Simon Howard of Bailey presents their Arctic Adventure

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by Tom Leaning

For some at Bailey of Bristol this winter hasn’t been cold enough in the UK, so in association with The Caravan and Motorhome Club, accompanied by a crew from CaravanTimes, Bailey and friends have set off for the Arctic circle to test out three of their Bailey leisure vehicles.

The team of nine (including Sonja and Alessi from CaravanTimes are taking two caravans (a Pursuit 530-4 and 550-4) and one motorhome (an Autograph 75-2) on the 5,000 mile journey, through 12 countries over 16 days.

CaravanTimes will be providing daily video blogs (or “Vlogs”) throughout this unforgettable adventure to keep you all up-to-date with their progress.

Have Elddis made an 8 foot wide success story?

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by Daniel Cartwright

2016, and so far 2017, have proven to be big years in the caravan and motorhome world and none more so than for the Explorer Group. In the summer of 2016 the Explorer group, who make the Elddis, Explore, Compass and Buccaneer caravans (and Elddis motorhomes) introduced two 8 foot wide caravan models into the Elddis Avante and Compass Casita ranges of caravans.

The new 8ft wide models are all twin axel 6 berths and both the Avante and Casita have two layouts: The 840 has a fixed rear bed 6-berth with a side rear washroom and the 866 has a rear bunk and a side rear washroom 6 berth.

There is no standard for caravan width and at 8 feet there is no difference to any license or restriction when towing. The Explorer group has been making 8ft wide Buccaneers for while but the Avante and Casita are the first affordable “mass market” UK-manufactured 8ft wide caravans.

Following their launch, many in the industry thought this was a brave move to say the least but as Rachel Moncrieff from the Explorer Group explains these caravans are selling like hot cakes!

Away in Winter: What are Auto-Trail motorhomes like to stay in during mid-Winter?

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by Daniel Cartwright

In the second part of our winter motorhoming series Nick Harding takes the CaravanTimes crew and there superb Auto-Trail motorhomes for a night on a remote Certified Location site in the second week of January.

With Nick in the Tracker RS and the crew in the Roller Team Pegaso 740 and the Tribute T-736, this test shows just how useable motorhomes are all year round and how fantastic winter motorhoming is with empty sites and fantastic locations.

Watch the video to find out Nick Harding’s secret pasta sauce recipe, find out how the Auto-Trail, and Roller Team held up in freezing January conditions and finally did Nick stick to his Dry January challenge?

Visitors to CCM Show soar in 2017

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by Tom Leaning

The Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show 2017 finished on 26 February with over 94,000 visitors through its doors: 7,023 more than 2016. The weekend peaked with 25,349 visiting the show on Saturday and over 45,000 visitors attending across the two days of the weekend.

The show’s media coverage reflected the nation’s interest in caravans, camping and motorhomes, with Radio 2’s Chris Evans championing the event during last week’s breakfast show, and ITV’s This Morning presenting a range of products on London’s South Bank during its live broadcast.

Despite midweek gales disrupting roads and public transport in the Midlands, exhibitors still reported strong sales figures from the event. Director of Sales and Marketing for Auto-Trail, Scott Stephens reported that “show sales have highlighted how many customers are entering into motorhoming which is a great sign for the industry on the whole.” The announcement of a re-brand by The Caravan Club to The Caravan and Motorhome Club – which was broadcast through a Facebook Live RSS Stream by CaravanTimes – also reflected the growth in motorhome ownership.

The caravan industry also confirmed a positive result. Unveiling a one-off Joules-designed touring caravan, Lunar’s UK Sales Director, Lee Roberts said that he saw “good footfall throughout the show, complemented by a great buying audience, making this February’s show the best yet.” The Coachman Caravan company reported an increase of 22 per cent in retail sales compared to the previous year. Elliot Hibbs, Managing Director said “2017 has been positive for the industry as a whole and we have enjoyed an increase in demand for our product range.”

Swift showed its S-Pod 4 holiday lodge for the first time and reported strong interest. Nick Page, Group Commercial Director commented that “this has been our most successful February show for years with retail sales increasing by 26 per cent on touring caravans and 34 per cent on motorhomes.”

Launches included the Sonic Supreme 810SC by Adria. Managing Director, Slavica Sterk said: “The show has strengthened Adria’s position in the market,” suggesting that while products are not traditionally launched at the February show, overall public response surpassed expectations.

Omar Park and Leisure Homes unveiled the Wessex Hideaway lodge and were very pleased at the general interest across its lodges. Peter Berwick, the Group Sales and Design Director said that the show is “an opportunity to showcase top end models across the Wessex and Omar brands and gives us the chance to get valuable feedback from customers.”

