Sommaire pour Summer 2017 de Practical Caravan

 Where are we? On the north side of the Loire river, looking across to Château Chaumont ‘Walt Disney would have been captivated by Chaumont’s round white towers topped with pointed slate roofs’Claudia Dowell page 26 What’s going on? The Loire Valley is known for its many stunning castles – there are plenty to visit along the length of the middle section of the river – and the quality of the local wines. Many of the wineries hold tastings and sell their wares at the cellar door Which outfit? Our Kia Sportage 2.0 CRDi 134bhp KX-3 made light work of the Caravelair Antarès 476, which can sleep up to six…

Cast your mind back to the 1990s and BBC2’s Food and Drink . Did you wonder what wine critics Jilly Goolden and Oz Clarke were talking about when they described Sauvignon Blanc as smelling like “cat’s pee” or Pinot Noir tasting like “old saddles”? They were using language to evoke an idea of the smell or taste. Try it for yourself in your caravan and you will learn a little about the different grape varieties; there are three things to consider: 1 Appearance White wines vary from very pale to a deep gold. From the colour you can usually tell if the wine has been aged (if at all) in oak or stainless steel. The deeper the colour, the more likely it is to be oaked –…

1 Dally in Dinan Engross yourself in the medieval streets of this little Breton town on your way south to the Loire Valley and you’ll soon find plenty that will make you want to stay. It is only around 30 minutes from the ferry port of St Malo, and yet perfect for a pootle at the start or end of your break. The orderly pitches of Camping International La Hallerais are a great place to call home for a night or two, and you can walk from the site down to the River Rance and follow the banks into Port de Dinan. Web www.campinglahallerais.com 2 Harbour artists Discover what entranced painters such as Claude Monet at the old harbour in Honfleur. A stunning collection of 16th to 18th century buildings…

Beverley and John Worgan opened this stunning new and purpose-built site in March 2015. Converted from a working farm, it has 18 hardstanding and 26 grass pitches, all with electric hook-up and TV points. There’s an immaculate heated washblock with facilities for the disabled and a laundry, plus a shop and a café selling cakes, snacks and breakfast to order. The site backs onto a beautiful area of woodland that is full of bluebells in spring. Address Bearse Farm, St Briavels, Lydney, Gloucestershire GL15 6QU Tel 01594 530 777 Web www.forestandwyevalleycamping.co.uk Open 1 March-31 October Pitches 44 (18 hardstanding) Pitch+2+hook-up £23-£26…

Price.................................. £30,540 Berths.............................................. 4 MiRO..................................... 1722kg Payload ..................................178kg MTPLM ................................1900kg Awning ...............................1041cm THE ELEGANCE IS Swift’s state-of-the-art flagship range, built using timberless SMART HT construction and sporting ultra-stylish looks. Since launch in 2014, the Elegance and its Sterling Continental twin have sold well despite a limited number of initial layouts. Now, Swift is boosting these highly specified ranges’ desirability with new floorplans. The twin-axle 650 has a central washroom and a rear island bed. The model made its debut at The Lawns trade show in 2016. Swift does not, of course, have this layout to itself, but the spec and design of the Elegance are sure to attract many who want this type of luxury tourer. The 650 tops the Elegance line-up, being the biggest and costliest, and although it…

Price £33,074 Berths 4 MiRO 1665kg Payload 160kg MTPLM 1825kg Awning 1090cm Contact Lunar Caravans, Sherdley Road, Lostock Hall, Preston, Lancashire PR5 5JF Tel 01772 337 628 Web www.lunarcaravans.com Measurements A Shipping length 7.89m B Interior length 6.34m C Overall width 2.33m D Rear island bed 1.83m x 1.34m E Front double bed 2.10m x 1.26m F Front single bed 1.50m x 0.74m Or try these alternatives Buccaneer Commodore Price £31,699 The Commodore is wider, marginally cheaper and heavier. It has a standard front lounge, and no coloured lighting. Swift Elegance 650 Price £30,540 Looks superb, feels solid and with a decent spec, but lacks treats such as the self-levelling system and lighting. Coachman Laser 650 Price £27,490 A smart-looking twin-axle tourer that looks like a bargain in this company.…

