Gear Review – The Ticket to the Moon Hammock Chair

By: Blonde Two

From time to time we Blondes are sent free outdoor products to field test and promote. We will always be honest about our findings, and many products we don’t keep for ourselves find their way into our expedition stores.

Not this one though, I’m on a mission to find more trees!

 

It’s no secret that I love hanging around in my hammock. Not only is hammocking a really relaxing way to spend the afternoon, my camping hammock has also proved to be a really restful alternative to a tent after a long day supervising Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expeditions.

It’s also cooler than a tent on hot nights.

But no matter how comfy, well-made and bug-free my hammock is, there’s no getting away from the fact that to use it, I need to find two trees of the right girth and at the right distance apart. Sadly this isn’t always possible, especially in the one place I would really love to be able to hang around.

My own garden.

In the past few years have planted several trees and they are all doing well (some have apples this year) but none of them are big enough yet to bear my weight. There is one tree in the garden however, that has been there longer than I have and would be perfect for hammocking if it had a suitable partner.

But it doesn’t.

Which is why I was thrilled to be offered the chance to try out the Ticket to the Moon hammock chair. With only one hanging point, it only requires one branch on one tree. With excitement, I received my parcel and ventured out to try my new toy.

Here’s how I got on.

What is a hammock chair?

A hammock chair is a cleverly shaped piece of fabric that is supported by ropes and poles and allows you to hang from a tree in a laid-back seated position. With a foot rest and the ability to swing, it offers an experience as close to actual hammocking as you are likely to get with only one tree (or other fixing point).

How do you hang a hammock chair?

The Ticket to the Moon hammock chair is actually much easier to hang than my initial impressions suggested it might be. Everything is pre-knotted for ease and all you need to do is chuck the hanging rope over a branch then fasten the swivel karabiner at the right height. The only issue I had was finding a branch at the right height. You need it to be high enough to keep you off the floor once you’re seated and low enough to enable you to retrieve the rope once you’ve finished your hang.

Hammock chair attempt one – my garden

With only one tree to choose from in my own garden, it was a case of making things work. At one point I didn’t think I would be able to but eventually (with a bit of almost-tree-climbing) I managed to position the rope over a suitable branch. I sat down carefully and enjoyed a slightly low but most relaxing hang amongst the wilder sections of my small garden.

Well it was relaxing until Fred the dog decided hammock chairs were definitely for him and jumped up to join me.

Hammock chair attempt two – my Dad’s garden

I knew Dad had a suitable tree branch because it already had a home-made (by my sister) rope swing hanging from it, so I decided my hammock chair would be a great addition to his 80th birthday garden party. What I didn’t realise was that the branch in question had decided to die since the rope swing had been introduced. Hanging the chair over this branch was easy but getting up off the floor when it had all collapsed wasn’t (mostly because I was laughing). Luckily the whole branch didn’t come down on my head but it did offer me a good lesson in hammock safety checks.

I wasn’t daunted though and set my sights on the next branch up. This one was too high to reach but my sister cleverly attached a piece of string to the rope so that we could get it back down again when we had finished (this worked really well). I have to say that once we had (neglecting our party preparation duties) got the hammock chair rigged on the higher branch, sitting in it was a really relaxing experience.

Dad decided 80 was too old to start trying new tree chair experiences but some of the other guests enjoyed a gentle swing and the morning after the party I got to sip my morning coffee whilst swinging in the breeze.

Where can you hang a hammock chair?

I’ve since discovered you don’t actually need trees to hang hammock chairs. People hang them from rocks, climbing walls, and even ceiling joists inside.

Our house is currently on the market.

I’ve put ‘big tree’ and ‘strong ceiling’ on my ‘must have’ list for the new house!!