Tabla de contenidos para April 2026 en Practical Motorhome

SUDOKU To solve the puzzle, each row, column and 3x3 box must contain the numbers 1 to 9. No single digit can appear twice in any one row, column or 3x3 box WORDWISE You have 15 minutes to find as many words as possible using the letters in the grid. Each word must contain four or more letters, one of which must be the central square. No proper nouns, plurals or foreign words are allowed. There is one nine-letter word in the grid; the clue is: conspiracy 15 = average More than 25 = well done NOTES HALF & HALF What is the real first name of the Marvel superhero known as Blade, played by Wesley Snipes in a film trilogy? Cross out a letter in each square to get…

These days, there’s a lot of talk about the politics of personality, but standing in an extensive cave system near West Wycombe, we were transported to a time when politics was at the centre of a scene of debauchery and decadence. We were in the notorious Hellfire Club, founded by politician and hellraiser Sir Francis Dashwood, in a venue that couldn’t be further removed from the scenic countryside outside. To the manor born We had originally decided to visit the Chiltern Hills in search of its wonderful walking routes, dramatic National Trust properties, historic landmarks and fascinating heritage attractions – all of which exist in abundance. From Dunstable Downs to Wallingford, there’s so much to see and do in this understated part of the British countryside. We stayed at Home…

Gunwalloe Caravan Park, Cornwall Gunwalloe, Helston TR12 7QJ Tel 07866 631 394 gunwalloecaravanpark.com This quiet family-run site sits pretty on the Lizard Peninsula. It’s just four miles from Helston and a five-minute drive from the sandy beach at Church Cove. Take your pick of wildlife-spotting opportunities. It’s a 20-minute drive to Lizard Point, one of the best places to see seabirds in the UK, with species such as terns, razorbills, gannets, shearwaters and guillemots. Alternatively, visit the Cornish Seal Sanctuary (sealsanctuary.sealifetrust.org/en/) in nearby Gweek, where you can see rescued grey seal pups being rehabilitated. If it’s marine life that floats your boat, nearby Porthkerris Divers (porthkerris.com/) provides shore and boat diving along with PADI dive courses. Look out to sea for passing dolphins (2) and porpoises. Pinewoods, Norfolk Beach Road,…

Q My husband and I, who are both in our early 60s, are keen to buy our first ever campervan. We are both fairly traditional at heart. So we would probably be more likely to go for something that is made in Britain, and probably with a rear lounge. There will only be the two of us. The other issue is the length of the vehicle. We are not too sold on the idea of storage sites. In any case, we might occasionally want to use the motorhome as extra accommodation when the children’s families come to stay. So we want to keep our new vehicle on our front drive. But we only have 6m space. Can you help? We probably have a budget of around £55,000. Rosemary, Surrey A Campervans with…

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Cottingham-based Swift is the UK’s largest manufacturer of leisure vehicles, with a portfolio covering both trailer caravans and motorised ones. The latter includes everything from neat and nifty pop-top campervans to palatial six-wheel coachbuilts. Voyager is a relatively recent addition from the Cottingham crew. It is also Swift’s first on Ford Transit underpinnings. Aimed squarely at ‘families seeking adventure’, all offer at least four travel seats and four sleeping berths, with some variants having a brace more of both. Drivers without Group C1 on their driving licences are increasing in number, prompting Swift’s determination to keep Voyagers under 3500kg MTPLM. This enables them to be driven by anybody with a car licence (Group B). All are built on the front-wheeldrive version of Ford’s finest. For the first couple of years…

■ NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ClubFest When 22-25 May 2026 Where Kelmarsh Hall, Northants Why This Caravan and Motorhome Club festival is suitable for all ages and is packed with family-friendly things to do, such as bouldering and kayaking. The focus is the ClubFest music stage, with acts including 70s legends The Bay City Rollers, DJ Chris Moyles’ 90s Hangover set, and tribute acts in homage to the likes of Tina Turner, Neil Diamond and Madness. How much A range of weekend options are available from £475. For example, a standard plus pitch with access to electric hook-up and toilet and shower block costs £550. Prices are based on two adults and up to six children per pitch. caravanclub.co.uk/whats-on/clubfest/ ■ SUFFOLK Red Rooster When 28-30 May 2026 Where Euston Hall, Euston, Suffolk Why…

Ask most British motorhomers about their preferred European road trip destinations and you’re likely to hear familiar answers: France, Spain, maybe even Italy and Portugal. Germany, however, rarely makes that list. Which is surprising given that it is home to some of Europe’s most unspoiled mountains, as well as having a fascinating and varied culture, one that is, to most of us, rather unknown. We too were guilty of overlooking the many wonders woven into the very fabric of the country. While we had briefly passed through on our Big European Odyssey trip, we hadn’t really taken the time to stop and explore properly, opting for a few city visits before quickly moving on to Belgium. That all changed last summer when, looking for a change from our usual haunts,…

DIY: know your limits! As regular readers will know, I’m all for DIY in general but there is a caveat: make sure you know what you’re doing first. I recently had a 25-year-old coachbuilt in for MoT repairs; both front outriggers which carry the front jacking points were rotted out. The fact that the jacking point is welded to the outrigger doesn’t make it a failure: the fail is because the rotten bits are within 300mm of a suspension mounting point. The problem with DIY in this case was that someone had made ‘repairs’ to both outriggers before. The driver’s side had a couple of little patches tacked on and the passenger side had been bodged up with fibreglass and body filler, neither of which are structural materials. Both sides…

