What price a summer of VW campervan fun?

 

Is the cost of VW shows too high?

Our to-do list of 2011 VW campervan trips, shows and camping dates is shaping up nicely, but there have already been comments on Twitter about the high cost of some VW shows. The ones we’ve got our eye on appear quite reasonably priced, so we thought we’d share. First up is Bus-Types at Oswestry (15-17 April). We went for the first time last year and had a blast. We even managed our first ‘tweet-up’ with @wubsdubs. We’ve already got our tickets for this year at £15 per adult for the weekend (Fri to Sun), which includes Sat night entertainment.

Over Easter the Chester Food, Drink and Lifestyle Festival (23-25 April) is incorporating VW CamperFest for the second year running. A bit pricier at £25 per adult (£35 on the day) but you get four nights’ camping, entry to the three-day Food, Drink and Lifestyle Festival and entry to the Beer Festival on Friday and Sunday.

In May is Bus-Types’ sister show, All Types, at Bodelwyddan Castle in North Wales on Sun 15 May with camping from Sat afternoon. Advanced tickets are £12 per adult for the weekend. We went a couple of years ago and had a good time even though it was a smaller show than Bus-Types.

In between we’ll be heading off for some day events, including Chipping Steam Fair (28-30 May) where there is usually a small but perfectly formed display of classic cars in between those magnificent steam engines; the 10^th Garstang Classic Vehicle Show on 12 June for £6; and of course Volkswagen Northwest (7 Aug), which costs £5 per car to enter Tatton Park and then £7.50 per adult to get into the show.

Given that the cost of fuel has rocketed since last year too, VW fans may choose to stay closer to home, visit smaller shows or just one big show a year. We’d love to know what you think, which shows you think are reasonably priced and which are not.

Related Articles

• Counting down to Bus Types show in Oswestry, Shropshire (vwcamperfun.wordpress.com)
• Smokin’ hot VW campervans and the Oswestry Bus-Types show (vwcamperfun.wordpress.com)
• VW campervan shows in UK and Europe (vwcamperfun.wordpress.com)

Fancy a year’s free membership of the Camping and Caravanning Club?

Win camping prizes

Then head for Manchester for the Caravan and Motorhome Show 2011, which opens on Thursday January 20 until Sunday January 23 at Manchester Central (formerly GMEX).

Once there, as well as admiring all the latest camping goodies from more than 100 exhibitors, find your way to the Visit Peak District & Derbyshire’s stand – Z13 in Hall 3 – and you could win a variety of prizes, one of which is a year’s free membership of the Camping and Caravanning Club.

Tickets for the Manchester show are £6.50 in advance and £8 on the door. But you don’t have to wait until January 20 – go to the show’s website at manchester.caravanshows.com and there are competitions there to win Khyam goodies, a holiday and breaks in motorhomes.

 

There’s going to be a Breeze in Blackpool…

Image via Wikipedia

No, not a weather forecast – a VW event. The first ever Blackpool Breeze is being held in the resort 10-12 September! Organised by Demon Dubs and Westcoastdubz, there will be camping from Friday evening at two sites (see here for details). Then on Saturday, VWs of all shapes and sizes with gather from lunchtime on Blackpool Promenade where there will be a show & shine competition and entertainment plus discounts from nearby attractions. In the evening, the Breezers will have a prime view of the second night of the World Fireworks Championships, after which will be trip through the famous Blackpool Illuminations.

And, unbelievably, it’s all for free, although the organisers are hoping for donations of about £5 a vehicle that will be split between Brian House Children’s Hospice and TramShed Theatre Company. Camping will cost between £5 and £10 a night, but again money raised will go to the two charities.

Music festival season’s not over yet!

Electric Picnic festival

There’s still just about time to get tickets for Electric Picnic, known as the ‘Irish Glastonbury’, held next weekend (3-5 September) at Stradbally Hall Estate in County Laois, Ireland. Headliners include Massive Attack, Roxy Music, Mumford & Sons and LCD Soundsystem. A weekend camping ticket is €240 (£198) per adult plus €60 (£50) for a campervan. See www.electricpicnic.ie for details.

Smokin’ hot VW campervans and the Oswestry Bus-Types show

What a glorious weekend the Bus-Types show turned out to be. The sun shone almost continuously on Oswestry Showground – only slightly dimmed by the smoke of a million barbecues! And there was a fantastic array of VW campervans to admire and inspire.

Our 100-mile journey to the show was, erm, eventful. The Chief Engineer had rebuilt Seymour’s engine (see our Flickr stream for images of the oily bits) and we probably should have done a short test run before setting out. But we didn’t. And we nearly paid for it.

