Touring Caravan Insurance

The Dutch, ever a forward thinking bunch, have decided to raise the speed limit for cars towing a touring caravan, or a trailer. As from 1st May the speed limit is to rise from 80 kph to 90 kph.

The main reason for this according to Dutch Traffic Minister Camiel Eurlings, is to help truck drivers who on many roads are not allowed to overtake caravans. This as you can imagine causes friction between car and truck drivers, even resulting occasionally in accidents.

They have also banned all drivers of any category of motorised vehicle from using a mobile phone. Previously light scooters and mopeds were exempt from this.

National Camping and Caravanning week 2009 is taking place from May 23rd to May 29th. The event, run by the Camping and Caravanning club is a celebration of camping, caravanning and outdoor activities.

Sponsored by the International Caravan and Motorhome Show 2009, Millets, and the Explorer Group amongst others, there are a variety of events taking place nationwide through the week.

Yeomans are holding a number of exhibitions nationwide to tie in with the event. There is a fly fishing demonstration at the Haltwhistle Club Site on 26 May, events at Ripon Racecourse, a rally at Hill Cottage Farm Camping and Caravan Park in Hampshire, to name but a few.

Competitions such as a children’s drawing competition, a Photography competition, a Halfords ‘Get Active’ competition (over £500 worth of bikes and scooters for the winner), and a Yeomans competition (the prize is a £800 Outwell Indian Lake 6 tent) are being held.

So, if you fancy getting involved, doing a competition, visiting an event, don’t delay, get over to their website: www.nccw.co.uk.

Caravans, us Brits love ‘em. And they are roaring back into fashion with the recession and the weak pound.

On BBC2  8:00pm - 9:00pm Thursday 02 April there is a documentary, narrated by Alison Steadman that details our love affair with the caravan. Showing how we became the world’s largest caravan manufacturer, and how the holiday habits of generations of families were transformed.

In telling the story of caravanning in the UK from the 50s through to the present day, the film explores how changes through these years reflect the wider changes in our society.

This sounds like a fascinating watch for all caravan enthusiasts, and to be honest anyone interested in British culture.

Caravan magazine has invited its readers to nominate their favourite caravan holiday destinations. In a new feature on its Your Sites section they will list the top 101 caravan sites across the country.

There are several categories under which the sites can be nominated. These include the Wow Factor Award, the Extra Mile Award, and the Close to Nature Award.

The aim of the Wow Factor Award is to find the most mind-blowing site in the UK, the ones that take your breath away.

Then there is the Close to Nature Award which is looking for the  environmentally friendly sites that work to protect our natural habitats and conserve energy. 2008’s winner in this category was Kelling Heath in Norfolk,  a 250-acre park that aims to put the caravan in harmony with its surroundings.

So get onto their site andput in your suggestions.

Morecambe and Lunesdale MP Geraldine Smith recently swapped the House of Commons for a caravan holiday park, Bolton Holmes Holiday Park near Carnforth. This was to coincide with ‘British Tourism Week’, led by the tourist boards of the UK, which boasts HRH the Prince of Wales as its patron.

Ms Smith met with a director of the Cumbrian family firm, Michael Holgate. The firm is behind the £4 million project which is going to bring together two existing caravan parks at Bolton le Sands.

At least 20 full-time jobs will be created, when the park opens fully sometime later this year.

Ms Smith heard that Bolton Holmes Holiday Park will cover 140 acres, and provide about 120 privately-owned caravan holiday homes. There will also be around 200 pitches for touring caravans and campers.

The park is to have extensive landscaping work, a number of conservation initiatives, and new roadways. This is in addition to a new bar and restaurant that will specialise in local foods.atives.

The MP said: “In areas such as rural Lancashire, tourism plays a vital role in supporting all types of businesses, from shops and pubs to visitor attractions.

Adding that, “in terms of helping employment, every two caravan holiday homes support one rural job according to Britain’s tourist boards.

Before concluding, “For this reason the investment in Bolton Holmes as a prestigious new park development for the area is to be applauded, and I wish the Holgate family every success.”

We wish you every success too.

Peter Mandelson, the Business Secretary has had a “positive” meeting with the National Caravan Council (NCC) to discuss the future of the industry. The meeting was also attended by John Prescott, and the Hull West and Hessle MP Alan Johnson.

The aim is to increase government support for the motorhome, caravan holiday home, and touring caravan industries during the financial downturn.

The NCC highlighted the financial contribution made by the industry to the UK economy. Including manufacture, tourism and insurance, this amount to £6 billion annually.

John Lally, Director-General of the NCC stated that the government “recognises that it is a difficult time for the UK caravan industry and that there are a number of challenges.”

He further said that the NCC “have been given the opportunity to work with government to explore collaboratively a range of measures to improve the situation for the industry.”

The NCC has asked the government for “constructive steps to be taken”.

We shall see.

This looks interesting. Bombay based artist Ashok Sukumaran has an exhibition title ‘The Neighbour’ running from March 9th to April 13th 2009 at the University of Westminster in London.

The exhibition looks at caravan culture during the 1970’s and 1980’s, and was commission by The Arts Catalyst, who explain the whole concept thus:

In The Neighbour, two ostensibly “mobile” habitats share space. One is a “static” mobile home from the late 1970’s, which developed as a way for lower-middle class families to partake in “caravan culture”, or escape longer term from the city and its property regimes. The second, coming from another direction in the same period, is a camper van, which follows gypsies and travellers in an attempt to produce the continuously nomadic home, built in the car factory.

These two objects, from the inside and out, ask us to inhabit questions about the contemporary “housing industry”, the overlaps in our landscapes of desire, of crisis, and the psychic dimensions of enclosure and spacing that have evolved not just among people, but also among competing machines, and their regulatory frameworks.

Sukurmaran himself describes it like this:

“The neighbour, neither friend nor enemy, is the one who may not be in your “network”, but is nevertheless in your world.”

I like the themes of the static and the mobile going on here. The intertwining of the permanent with the transient, to reflect on our society. And what a clever way to do it.

Here’s a bargain for you: 55 touring caravan and camping parks across the country are participating in Mail on Sunday offer of a pitch for 3 nights for just £2. These are available from Sun - Thurs from May 31 to July 2 inclusive.

The minimum stay is 3 nights, you get the first for free and the next two for £1 each. Electricity or entertainment passes are at an additional cost.

Bear in mind that not all dates will be available at all parks, so check before you book. Some parks may also allow you to extend the stay to the weekend.

Details of participating sites and a link to download the voucher can be found here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/hotel-sales