Escape the Olympics with a caravan holiday to the Lake District

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By Arash Hekmat

This summer if your plans don’t involve visiting London to watch the 2012 Olympic Games, then why not head up to the Lake District for a caravan holiday.

The Lake District is one of the most popular locations in England for caravanners thanks to the beautiful scenery that surrounds this mountainous region.

It also promises tranquility and a relaxed pace of life that you won’t find in London and the surrounding area between July 27th and August 12th, when more than two million people are expected to descend on the capital for the much-anticipated sporting event.

If you’d prefer to drop the track from ‘track and field’ and just enjoy the field instead, then a day trip to Rothay Garden in Grasmere could be just the thing, offering Olympic-quality walks on the surrounding fells.

You’ll also be able to try sailing on Lake Windermere or Ullswater and mountain-biking in Whinlatter Forest.

Alternatively, just set up a couple of deck chairs in the shade of your caravan awning and enjoy the beautiful summer in one of England’s most exquisite areas of natural beauty.

Indoor caravan park coming to Liverpool’s city centre

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By Arash Hekmat

A group of entrepreneurs from Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle are clubbing together to open one of the only indoor caravan parks in Britain.

Camp and Furnace is the brain child of architect Miles Falkingham and designers Simon Rhodes, Tim Speed and Paul Speed, with backing from James Moore.

The local businessmen had the idea of recreating a festival experience in a small indoor space. So they decided to reopen three former A Foundation buildings as an event space with a caravan park set to be opened in the near future.

With the grand opening taking place at the beginning of this month, the space has been designed to give guests and visitors the feeling of being transported from their city centre surroundings into the great outdoors.

Mr Falkingham, director at Camp and Furnace, explained: “We’d all enjoyed a decade or so of going to festivals and wondered what it would look like, if we took all of the best bits and brought them together under one roof.”

A number of events have already been lined up for the space, including the Liverpool Art Fair, The Art Show S/S12 and the Threshold Music Festival.

Anglesey caravan park to get new facilities for summer

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By Arash Hekmat

New camping facilities are being added to a caravan park in Anglesey ahead of the busy 2012 summer season.

A new room will be opened at Blackthorn Farm’s bed and breakfast at the start of June, following the opening of a shower block for campers over the May Bank Holiday weekend.

Thanks to these improvements, the site will now be capable of accommodating 36 caravans as well as pitchers for camping, which is good news for caravanners visiting the area.

Richard Turke, owner of Blackthorn Farm, told the website: “We’re very proud of the new shower block, which will include all the modern comforts and be ideal for families, as well as being solely dedicated to our campers this year.

“We have made a number of new changes and additions to the site this year and business is going from strength to strength.”

The bed and breakfast and caravan park is set out over 18 acres of land and boasts a clear view of the Irish sea and the Snowdonia mountains.

Olympic torch to pass through Shrewsbury caravan parks

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by Arash Hekmat

Caravanners and motorhome owners will have a unique chance to watch the Olympic torch being carried to London if they stay at two Shropshire holiday parks later this month.

The famous symbol of the Games is set to be carried past the entrances of Oxon Hall Touring Park and Oxon Pool Holiday Home Park in Shrewsbury on May 30th.

The route for the torch will see it carried through Bicton, between Oswestry and Broseley, where these parks are located.

From Shrewsbury, torchbearers will then carry the flame on towards London, where it will reside during the 2012 Olympic Games.

Edward Goddard, managing director of Morris Leisure, which owns both of the parks, welcomed the news that the Olympic torch will be passing so closely by.

“It will give visiting caravanners and local people a once in a lifetime chance to welcome the Olympic flame to Shropshire, share in the excitement of the relay and celebrate the fantastic achievements of the torchbearers,” he said.

The Olympic is scheduled to pass through 1,000 cities, towns and villages in the UK over 70 days in the build-up to the Games, starting in Land’s End, Cornwall, on May 19th.

This news has coincided with the lighting of the Olympic torch today (Thursday 10th May) in Olympia, Greece. The torch will travel across Greece for the rest of the week before arriving in Lands End, Cornwall on the 18th of May.

