Monthly Archives: November 2014

Poole Farm CL in Devon wins first prize

30 Sunday Nov 2014

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The Caravan Club is proud to present this year’s CL of the Year Award

The Poole Farm Certified Location (CL) in Devon has taken The Caravan Club’s most prestigious award for certified locations.

CaravanTimes was delighted to be in attendance to see owners David Hunter and Diana Smith receive their award in the House of Commons from Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport, The Rt Hon Sajid Javid.

The CL is defined by The Caravan Club as privately-owned, maximum five-van sites. They can be found scattered across the UK and are mainly set in idyllic and remote locations including farms, country estates and beside inns.

The CL s are extremely valuable to the surrounding community as they provide important additional income for local communities. The Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act (1960) enable The Caravan Club to grant certificates to landowners to operate CLs and each year, they recognise the top sites across the UK at their annual Parliamentary Reception.

This year’s winners Diana and David were ecstatic with winning the award after once upon a time when they themselves had their hand in the honey jar of sweet sites around to The Caravan Club’s CLs in their motorhome ‘Winnie’:

“Before buying the Poole Farm we had a motorhome called ‘Winnie’ and we loved visiting The Caravan Club’s CLs, dreaming of one day owning and running our own. So when the opportunity arose we designed it to our own tastes and preferences, thankfully our visitors seem to share these with us,” they commented.

Diana and David continue to take pride in their site and have always taken on advice from those who visit, not concerned about the competition as much as just creating a friendly environment to suit guests – is this the key to their winning ways?

“Over the three seasons that we have been open we have welcomed comments and suggestions, many of which we have implemented. It is so rewarding to receive positive comments and see returning visitors, many of whom have become friends,” they continued.

Long existing Carrs Hill CL owners Grant and Gillian Turnbull enjoyed a runner’s up position, followed by the third place and last year’s runners up Brunette Cottage Caravan Park CL in Ty Broughton, owned by Paul and Helen Clarke.

http://www.caravantimes.co.uk

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

Winter tips from the Institute of Advanced Motorists

23 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by in Road Safety

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Unless your motorhome is safely garaged away for the winter then you need to take bad-weather precautions, warns the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM). Even if you are only heading for a port and sailing for warmer climes, the British weather will make it a challenge just getting there. There are seven essential checks, according to the IAM, that everyone should carry out.

• Ensure your lights are fully working; if a bulb is not working you will need to replace it before starting your journey or go to a garage and get it fixed straight away. Keep a spare set handy in the car. If you are caught driving when your lights are not working you could face a fine of up to £1000.

• Check the washer bottle is filled with screen wash, rather than just water, to remove grime from the screen. Ensure windscreen wiper blades are working properly too, without leaving lines or smearing the screen.

• Check the brake fluid reservoir under the bonnet, and if it is lower than it should be get the motorhome seen by a mechanic urgently. Driving in this way is dangerous.

• Check tyre tread depth. The legal minimum on a motorhome is the same as a car at 1.6mm. Use a tread depth gauge to measure them and check the tread surface is not worn out. Driving with tyres below the legal minimum tread depth can result in a fine of £120.

• Anti-freeze should be topped up all year round, so don’t neglect this over the winter. Ensure it is filled at the correct mixture to stop the coolant in your ‘van from freezing. Check you have the concentration of the fluid right for the temperatures you expect.

• Make room to pack an emergency kit containing a blanket, torch, shovel, and a fully charged mobile phone so you can contact your breakdown service provider if required.

• Make sure you have last year’s ice scraper and de-icer at the ready and ensure they are still effective, or get new ones for this year. Frost can strike overnight; don’t wait till it’s too late.

Discover more advice from the IAM at http://iam.org.uk

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

Ford Terrier to Turkey and back

22 Saturday Nov 2014

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Tomorrow, Sunday, 23 November, David Elliott and Layne Stuart from Wellhouse Leisure are setting off on a seven day, 5,000 mile return road trip to Turkey to take one of its award-winning Ford Terrier campervans back to the Ford factory where its Transit base vehicle was made.