IF THERE IS one layout that could be said to be a top trend for the past couple of years, it’s the rear in-line island bed with a central transverse washroom and, in particular, one with a central pillar and a large mirror. People have taken to the idea of washroom space that can be accessed easily from the living area and the bedroom. And they like that the central pillar can hold a TV bracket on the other side. So it is surprising, perhaps, that this layout hasn’t previously made it into one of the longest-established ranges out there – the Swift Challenger. Challenger buyers have long enjoyed the comfort of fixed and island beds, but to get this layout they would have had to move up to the…

Price £17,805 Berths 2 MiRO 1184kg Payload 166kg MTPLM 1350kg Awning size 900cm Contact Coachman Caravans, Amsterdam Road, Sutton Fields Industrial Estate, Hull HU7 0XF Tel 01482 839 737 Web www.coachman.co.uk A Body length 5.28m B Interior length 4.62m C Overall width 2.26m D Interior width 2.11m E Front double bed 2.01m x 1.50m F Front single beds 1.86m x 0.73m Useful info Perfect partner For an 85% match, you need a tow car with a kerbweight of Shipping length 6.25m Tyres 185 R14 104 Interior height 1.96m Overall height 2.60m Thermal insulation EN1645 Grade 3…

VW Tiguan R-Line 2.0 TDI 4Motion DSG Tested by Alastair Clements Price £37,060 Kerbweight 1723kg Towing limit 2200kg Towball limit 100kg IN A NUTSHELL 190PS oil-burner kicks off our petrol versus diesel back-to-back ONE OF THE hottest topics among car buyers in 2017 is actually an age-old debate, but one that has been reignited with new vigour by recent changes in legislation: petrol or diesel? It’s a question that has particular relevance among caravanners, because the torque characteristics and economy of diesels make them the obvious choice for towing, yet there are fears that new taxation could make them costly anachronisms in years to come. Happily, petrol development has been moving on apace, and modern petrols are not only cleaner and more efficient, but also significantly torquier thanks to the…

Model tested 1.4 BoosterJet SZ5 Allgrip Auto Price £25,099 Kerbweight 1260kg What’s new? SUZUKI UPDATED THE SX4 S-Cross last year, replacing the inoffensive but bland styling with a more robust look. The big grille may be a bit heavy-handed to some eyes, but there’s no doubt that the updated model is a more distinctive car. What are we looking for? The revised S-Cross won the ‘Best Budget 4x4’ prize at the Tow Car Awards last month. That’s why we want to get to know the Suzuki better with some longer tows and solo drives. Towing Let’s get one thing out of the way from the start – you’ll need to own a light caravan if you’re going to tow it with the S-Cross 1.4 BoosterJet. Whether you opt for the…

WANT AN UPMARKET tourer but at a mid-market price? It can be done if you buy on the pre-owned market. A well-specified, nearly new tourer can deliver the desired upmarket ambience for under £19,000. We were looking for two caravans with the popular twin fixed beds and rear washroom layout and found them in Livingston, West Lothian, at one of Scotland’s biggest dealerships. Knowepark Caravans sells new tourers from Swift, Coachman, Sprite and Hymer, so rich pickings are guaranteed from the trade-ins on the used forecourt. We chose a 2015 Bailey Unicorn Cadiz, which is the current version of the Unicorn at the time of writing (a new model is on the way soon). Our second contender is a rather nice Coachman Pastiche 565/4 from 2014. Our two- and three-year-old…

Touring fun with a special Sprite I’ve subscribed to Practical Caravan for a number of years now and enjoyed the readers’ stories very much, so thought you might like to hear mine. We bought our Sprite Exclusive in 2013 from Yorkshire Caravans of Bawtry; it’s a six-berth Quattro with a front lounge, a nearside fixed bed and a side dinette, in order to accommodate me, my wife, Sarah, and our children Jake (10) and George (6). When we first bought the caravan, the boys slept in the dinette bunks, which was perfect because if we got up and the kids were still asleep we could go into the lounge until they got up. Now they are a little older they sleep in the lounge, so we use the side dinette.…

SU HURREL’S FIRST foray into restoration was sparked by the need to find a trailer for her eco art business. As she trawled through the listings on eBay, a rare 1970 Widerøe Lillebrör Chateau Mobile caught her eye. Su’s work involves creating pop-up gardens and running workshops to share her love of nature and horticulture, so she travels the festival circuit. She even achieved a Merit at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Flower Show at Tatton Park. A trailer seemed a great solution, both for accommodation and for drawing the crowds with an unusual display. “Ultimately, I fell in love with the romance of rescuing one of these funny-looking caravans from extinction,” says Su, “so I bought her sight-unseen for £150. The ad had alluded to some problems with rot, suggesting…

