Full review

Exterior

Adrias have clean lines, with steeply raked fronts. Alteas have single-piece front windows, but they have no lounge roof-light and no nearside lounge window.

Gas bottle lockers are deep and wide, giving excellent access; lifting in cylinders should be no problem. The hatch lifts smoothly on softclose, gas-filled struts. The Trent has an offside entry hatch to the space under the settee. When you insert and turn the key, a handle pops out.

The door opens to a fully-vertical position and clips into place. The basic Altea doesn’t feature a hitch-head stabiliser – it’s part of a £495 package of extras. Factor that in.

Interior

The woodwork is dark in comparison to the majority of British-made caravans. While it gives the Altea range a distinctive look, it does make the whole caravan look a little subdued in daylight, so many people will notice the lack of a roof light over the lounge. But forgive it that, for the important thing about the new for 2013 Trent is that the arrival of this model means that you can now get an island-bed layout in a caravan that’s considered a budget model.

There are compromises, in addition to the lack of rooflight. The shower shares its space with the toilet and washbasin. There’s no microwave (although there is a mains socket in one of the two top kitchen cabinets, so installing one would be easy). The grill and oven are a combined unit, which contributes to economy on weight. And, because the grill-oven takes up less depth than a full cooker, there’s the advantage of a deep cabinet beneath it.

Heating is the Truma blown-air system – but with a difference. For 2013, a new-style heater unit has been introduced, with a smart matt grey and black front replacing the familiar brown one. More significantly, the controls on the top are now raised, making them easier to operate.

Blown-air vents are in the lounge and, importantly, also in the shower room. But it’s the bedroom that takes centre stage in the Altea Trent’s appeal. The luxury of a wide island bed with a firm but comfortable mattress has to be a reason to put this caravan on your shortlist. And there’s more. Access to the vast space underneath is unlike the usual method of raising the mattress on its base. In the Trent, the mattress, while it is one unit, is hinged (with fabric) in the centre, so you raise each side independently, then lift up each half of the base.

The whole bed structure is substantially engineered – and looks refined, in that the curved base is an attractive wood grain, that’s important, because it’s on full view from the lounge (unless you draw the pleated room divider). This wooden base is so much more attractive than the plastic island-bed bases we often see.

Storage is carefully designed in the Trent. Slim wardrobes on each side of the bed take care of a few hanging garments – but, as the majority of clothing most caravanners take on holiday is the fold-up variety, the Trent’s big four-shelf cabinet in the lounge will be regarded as extremely practical. Add in four drawers and three overhead lockers in the bedroom and we think garment storage is well covered.

In the kitchen, two deep drawers and a drop-down-front cabinet between the grill-oven and the fridge take care of small stuff. A wide drawer, opposite, under the clothing cupboard, will amply accommodate cutlery and more. Above the kitchen, the two cabinets are larger than you find in most caravans. But there are no fittings for tableware.

Alteas don’t come with carpet. The floor is attractive woodeffect. In summer you don’t miss the cosiness under your toes – and certainly if you have a dog, absence of a carpet is a distinct advantage, but if you consider buying an Altea and think you’d prefer a caravan with a carpet, reassuringly, it’s a £200 option.

While on the subject of extras to budget for, television watchers will need to consider having an aerial fitted. There is an input for an aerial in the battery box (front offside). In the bedroom there is a bracket for a television, plus sockets for 12volt and terrestrial TV connections. But, taking all those factors into consideration, on balance, the new Trent is an excellent, lightweight starter package with sporty, get-up-and-tow looks – and the famed Adria solidity of build inside and out.