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Must have accessories for your ‘van

One of the great things about owning a touring caravan is your ability to customise and personalise it to suit your own particular tastes. That helps your ‘van to stand out from the crowd, or make it more secure, or simply offer you greater enjoyment and satisfaction in owning it.

Any amount of customising and personalising may be done through the addition of must-have caravan accessories. The following are a few suggestions:

Awnings

  • probably one of the most useful – and distinctive – accessories for any caravan is its awning;
  • it greatly extends the amount of usable space – to make even the smallest of touring caravans seem roomy;
  • the room created under your awning acts as an outside space where you can cast off muddy boots and wet raincoats or even store the bike you have taken with you on holiday;
  • alternatively, the extension made from your awning can be used as an all-weather dining room – with the sidewalls rolled up or let down, perhaps, according to the whims of the famous British weather;
  • you are likely to be spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing your personal awning, so before buying one, make sure to read our detailed guide about awnings – or take a look at the Beginner’s guide to caravan awnings published by Out and About Live at the beginning of 2021;

Are you sitting comfortably?

  • holidaying with a touring caravan doesn’t mean you have to rough it – a few well-chosen pieces of furniture might provide all the comfort you need, without robbing you of that all-important storage space inside the ‘van;
  • there are a number of outlets for all manner of touring caravan furniture, of course, but Prima Leisure has a wide range of space-saving yet comfortable chairs, tables, folding beds and a whole host of fixtures and fittings designed to make life in your touring caravan just that little bit more comfortable and leisurely;
  • as we mentioned in a previous post, you can also get a cuddle couch seat, which lets you snuggle-up side by side on foldaway seating made for two;

BBQ

  • whether you regard it as camping furniture or an essential piece of caravanning kit, a barbecue is more than just another accessory – it will very likely have its very own story to tell;
  • it’s probably the smell of whatever’s on the grill, but there is nothing that quite matches the barbecue’s knack of drawing all and sundry from far and wide;
  • think of it as a way to meet new friends among your fellow campers and you are almost certain to be sold on the idea of a new BBQ to greet this season’s outings;

Television

  • socialising around the barbecue may be all well and good, but you might also get grudgingly envious eyes cast towards those times when you get the chance to sit down by yourself and watch your favourite television programmes;
  • taking a TV with you when caravanning might be frowned upon by die-hard camping purists, but why not treat yourself to a harmless piece of enjoyment in this handily mobile form of entertainment;
  • in an increasingly technological age, of course, all manner of electronic gadgetry is not only available but surprisingly affordable, so you might even think about hooking up your TV to on-the-go mobile broadband connections to the internet;

Hardy favourites

  • spare a thought for such an essential piece of kit as the humble water carrier;
  • caravanning wouldn’t quite be caravanning without the sight of campers struggling through the damp grass with their daily needs for water;
  • the website GO Outdoors illustrates that even well-worn traditions such as this may be subject to change and improvement through the simple expedient of putting the water carrier on wheels;
  • you are likely to be the envy of anyone continuing to struggle with actually carrying their water and soon come to appreciate that a wheeled version proves more than just a novel accessory;
  • also, you may wish to read our article: Benefits of collapsible water carriers;

Travel safe

  • one of the accessories you might not want to boast about or otherwise draw attention to is your very own safe, which can be bolted onto the floor or chassis of your caravan;
  • use it to keep items such as passports, cash, credit cards and even your jewellery safe and sound and away from prying eyes;
  • a safe supplied by Caravan Stuff4U is cleverly designed so that the mounting bolts become completely inaccessible when the safe slides back into an outer steel casing.

There is a host of caravan accessories that might help you to customise, personalise and simply enjoy your touring caravan – you might want to start shopping today.

Further reading: Guide to Caravan Gadgets.