Here’s a little fact worthy of picking up today’s 'not-a-lot-of-people-know-that' prize.

Did you know that the Caravan Club is happy to accept tents at 40 of its sites spread all over the UK?

They include locations in some of the country’s most special places, including the Lake District, the Highlands, Wales and Cornwall.

It’s very good news if you like the guaranteed quality of the facilities at CC sites but have always had to cast your net elsewhere if you fancied a quick weekend away with the tent instead of the caravan. Not all the sites offer a mains hook-up facility for campers, mind – which may be an issue if you’re planning a longer break. You can get all the details at caravanclub.co.uk/uk-holidays/tent-camping.

It’s great to inflate

Keeping up the tent theme this month, I’ve taken my first cautious steps into the brave new world of the inflatable tent. And without wishing to blow it up out of all proportion (sorry…), I don’t want to go back to the old world.

The Outwell Concorde M is a stunning-looking tent that offers great accommodation – but it’s the way it gets to that stunning form that is the real wow. Instead of poles, the Concorde has a network of wide-bore tubes that you fill full of air using the supplied pump. It's a brilliant concept, resulting in a fully inflated, ready-to-use tent within five minutes of hauling it out of its huge carry sack. Stability is immense: unless conditions are especially windy, you probably won't even need to use the guide ropes.

A ready-to-use tent in under five minutes... Really? Absolutely. Take it out of the bag, lay it out flat and peg down the four corners. Locate the 'air in' aperture and attach the pump (similar in style to the track pump used to inflate high-pressure cycle tyres) and pump away for a couple of minutes until the built-in gauge tells you you've reached the optimum pressure. It is helpful if someone can go inside the tent when it starts to take form, pushing it all out while you carry on pumping – but erecting it single-handed is easy.

There - you're basically done. Just finish off by knocking in the rest of the pegs, which are usefully colour-coded. A series of isolation valves mean that, in the unlikely event of a puncture, the deflation will be limited to just one area - so the tent won't collapse around you in the middle of the night and you can carry on camping until you have the opportunity to repair the damaged tube.

It's classed as a five-berth tent: one of the two adjacent bedrooms is slightly wider than its neighbour, giving a two-plus-three configuration. And yes, I guess you could fit three In there but it's probably more realistic to think of it as a three- or four-berther.

My other half and I have used the tent as a deluxe accommodation for two, pressing the spare bedroom into service as a dressing room, complete with camping wardrobe. The living area, with masses of stand-up headroom throughout, is enormous: you could easily leave a table and chairs in place and still have room to spare. The optional fitted carpet adds a real pampering touch.

Build quality is tremendous. The outer flysheet is top-quality polycotton, and the whole structure feels reassuringly sturdy. Nice touches abound, from the plethora of blinds and windows to the bespoke zipped opening for your mains hook-up lead. I especially like the rain porch over one of the doors - yes, you can choose how you care to enter and exit your piece of prime camping real estate.

When the time comes to take it down, just unpeg it, open the valves to let the air rush out, fold it up and roll it like an oversized sleeping bag (pushing all the air out as you go) and stuff it away back in its bag.

Our camping friends all want one now, and I can't say I blame them: the Concorde has got true star quality.

More details: outwell.com. Shop around for the best price: RRP is £1,200 but I've seen it being offered for under £900.