From Cornwall the torch will travel across England, carried by 8,000 members of the public and celebrities until it reaches London on the 27th July.

Caravan Gallery project brings art to Oxfordshire this May

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by Arash Hekmat

Oxford may be famed for its historical architecture and university spires, but a new exhibition of art in the grand old city has come from the most unusual of sources.

Away from the fabled halls and impressive gallery spaces that can be found, it is a humble caravan hosting the latest exhibition, in the car park at Oxford Castle.

Artists Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale are bringing the Caravan Gallery from Portsmouth to Oxford until May 12th.

Called the Oxford Pride of Place Project, the exhibition includes a series of photos that aim to document the ‘nooks and crannies’ of this most idiosyncratic of cities.

The caravan will be stationed outside the castle’s O3 Gallery, where an accompanying exhibition is on display until May 27th.

Speaking to the Oxford Mail, Ms Williams said: “We want people to come along and join in with the exhibitions, it’s going to be a wonderfully anarchic celebration of Oxford.

“As well as our own photos, we have a big map of Oxford which we would like people to come and write their memories, their favourite things, where they had their first snog, anything like that on.”

Lunar praise the Venus Caravans road show

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By Arash Hekmat

The Lunar Caravans Venus road show has been hailed as a resounding success, after the new caravans made a series of appearances at various retail outlets.

Four new Venus caravans boasting ultra lightweight and compact interiors were showcased on the road show, which attracted hundreds of visitors and has helped bring strong sales numbers for the range.

Models of the new caravans were shown off by Lunar earlier this month across a string of retail forecourts up and down the country.

It now has more than 30 appointed retailers for the Venus range, including Canterbury Caravan Sales, Chichester Caravans, Ebor Leisure World Limited, Kenmore Caravans, MG Caravans, the Oxford Caravan Centre, Robinsons Caravans and Tyneside Leisure World Limited.

After debuting the new Venus caravans at London’s Motorhome, Caravan and Camping show earlier this year, Lunar has received strong interest from consumers in the range.

In February, Lunar’s sales and marketing director Martin Henderson said: “Venus brand has so far achieved all of the objectives we set for it. It has hit the right price points with extremely low weights, and has exceeded all expectations in delivering quality and specification at such a good value.”

Presenting the 45-year-old Thetford caravan Porta Potti

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by Tom Lowenstein

My, haven’t things changed! This is the Thetford Porta Potti – the most advanced caravan toilet system going circa 1967.

One of our international readers was going through old files when he came across this 1967 advert for Thetford’s Porta Potti – “a refreshingly new concept in sanitation for the lovers of the outdoor life”.

Peter Simmons from Vancouver, Canada, got in touch to show us the 45-year-old clipping of an advert for the toilet system. In fact, Peter was the man originally responsible for importing the Porta Potti to the UK.

“I was just sorting through some old files and found a copy of the first ad that I placed in the November 1967 issue of Caravan Magazine,” he told us.

“Caravan bathrooms have come a long way since then!”

They certainly have. The removable toilet is an entirely self-contained unit that can be carried like a suitcase and promises to be gas-tight and smell-free for 50 uses.

We’re not sure how keen we’d be to use a toilet 50 times then carry it round like a suitcase, but there you are.

Macmillan Cancer Support hails caravan fundraiser

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by Tom Lowenstein

Salop Leisure has been hard at work raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support this year and now the charity has thanked the caravan dealership for its “fantastic” support.

Across the firm’s ten-day West Midlands Caravan and Motorhome Show at its Shrewsbury outlet customers were asked to donate money when picking up a tea or coffee and in total this raised an impressive £655.74.

It comes just a couple of months after the Shropshire-based company raised £331 for its 2012 adopted charity during the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning event in February.

Macmillan Cancer Support’s Rachel Cooper thanked Salop for its efforts and said that the most recent cheque would fund a nurse to work for more than half a week.

“Three new Macmillan nurses were appointed to work in Shropshire last year due to magnificent fundraising in the county,” she revealed.

