In today’s sponsored post I would like you to introduce you all to Lotus Belle Tents. They are a Bristol based business who sell their amazing bell tents all around the world!  If you are a fan of Glamping rather than Camping then you may have already seen these on a campsite that you have stayed on but if not then you really must take a look! 🙂

Lotus Belle Tents are very well known in the Glamping industry as they are affordable, have a lot of usable space when they are up and they are an unforgettable onion shape! I like how Wild Hare Events (A company that creates incredible onsite, pop up bed and breakfast for parties and weddings with their Lotus Belles) describes the tents as being ‘shaped like a nest of freshly whipped meringue‘ – they are quite right! That is exactly what the Lotus Belle Tents remind me of and like a meringue these tents are very light and airy on the inside because of the spacious interior.

These unique tents were designed by Harriet Seddon who back when she was in her first year of a design degree,  drew the initial ideas for what became known as the Lotus Belle tent. This is what Harriet wrote on the ‘About Us’ page on her website –  “I always wanted to be a tent designer from about 5 years old. I spent my early childhood making camping furniture out of mechano or bits of wood I found around the place, but I couldn’t work out what qualifications I would need to get a job with one of the big tent companies. I designed the Lotus Belle, but then put it on the backburner for a few years while I had my kids and thought I should get a ‘sensible job’ and worked as a textiles teacher at a high school. My passion for tent making started to creep back into my mind and I found myself encouraging teenage boys in my class to design and make one-man tents. I decided to bite the bullet, left teaching and showed my designs to a tent manufacturer who imported bell tents. He thought the design was great and took me under his wing to meet the factory where we made the first Lotus Belle prototype.”

As you’ll have guessed, – the Lotus Belle Tents were a massive hit and in 2012 the tents went into commercial production! Harriet must have been be so proud of her achievement. I can’t imagine it was an easy journey designing a new style of tent and then having to make the decision to delay pursuing the career she had set her heart on. I think the fact that the Lotus Belle Tents have been so well received by campers, glampers and campsite owners the world over is a testament to the fact that Harriet made the right decision to leave her teaching job and start chasing her dream career! She is a fantastic tent designer and you only have to look at people’s testimonials of the Lotus Belle to see how wonderful they all think the tent is!I’ve never really thought of myself as a camper – a caravanner yes (I’ve been caravanning with my family since I was a baby!) – but not a camper. I can’t be doing with the prospect of probably getting cold, wet and bitten by bugs – but a glamper? – I could most definitely see myself as one of those! 🙂

The idea of visiting a campsite that has a Lotus Belle Tent pitched and ready for my arrival sounds like a glamping holiday I wouldn’t want to miss! As you can see from the photos in this blog post, many campsites choose to have ‘proper beds’ in these tents and some of them even have wooden floors, full size furniture and scatter cushions! But even better than those selling points is the fact that some campsites have a woodburning stove fitted in the bell tent! I bet that must generate a lot of warmth in the tent and it would make your glamorous glamping home very cosy indeed!

If you would like to stay in a Lotus Bell Tent on your next glamping holiday then you have a few choices.

One option is that you book to stay at a campsite that already has one of their bell tents pre-erected and kitted out with all the glamping necessities.

or

the second option is that you hire a Lotus Belle Tent from the company’s Bristol HQ

or

the third option is that you purchase a Lotus Bell Tent for yourself from www.lotusbelle.co.uk!

If you opt for the latter then it will set you back upwards of £1090 to buy one of their larger tents and the price varies a lot depending on the size of the tent you go for (4 metre or 5 metre) and the type of tent that it is – Original, Outback, Deluxe, etc.

It may sound like a lot of money to purchase one but when you think about the fact that to stay in a Lotus Belle on a glamping holiday is probably going to cost you upwards of £100 a night then it really could be an investment that you want to make. Just think, you’d only need to stay in your new tent for a 2 week holiday and it could then have already paid for itself!

You will also find that owning a Lotus Belle is a time-saver as it can be pitched by one person in under an hour – and for a tent that size that is no mean feat!

 

( Please note that if you are looking for a smaller canvas tent then you can also buy the Lotus Bud ( tent only: 270cm x 270cm x 230cm (Height) – with porch attached: 450cm x 270cm x 230cm (height) which is £660 or the Lotus Pearl (Height: 1.36m, Width: 1.6m, Length: 2.5m) which is £180 )

The Lotus Belle Tents are used at Glastonbury Festival and they are a very popular VIP festival pod. There are over 100 deployed at Glastonbury each year and do you know how much it costs to stay in one for the weekend (not including the price of the festival tickets)…… £1500 for the weekend!

The video below shows Harriet’s 8 year old son putting up the tent in just 20 minutes (he is using a banana bag, which you can buy separately. The banana bag allows you to store the canvas walls with the curved wall poles already inserted – this means that you can then save yourself about 25 minutes when it comes to erecting the tent on your holiday. He has also already tied the guy ropes onto the tent before getting to the site – you can do this when you first get your tent as it will save even more time when you get to the campsite. You will also find that owning a Lotus Belle is a time-saver as it can be pitched by one person in under an hour – and for a tent that size that is no mean feat!

Here is some useful information that you may like to know :-

• Lotus Belles are very simple to use and can be pitched by one person in under an hour.
• They are easily cleaned, stored and repaired if necessary
• Each Lotus Belle comes with a one-year manufacturing guarantee, however even with heavy use the tents should last for many years
• They are made from heavy gauge canvas and have oversize guy ropes and chunky wooden toggles
• The larger tents are hand made from 360-gram canvas so they ‘breathe’ . This means you will stay cool on warm summer mornings
• The canvas material has all the latest high tech water, rot and fire retardant treatments.
• The outward curving steel wall poles are the secret behind the expansive interior space but these also give the structure a rigidity and shape that makes it highly tolerant to strong wind.
• The tent includes a ‘bath ground sheet’ that curves up 4 inches all round the edge so that even if the tent is pitched directly onto the ground, you will remain dry in spite of very heavy rain and/or an already water logged field. This also helps prevent creepy crawlies from crawling in! That’s what I like to hear! 🙂
  
• Lotus Belle Tents are similar in height to a yurt and have more standing space than a bell tent. The Lotus Belle is unique in providing standing space throughout the whole of the interior, allowing for a much more comfortable camping experience.
• It’s easy to store and transport the tent with just one centre pole and ten lightweight and flexible wall poles which disassemble easily and quickly. Another original feature of The Lotus Belle is the separate wall and roof canvases allowing far more manageability as well as a much quicker drying tent.
• The Lotus Belle has two windows, allowing natural light to flow in as well as the circulation of fresh air. Each window has a canvas curtain which can be rolled and zipped up.

I will finish off my post by sharing this customer testimonial (see image below) with you from Lisa Kingston. As you can see, she is very impressed with her ‘canvas palace’!

If her positive review inspires you to have your own glamping adventures in a Lotus Belle Tent then please visit www.lotusbelle.co.uk to make a purchase.

It would be fantastic if you could please take a moment to follow Lotus Belle Tents on social media. You can find them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Thanks for reading my post 🙂