The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
The groovy caravan comeback
Trailblazing hotelier Liz Lambert pioneered a retro caravan revival 12 years ago when she opened El Cosmico in arty Marfa, Texas – the planet’s coolest campground of restored midcentury vans painted candy colours or covered in knitted patchwork.
Somehow the offbeat cool that worked so well in the deserts of Texas and California didn’t quite translate to Britain’s seaside caravan sites, where the vibe is less Burning Man, more Sunburnt Gran.
But finally, triggered by another summer of staycations and severe shortage of affordable accommodation, British caravanning is having its moment in the sun. The Caravan and Motorhome Club now has one million members (up 14 per cent this year) and even the most dubious aesthete may be convinced by the sensational makeovers created by avant-garde interior designers.
House of Hackney founders Frieda Gormley and Javvy M Royle scoured the country for three classic caravans to house extra guests in the grounds of Hotel Trematonia, their Cornish castle
(from £190 a night, three-night minimum; houseofhackney.com/uk/ caravan-bookings). After a top-to-toe makeover, the brand’s riotous prints cover the vehicles, outside and in – ceilings, walls, cushions, deckchairs – with contrasting upholstery in richtoned velvets. Each even comes with its own complimentary Jeep Renegade 4xe in matching print.
In Margate, a trio of bright young women have transformed a static home at Birchington Vale Holiday Park into the retro-fabulous Club Jupiter. Interior designer Whinnie Williams (currently filming her new BBC Three renovation show Flat Out Fabulous), stylist Emma Jane Palin and Telegraph Travel journalist Anna Hart have taken a Willerby Bluebird from, as Hart describes it, “beige and slightly battered” to “Pontins meets Palm Springs”, giving each of the three bedrooms its own theme: Jungle, Space Disco and Lonely Heart Saloon (from £263 a night, three-night min; clubjupiter.co.uk).
Meanwhile on a farm in Herefordshire, Jo Pilkington was way ahead of the curve when she created boutique site Mad Dogs & Vintage Vans eight years ago, with five antique caravans – dating back to the 1930s and with a homespun cabbages-and-roses charm – set in meadows overlooking the Wye Valley. New on site for 2021 – which is, she says, definitely her busiest year yet – is the three-bedroom Hayloft and an on-site therapist offering treatments in the spa bell tent (from £85, two-night min; maddogsandvintagevans.co.uk).