More than 104,000 people came through the doors of the NEC over the six days of the Motorhome and Caravan Show – the first time it has run in October since 2019. Practical Caravan joined the lively crowds admiring the latest new launches
The front kitchen returns
After an absence of a good decade or so, front-kitchen caravans were on display once again at the NEC. Adria has added to its upmarket Alpina line-up with the Rio Grande (pictured below left). Based on the Astella from years gone by, this includes just such a front kitchen.
You also get a central lounge with an L-shaped settee ideal for TV viewing. This converts into a bed to provide extra sleeping spaces, and there’s a transverse island bed in front of the rear washroom, which feels very much like an en suite.
The other front-kitchen caravan on display, which was actually launched last year but appeared in the UK for the first time at the NEC, was the Hobby Maxia 660WQM (pictured above), part of the German brand’s Scandi-inspired range.
Like the Rio Grande, the Maxia also has a transverse island bed and an end washroom, although the front lounge located immediately behind the kitchen is more U-shaped. The interior colour scheme is more monochrome, too. adria.co.uk
hobby-caravans.co.uk
From catering to caravanning
One new caravan on display for the first time at the NEC was the Campod, a distinctively arch-shaped trailer developed over the past four years from units that its maker, Leisure Pods, sells to the catering industry.
The trailer is lightweight, with a gross weight of 800-1000kg, and narrower than conventional caravans. It has wheels outside the frame, so you shouldn’t need towing mirrors.
But instead of having a single axle, it relies on independent suspension, meaning you can lower the floor.
This clever arrangement gives you an inside headroom of 6ft 3in and allows you to have three settings for the lounge: dining mode, lounging mode and sleeping mode.
This distinctive trailer also provides a kitchen with a two-burner hob, a space heater, a 120Ah leisure battery, and a Porta Potti stored in a separate cupboard. The Campod is priced at £23,450 OTR. campodcaravans.com
Self-healing caravan
The NEC also saw the UK launch of the Knaus Azur 500 EU, which won the Best Caravan for Innovation category in this year’s Practical Caravan Awards.
At first glance, it looks conventional, with a standard front lounge and a rear-corner bed and corner washroom. But look a little closer and you notice the clever storage compartments that come out of the fabric walls. There’s even more innovation on the outside – the “self-healing” shell can repair