Camping equipment brand Vango created a great buzz in Hall 5 thanks to the AirBeam Challenge, letting members of the public race against the clock to inflate a full sized tent. Vango saw record sales again at the show, with the Kela II DriveAway Awning and Inspire 800XXL eight-berth tent leading the way. Ivan Davies, Account Manager said that “the show really launches our year.”

“The February show’s attendance endorses the optimistic outlook for our industry, which continues to grow,” said John Lally, CEO – NCC Events Ltd. “We are also pleased to see that the demographic of those attending the show continues to diversify, with engagement from those new to the industry.”

A whole host of celebrities took to the Discovery Theatre stage throughout the show. Appearances included Ben Fogle, Barney Harwood, Kate Humble, Julia Bradbury and Sam Quek. Live cookery demonstrations from Monica Rivron, Selasi Gbormittah, Welsh chefs Mike Bates and Colin Gray also graced the stage.

Displays included the Lego® caravan, which featured in a Facebook Live RSS stream organised by Guinness World Records, and the highly popular Dog Agility arena. Additional attractions for visiting families included trampolines in the Bounce Zone, bushcraft workshops, climbing wall, artificial caving and a virtual reality of Europe’s longest zip wire in the North Wales LIVE area, and a Woodland Assault Course in partnership with The Woodland Trust.

The Motorhome and Caravan Show is at the NEC from 17 to 22 October 2017 and The Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show returns 20 to 25 February 2018.

Swift Group report record performance at the Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show

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by Tom Leaning

Swift Group has reported a surge in sales in the last week at one of the UK’s biggest retail events with growth versus 2016 of 26 per cent on touring caravans and 34 per cent on motorhomes, surpassing the success of previous years by some distance, and delivering Swift’s best performance in a decade.

On the first day of the Caravan, Camping and Motorhome show, Swift Group doubled sales and continued to do well throughout the show with the entry level Sprite and Escape ranges proving the most popular, along with Swift’s new crossover camping vehicle Basecamp. The success of Basecamp has exceeded expectations and Swift is now scheduling additional production to meet demand.

Swift announced early in the new year that it would be increasing retail prices immediately after the show and the ‘Beat the Price Increase’ campaign appears to have motivated many to purchase, as has the continuing weakness of sterling that is inspiring more people to consider a staycation holiday.

“The 2017 season has been going extremely well for Swift but the last few days at the show have been phenomenal,” said Nick Page, Group Commercial Director. “This success is testament to the dedicated people we employ at Swift across all departments, people who strive to deliver every day the build quality, stylish design and outstanding value we are renowned for and that continues to reinforce Swift’s status as the UK’s No1 leisure vehicle manufacturer”.

Dave Williams: It has never been a better time to join the motorhome market

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by Tom Leaning

Dave Williams of AutoSleepers joins CaravanTimes at this year’s Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show at Birmingham’s NEC to discuss his thoughts on the show, his advice for potential buyers and what AutoSleepers have in store for the year ahead.

Dave reveals that motorhomers should look out for the new Corinium range (based on the AL-KO chassis) on their AutoSleepers brochures this year, as well as their upcoming K-Zero project, which will see AutoSleepers return to the campervan market.

New CAMC report reveals over 16 million touring trips expected by 2030

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by Tom Leaning

Caravan and motorhomers with a thirst for adventure and sense of freedom will lead to an increase in the number of caravan and motorhome holidays, according to an Inspiring Adventure Report published this week by the newly renamed Caravan and Motorhome Club.

The number of touring trips where the main form of accommodation is camping or caravanning will rise by six per cent – almost a million journeys – to 16.6 million by 2030 says new analysis for the Caravan and Motorhome Club undertaken by the Centre for Economics and Business Research. Spending is also set to boom with the outlay increasing by more than a third over the same period. Brits are forecast to spend some £3.6 billion on hitting the road for their holidays in 2030 – a rise of 37 per cent on current levels – either in their own vehicles or rentals, says forecasting experts. Sales of caravans and motorhomes are also set to rise by 18 per cent to 889,000 vehicles by 2030.

Harvey Alexander, director of marketing, the Caravan and Motorhome Club commented: “We’re a membership organisation of people who passionately love the outdoors and we were delighted to see both such positive predictions for growth and also that 55 per cent of people we surveyed felt that caravan and motorhome holidays have become more popular in recent years. It’s clear from the feedback we’ve had that the flexibility and freedom and sense of adventure is what appeals to most holidaymakers but we were also excited to see that people are also showing interest in taking their vehicles further afield. One in three people we spoke to said they are interested in a caravan or motorhome holiday in mainland Europe, with almost one in five (16%) hoping to tour in North America. And similar numbers even said they’d just like to head off an adventure with no fixed destination. Our role is to inspire future generations of touring holidaymakers and Club members to go out and start their own adventures, whether they travel for 10 miles, 100 miles or a thousand miles.”