Let’s just say there was a fuel spill situation that was smokin’, but not in a good way. And then the dizzy cap split – thank heavens for gaffer tape!

But we finally got there and we had a fabulous time – kicking back, beer out, bbq on, watching Chinese lanterns float across the night sky. Mooching around the stalls, enjoying the disco, laughing at riders falling off the bucking bronco. Loving the atmosphere, making friends and even having our very first ‘tweet-up’ with @wubsdubs!

The show also gave us the chance to finally use the canvas awning we bought some years ago. We think it’s an original 1970s VW campervan awning, but I’m not sure the green and brown go with Seymour’s purple exterior – although the brown does match the rust! And I love the fringe.

I also love what some camper owners have done with their interiors – from the snazzy Beano and Dandy comic pages to the denim pockets, the mud hut look and the sophisticated white leather. And it’s all about the detail in the simple-but-evocative Beach sign.

It was all over far too soon, and we’re not sure when we’ll next hit the road: I am moving jobs, which will eventually mean a house move and all the palaver that goes with that.

But there are shows to go to, parts to buy and bits to weld, so there are plenty more tales of Seymour to come. So stick around – and tell us about your VW campervan fun!

Counting down to Bus Types show in Oswestry, Shropshire

All Types 2009 show at Bodelwyddan Castle, N Wales

Very excited to have just got our wristband passes for the Bus Types Show in Oswestry, Shropshire, on April 16-18! We went to the All Types show last year at Bodelwyddan Castle in North Wales – run by the same people – and had a great time, despite the weather!

Seymour’s pilot and chief engineer has been busily rebuilding the engine in preparation for our 100-mile journey (one way), and although there’s still a leetle problem with the fuel supply, he’s confident that we’ll get there. If you’ve an interest in the oily engine parts of VW campervans, check out the Flickr photos (top right, under Oily Bits).

Hope to see you in Oswestry – come and say hello if you see us!

Dreaming of barbeque weather

Colourful start to summer

Looking forward to barbeque weather? This summery blue portable barbeque bucket looks great for cooking up a treat on the beach, picnic or campsite. It has retractable feet to keep heat away from the ground, an inner coal holder to keep mess separate, a sturdy handle and chrome griddle and pretty butterfly embossing around the top. It measures approx 28cm wide x 17cm high x 28cm deep and costs £15.99 from The Gifted Penguin.

Once you’ve cooked you could eat up your goodies with this new range of spotty cutlery, which would look great in any campervan. Each set contains 16 pieces and costs £29.99 from The Contemporary Home.

When it’s time to relax, you’ll be sitting pretty with these zingy coloured cushions from Tesco, especially as they’re just £16 for a pack of two.

Meal stops with good views

Vroom with a view

While taking Seymour out for a wander around Lancashire and over the border in to Yorkshire yesterday, we stopped to have lunch at Jeffrey Hill near Longridge. It’s a popular viewpoint over the Trough of Bowland with Parlick, Fairsnape and Beacon Fell in the distance.

As we tucked into our sandwiches, it occurred to us that we should make a list of good places to stop for meals while out and about in the van. Ideally, these would be free and either have a good view or be tucked away from a main road.

In this spirit, for our evening meal we stopped in a lorry lay-by off the A65, between Hellifield and Long Preston, Skipton-on-Swale. While the view was a bit limited, it was at least away from the busy road!

So have you got a favourite spot to eat while out in your campervan? Or do you know of a similar list that’s already compiled? We’d love to hear from you.

DemonDubs’ birthday beach bash

Beach babe!

Volkswagen fanatics club Demon Dubs is celebrating its fourth birthday with a Big Beach Bash at Southport, Lancashire, on Sunday March 14, 2010. We’d have liked to tag along, but not only is it Mothers’ Day, we also have to attend another family function!  But anyone interested can find out more here where you can see some very nice looking campervans, beetles and other VWs.

VW campervan shows in UK and Europe

It's showtime!

As we’re still relatively near the beginning of the year, we settled down the other night with a cool beer and a hot computer to see what VW campervan shows we could aim to visit over the next 10 months.

And lo, we found a handy little website here that lists VW shows not only in the UK but across Europe too – although, taking Seymour to Europe may be just a tad too ambitious at the moment.

Of the shows within a reasonable travelling distance of our home on the Fylde coast in Lancashire, the only one we noticed missing from the list was the Gathering Off The Hill, held by the VolksWigan V-Dub Club on August Bank Holiday Weekend. No dates yet for this year, but we’ll watch that space!