Well, we have finally found our home from home on two
wheels. It's been a journey of discovery just finding said caravan to take us
on our journeys of discovery. My initial
pie in the sky idea has taken many twists and turns and what we have finally
settled on is not what I started looking for.
My search started around 6 months ago and I quickly fell
head over heels in love with a 1960's caravan the owners had called Mable.
Mable was a vision of retro beauty and even earnt her keep as a prop for BBC TV
programmes ~ she was divine. Mable even won the heart of my husband who was not
as keen as me to purchase a caravan. Mable was an introduction into 6 months
research and leg work which has lead us to our final purchase.
I have been obsessively swooning over 60's and 70's retro
caravans of an evening for a while now and my poor husband has been like a cat
on hot bricks every time he hears the words "Oh, come and have a look at
this, isn't it perfect, shall I ring them?" My idea of
perfect is retro looking oozing character and charm. My husband’s idea of
perfect is free of damp and rot and not another project. This is where our
worlds have parted and I've been left to go it alone in the search for our home
from home.
After months of research a great tip off came from my uncle
Clive who suggested we visit a local caravan site and service centre. The
information they imparted was invaluable and on the journey home the penny
reluctantly dropped that 60's/70's caravans were dogged with problems and, like
all older things, would be a constant project to keep inhabitable and roadworthy.
My husband knew I'd finally come around to his 'sensible' way of thinking.
I then begrudgingly dragged my pie in the sky dream forward
into the 80's and went in search of some classic 80's nostalgia whilst my
husband banged his head against a brick wall thinking ~ grrr she so does my nut
in, she's still a decade out.
Flip forward into the 90's where it is just about possible
to find a caravan without damp and in a road worthy, non-project state and we've
hit our compromise and found our home from home on two wheels.
Our choice is practical, homely, in a road worthy state and
has everything and more I ever dreamt we'd have in such a confined space. Its
early 90's and I can see us finding it a breeze holidaying in it. Its 30 years
away from my initial starting point but then I'm more than 30 years ahead of
the game in knowledge now than when I first started out on my search. I can't
look at old retro caravans in the same light anymore and charm has been
replaced by the service centre words ringing in my ears of damp, bodge jobs, parts being impossible to find, spongy rotten floors, gas leaks
when sleeping, stories of shells coming off their chassis when driving along
and much, much more.
Our Hermie is where mine and my husbands worlds have now
collided and we have finally found ourselves a home on two wheels.