To follow their journey, look out for regular Tweets from @wellhousecamper with the hashtag #TerrierRoadTrip

The road trip starts from Yorkshire in the early hours of Sunday morning, followed by an early morning Eurotunnel crossing to France, and then on to their first night stop, which is expected to be somewhere near the Austria/Slovenia border. On Monday they expect to reach Bulgaria, before arriving at the Ford Transit factory in Turkey on Tuesday.

After meetings with Ford on Wednesday morning, and grabbing a photo opportunity of the Wellhouse Terrier with some of the people who helped build its Transit base vehicle, the Wellhouse road trip will start its return leg to England, expecting to arrive home late Friday night.

And why? Because this is what a campervan like the Wellhouse Ford Terrier was built to do, and it seems a good idea at the time……

A full report and photos from the #TerrierRoadTrip will follow upon their return.

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

AA Caravan and Camping Awards 2015

15 Saturday Nov 2014

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The AA has revealed the winners of the coveted AA Caravan and Camping Awards for 2015. The award winners all feature in the new edition of the best selling AA Caravan and Camping Guide. With details of 900 fully inspected and rated caravan and campsites throughout the United Kingdom, this updated guide is a must have for anyone planning a trip away in a caravan, motorhome or tent.

AA CAMPSITE OF THE YEAR 2015
England and Overall winner – Oakdown Country Holiday Park, Sidmouth, Devon
Scotland – Witches Craig Caravan and Camping Park, Blairlogie, Stirling
Wales – Bron Derw Touring Caravan Park, Llanrwst, Conwy

AA REGIONAL CAMPSITE OF THE YEAR 2015
South West – Fauxquets Valley Campsite Castel, Guernsey
South East – The Orchards Holiday Caravan Park, Newbridge, Isle of Wight
Heart of England – Longnor Wood Holiday Park, Longnor, Staffordshire
North West – Manor Wood Country Caravan Park, Coddington, Cheshire
North East – Golden Square Caravan and Camping Park, Helmsley, North Yorkshire

HOLIDAY CENTRE OF THE YEAR
Park Foot Caravan and Camping Park, Pooley Bridge, Cumbria

MOST IMPROVED CAMPSITE OF THE YEAR (ROGER ALMOND AWARD)
Wells Holiday Park, Wells, Somerset.

SMALL CAMPSITE OF THE YEAR
Churchill Farm Campsite, Buckfastleigh, Devon

The sites in the AA Caravan and Camping Guide 2015 have all been visited by one of the AA’s qualified Campsite Inspectors to look at touring pitches, facilities and hospitality before grading the site from one to five Pennants, including the Gold Pennants awarded to the best parks. Each entry within the guide includes location, ratings, contact details, directions, prices, opening times, facilities and a description to help select the right site for your needs.

The AA Caravan and Camping Guide is available from The AA Shop for £12.99 and as a free app.

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

The Caravan Club: new app to help surfers surf happy

08 Saturday Nov 2014

Posted by in Marketing, Technical

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TCCsitesurf will be an essential tool for surfers who are looking to make the most of the waves!

With UK weather being as changeable as it is, when conditions are right for surfing, staying close-by with great facilities enables pros, hobbyists and families, to make the most of the conditions while they can. To assist with this The Caravan Club has developed the TCCsitesurf app.

Last week The Caravan Club announced it is to support one of the UK’s highest profile national surfing events during the weekend 8 and 9 November at Fistral Beach, Cornwall and they have followed up this announcement with the launch of an app.

The Club is well-placed to offer the UKs estimated 500,000 surfers access to its UK sites network of around 3000 locations, many within striking distance of some of the UKs most popular surfing beaches. Upon launch, to coincide with the 2014 POSCA British National Surf Championships, the TCCsitesurf app will enable surfers to quickly and easily locate Club sites near to their desired surfing location.

Caravans, motorhomes and trailer-tents are becoming increasingly popular and provide flexible and affordable home-away-from-homes, holidays and breaks for those who like to get out into the countryside, whether it’s cycling, trekking surfing or simply relaxing – The Club shares your passion for the great outdoors.

