An eventful nine months

Taking the plunge

It was a foregone conclusion, really, what would happen when we “called in” at IH Motorhomes last May.  They had a ‘van for sale, which seemed to fit most of the criteria we had listed after months of research.  However, Mrs IH, aka Nicola, persuaded us that a better ‘van would be available in the autumn.  The owners of an IH Tio R were trading in their current ‘van for their third new one and they had proved themselves to be “very careful owners”.  So we expressed our interest and sat back to wait.

We went to view the ‘van in September, decided to go ahead with the purchase and collected it at the beginning of October.  On the way home, we tried her out for one night at Lurcher Farm Cottage, near Newark.  Our only hiccups were self-induced; we had purchased a bottle of butane gas, when IH fit propane connectors as standard, and had failed to buy a hose to fill the water tank!

The Learning Curve

We were determined to have at least one weekend away before the winter, and decided to head to the Birmingham area, incorporating an outing to the Camping and Caravanning Show with a visit to Chris and Marie.  Unfortunately our booking at the CCC site at Clent Hills was cancelled due to heavy rain which had made the grass pitches inaccessible, but after several unsuccessful phone calls, we eventually found an alternative pitch at Lickhill Manor Caravan Park in Stourport, which turned out to be a very pleasant location.  On the Saturday morning we enjoyed an autumnal walk from the site along the river into the town, with its canal basin and colourful boats.

  

As we don’t have enough space to park the van at home for long periods, we keep her at a storage facility.  During the winter we made sure we gave her (now christened Theodora) a run every few weeks.  This was often just a trip home so that we could do minor works, but on one occasion we took her out on a day trip to Wimpole Hall (National Trust) and used her as a base of operations.  There seemed to be a bewildering amount to learn about the ‘van herself and motorcaravanning in general!

We did have one problem during those winter months.  One brake light was faulty, intermittently at first, and then continuously, which resulted in a series of trips between our local Fiat dealer, the company who fitted a towbar for us and IH.  All very annoying at the time, but eventually resolved.