The life of UK-based John Rawlings has been intertwined with caravanning since as far back as he can remember. From early childhood adventures to adulthood seeking out the newest industry innovations around the globe, John shares how his life has been shaped by caravans.
Blame Uncle Alan!
If my dad’s brother Alan hadn’t introduced him to caravanning in the early 1960s, none of my story would have happened.
My dad had a real passion for exploring Europe, which he introduced my mum to in 1956 on their honeymoon, driving from England to Austria.
A few years later, after my sister had arrived, Dad built some sort of folding camping trailer. According to family legend, the trailer collapsed on my mother. Shortly after that, my dad’s brother, Alan, suggested a caravan would be more suitable for the growing Rawlings family.
A babe in arms
Sprite Musketeer (1970) sister
They bought their first caravan, a new 10ft-long Sprite 400, in 1964. the year I arrived. My first caravan trip was only about eight weeks after I was born.
I got my first taste of continental caravanning the following year, all the way to Italy. I have black and white photos (somewhere) of me in a large nappy playing in the sand outside the caravan at a campsite near Venice.
Sprite-tastic!
Considering how small the Sprite 400 was for four of us, and basic, with no fridge or toilet, I wonder how they coped on that long and hot summer holiday trip to Italy.
I’m presuming it proved they needed a bigger caravan, as in 1966-ish, they moved up in size to a 12ft-long Sprite Alpine – with a toilet compartment.
By 1969, they had progressed to their third Sprite caravan, moving up the range again to a 14ft-long Musketeer – an iconic model with its swan-neck roof.
After a brief interlude with a caravan that my dad built himself from just a fibreglass shell, they returned to a Sprite with an ex-rental 1976 Musketeer, which lasted them all the way until 1993 when they upgraded to a new Sprite Alpine complete with the modern conveniences of a cassette toilet and blown-air heating. That was their last caravan. It was sold in 2002 when my dad became too frail due to Parkinson’s disease.
It’s incredible to think how five Sprite caravans over a period of nearly 40 years gave me such a passion for caravanning – and foreign adventures.
European adventures
I consider myself very lucky that almost all my caravan holidays were abroad. Thanks to caravans, I had more holidays and saw a lot more of Europe than most of my school friends.
It helps that we lived in the south of England, about three hours’ drive to the port of Dover and the ferry across to France, making it quicker for us to get to France, Belgium, Holland and Germany than driving to the North of England. That’s my excuse for visiting New Zealand in my gap year before England’s beautiful Lake District in Cumbria.
Our Sprite caravans did a lot of travelling – as far north as Denmark and Sweden, and south to Spain and Italy. I remember sitting between the front seats in the car (no rear seat belts in those days!) and giving a big wave to any other British cars or caravans we saw. Without the electronic gadgets that children have today, we developed caravan-spotting games, keeping a tally of every brand we saw. Sprites were very popular!
When my dad passed away in 2003, the last thing I said to him was: “Thanks for all the caravanning.”
Caravan careers
fascination over the years
My dad worked in the caravan industry. He was in sales for brands like Electrolux (fridges). Sometimes, I’d go with him in the school holidays when he visited caravan manufacturers across the UK.
He’d also represent his employer at caravan shows, like the popular one at Earls Court in London. He’d drop my mum and I off to go shopping and sightseeing, then we’d meet him back at the show at the end of the day.
Often, I was there on the last day of the caravan show, and after it closed, I asked for brochures and advertising posters left on the stands. For several years I had an extensive collage on my bedroom wall of caravan photos cut from those brochures. I still have a full set of Sprite caravan brochures from the mid-1960s.
Shortly after I got back from my gap year in 1993, at the age of 26, I was wondering what to do next when my dad spotted an advert in Practical Caravan magazine for an editorial assistant. No prizes for guessing that despite no experience as a journalist, I got the job.