This is the Valley of Kings. Not the parched landscape near Luxor that hides the tombs of ancient Egypt’s pharaohs, but a much closer place, favoured by the French monarchy, who built their ornate, pointy-turreted castles that surely inspired those in Walt Disney’s famous animations. This is the Loire Valley. The countryside was strewn with gold vine leaves and amber and russet coloured woodlands during Bryony’s and my visit in mid-October. It was a stunning time of year to tour a beautiful region of France. Our pitch for the duration was near Tours, at Camping Les Acacias, an attractive, level and wooded site that’s open all year and is a tow of just three hours or so from Caen. Bryony and I had spent our first night in the comfort…

 RED WINE IS not generally on my menu for the first meal of the day. I cannot think of a time that it has been, least of all chilled. Until now, as I break the morning fast among 14 other visitors – all French – to witness the Champagne grape harvest. Some guests sup bowls full of black coffee; others take a stronger, smaller mix. I sip tea. But we all drink red wine with our croissants from the village boulangerie, pâte croute (best described as a long pork pie) and regional cheeses, the combination making up a Champenois breakfast. ‘Once the favourite tipple of France’s Sun King, Louis XIV, Bouzy Rouge is a still red wine that’s so scarce, you can only buy it in or near the village’…

ROSEMARY AND I have now owned our Avondale Dart 515-4 for seven months, and we were both looking forward to going away for the May Day Bank Holiday weekend, which coincides with her birthday. She did wonder, however, why I had chosen south Gloucestershire. Far from having anything against the place, it’s simply that we have a list of locations in the UK and beyond where we’d love to take our caravan, on which this part of the country does not appear. I couldn’t tell her the real reason, which was that it was within comfortable travelling distance for her best friend Laura and family (husband Steve and children James and Sophie, aka the Pells) who I had secretly invited to join us in their own caravan for the weekend.…

TOP EVENTS... Music and much more Join the pop-up village that is Wickham Festival for a weekend of fun, laughter and brilliant music. You can pitch your van at the festival and enjoy all of this in the heart of the Meon Valley. Date 3-6 August Web www.wickhamfestival.co.uk Day out with Thomas Take the opportunity to meet Thomas the Tank Engine and all of his friends at the magical Watercress Line in Alresford; rides on Mid Hants Railway trains will also be available. Date 5-13 August Web www.watercressline.co.uk A look at country life The one-day Romsey Show is packed full of the area’s finest animals, big and small, with spectacular displays including heavy-horse logging, a showjumping exhibition, a food zone and bandstand, classic car displays and traction engines.…

The Chinese touring market is taking off, and British firms may soon be reaping the benefits. That’s if the expansion of the annual All in Caravanning show in Beijing is anything to go by. The show, which is run by the organisers of the Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf, took place at the end of June and this year added two new halls, taking it up to 33,000 square metres of indoor and outside space, comprising some 635 exhibitors. That compares with just 53 exhibitors in 5000m2 when the exhibition first started five years ago. International exhibitors included big German names such as Fendt, Hobby and Hymer, as well as Slovenian brand Adria. As PC went to press, a group of 39 caravanners from Germany, France, Austria and Switzerland were hoping…

Price £30,540 Berths 4 MiRO 1722kg Payload 178kg MTPLM 1900kg Awning 1041cm Contact Swift Group, Dunswell Road, Cottingham, East Yorkshire HU16 4JX Tel 01482 847 332 Web www.swiftgroup.co.uk Measurements A Shipping length 7.94m B Interior length 6.38m C Overall width 2.26m D Front double bed 1.98m x 1.53m E Front offside single 1.88m x 0.67m F Front nearside single 1.53m x 0.67m G Rear double bed 1.82m x 1.33m Or try these alternatives Lunar Alaria RI Price £33,599 Super-luxurious and with self-levelling corner steadies. L-shaped lounge and mood lighting add to smart interior. Sterling Continental 650 Price £30,540 If it looks familiar, that’s because the Sterling is identical to the Elegance apart from a more contemporary finish. Coachman Laser 650 Price £27,490 A smart-looking twin axle tourer that looks like…