The Caravan and Motorhome Club Inspiring Adventure Report has been published to coincide with the announcement that it has changed its name from The Caravan Club to reflect the increasing number of motorhome travellers in its membership. The Club will be upgrading facilities across its entire site network, including wifi on every single site by the end of this year and expanding the worldwide holidays on offer to members.

Other predictions in the report published today include the fact that touring holidays also forecast to rise sharply in 2018 to 16.2million as a weak pound could result in more people taking UK holidays.

Almost one third (27 per cent) said they have owned or rented a caravan and camper van of which 78 per cent stay in the UK and 21 per cent head for the European mainland.

Londoners topped the list for those heading abroad with one in three (33 per cent) travelling to mainland Europe and 18 per cent going to North America.

Harvey Alexander: The Caravan and Motorhome Club want to inspire new generations

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by Tom Leaning

The Caravan Club will now be known as the Caravan and Motorhome Club to inspire new generations to experience the adventure of travel in the great outdoors. The Club’s Director of Marketing, Harvey Alexander, explains the reasons for this evolution.

Mr Alexander confirmed: “Our community has been passionately sharing its collective knowledge of touring holidays for 110 years and we want everyone who loves the outdoors to feel welcome to join our community. Our million members are as varied as the landscapes we explore – from early risers to star gazers, walkers, wild swimmers and surfers to families or groups of friends reconnecting together away from the confines of home and work. We already offer service and facilities for whichever way our members chose to travel by caravan, motorhome or trailer tent and our new name reflects the fact that four out of ten new members are now motorhome owners. We know that members’ outfits, hobbies and interests are becoming more varied so we will be working doubly hard to reflect, support and highlight those opportunities and to open people’s eyes to the possibilities of the adventures available by caravan and motorhome.”

The announcement of the new name for the Caravan and Motorhome Club was combined with the launch of a report which revealed predictions that more than 16 million caravan, motorhome and camping trips will be made next year – the highest since 2006.

In the next five years the number of trips taken will increase by 400,000 according the Caravan and Motorhome Club Inspiring Adventure Report. The Club is also expecting the number of caravans and motorhomes in the UK to rise from 755,000 in circulation today to top more than 800,000 for the first time by 2022.

The report also identified that people are drawn to the idea of a caravan or motorhome holiday because of the freedom to do their own thing (45 per cent), the sense of adventure (38 per cent), the flexibility to change plans as they travel (28 per cent), to set an itinerary to suit their timeframes (20 per cent) to stay in really rural locations, to be close to places they love like beach or mountains and as a more affordable holiday option (19 per cent) to get closer to nature and because they just love being outdoors and waking up to fresh air (18 per cent). People also said a holiday by motorhome or caravan appealed because it made it easy to travel with groups of friends or camp in comfort at festivals (8 per cent) or to follow sporting passions such as surfing, golfing and skiing (4 per cent).

Mr Alexander added: “Our vision is also to make our members’ experience easier so they can get on with enjoying the great outdoors and evolve to meet the needs of our members today and for future generations. Our new Caravan and Motorhome Club logo has been designed as a tribute to our original membership badge, but with intertwined letters to represent both caravan and motorhome members.”

Caravan and Motorhome Club joins Martin Dorey on an Arctic Adventure

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by Tom Leaning

The Caravan and Motorhome Club has announced plans to inspire more people to consider touring holidays by taking part in an arctic adventure, along with Martin Dorey and Bailey of Bristol, this spring when two caravans, a campervan and a motorhome will visit 12 countries in 16 days.

The 5,000 mile Arctic Adventure, in conjunction with Bailey of Bristol, will leave the UK on 2 March and will visit countries such as Belgium, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Holland before returning back to the UK on 17 March. The journey will take in some of Europe’s most iconic locations including the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the official home town of Santa Claus at Rovaniemi in Finland, and the Oresund Bridge linking Sweden to Denmark.

“Adventurous road trips by caravan or motorhome are really common in countries like USA, Canada and Australia,” said Harvey Alexander director of marketing at the Caravan and Motorhome Club, “Our Arctic Adventure will help to showcase what incredible road trip adventures are also on our own doorstep. We want to inspire future generations of new touring holidaymakers, and Club members, to get out and start their own adventures, whether they travel for 10 miles, 100 miles or a thousand miles.”Taking part in the Arctic Challenge is author and camper van adventurer Martin Dorey, who presented the popular BBC2 TV series One Man and His Campervan. 

