FAQ
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Investing in Lotus Belle brings with it the peace of mind that help and support are only ever a phone call away. We love hearing from customers and learning about ways to improve. We do our best to support you in your tent adventures (!) and we stock a complete range of spare parts. Here are some of the most common questions.
What are Lotus Belle tents made from?
Our tents are made from 360gsm (380gsm after coating) waterproof / fire / UV / rot resistant canvas - it's seriously good stuff. This is one of the main reasons our tents cost more than other Bell Tents (and of course there is much more canvas in a Lotus Belle). The groundsheet is made from 540gsm PVC- this is the same stuff that boat covers and lorry curtains are made of, again seriously heavy duty. Your tent will come with everything you need to put it up, including the groundsheet, pegs, poles, guy ropes, and even a mallet!
Are they waterproof?
Yes.
Please note, canvas tents need to get really wet a few times before they completely felt and mesh together; it's possible that your tent may leak on the first few serious downpours, but don’t panic – the process of water soaking into the material and drying out again helps the fibers to mesh together, and after 3 or 4 times, it will be absolutely dry as a bone. If you experience issues with leaks beyond this then give us a call and we’ll sort it out for you.
Where can I see one put up?
TBC
How much space will I need to pitch it in?
Ideally you'll need about 7m diameter space to put up the 4m tent, 8m to put up the 5m tent and 9m for a 6m tent. The pitching footprint can be greatly reduced using rigid upright posts around the outside.
The Air Bud with included porch requires 5m x 7m. The Mahal needs at least 12m x 12m and the Mela approximately 11m x 11m.
Please contact us for more info.
Will it fit in the boot of my car?
Yes! Obviously it depends on which tent you're after, but finally we have a ‘yurt’ that you can take camping. Most of our tents fold up and fit into a large hold-all which should fit into your car boot - so there's even room for your sleeping bag (and perhaps some clothes too if you're lucky). If using a banana bag you may need to sacrifice one of your back seats. For specific information on the packaged sizes of each tent, please see the product pages or get in touch and we'd be happy to help!
Will I be able to carry it across a festival site on my own?
No, they're heavy. Our 4m tents weigh 56kg, and our 5m tents weigh 72kg. You'll need to get one of those lovely people with a golf cart to drive it to your campsite, although you might be able to manage a 4m tent using a sack truck if you're feeling fit. If you are looking for something that you can carry on your own across a festival site then we would recommend our revolutionary Lotus Air Bud, which is much more manageable and comes in a handy wheelie bag for easy transport.
How long does it take to put up?
The first time you set up the tent you’ll need to tie on the guy ropes and insert the curved steel poles into the canvas wall. The whole process takes about an hour for two people. Thereafter pitching the tent is a one-man job that only takes around thirty minutes - we know a guy who does it in 12!
Here you can see our 8-year-old son putting up a 13FT tent on his own in around 25 minutes.
How do I put it up?
NB: Your tent will come with pictorial instructions, but in case you lose them, here's a reminder of the order in which to do things...View PDF Instructions.
We also have a video tutorial on YouTube which can be viewed here:
What's the best way to pack away my Lotus Belle?
We recommend a banana bag for rapid pitching and take down. They are shaped like a large banana which enables you to store the canvas wall part of your tent without having to remove the steel poles from the canvas. This shaves your pitching time down to around 20-25 minutes, and packing down time down to around 10 minutes.
This video shows our current best practice for how to fold and pack away your tent using a banana bag.
How do I clean my tent?
By hand:
Mud splatter - once the canvas is completely dry, most soiling can be easily brushed off. Any remaining marks can be removed. We have found that the best stuff to use is Ecover laundry liquid as it doesn't damage the proofing in the canvas. With a micro fibre cloth work away at stains and smears until they are gone.
Tree sap or Algae - There is no eco friendly answer that we have found, so our current best practise is to use a reputable weed killer, (Pathclear) spray over the affected canvas. Wait ten minutes then rinse this off with a light hosing (do not pressure wash as this will blast the proofing from the canvas).
