Hi Mel
We did have a pennine pathfinder for about 12 months which was ok however I had to do a lot of work before the kettle was put on and my mates who sail with me had caravans. Pull onto site move with movers, level and then drop corner steadies, put on kettle then offer me a cup of tea and I arrived an hour or so before them!!!.
But my mate who has been caravaning for years said last year at Lincoln that I would have a caravan within 12 months I said don't think so but when they both left the site I was still packing away. Just got the cover on before it rained.
Was going to the caravan and motorhome show last year but wanted to see what cost were beforehand and we went over to Reading Caravans for a little look 4 hours later a little shell shocked but we bought our caravan a 2008 Bessacarr Cameo 525 SL.
Only draw back we have to make the bed up but are getting into a routine now but next van will have a fixed bed or the 2 singles at the back with rear bathroom.
We purchased isabella magnum porch awning with the eclipse sun canopy, the 220 tall awning extension (boat workshop) and the isabella windscreen / windbreak. 2 isabella director chairs and 2 loungers with the foot rest. Bank balance drawined after the show in Birmingham but must admit you get what you pay for quality. The windbreak in particular is absolutely rock solid, we used it in Gouda when it was blowing quite hard the van was rocking but everything stayed where we put it.
We are going up to kneps farm near Fleetwood in September and going for last trip of the year on the south cost before we put the van into winter storage.
And when I look back over the last 16 months or so I don't know how we did it. Places we are difenately going back to is the CC site at lake Coniston but will follow the directions in the book and leave the sat nav off. As I said in my earlier reply we scratched the van and windows when towing through the very narrow stone walled road after Ambleside, although I managed to tow the van very sloooowly to miss the walls and watch the rear when turning I could not keep away from the tree branches hanging over which caused quite a few scratches along the near side of the van and windows.
I spoke to our dealer at Reading Caravans and he was so helpful actually he demonstrated how to get scratches out of the window using Silvo works a treat on acrylic and I had a couple of deep ones. On the van I used mers polish again he demonstrated how to do it and also advised Tesco for Silvo halfords for mers.
Really honest butch of guys and van looks as good as the day we picked it up
:cheer: