Caravans are the most popular paid for holiday in the UK and the industry is worth £6 billion annually to the UK’s economy. The Caravan and Motorhome Club is the largest touring organisation in Europe representing one million members.

 

Could you give me a brief overview of the club?

It’s a member’s Club for people interested in the outdoor life who want to use a caravan, motorhome or a trailer tent. The Club offers a choice of over 3,000 UK destinations plus sites in Europe and Worldwide Holiday options.

 

How has the Club evolved in the past 10 years?

Well it has changed from being called The Caravan Club to the Caravan and Motorhome Club to take into account that more and more of our members use motorhomes.

 

Last year you went to the Arctic Circle and I hear that you will be taking part in the Bristol to Bosphorus tour in April this year, can you tell me the aim of the tour and why the Club is supporting it?

One of our core values is about inspiring people to enjoy the great outdoors, so every year I like to try to do something pioneering that inspires people to get out there.  Last year I was part of the group that went to the Arctic Circle and this year we are going from Bristol all the way to the Bosphorus and back.

 

Recently you have introduced glamping pods and yurts, how will this affect the Club?

I think that it will be good news because it means more and more people can enjoy the Club and the great outdoors.  People can visit our Experience Freedom website and they can book a camping pod, a yurt or a glamping pod. There’s an accommodation choice in the outdoors that suits everyone.

 

Would you recommend members to venture outside of the UK and travel abroad?

Yes I definitely would, I think the UK is a beautiful country and I really enjoy spending time here and it’s also great to experience an adventure in a different country with different cultures.

 

How is caravanning different to staying in a hotel?

You decide your rules and your own itinerary.  You can change your view every morning if you wish by changing sites to experience a different location and to enjoy the great outdoors and get close to nature.

 

What has new technology done to improve the Club?

It’s made everything much faster, booking apps, online information, ‘how to’ videos – we offer a huge of amount of information to support and help people with their holidays and technology has improved the access to this information quite dramatically.

 

You get to travel a great deal, where has been your favourite place?

It’s very difficult, Altnaharra in Scotland is absolutely beautiful, if you want something closer to here in the south coast, Brighton is a great place to go for a holiday and St David’s in west Wales is a beautiful place.

 

One of the Club’s key aims is to inspire, how do you achieve this?

‘It’s through things like the Bristol to Bosphorus tour it’s also by having a really interesting and dynamic website where you can get lots of inspiration and ideas and it’s also through social media.  We have got great Instagram pictures, lots of members submit photos and stories to tell us about their adventures. We have an online forum called Club Together where there are over 400,000 people interested in caravanning and motorhoming who interact with one another and share lots of hints and tips.

 

You recently went through a rebrand, where do you see the Club in the next ten years?

‘ I see the Club growing and attracting more new members and I also think we will see more people who want to try motorhoming and caravanning with hire vehicles becoming members of the Club as well.’