Your canvas is treated to be waterproof, flame retardant, and rot proof. If you wash your tent thoroughly and regularly, you will wash off some of the treatment, and as such you will need to re-proof it with waterproofing solutions. You don’t need to do this every time you wash the tent, just one coat at the end of the season will be fine. Fabsil Grangers for cotton is our recommended waterproofing solution.
Do I need planning permission to put these on my land?
TBC
Sales Terms & Conditions
Read our full Terms & Conditions.
None of the above I want to ask something different.
Need to know something else? Contact us.
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Featured Stories
Tips For Starting Out As A Glampsite
So you’ve decided to start a glampsite; congratulations! Now what?! We’ve put together some helpful things to think about, with hints and tips added from a couple of glampsite owners who know what they’re talking about! Pick your type of accommodation Sounds obvious but that’s a key factor. This will affect how much you spend on maintenance each year, how many people you can host at a time, how easy it is to clean the accommodation yourself or pay for professional cleaning. Lotus Belle is clearly the best choice here *wink*. The key with this is to decide on what you can charge your guests for a nightly rental and work backwards from there. Have a look at what other sites are charging, but bear in mind differences in seasonal charges and where these sites might be located. From our experience we've found what site owners will charge for a night in a Lotus Belle can vary hugely. Some Lotus Belle's may be £70 a night, others £150 or more, and that's the beauty with working with canvas tents. You can go as simple or as glam as you like. Factors will include your location, the facilities you offer and of course how beautiful the glamping space is decked out. Obviously, creating a beautiful space is much easier when you're starting with a great blank canvas, excuse the pun and us totally bigging ourselves up! Once you've worked out costs per night, then you need to find the best way of covering your investment quickly. This is especially important with new glamping sites. Do a season finding your feet before you shell out some huge investment that will take years to pay for itself. The world of camping and glamping in the UK is changing fast at the moment and next year looks to be a seriously busy one! We have had a lot of business from site owners this year looking to expand their stock of tents to fill all the bookings that are already coming their way for the next season. Tents are quick and easy to get set up with, and once turned into luxury canvas abodes will often pull their weight much more efficiently than pods or shepherd's huts. We tell our customers a Lotus Belle should definitely pay for itself within the first season, but that's a fairly safe assessment. A Lotus Belle will generally pay for itself within 2-3 months and one of our customers told us this year that his paid for themselves within 6 weeks! So, that's a good yardstick to make your comparisons to when working out your ROI. Do not believe anyone who tells you a canvas tent is designed to last one season and that you should be replacing them every year! Of course, working with a natural product like canvas requires a certain amount or care and maintenance to ensure a long life. However if you're being told a tent will last a season only then it is not being made with good quality canvas. We tell our customers a Lotus Belle should see them well through 4-5 seasons. That said, we've got several customers with 7 and 8 year-old Lotus Belles who's tents are still going strong. The maths on that works out really well! We go and see the Canvas Cleaning Company when our tents need a refresh and they come back looking brand spanking new, so with the right care there's no reason your tent should last and last. Land and permission Do you own the land you’re planning to pitch on? If not, are you buying or renting? What are the local council requirements for planning permissions and health and safety? What are the transport links like? Do you have a friend who can help shed light on these questions? Or will you scour the internet for blogs like the one you’re reading, and this one from Savills, and this one from Glamping Business? Or do you need a professional to help you navigate through the paperwork. Business planning and finances There’s no such thing as too detailed a business plan. What are your start up costs? What are your running costs in terms of insurance, water, electricity, wifi, staffing, maintenance, linens? What part of the market will you aim for and what’s the going rate there? What’s the rate of return on investment on your larger purchases? Are you aiming for a high end luxury market, something more family friendly or more eco conscious? If you’re on a budget, Gillyweed the Tent on the Central Coast in Australia suggests you buy second hand to save wherever possible, but make sure your linen is new. Wow factor What’s the wow factor? Do you have a unique selling point? Is it a hot tub? Does the land have a stunning lake like @moat_island_glamping_norfolk, or a unique landscape view? Is your interior design amazing? What’s your angle on your interior design? The Little Hippy Tent Company suggests that layering