Holidaying in a Bailey of Bristol 6 berth motorhome

Holidaying in a Bailey of Bristol 6 berth motorhome

With the easing of lockdown last summer allowing a little bit of travel within the UK but not permitting holidays abroad, staycationing had never been more popular. Cottages, hotels, Air BnB’s and practically all bookable places to stay were snapped up within days and it was slim pickings for a trip away from home if you hadn’t been quick off the mark. As if the availability hadn’t made things hard enough to find something, the prices skyrocketed with every proprietor seeing the supply and demand chain to his advantage and it meant quite a lot of us couldn’t go anywhere at all.

Stay-cations became all the rage!

We were lucky and managed to get a campsite for two separate trips, but though we love being away in our tent, it’s a whole heap of work for a couple of nights. With 3 children then (4 now including our newborn) it wasn’t so much of a holiday as such and more a fun challenge.

We said last summer “wouldn’t it be great if we had a motorhome?” but being a family of 6, we kind of assumed it was probably not likely there’d be one big enough for all of us to A) sleep in but B) most importantly, with enough seats for us all to travel in. However, 6 berth motorhomes most certainly ARE a thing and it’s become a bit of a family dream to have one actually! It’s worth mentioning at this stage that motorhomes up to 3500kg can be driven on the standard driving licence that is issued today. There are restrictions over this weight depending on what licence you have. The Camping and Caravanning Club explains this here.

Though we love to go abroad, we thought for the foreseeable it might be prudent to consider holidaying in the UK, and a motorhome is absolutely perfect for that – and faster and easier to pack up and go than it would be if we were using a tent!

Of course, if we were to buy a motorhome that’s not to say we wouldn’t be able to travel abroad in it at some point, indeed isn’t that the beauty of having one? Not only do you eliminate having to book accommodation (because you already have it) but you can pick it up and take it anywhere you like. Anywhere at all, the road, the country, the world is your oyster! It feels very freeing to think like that and the more and more we consider one, the more tempting the idea becomes. It has never been a more perfect time to consider a motorhome purchase and though everything is closed for in-shop browsing, Bailey of Bristol have a Virtual Showroom for their motorhomes which means you can take a 360º tour of the vehicles you’re interested in! They also have a caravan Virtual Showroom if they’re more your thing.

This is the Alliance Silver Edition 70-6 – 6 berth with 6 belted seats!

So, you can’t go to the shops, then do a virtual tour and it’s just like Zoom partying with mates, Facebook Portaling a quiz with the fam or Microsoft teams-ing a meeting – we adapt, there are ways around everything!

We have learned to do so many things from home these last 12 months that surely now we deserve to go somewhere else? But perhaps taking with us a little element of home is the ticket right now. You can never be too certain of a British weather forecast but even that doesn’t really matter with Bailey of Bristol.

Why I want a Bailey of Bristol 6 berth motorhome

Bailey of Bristol vehicles offer Alu-Tech body construction, a unique interlocking aluminium framework to clamp the body panels together with a significant reduction in the number of external joints and fixing points, along with using timber-free components in the upper bodyshell panels. This offers thicker, better-insulated panels, cloaked in impact resistant GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastic) and has hugely improved the thermal performance of the shell making it more robust and durable than anything else while offering greater protection against the elements. All this, with no increase in weight or cost and giving you the ability to lay your hat in your home on wheels 365 days of the year, whatever the weather!

We could all be so cosy and perfectly comfortable in here!

As well as being durable, Bailey also jam-packs their motorhomes with high-end features. In the Autograph 81-6, the driver’s cabin alone has a sat-nav and a reverse parking camera which makes it so easy to manoeuvre. In the living space, the 81-6 has a fully fitted bathroom with sink, full shower, toilet, mirror and toiletries cabinet. It also has a kitchen with a combined oven, hob and grill, fridge-freezer, sink and large work surface. It’s like being in a villa!

Motor homing with a larger family is 100% do-able!

For me and my family, I would like to buy a motorhome to last us a lifetime of holidays way, way into the future. I have many plans and dreams of where we’d go once restrictions ease, what we’d see and the fun we’d have while there. I’d like to drive to Portugal where Jonny and I got married and stop at various places along the Algarve as well as hitting cities like Lisbon. I’d also adore driving the family through France on a tour of both the southern and northern coastal resorts (are you sensing we’re beach people?!) but right now, right this minute, I’d just like to pack them all up after the strangest year of our lives and take them half an hour down the road to Suffolk or even within our own county to the beach North Norfolk. I’d like to give them a summer of mini trips and then take a drive to other places in the UK we’ve never even thought about visiting. The Jurassic coast, Devon, Cornwall and Scotland would also be on my wish list. We need a summer of adventure and we all deserve the very best so a Bailey of Bristol to carry us and keep us would be the perfect addition to this family of 6!