Rambling Nan

They’re a lot of money these camper vans. By that, I don’t mean they’re not worth it. But before I break open my pension pot, I want to know that my money will be well spent.

There was only one way to find out – rent a camper van and take a trip. If I hated it, I could shelve the plan. If I loved it – well maybe I won’t be able to afford a posh care home when I get old, but at least I’ll be able to enjoy some terrific memories while I ‘rough it”.

Maybe I’d end up like Maggie Smith in that film “Lady In A Van”,

So, plans for a tester trip began to evolve.

The Cost Of Renting A Camper Van

First thing to consider for my tester trip (and potentially for my future camper van adventures) was affordability.

Researching camper van rentals revealed some superb websites where motorhome owners rented out their private vehicles at very reasonable prices. Especially when you compare the costs to hiring an AirBNB. But Oh My Goodness the security deposits were way beyond affordable for me.

Then I stumbled upon Bumble Campers from Peterborough. Their website sat WAY down in the Google search results (I could help them fix that!) but I loved their ethos. They aim to make camping affordable and enjoyable – which is something that appeals to me too.

So I agreed a date with J – my eldest grandson (I didn’t feel confident to go on my taster trip solo) and set about choosing a van to try.

We settled upon a Toyota Estima – one with the distinctive Bumble colouring that I’ve come to love. The back seat converted into a double bed, a neat kitchen sat in the back end and for J, a tent box on the roof meant we could each have our privacy.

Milo joined us on our trip. That’s another thing I loved about Bumble Campers, they’re dog friendly.

The van came equipped with a gas stove, all the cooking utensils we could need, cutlery, crockery, cool box and thermal blackout blinds for the windows. We also hired a power pack because I was concerned that my phone (aka sat nav) might run out of charge. As it happened, the power pack wasn’t needed for this trip.

This first experience of campervanning, was not so much about driving to different places, as it was about learning to camp. So we found a booked a small-ish camp site in Lincolnshire which was conveniently located between a pub and an aircraft museum. (J LOVES aircraft museums!).

J drove me to Peterborough to collect our hire van and after completing the paperwork and being shown around the vehicle by James, I drove it back here to the farm to load it up.

Lesson 1. There’s limited space in a campervan so you can’t pack everything! Several of the things I’d earmarked to take with us were left behind.

Getting set up at the camp site in Spilsby. J found the roof tent easy to unfold and comfy to sleep in.

First Impressions Of Our Bumble

Oh my goodness, first impression was that driving these machines is an absolute dream. So smooth, so comfortable, so responsive. OK so maybe it wasn’t as spacious as my ‘perfect’ campervan would be, but I felt confident driving it.

Lesson 2: be prepared to compromise on your wish list. Not everything you ‘want’ is as important as you first imagined it might be.

Where We Went

The Red Lion at Spilsby in Lincolnshire was our camp site for two nights. Loved it!

The first evening we chose to eat in the pub, which was convenient, dog friendly and delicious.

The second evening, J cooked for us on the portable BBQ we’d taken with us.

Day 1 was mostly taken up with collecting the Bumble, packing, unpacking and repacking while we tried to fit everything in. Then driving to Lincolnshire, setting up J’s roof tent and settling in.

After our meal we took a short walk to let Milo stretch his legs and to locate the air museum.

It took a while to convert the back seat into my bed and to put the blinds up. All part of the learning curve – I’m expert at it now.

The bed was roomy and reasonably comfy and I felt safe sleeping in the Bumble. Milo, as always slept very well indeed.

Just Jane, the Lancaster Bomber whose restoration led to the founding of the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre

Day 2 was hot weather which meant that eating breakfast outdoors was divine. Once we’d tidied up and got dressed, we wandered over to the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre. Brilliant, dog friendly museum with lots to do and plenty of shade to keep Milo cool.

In the afternoon, J folded his roof tent back down into it’s box (very easy to do) and we took our Bumble for an explore.

Bolingbroke Castle was reasonably close by and I was pleased at how easy the car was to handle around the very narrow and twisty road to it.

The tiny lanes around Bolingbroke Castle

From Boligbroke, we drove through the Lincolnshire Wolds for a while before locating a Supermarket for supplies. Parking was joyfully easy – if anything the vehicle was more manouverable than my Volvo V60. Another plus for the Bumble.

After a scrummy BBQ from Chef J, we settled in for a second night of great sleeping.

Day 3

Homeward bound and of course J and I can never turn up the opportunity to visit places of interest. So we visited Tattershall Castle before travelling cross-country to Newark Air Museum and then wending our way back to Norfolk.

What we loved about our Bumble:

• Affordable
• Intuitive driving
• Simple interior
• Easy maintenance – no water tanks, leisure batteries, big gas bottles or waste disposal to worry about
• Great service
• Dark skies
• Friendly atmosphere on the camp site
• Cooking outdoors
• Feeling safe

What we’d improve on

• Not enough height – I’m too old to get dressed in the back of a car
• Milo struggled to get into the vehicle when the bed was down – he has a metal plate in his leg which slightly restricts how high he can jump
• Rear kitchen meant that had it rained (it didn’t!) I would be making that all important early morning coffee whilst standing outside PLUS having the back door open to cook could potentially make the interior cold in cooler weather.

By the end of the holiday I was hooked. A Bumble Camper was a must for me. Maybe something a bit bigger than the Estima would be best. And knowing that J & P (my campervanning pals) loved their Toyota Alphard, I checked the Bumble Campers stock list (they sell vans as well as rent them) and found a likely candidate to discuss with James when we returned our hire camper. The rest, as they say, is history.