Mr Dorey added: “Camper vanning gets us off the sofa and out of the house and instantly enjoying an adventure, even if all you do is drive to the coast.  And while the freedoms you get to enjoy on this type of holiday might be small to some, to others, me included, they are very real. So I’ll take your evening in front of the telly and raise you with one glorious night under the stars, staring into a fire, telling stories and laughing while the kids have the time of their lives. I am sure that the Arctic Adventure will inspire lots of people to pack their bags and hit the road – wherever that may be – on a fabulous touring holiday adventure. Then, I hope, they will be able to discover for themselves the freedoms we cherish so much.”

The Caravan and Motorhome Arctic Adventure can be followed in social media using #CAMCpioneer and #arcticadventure hashtags.

Matt Allwright: The Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show is about adventure

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by Tom Leaning

CaravanTimes meets Matt Allwright at this year’s Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show at the NEC in Birmingham, and he talks about his love for adventure and the outdoors in this video interview.

The show was officially opened by The National Caravan Council Director General John Lally alongside a celebrity line-up including Ben Fogle, Julia Bradbury, Barney Harwood and Mr Allwright.

Fancy a career as a Caravan Warden?

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by Tom Leaning

The Market Rasen Racecourse Caravan Park in Lincolnshire is looking for two full-time Caravan Wardens to join their team and CaravanTimes think this would be ideal for a friendly couple happy to live and work together on site at a top caravan park for the upcoming season.

Here’s the rest of the job description:

The ideal individuals for this role will be friendly, customer focused, have a positive attitude and flexible approach. You will possess good administration and communication skills, work under your own initiative, as well as working under guidance and instruction from the Racecourse General Manager.

These are varied roles and duties include, but are not limited to:

  • To be responsible for the overall management of the caravan park working in conjunction with the Racecourse General Manager
  • To manage the Caravan Park shop including transactions and basic accounting
  • To be responsible for the Caravan Park bookings system, taking bookings, tracking capacity and generating increased revenue on peak periods across the year
  • Responsible for basic maintenance across the Caravan park including strimming, mowing and some basic painting
  • To ensure the caravan park indoor facilities are cleaned daily, including showers, corridor and toilet facilities
  • To welcome all visitors to the site, assisting with site hook ups and general enquiries including customer complaints, queries and customer satisfaction
  • To assist the Racecourse team with basic duties both pre and post racedays
  • To work with the Market Rasen Racecourse and the Caravan Club to actively promote the caravan park
  • Support the Racecourse Team in taking bookings for Market Rasen Racecourse Golf Course during the weekend

These are both full time positions, however, the working hours will vary depending upon the business requirements and will include dealing with late night arrivals, evening safety rounds during the touring season and weekend work.

Experience is preferable but not necessary.

A driving licence is essential to be successful in this role. You will also need your own motorhome or touring van; a hard standing pitch with water and electric will be provided for you.

If you would like further details on this position, please contact The Jockey Club HR team via recruitment@thejockeyclub.co.uk or visit The Jockey Club website for further information.

Closing date for applications: 3rd March 2017

The Jockey Club is an equal opportunities employer

The Caravan Club rebrands as The Caravan and Motorhome Club

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by Tom Leaning

CaravanTimes has just returned from the Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show 2017 at Birmingham’s NEC, and biggest news of the show so far was the big announcement that The Caravan Club will now be known as The Caravan and Motorhome Club, along with a new logo.

The announcement was part of the Club’s historic rebranding campaign, in response to the industry’s significant growth in motorhome ownership, and also that 40 per cent of the Club’s new members are motorhome owners.

The Club’s Director of Marketing, Harvey Alexander, said: “The reason we’ve rebranded is because our members’ hobbies and interests are changing. As our organisation is 110 years old, we have to evolve, so by evolving into this next generation as The Caravan and Motorhome Club we’re going to become more inclusive to all of our members.”

Chairman, Grenville Chamberlain, added: “This is an exciting and historic moment for our Club. While the heart of our community remains the same, our new name reflects how our membership has changed and grown. We will focus on developing pioneering new ideas and services which share our expertise, inspire and welcome everyone to the freedom of exploring and enjoying adventures in the great outdoors. That’s why we are also upgrading facilities across our entire site network including wifi on every single site by the end of this year and expanding our worldwide travel options.”

The announcement at the Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show in Birmingham yesterday, drew mixed reactions from existing Club members, but we want to hear your thoughts on what you think of the Club’s new name and logo. Please let us know in the comments section…