Caravanning has never been so hot and every summer you’ll see a ton of them on the road as this way of holidaying increases in popularity year on year, but it was 130 years ago when the first caravan holiday when The Wanderer, the first ever purpose built caravan took to the road.
The Wanderer was owned by Dr. William Gordon Stables, a popular Victorian author and he travelled 1,400 miles in it in 1885, which would have been quite a novelty during that time. We may take for granted the ease of caravanning today but things would have been much different then.
This summer the Caravan Club Collection based at the National Motor Museum will be following the journey the Wanderer took and you can follow along on Twitter too.
Today hooking up the caravan behind the car is a momentary thing but the Wanderer was towed by two horses. It travelled from Twyford in Berkshire to Inverness, returned to London by rail and then continued its journey along the South Coast to Lymington in the New Forest. This may not seem like a particularly mean feat today but it made Dr. Stables a pioneer in his day, forging out the first caravan holiday like the type we enjoy today.
This is what caravanning is all about, adventuring at your own pace and taking your home on your back everywhere you go. It’s 130 years on now and the nation’s love affair with the caravan has never been forgotten with the popularity for British Holidays currently increasing season on season.
By: Kath Cross