Price ...................................£27,640 Berths .............................................. 4 MiRO .....................................1734kg Payload..................................166kg MTPLM.................................1900kg Awning size ..................... 1078cm ADRIA HAS BEEN supplying caravans to the UK market since 1971, and its layouts are probably the most anglicised of all the imports. Adria isn’t afraid to try something new, either. For 2012 it introduced the 2.5m-wide Astella, with its front kitchen, centre lounge, fixed beds and end washroom. While perhaps a little quirky, it did have some great features. Fast-forward to 2017 and the Astella has been rebranded Alpina, and there are two new models: the Colorado and Missouri, the latter of which we look at here. Adria has taken the rear fixed-island-bed layout and added its own twist. Rather than having a full-width washroom across the centre of the caravan, it’s longitudinal, and opposite the…

Price £20,220 (price as tested £21,810) Berths 4 MiRO 1318kg Payload 156kg MTPLM 1474kg Awning 1020cm Contact Swift Group, Dunswell Road Cottingham, East Yorkshire HU16 4JX Tel 01482 847 332 Web www.swiftgroup.co.u Measurements A Shipping length 7.54m B Interior length 5.83m C Overall width 2.23m D Rear island bed 1.90m x 1.33m E Front double bed 2.02m x 1.56m F Front single beds 1.56m x 0.72m Or try these alternatives Lunar Lexon 590 Price £20,699 A recent addition to the range, the 590 is a good match for the 560 – and you get a rear locker with external access. Elddis Affinity 550 Price £20,899 The Affinity has a central washroom you can seal off: the washbasin is tucked to the side. Payload and MTLPLM are very similar to the…

The facts behind the figures If you’re a Coachman customer then you’ll not be swayed by rivals, but if you are new to the market, the Elddis Avanté 482 looks better value; it has the ATC system, a ‘Skyscape’ rooflight and a panoramic window, or you may prefer the lightweight Lunar, while the Sterling might persuade you with its bigger fridge and modish interior. Standard equipment Construction Al-Ko galvanised steel chassis; Advanced Bonded Construction with fully bonded bodyshell; 25mm sandwich sidewall; 25mm sandwich roof and 45mm sandwich floor External equipment Gas locker; alloy wheels; underslung Al-Ko spare wheel carrier and steel spare wheel; step-on hitch cover; one-piece door with window; TV aerial; satellite receiver Heating Truma Combi heating and hot-water system; programmable LCD control panel; Truma Compact inlet with Flojet…

“IT’LL NEVER WORK,” they said. “Even if it does, no one’ll buy it,” they said. ‘They’ were the traditionalists, historians and journalists who believed Porsche should stick to building the 911 and, at a push, the odd supercar such as the 959. How glad we should be that Porsche ignored them, because if it hadn’t it wouldn’t be around now. The Cayenne’s sales and profitability helped Porsche in times of need, and are what allows the firm to continue making cars such as the Cayman, 911, Panamera and the odd hypercar such as the 918 Spyder. The second-generation Cayenne was launched in 2010, and sales have flourished. It’s a car that deals with just about every situation, be that motorway cruising, inner-city shuffling or towing. It’s true that the Cayenne…

When to go Autumn is a beautiful time to visit, but if you stay at Camping Les Acacias you can visit at any time of year. Way to go We used Brittany Ferries’ Portsmouth-Caen route, which offers two ferries a day in March and November and three ferries a day from April through to October; check the website (www.brittany-ferries.co.uk) for updates. The crossing can take up to seven hours. We opted for an overnight ferry, but you can make a daytime crossing. As a guide, our trip for a caravan, car, two people, plus cabin, cost around £500. From Caen we took the N158, A88 and E402 as far as Alençon, then the A28 to join the A10 just before Tours. We crossed the Loire at Tours and joined the…

WHEN TRAVELLING UP to the cross-Channel port of Caen from the Bordeaux region of France, we have often stopped overnight in Saumur, to break the journey. The most central campsite we have found is Camping L’Île d’Offard, which, as the name suggests, is located not only in the centre of town, but also on an island in the middle of the Loire river. Even though we were weary after a long day’s drive, we never failed to be impressed by the magnificent floodlit château, towering above us on the other side of the river. Every time, we promised ourselves that, one day, we would stay for a while and explore the area properly. Now that our children no longer accompany us on these tours, at last the time had arrived…