is the key to developing an iconic and eye -catching look... but also warns that it leads to more things to be cleaned between bookings! Networking and relationships Everyone on your social media is a potential contact. Don’t be afraid to shout about your plans! Think about all the different people who would enjoy your glampsite. Who are they? Do you know similar people? How do you reach them? Can you build an alliance with a complimentary business to yours? Can you attend glamping networking events like The Glamping Show run by @thisisglamping? Marketing It’s more than just having a nice instagram account, although that certainly goes a long way. Keep your web and social pages active and up to date, and make sure you respond to queries quickly. Are you going to keep an email list? Will you have your glamping available directly on your website, or will you also allow third party sites to book? Do you have connections to local publications you can send press releases to? Social media takes up a lot more time than we give it credit for. Do you have the resources to have someone else handle it? Are you any good at taking pictures? Offerings and Elbow grease Gillyweed says that offering multiple packages and set up options similar to your competitors will help people in their side by side comparisons - and will also help you figure out what your USP is. We’re cheering for you! Starting any kind of business is a nail biter and an uphill battle, even outside of a global pandemic. KEEP GOING! With particular thanks to Gillyweed the Tent in Australia (second image), and The Little Hippy Tent Company in the UK (first image)
The Versatility Of An Air Tent
Got an unused spot in your garden? Transform it into something special with a 3m Lotus Belle Air Tent. You don’t need much space to create a cozy retreat — these compact inflatable tents make small gardens feel like luxury getaways. The Air Bud and Air Belle are perfect for quick setup and short-term stays. Both inflate in minutes, fit a double air bed, and comfortably sleep two to three people. Use them as stylish guest rooms, pop-up event spaces, or even your own mini glamping escape. The Air Bud (9.8ft) offers stand-up height, a built-in porch, and classic poly-cotton design — ideal for smaller areas. The Air Belle (13ft) gives you more room to spread out, featuring a porch, rain hood, and durable canvas that blends comfort with practicality. Whether you’re hosting friends, creating an outdoor chill zone, or hitting the road for a weekend away, Lotus Belle Air Tents are built for flexibility, fun, and effortless setup. And if you’re planning something bigger — from backyard parties to full-blown events — our 13ft, 16ft and 20ft tents bring even more space and signature Lotus Belle charm.
Why Buy a Lotus Belle Glamping Tent?
Having spent some time at the Glamping Show this year, we were asked quite a few times about why one should invest in a Lotus Belle glamping tent above any other glamping tent out there on the market.It was interesting to hear some information from customers at the show, who had purchased cheaper, lower-quality tents that had failed after (in some cases) a few months to a year of use, tearing very easily after a storm, and the canvas failing, guy rope tabs being torn off the actual tent! Added to our significant emphasis on the quality of our luxury glamping tents, the above confirmed our notion that our tents are designed with longevity in mind, using the heaviest weight polycotton canvas (380gsm) for our category of glamping tents on the market. Investing in a Lotus Belle tent means owning a cocoon of luxury that will last if well maintained and cared for over the years. From our heavy canvas, to our high strength guy ropes (similar to the ropes used in sailing boats!), to our reinforced stitching and high-quality mesh used on the doors and windows of our Hybrid Tents, Hybrid Deluxe Tents and Stargazer Tents, we are very proud of what you will receive when ordering one of our gorgeous tents.Some of the main considerations when pitching glamping tents for a longer period of time are inclement weather - specifically storms and high wind, as well as the damp, wet environments that we (sadly) have to endure in this country, and the impact of this on cream canvas! Officially, our tents have been tested to wind speeds of 49 miles per hour (“industry standard”) but anecdotally we’ve had customers do well in our tents in stronger winds - you only need to check out the video below of our friends over at Ultracamp Chile, to see that our glamping tents are a cut above the rest when it comes to extreme weather! When it comes to keeping your Lotus Belle tent clean and pristine, this does require maintenance and care, but our tents are able to handle whatever you throw at them, due to their high quality and heavyweight canvas. Our friends over at The Canvas Cleaning Company, love cleaning our tents because they can handle so much without the canvas becoming brittle or degrading after only one wash, like many standard bell tents on the market. When we were at The Glamping Show a couple of weeks ago, we had customers pop in to say hi, who had had their Lotus Belles for seven years running! We are clear this is down to exceptional care and maintenance by the customer, but also is a testimony to the quality of what we make. Image Credit: Glow Glamping