Under canvas, under wraps...

Volkswagen is the go-to brand for camper vans, and its latest model doesn’t disappoint festival-going Julie Marshall

I’m quite happy to spend a few nights under canvas, especially in the summer, but my friends are not as keen.

And so when accommodation for a four-night music festival was required this summer, I was tasked with finding something a little more comfortable for our party of seven: three relative youngsters and four women of a certain age.

The young ones were easy to cater for and had a magnificent six berth tent all to themselves.

I volunteered my 1965 Land Rover camper conversion with an inflatable awning as the mother ship but again, the others were a little apprehensive. They’d heard too many tales about its many idiosyncrasies and how many times it had broken down.

We then had the good fortune to be offered the use of a Volkswagen California Ocean for the duration of our trip the perfect choice. Our Vango Galli awning was a customised fit and would make a great communal living area and the four-berth California would take care of our sleeping arrangements. However, I took along my Land Rover as we needed an extra vehicle to travel in and I reckoned it might come in useful.

Travelling two-up with our gear stacked to the roof it performed admirably on the journey to East Yorkshire, pulling up Garrowby Hill without faltering.

The California drives very well indeed with easy acceleration and a smooth ride. The passengers who’d won the draw to travel to the festival in it were very impressed. It is nimble with a tight turningcirclesomanoeuvringonto the crowded festival site was a doddle - in the past, I’ve taken an enormous six-berth motorhome which is quite daunting when trying to shoehorn it into a roped-off section of the field.

We hadn’t had much time to investigate the interior of the California before leaving home so once we’d arrived and pitched our camp, erected the awning and made a cup of tea we opened drawers and cupboards, popped the electrically-operatedroofupandpacked everything away.

Our Ocean had a sink with water pumped from an onboard tank. However, in our rushtogetawaywe’dforgotten to fill it up so had to rely on bottled water for drinking. Washing up was outsourced to the Land Rover which still had a fulltankofcleanishwaterfrom my last trip - you see, I knew it would come in handy.

The kitchen area in the California has a roomy fridge/coolbox, gas bottle storage and loads of clever cubby holes. A table is attached to the sink unit and there’s an additional folding table and a couple of folding chairs tucked away within the interior.

During the day with the lower bunk in seating mode and the front seats swivelled round it made for a comfortable bolthole.

We had booked an electric hook-up pitch so were able to connect the 230v sockets to the mains. For the timeswhenthereisnopower a couple of 12v sockets that work off a leisure battery must suffice.

Althoughitwilltechnically sleep four adults it’s a bit snug so I was packed off to the LandRovertoleavemoreroom on the top bunk.

The California performed admirablyineveryrespectand was a soaraway success which made the festival even more of a special occasion.