L’Étang de la Brèche is three miles to the east of Saumur, along the E60 on the north bank of the Loire. This is a well-laid-out site with large grassy pitches, most with some shade. The popular pool complex is close to the equally popular bar and restaurant, and we both enjoyed a delicious meal here. English is spoken, and the site can be booked via Eurocamp Independent and Les Castels. Address: 5 Impasse de la Brèche, 49730 Varennes sur Loire, France Tel 0033 (0)2 41 51 22 92 Web www.camping-castels.co.uk or www.domainedelabreche.com Open 15 April-10 September 2017 Pitches 201 (sizes vary from 130-170m2 ) Pitch+2+hook-up €22-€45 (Premium pitches €32-€55)…

Aldridge Hill Camping in the Forest site near Brockenhurst has beautiful surroundings, ponies wandering around, great sunsets, and no ‘pitches’ as such – just find a place and stop! No hook-up or toilets, either: perfect. Paul Dickinson Site essentials This beautiful, natural campsite is located in the heart of the New Forest. It has stunning views over heathland, and is nestled between Blackwater Stream and Ober Water. You can choose to pitch on the open fields or within the forest itself. As such, it’s a haven for both walkers and wildlife enthusiasts: the free-roaming animals of the New Forest are frequent visitors to the site, and there are numerous opportunities for exploring on foot or bike. Address Brockenhurst, Hampshire SO42 7QD Tel 02476 423 008 Web www.campingintheforest.co.uk Open 25…

Price................................... £33,074 Berths.............................................. 4 MiRO.....................................1665kg Payload .................................160kg MTPLM .................................1825kg Awning ............................. 1090cm AS PART OF the current trend for caravan manufacturers to add luxury to luxury, Lunar launched the all-twin-axle Alaria brand earlier this season. The range offers a higher-spec kitchen than the already opulent Delta range and, with more domestic styling to the lounge to make things that little bit more comfortable, it was partly designed with seasonal caravanners in mind. To heighten that sense of luxury, there are standard self-levelling steadies. There are three models in the range, each with essentially the same lounge layout. We reviewed the Alaria TI, with transverse island bed and end washroom in our December 2016 issue. Here, for those who prefer the current trend of a central, full-width washroom, along with a…

Price £27,640 Berths 4 MiRO 1734kg Payload 166kg MTPLM 1900kg Awning 1078cm Contact Adria Concessionaires Ltd, Unit 2 Drury Drive, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 1WH Tel 01787 888 980 Web www.adria.co.uk Measurements A Shipping length 8.25m B Interior length 6.14m C Overall width 2.46m D Front double bed 2.25m x 1.73m E Front nearside single 1.63m x 0.74m F Front offside single 1.71m x 0.74m G Rear island bed 1.90m x 1.52m Or try these alternatives Elddis Crusader Aurora Price £23,399 Has a centre washroom and a 1526kg MTPLM. Very well specified and, though narrower, much less expensive. Lunar Delta RI Price £27,799 A previous ‘Tourer of the Year’, it has a side island bed and centre washroom. Twin-axle, but has an MTPLM of 1720kg. Swift Conqueror 560 Price £26,235 Narrower,…

2.0 TDI 150PS SE L Price £24,565 Kerbweight 1354kg What’s new? THE FACELIFTED OCTAVIA’S split headlights are the most obvious change. The Octavia also has updated and improved infotainment systems, including the optional Columbus system fitted to our test car (£1050). Mechanically, though, it’s largely as it was, which is no bad thing, given how capable the Škoda has always been as a tow car. In fact, if you read last month’s issue you’ll know that the Octavia has reclaimed its crown as our favourite lightweight tow car at the Tow Car Awards 2017. What are we looking for? The car that scooped a prize at the Tow Car Awards last month was a DSG auto. This month we’re trying the manual. Is it just as good or is the…

COUPLES’ TOURERS ARE plentiful on the used market, but lightweight models are a little harder to find. And this is where the Sprite Alpine slots in. It’s a name that’s well-known in caravan folklore, and has always been associated with excellent value. The 2011 Alpine 2 was a good seller, and with large, one-piece front windows these Sprites have bright, airy interiors, and feel spacious and practical, whichever model you choose. Most buyers specified the optional upgrade pack when buying new, which means a decent spec including alloys, an AKS hitch stabiliser, a radio/CD player, scatter cushions and a door flyscreen. MODEL HISTORY The Alpine has been around since 1958 in various forms. After a period of absence from 1999, the name returned to the UK market with a vengeance…