Earlier in the year, we made a list of the things that make our 1998 ’van a little harder to live with than it needs to be. Many have been sorted already – the plumbing is more reliable and there have been various power and lighting upgrades. One area still languishing near the bottom of the list, however, is the dreary, dog-eared rear lounge. At the back of the ’van it’s all rather basic. Only the rear window has a curtain, there’s just a single ceiling light, and in our case, the blinds are in a sorry state. The rear one doesn’t retract properly, the offside one is broken, and the whole area could do with cheering up. We have plans for lights and cushions, but first, we needed to…

how to buy… Choosing your motorhome Most good showrooms are designed to help you take your time choosing. After an initial bit of chat to find out what you are really looking for, a good dealer should then allow you plenty of time to look for yourself undisturbed. And even if you have made your choice, many showrooms include a comfy area where you can sit down, study the paperwork, and decide what finance option is best for you. This even applies if you are buying at a show. Your dealer should allow you plenty of time to think. great for… Anyone downsizing SWIFT VOYAGER 505 (p101) Price £71,390 Sleeps 4 Belts 2 Base vehicle Ford Transit Engine 2.2-litre, 140bhp Length 6.19m MTPLM 3500kg Payload 663kg Water (fresh/waste) 110/85 litres…

letter of the month Last spring our motorhome was parked up with nothing in use, but connected to its solar panel and mains hook-up. The carbon monoxide alarm started to go off at odd times so I changed the batteries, but it continued to go off intermittently. The alarm was found to be beyond its expiry date so a new alarm was purchased and fitted. That also began to go off, so we thought it must be a defective unit – although my wife did say there was a strange smell in the ’van. Another alarm was purchased and fitted the day before leaving for France. We meandered down through France and my wife continued to complain of a strange smell in the ’van. I then noticed that the battery…

Gerber ComplEAT This packable six-piece camp prep set features dual-sided bamboo and polypropylene cutting boards, a 3.25” paring knife and a 6” chef knife in corrosion-resistant stainless steel, as well as a locking storage tray for easy transport. Price £119.99 gerber-store.co.uk Kampa Sandy Low Chair This lightweight yet robust low chair has rigid arms for easy access. It folds in seconds, packs into its own carry bag and delivers comfort for beach days, camping, festivals and more. Price £19.95 purelyoutdoors.co.uk Nitecore NU21 Head Torch An ultra-light 44g headlamp with 360-lumen max output, USB-C rechargeable 500mAh battery, white and red LEDs, dual-switch control and glow-in-the-dark adjustable headband. Price £32.95 valleyandpeak.co.uk CloudTouch Blanket This ultra-cosy CloudTouch blanket has a wool-like fleece backing. Its four-in-one design converts to become a pillow, sleep sack…

A couple of years ago, I heard about a seaside campsite bordered by sand dunes and a beach beloved by seals. It has been on my mind ever since, but as we’re not really keen on just sitting on the beach all day (lovely as that beach may be), other sites have always won out. Until last summer. Everything I had been told about Waxham Sands Holiday Park in Norfolk was true. A short scramble over dunes brought us onto a long sandy beach where I can honestly say I have never seen so many seals in one area. With food trucks due on-site over the weekend, very little cooking was required, adding to the sense of relaxation. There was just one pub in walking distance, no towns full of…

We rarely have a plan for our campervan adventures, preferring instead to point our noses in a general direction of travel and play it by ear. This summer in the UK was no exception as we left our home in Lincolnshire and drove ‘vaguely northwards’. We pootled around the Lake District for a while but, with school holidays looming, took flight and headed to Northumberland, hoping it would be quieter. We had recently invested in annual membership of Historic Houses, with free entry to over 300 historic estates across the UK. Keen to start making use of that, Alnwick Castle was the first stop on our tour. Film location When we arrived, ‘Broomstick Training’ was taking place in the castle’s Inner Bailey – harking to its use as a Harry…

You may think it only feels like yesterday that the Motorhome & Caravan Show was on at the NEC, but the time has already come round again for its smaller but in many ways just as perfectly formed cousin: the Caravan, Camping & Motorhome Show. Due to run from 17 to 22 February 2026, this year’s show will include the world premiere of an entirely new motorhome and campervan brand (albeit a brand stemming from a very well-known name in both motorhomes and caravans), plus a new model from Auto-Trail and a whole raft of exciting new off-road vehicles for the more adventurous. Even if the above does not interest you, there are plenty of other reasons to visit the ‘quieter’ of the two shows in the year. Any vehicle…

It’s Camper Ni for Auto-Sleepers Camper Ni, a motorhome dealership in Hillsborough, has been appointed a dealer for Auto-Sleepers – marking the first time that its new vehicles have been represented in Northern Ireland. Auto-Sleepers describes it as ‘an important step in enhancing accessibility and support for our customers across the UK’. Initially, Camper Ni is offering selected campervan models from its Fiat and Mercedes-based ranges, including the latest Active van conversions, as well as aftersales support for all Auto-Sleepers customers, with a dedicated Service Centre equipped to handle warranty work, campervan servicing, and genuine parts. Camper Ni is also an agent for motorhomes from Pilote (including Joa), Benimar, Mobilvetta, Le Voyageur and Platinum Wave. Auto-Sleepers is one of the bestdistributed motorhome brands in the UK. It’s sold by more…

In the modern world we take it for granted that motorhomes are highly developed leisure vehicles with the latest tech, trends and all-year-round usability. We have a seemingly endless choice from both imported makes as well as homegrown motorhomes. But turn the clock back 50 years and things were very different. By the late 1950s the coachbuilt motorhome had re-emerged after losing its market share to the touring caravan during the early 1930s. By the late 1960s, sales of coachbuilt motorhomes were on the rise, and so too were motorhome manufacturers, with 99% being built in the UK. Jennings was a passenger coachbuilding company and one of the early motorhome makers, starting in the 1930s as a caravan manufacturer before eventually changing to motorhomes in the early 1960s, becoming part…