First time AS owner

Time for introduction....

We have just bought a new Kingham from SMC in Newark, and get to collect it on 5th May. 

SWMBO (Ann) and I have been canvas campers for many years, then progressed in 2016 to a motorhome. Many happy trips in both U.K. and Europe, but decided at the beginning of 2020 to sell it as we had decided to tour using my recently acquired Morgan and stop at Airbnb.

Sadly it didn’t work out with the car, with 4 serious breakdowns in 2,400 miles each one requiring a flatbed back to the dealer. So in October 2020 I got rid back to the dealer I bought it from.

It didn’t take many months for us to decide to fill the touring void (Covid aside) with another motorhome so the search started.

Narrowed it down to a PVC, our previous A class was a wonderful place to be but a bit big in many ways.

From a layout perspective the European offereings got ruled out as we had learned that we aren’t fans of a front dinette and the majority of the vans available had that layout. We just find it a bit cramped and like sitting at the dining room table all night. 

Cutting a long story short we landed on either the Warwick XL or a Kingham. Once we saw them in the flesh we felt the Kingham would suit our needs better, mainly because it had a fairly relaxing front end and a bed that wouldn’t need to be made up every night. Then again the washroom on the Kingham is very compromised compared to the Warwick XL . In the end the Kingham gave us a better “feel” so the deed was done.

So that’s our intro in a nutshell!

Sure you will enjoy your new van

welcome. hope you enjoy your new van.

Hello and welcome to this most friendly and informative forum. 

Welcome !  Hope you enjoy your new motorhome and the places you go with it.

Thanks all for the very warm welcome.

Disappointing discovery this morning - I thought 5 May pick up date was next week...not the week after

@bolero boy thanks for the PM, I can’t reply as I’ve not made enough posts yet! But thanks for the comment

Welcome and I hope you enjoy your van, just use it at every opportunity. One tip, if you like to sit up and read in bed, the offside occupant will be leaning against the window blind. We got a piece of white faced hardboard to protect ours, it rests on the door handle

Solaris wrote:Welcome and I hope you enjoy your van, just use it at every opportunity. One tip, if you like to sit up and read in bed, the offside occupant will be leaning against the window blind. We got a piece of white faced hardboard to protect ours, it rests on the door handle

We are very much hoping that the van will be more usable for day trips as well as overnight camping. The previous 2 were great for camping but too awkward to use to (say) go to the countryside or seaside for the day. To be honest a big reason why we decided to get the PVC this time round.

When I was a kid, Dad had a Type 2 Bayfront and it was always great to go to the seaside and sit in it eating fish and chips and enjoying a freshly brewed cuppa looking out at the horizontal rain:rolleyes:

Great tip re the window blind, very much the sort of thing you only find out when you start to use the beast 

Dave 418 wrote:Don’t worry about messing up the dates it happens to me more frequently since I retired. I booked a site for the first week in May. To me that was next week until I realised managements birthday is next week on the 30th. 
Being tactful I decided not to mention it to herself. Daughter has that day planned so I got away with it.

I have history...I turned up for a business meeting a day early ( having driven from Yorkshire to Gloucester)

And turned up a week early at Keswick C&CC site when it was fully booked...