Best pop up tents: Set up camp in a flash with these stylish and comfortable tents
For first-time campers, the thought of fiddling around with poles, ground sheets and inner tents can put them off having an outdoor adventure altogether.
Tent building used to be an art seemingly known only by a few Bear Grylls-types, and classic designs remained unchanged for centuries.
All that changed in 2004, when the modern pop-up tent was invented and changed the landscape of camping forever.
Who invented the modern pop-up tent?
Bournemouth University graduate Franziska Conrad is credited with inventing the Quick Pitch SS in 2004 as part of her final-year product design project. Brought to market with outdoor company Gelert, it’s the tent you’re most likely to spot making up vast tent cities in festival camping fields.
Three big reasons explain its popularity: it’s lightweight at around 2kg, affordable at the £35 mark, and takes just seconds to put up and peg down.
Meanwhile, Gelert’s rival outdoor company , dreamt up by its tent project manager Jean-François Ratel in 2003. After six months of development, it launched a double-skin pop-up tent, which would offer campers more protection and insulation