The Club’s main site network, many of which include dedicated camping areas and nearly all with electric hook-up and shower facilities are the perfect place to stay to make sure surfers are warm, fresh and ready for the next day’s action. They also offer a place for drying laundry, which means no more damp wet suits the day after!

Tony Hall, Marketing Director for The Caravan Club, says, “Whether you are a caravanner, VW campervanner or tent camper our sites provide safe, flexible and affordable accommodation so that you can stay up close to the action and surf happy. Many of our fantastic coastal sites are located near to some of the UK’s most popular surfing beaches. So, if you enjoy the outdoors or enjoy an outdoors interest then caravanning or camping makes sense.”

Hall continues, “This app is the perfect tool for surfers, allowing them to match up their favourite beaches to great Caravan Club sites that can offer them a wonderful place to stay.”

NOTE FROM CM: I popped into the Google Play Store and found TCCsitesurf immediately, downloaded it and it works fine. Whilst its fundamental role is to link surfing locations to Caravan Club sites – which it does very well – it does much more than that and as it gets populated over time with even more information I can see it being essential visiting by the surfing community. (Google equals Android but in due course it will be available in the Apple App store for IOS devices such as iPads and iPhones.)

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

Manchester show Jan 15 to 18 2015

08 Saturday Nov 2014

Posted by in Exhibitions and Shows

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New models unveiled at The Caravan & Motorhome Show

The Caravan & Motorhome Show will be pitching up at Manchester’s EventCity from 15th-18th January 2015, offering a huge choice of the latest models of touring caravans, motorhomes and holiday homes. There will be over 300 exhibitors showing new motorhomes from all the leading manufacturers. In 2015, the show will feature more product launches than ever before, with new layouts being exclusively unveiled by leading manufacturers Bailey and Swift.

Visitors can enjoy exclusive show-only offers, exciting new show attractions and stock up with all the holiday essentials at the Towsure Accessory Superstore, whilst browsing the latest models from leading brands including Swift, Bailey, Elddis, Lunar, Coachman, Adria, Compass, Xplore, Auto-Sleepers, Bürstner, Knaus, Chausson, Auto-Trail, Autocruise, Moto-Trek and many more.

The four-day event includes Great Days Out – showcasing leading tourist attractions and offering inspirational new ideas for fantastic UK places to visit. Plus, there will be discounted ticket offers that are exclusive to visitors of the show.

Confirmed for 2015 are a whole host of attractions to fill your next UK holiday with, including The National Football Museum, Wychwood Brewery, Gulliver’s Kingdom, Ullswater Steamers, Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway, Visit Ribble Valley and more.

Those new to touring can benefit from The Caravan Club who will be offering visitors the opportunity to have a go at one of their free taster sessions – choose from ‘Motorhome Manoeuvring’ or ‘Tow Car Try Before You Buy’.

After this, visitors can swing by The Food & Travel Stage to see Simon Reeve, Charley Boorman and Martin Dorey from ‘One Man and His Campervan’ cook up their favourite dishes and tell tales from their many adventures.

The box office is now open and tickets are available at caravanshows.com or by calling 0844 873 7349 where a booking transaction fee applies. Advance booking closes 9pm Wednesday 14th January. Standard advance ticket £8.00; on-the-door £9.50.

The Show is being held at EventCity, Phoenix Way, Off Barton Dock Road, Manchester, M17 8AS and opens on 10am Thursday, 15 January 2015, closing at 5.30pm Sunday, 18 January.

Read the latest show news in the digital version of MMM magazine.

Source: MMM

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

Harwich and Felixstowe

01 Saturday Nov 2014

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I felt an Autumn picnic was in order so I took the motorhome over to Harwich where I found glorious sunshine and 16 degrees. The container ships tipping up at Felixstowe opposite Harwich seem to be getting bigger and bigger and Harwich itself has some very nice parts to it but they are of course overshadowed by the docks.

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews