Baby Steps

When I first broached the subject of buying a caravan to my partner, he was very sceptical. He'd never been camping in any form before and, being from a large South American city, the idea of rural retreats and getaways was a completely alien idea. However, I persevered and after several months of looking around, we settled on a pre-owned 1995 Bailey Beachcomber 440/4.

As I had never towed anything other than a small trailer before, we decided our first outing would be a very short trip, just 30 minutes down the road. The idea being that if we had forgotten anything major, it wouldn't be too far to go back and get it.

We spent a wonderful weekend at Sumners Ponds in West Green near Horsham. The weather was stunning and the views across the West Sussex countryside were amazing. Friends, who lived locally, came along for tea and to marvel at our new toy.

Our short weekend came to an end all to quickly and we were soon packing up to go home. Half an hour after leaving the site we were pulling onto the driveway back home.

To my absolute joy, the first thing he said to me after we got back in the house was “when are we going away again?” Now I knew he was hooked.

There then followed a few 'Baby Step' trips with the distance from home becoming greater each time until we felt confident enough to venture further.

That was back in 2006. Since then we have been all over southern England and South Wales (where we now live) and even ended up in Canterbury in the middle of a snow storm. We still have our Bailey (which is cherished) and are currently planning our next break down to Lakeside Club site in Somerset.

We are still hooked and plan to be for a long while to come!!