Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Our caravan love affair...
7in wide, with two berths, a mus stove and a wardrobe, y were just one step up m a tent. mon Mcgrath says: “Early dels were made of wood and n lined with hardwoods like hogany, making them surprisingly vy for such a diminutive size.” ut caravanning was marketed to public as “the holiday problem ed” and they climbed on board roves. grown to around 50,000. Today it stands s their taste for adventure grew, so at 730,000 while the Caravan and the need to provide suitable Motorhome Club has over a million psites and safety information, which members. to the birth of clubs such as the Retired teachers Pam and Jim mping and Caravanning Club and the Mctague, from Hertford, began avan and Motorhome Club. caravanning in the 80s after a disastrous t the start of 1919, the Camping and camping holiday with their children avanning Club had just 755 Katie and Matthew. mbers. And they have been doing it almost fter the Second World War, Eccles ever since. They love the freedom and duced the Enterprise, which was say people might be sniffy but ll, affordable and mass-produced, caravanning is every bit as luxurious as king the pastime affordable for more a hotel break. ple than ever. Pam, 66, remembers: “We went to nd by 1960 membership of the Cornwall in a tent and it rained and mping and Caravanning Club had rained. So when we came back we In 2011, the famously caravanhating team at BBC’S Top Gear blew up one to celebrate getting 10 million followers on Facebook. The Stig pushed the detonator... bought a caravan for £400. It had a gas hob, a fold-down double bed and a single with a hammock over it for Katie. There was no toilet, so you used to have to use the toilet blocks.
“But we just loved the freedom. As teachers we got long holidays so we could just hitch it up and go off for weeks on end.
“The first year we went to France where we met people who have become lifelong friends and we would meet them year after year.
“It was great for the kids as they grew up. They would make friends on the campsite and you knew they were safe. “It was also really economical and meant we could go away every holiday.” Those early days of chemical loos, slimy shower blocks and limited running water have been consigned to the past.
Today’s vans have every mod-con imaginable, from Sky TV to walkin showers. Some even have mobile apps to control the heating and lighting remotely.
Others have under-floor heating, USB charging sockets, mood lighting, gas BBQS and spacious fully-fitted kitchens.
But they can come at an eye-watering price with some costing even more than houses.
The most expensive on display at this weekend’s Caravan and Motorhome Show is the Kon-tiki Dynamic which starts at £146,000.
The Mctague family caravanned for years until the kids grew up and they sold their van in 2000.
But about four years ago they decided they missed the lifestyle so much they bought a new one and haven’t looked back for a moment.
Pam says: “We went on a hotel holiday to the Isle of Wight.
“But the room was cramped and you had to be down to breakfast for 8.30am.
“We missed the freedom of caravanning. If you get to one place and you don’t like it, you can just hitch up and move on to the next place.
“People think it is a poor man’s holiday but it is far from it. Caravanning can be really luxurious – the one we have now has a walk-in shower and a bathroom which is almost as big as the one we have at home. We love it.”
The Caravan and Motorhome Show is at Manchester’s Eventcity this weekend.