Bicester dealership makes the case for a UK touring holiday

The family-run business, part of the L C Hughes Partnership, has spent the past few years quietly building itself into one of the larger caravan centres in the south of England, and the timing looks shrewd.

With the pound’s purchasing power abroad still feeling pinched, airport queues a regular feature of the summer news cycle and a generation of younger families rediscovering the appeal of the Lake District, Pembrokeshire and the north Norfolk coast, demand for touring holidays in Britain has held up well.

The site itself is set up to take advantage of that.

Bicester Caravan and Leisure is a main dealer for Swift, Sprite, Elddis, Xplore, Buccaneer and Coachman, which is a fairly comprehensive sweep of the British caravan market in one car park.

The new caravan stock list takes in family-friendly Sprite layouts, the lighter Basecamp range aimed at couples and weekenders, and the more luxurious Elegance Grande and Coachman Lusso models at the top end.

For anyone not ready to commit to a full caravan, the dealership has also become the exclusive UK importer of Comanche folding campers and trailer tents, a Spanish brand with more than two decades of trailer-building behind it.

The Camp-let range, designed for families of four and expandable to sleep up to eight, offers another route in at a lower price point, and the recently announced Cabanon trailer tents add a further option for buyers who want canvas rather than fibreglass.

Tents and folding campers tend to attract first-time buyers, and staff at the dealership are themselves keen caravanners, which makes the showroom feel less like a car forecourt and more like a specialist outdoors shop.

The practical side of caravan ownership is handled on the same site.

An NCC approved workshop takes care of servicing, habitation checks and warranty work across all the major brands, and a fully stocked accessory shop sells everything from motor movers to awnings.

Secure on-site storage is available for owners who would rather not park a caravan on the drive, and the Bicester Bean cafe gives browsers somewhere to sit down with a coffee between viewings.

A campsite of the dealership’s own is also under construction, which should give new buyers a soft landing for their first night under canvas or in a brand-new van.

None of this would matter much if the wider picture for UK touring was flat, but it is not.

Caravan and motorhome sites across Oxfordshire, the Cotswolds and the south west have been reporting strong forward bookings, and the appeal of being able to set off on a Friday evening without a passport check is hard to argue with.

For anyone in the Oxford area weighing up whether this is the year to take the plunge, the Bicester site is a sensible first stop.

More information about the current stock, the workshop and the Comanche and Cabanon ranges is available on the Bicester Caravan and Leisure website.