After caravans made history centuries ago, became associated with the hippy lifestyle. Nowadays the caravan is having a surprising recovery.



Knights used the caravans in Crusades and the people who afforded to have one used it as tool for moving around. The conquest of Wild West is probably the one who made the caravans famous. What would it have been like to cross the Rocky Mountains without the covered wagons? The alternative was a cold draughty ride on a horse or tramping along in the mud. Only a hundred years ago you could see brightly painted horse-pulled Romany caravans on our roads.

But what about now, when you have roads and maps and so many means of getting where you want? What would be now the role of caravans? You can find the answer in the need of freedom people are still having.

In the last century motor-car ownership took off but the same thing happened to caravans and soon drivers found themselves queuing behind lines of caravans on the way to the coast. For decades the typical image of motor-caravanners was probably that of a hippy family in an old VW. Nowadays the image of caravans is so much improved and in many cases caravan became a luxury home-from-home with a price to match.

By the time more and more people that had money to spend became interested in having their own home from home that could give them the freedom to travel all over the place in good condition, the static caravan took off. These uncool and static caravans located by the sea or by the wild forests are now history.

Lately caravanning became one of the country's most popular holidays. Celebrities enjoy this way of traveling or more accurate this way of living. Actresses like Helen Mirren and Tracy Shaw, singers like Mark Owen, Chris Evans and even Sir Jimmy Saville are owners and satisfied users of caravans. And now we can talk about fancy, luxury and styled caravans.

The classic old hand built caravans, such as the Stirling and the Carlight, used to be expensive - the top of the market. Back in the fifties, these caravans were bought and run by owners of the Armstrong Siddeley, Lagonda and Rover cars. The owners thought nothing about embarking on overseas trips with them of thousands of miles.