My first assignment was towing a large twin-axle caravan with a Land Rover Discovery. I’d never driven or towed anything that big but, as you’d expect, I was like a duck to water.
From 1993 to 1998, I towed a huge variety of new caravans with an equally wide mix of cars. I absolutely loved it, especially seeing previews of new models ahead of their public debuts, attending big, international shows like the Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf, and made lots of contacts in the industry that I still know today, over 30 years later.
I progressed to deputy editor, but a journalist’s salary doesn’t go far in west London, when you want to get on the property ladder. Besides, I figured there’s only so many ‘spacious end washrooms’ you can review before needing to try something new.
Reviewing tow cars resulted in attending press launches, often abroad, and always at swanky hotels, which I found exciting. At a Volkswagen event, I met a press officer who had been a writer at CAR magazine. Bingo – that was my next step and I proactively approached the press offices of the most caravan-friendly car brands. I joined the press office at Vauxhall and then Volvo (where my boss was a caravanner). Oh, and that press officer at Volkswagen is now my brother-in-law as I ended up marrying his sister.
It was all great fun… until it wasn’t. My life moved on from grabbing every opportunity to go to press events and motor shows to getting married and becoming a dad. I needed to be at home more, so I left the corporate world to be a freelance writer and PR consultant specialising in… the caravan industry, of course.
Innovation and change?
Fast forward to 2026. British caravan designs haven’t really changed that much since I was reviewing them in the 1990s, although construction techniques have improved (using less wood) as manufacturers introduce better ways to prevent water ingress.
Interior décor has come a long way since some of the excesses of the 1990s (in my opinion) and LED lighting is a stylish innovation that’s a far cry from the dim gas lights and fluorescent tubes we used to have.
Fixed bed layouts, once thought an extravagant use of space, are here to stay, while the classic ‘double dinette’ layout (with seating areas at both ends) are now quite rare. End washrooms came into vogue in the 1990s and still feel like a luxury to me, yet still aren’t common on the continent where caravan designs are still very different. British caravanners always love a front lounge with the traditional three windows where continental designers can have beds and no windows at the front. Continental caravans don’t usually have things like ovens, yet we seem to consider them a must-have in the UK.
Caravans have got much bigger and heavier than the old Sprites my parents took all over Europe. These days, we all want more equipment and comforts as standard. I still can’t believe how popular the huge, twin-axle, 8ft-wide caravans have become.
In terms of future design, with the switch to electric cars, many with relatively low towing limits, I’m eager to see if manufacturers make caravans lighter or more aerodynamic, or push for legislation to allow for the caravan axle to be powered independently to reduce the impact on the car’s battery.
I think the best caravan innovation in my lifetime, so far, has been Thetford’s cassette toilet – a real game-changer to the old bucket-type toilets I can remember (I’ll spare the gory details).
Full circle
I’m still a member of the Caravan Writers’ Guild, and I’m still writing about caravans (and motorhomes), but the best full circle moment is the caravan and motorhome holidays I’ve had with my children.
They’re 18 and 20 now, but I hope they don’t become too old to enjoy the quality family time we love when we’re in a caravan away from screens and laptops, enjoying time outside, on the beach, hiking in the hills or exploring new places.
Like me, I’m sure they will always remember their caravanning memories with their dad, and let’s hope there’s another Rawlings generation of caravanners still to come.
Top 5 highlights
- 1995: Appearing in the TV series ‘The Real Holiday Show’ taking three friends to the North Cape in Norway – the most northerly point of Europe and land of the midnight sun (24 hour daylight)
- 1997: Towing a caravan through Piccadilly Circus in central London for a Practical Caravan feature on touring with small cars and caravans
- 2003: Proposing to my (now) wife during a caravan holiday to Italy, on the same campsite outside Venice I stayed at on my first continental caravan holiday in 1965
- 2017: Towing a caravan across the frozen sea to an island off the coast of Finland
- 2023: Pitching up by a sand dune in the Sahara Desert
