childrens bits and bobs such as suncream, wipes and snacks close at hand.

There is a lantern hook in the top centre of the tent from which we hung a solar powered light during the evenings until the girls had settled to sleep. If you camp you will know that it can get surprisingly cold in the evenings and whilst we still had to layer up we found it was a lot warmer than in previous tents we have used. The bedrooms are spacious with each one having room for a double airbed and a little storage space for bags or two single beds and a hoard of soft toys and blankets. The quality of the fabric is strong and I am confident in its ability to keep out the rain – although thankfully we are yet to test that aspect! There are doors on either side as well as windows on opposite sides and inside the bedrooms, all with curtains which can be rolled down to keep it a little darker in the mornings. We camped with a group of my family members who were all impressed with the tent and also surprised by the size and that it fit into our teeny car boot along with all the other luggage you have to take when camping with small ones. There is a canopy with poles which can be put up to create a porch area. We didn’t feel the need to use this as the weather was so glorious but would perhaps be useful for sitting under with a cuppa on a drizzly day.

Another note on the living area is that it comfortably sat 6 children of varying ages during the evening with oodles of extra space. They sat in there each night from about 9pm to keep warm, watch a film on my kindle and chatter while we drank wine outside and got eaten alive by the midges.

Choc chip brioche is an entirely acceptable camping breakfast:

I have noticed that in the photos it looks like there is a tear or line down the middle of the front window – this isn’t the case, just a fold from where it was packed.

I asked Andrew what he was impressed with to get a male angle on it:

The height – he’s 6ft 2 so it was essential that there was room for him to stand up and move about easily.

The way the poles threaded into the tent – I hadn’t really thought about this until he mentioned it but if you look at the photo above you will see that the poles only go into a small section of the actual tent material. This means less chance of pulling at the seams and causing holes but also its MUCH easier to thread through without the poles breaking apart while you do it. That alone I find is one of the most annoying parts of putting up a tent. The Martley makes that part simple.

The sewn in groundsheet and draught excluder around the base of tent – I am assuming this made a big difference to the temperature of the tent at nighttime and also stopped any part of the tent getting soggy or grubby.

On a final note, how was it to pack away? Andrew and his Dad packed the tent away in about 15 minutes, fairly simply which is always surprising. Tents tend to fight returning to the bags but this was just fine.

Overall – very impressed and it has just made me want to go camping again and again this summer. Oh as you can see it looks stylish too and stands out amongst other similarly coloured green or blue tents.

You can buy the tent on the Olpro site along with any other camping gear you require.

Our first camping trip of the year was a resounding success. I can also recommend the camp site we stayed at in Dare Valley Country Park – its incredibly scenic and some wonderful walks. Spot Andrew and some family members atop of this hill:

• As stated at the top of the post I was gifted this tent from Olpro for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review.