Caravans are in my blood, I just love them
We travelled down to central France and spent two weeks in the sunshine cleaning caravans!
Ihave always loved caravans. My parents got their first one when I was 12. It was second hand and cost £200.
I remember being allowed to count the money; all one-pound notes secured by an elastic band. The thing I loved most was the tiny kitchenette, as to me if felt like I was living in a dolls house.
We got our first caravan in 1989, again we bought it second hand and we had many successful trips away including to France. We upgraded a few years later to quite a fancy model and we kept this caravan until we bought a holiday home in France in 2003.
We have even worked with caravans! My husband John and I were responsible for the maintenance of a fleet of mobile homes in France for seven seasons, which was a great job and meant that we lived in a caravan during the season too. When we retired from that position, I went onto the Great British Bake Off and we bought another second hand caravan around that time, in fact when I left the show, I was off and away in the caravan within two days, it was a great escape! We travelled down to central France and spent two weeks in the sunshine, cleaning caravans! As you might guess, I really do love to caravan!
Last week we decided to upgrade our caravan to one that is a bit sprightlier. It was hard to decide where to go shopping for one and then I remembered my friend Cameron, who is a caravan expert and a fellow member of the Caravan Writers Guild, works as an adviser at the Leeds Caravan Centre. I decided to pick his brains and see if he could give me a few pointers.
We went along to view a few vans and fell in love with a Swift Challenger Sport. It is roomy, has a beautiful end bathroom and a very spacious kitchen area which ticks boxes for me straight away. It is also much newer than the one that we traded in and has a wonderful contemporary feel.
Cameron and the team at Leeds could not have been more helpful and easy to talk to, although I did take cake which always helps! We struck a deal, and arrangements were made to come back a few days later to collect our new caravan. The handover was smooth, and we were soon hitched up and on the road! I can’t wait to take it on a trip and to get cooking in that kitchen.