“We have appointed a GP facilitator to work with GP surgeries in Shropshire and we also want to establish an information centre at one of the two main hospitals in Shrewsbury or Telford.”

Sprite Caravans special on The One Show with Phil Tuffnell

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by Tom Lowenstein

Caravans have certainly been getting their fair share of television coverage recently and that is set to continue when the BBC broadcasts a special feature about the nation’s favourite pastime on the One Show.

Having recently published a book about the history of Sprite Caravans, industry expert Andrew Jenkinson headed to Malvern for an interview with ex-England cricketer Phil Tufnell as part of the show on Friday 4th May.

Anyone tuning in at 7pm tonight will get to see Andrew telling Tuffers all about the history of the company and its founder Sam Alper, as the pair sit beside a beautiful 1957 Sprite 14.

“It was a great day and Phil and the BBC crew were brilliant, plus the star of the show was the Sprite 14 with its restorer Mike Wye,” said Andrew.

If you missed the show, you can catch up on BBC iPlayer by clicking here.

VIDEO: Sprite Lite cuts weight without cutting corners

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by Chris Jefferies

The new Sprite Lite range has been designed to cut weight without losing the essential specification and features people want.

In this video CaravanTimes talks to Mick France, the project manager behind this new range, to find out just how they’ve managed to cut the weight but keep it well equipped.

There are three models in the range and all are fitted with facilities capable for cooking a family meal, as well as ample storage and Truma heating.

The MTPLM wights start from as low as 1,036kg and rise to 1,137kg, giving touring holidaymakers the option of a lighter towcar and the chance to cut petrol costs.

Prices in the Sprite Lite collection range from £9,910 to £10,865, making this the most affordable collection of British-built touring caravans on sale today

CaravanTimes to feature on BBC One’s Have I Got News For You

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by Chris Jefferies

Jeremy Clarkson, Ian Hislop and Paul Merton will be chatting about caravans on BBC One on Friday 4th May, when CaravanTimes makes its television debut as the ‘Guest Publication’ on Have I Got News For You.

Over the years, many esteemed publications such as Poultry World, Potato Review and Public Hygiene Quarterly have made an appearance on the topical panel show and now this website’s weekly newsletter will be joining them.

And in an ironic twist of fate, Top Gear presenter and self-professed caravan hater Jeremy Clarkson will be the man reading the caravan headlines (through gritted teeth no doubt).

Sat next to him will be veteran team captain Paul Merton, who discovered the joys of caravanning for himself just last year in a Channel 5 documentary.

Viewers can expect also some tense exchanges, as Clarkson will also be alongside Ian Hislop for the first time since the Top Gear host took out a super-injunction against the Private Eye editor to stop him printing details of an alleged affair.

Completing the panels are TV presenter and former Strictly Come Dancing contestant Nancy Dell’Olio, as well as Scottish stand-up comedian Kevin Bridges.

One of the longest-running prime-time shows on the BBC, Have I Got News For You is now in its 43rd series, so we think it’s about time that Paul, Ian and co. took a proper look at the wonderful world of caravanning.

Hopefully you caught it on BBC One at on the 4th or 5th of may and saw your favourite caravan website’s five minutes of fame. If you missed the show you can catch watch the clip including CaravanTimes below:

What did you think of the show? Have your say in our community forum.

VIDEO: Exploring the new interior of the Bailey Retreat

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by Chris Jefferies

The Bailey Retreat has got an innovative interior design which promises to make your caravan holiday a real home-from-home experience.

In this video, CaravanTimes meets Phillipa Brown-Jackson from Bailey to find out more about the new interiors and the thinking behind the two layouts.

The longer length and width (over seven metres by two and a half metres inside) means extra space, which has been used to create a social area for cooking and dining simultaneously, and a zonal layout which makes it feel more like a house.

The furnishings used are domestic quality to provide a more comfortable and luxurious feel for couples and families on holiday.

Prices in the Bailey Retreat leisure home range start from £22,000 and there are two layouts to choose from – the four-berth Willow and the six-berth Sycamore.