Full review

Two lounge dining areas, significant kitchen surface space and a good-sized shower room – all in just 5.7m of body length and 1450kg.

This is Britain’s most numerous six-berth layout, with bunks and a three-seater dining-play area in a distinctly separate ‘room” at the rear, and a washroom amidships on the offside. Every manufacturer has at least one. In the budget ranges there are four to choose from, all between £13,599 and £16,745.

The Sprite Freedom 6 TD is £15,370 and 1398kg but lacks carpets and a microwave (those are extras) and there’s just a three-burner hob and grill but no oven. The Sprite Major 6 TD is a step up, at £16,745 and 1484kg MTPLM; the microwave is part of a Diamond Pack for which you pay extra, this time there’s an oven and separate grill.

The Venus 590/6 is £15,899 and 1380kg MTPLM, with a combination grill-oven; the microwave is a component of the Plus Pack for which there’s an extra charge. The Xplore 526 is £15,599 and 1350kg, also with a combination grill-oven; a microwave is an optional extra. And there’s the Bailey Pursuit 570-6, at 1450kg.

There’s more than the all-important figures of price and weight to consider when you’re picking your ideal caravan. Whether you’re taking your first step up into new caravan territory, or this is your first ever caravan, while it’s good to do the internet homework on spec, it’s the ambience of a caravan when you first step inside that will influence you hugely.

So what’s your first impression of a Pursuit 570-7 likely to be? We went to Couplands Caravans in Louth, north Lincolnshire, to spend a day with the 570-6, to find out.

Perhaps the salient feature of the 570-6 is its spaciousness. There are two factors that contribute to this. The layout creates a central corridor, stretching from the two drawers that are integral with the wide, deep windowsill at the front to the seating area at the rear.

The second factor is about windows. The single-piece front window gives the impression that the caravan is wider than its 2.23m. And the four windows in the rear sector (large windows at the rear and side, plus two above the bunks) spread ample daylight not just through this area but into the central, kitchen region, too.

The space and water heating system is the Truma Combi 4E, which produces 2kw of power on gas and 1.8kw when used on mains power.

As standard, Pursuits are supplied what is terms iNet ready – that means you can buy, for an extra £275, an INet box which enables you to control the heating system from an app on a smartphone.

That means when you are returning to the caravan after a day out, you can switch on the heating in advance of your arrival. And, as we discovered at Couplands, buyers purchasing their Pursuits here get the iNet system ready installed and included in the price.

Showering B

The 570’s shower room is amidships, a generous 2m long, with an almost square (70cm x 78cm) square shower cubicle at the rear of the room. Four double hooks (two on the door and two on the forward wall) take care of towels.

The oval basin is set into an 80cm-long cabinet which gives you two shelves and a cupboard. Three spotlights create plenty of illumination and a deep mirror completes the grooming facilities. Well –almost. There is a shortcoming.

The nearest power points are in the kitchen, so when you use a hairdryer, you’d have to stretch the cable across the caravan… Or use the power point in the rear lounge-bedroom-playroom, and a small portable mirror.

That apart, the 570’s showering facilities are great, with enough space for mum or dad to help little ones with the showering and towelling routine.

Sleeping A

The fixed bunks are amply sized at 1.78m long and 69cm wide. Two more bunks can be created from the dining furniture; they’re slightly smaller, at 1.76m and 1.62cm long.

There’s no divider, though, to shield this area from light in the rest of the caravan after the little ones have gone to bed. We appreciate the importance of minimising weight, but a simple curtain would have done the trick.

Making the double bed in the lounge is quick and easy. You complete the base by pulling out webbing-linked slats hidden under the drawers. Then you flip over the seating upholstery so that you sleep on the underside.

That’s because the sandwich, polyester layered-fibre construction of the Ozio upholstery is designed to be breathable, with the underside fabric specifically made to control air flow and prevent moisture retention.

There are no knee rolls, so the mattress is totally flat. And it’s light to move around; Ozio upholstery is about 30% lighter than the sprung upholstery commonly used in caravans until a few years ago.

Interesting, Leisure Furnishings, which makes Ozio upholstery, says it’s largely manufactured from recycled packaging materials!

Storage

Three (delightfully smart matt white!) head-height lockers in the lounge and two more in the rear “room” will hide away many t-shirts and other foldable garments. Under-settee storage in the lounge is plentiful.

There are no drop-down locker fronts but the tops are easy to raise and self-support on metal spring hinges. You get into the rear under-seating areas by lifting the wooden slated bases; again, it’s all easy.

The space under the rear bunk has a brilliantly practical feature: an exterior aperture –and a large (78cm wide, 33cm deep) plastic tray so that you can place moist items like water containers in here. The spare wheel is in the forward section of this area, covered by a fitted cotton bag; there’s space around it for small items.

So far so brilliant. But the 570’s wardrobe only gives you 32cm of hanging width (which pulls our rating down to a C), although there are three shelf spaces for shoes beneath it.

Dining A

Two can dine in the rear sector and, when you get the freestanding table out of the wardrobe, four can dine in the lounge. Who dines where? That depends on the ages of the kids and how much feeding supervision must take place. As they get older, two will love their own dining “room” at the rear.

For coffee and snack times, you can extend the deep (53cm) windowsill area by 39cm.

Lounging A

The lovely big windowsill area is also where you’ll put your television; mains, 12-volt and aerial sockets are on the nearside of this brilliantly large surface.

There’s a lot of lounge in a 570; the nearside settee is 1.77m long and the nearside seating is 1.55m. That means all six occupants can gather comfortably in the evenings to watch TV, perhaps.

Or get the table out and create some quality family togetherness activity over a board game. If your activities require an additional power point, there is one, in the base of the nearside settee. Importantly, there’s also a power point in the rear sector, too.

With two lounge-activity areas, the 570 is well designed for family versatility – and therefore holiday harmony!

Kitchen C

Cooking equipment is a three-burner hob, combined oven-grill and a microwave. To the left of the hob is a 44cm-wide surface, there’s space around the square (32cm x 32cm) steel sink and more space on an extension to hinge up into place when you’re cooking.

This extension is 30cm wide and 40cm deep. It intrudes into the doorway space but there’s still enough room to walk in and out when it’s in use.

A cabinet under the oven-grill gives you a useful 43cm x 49cm of space. There’s a good-sized cutlery drawer to the left of the hob and 92cm of top cabinet space (divided into two sections) alongside the microwave.

Not an enormous amount of storage space for a kitchen that will be catering for up to six. But we’d say that, with good stow-away planning, it’s workable.

We’d use the two drawers at the front of the lounge for kitchen stuff, and even, perhaps, put pans and other large items in a box under one of the settees.

There’s so much to like about the 570 that a little kitchen storage compromise is easy to accept; even so, we’re pretty much forced into only giving a C rating here.

Two power points, set into the base of the top lockers, are in the ideal place for a kettle or a toaster.

Towing A

We’ve towed a Pursuit 570 previously and found its behaviour to be impeccable. We didn’t take this one out on the road because it was positioned in a confined space in Couplands’ display area, with a pretty blossom tree in front of it and would have been difficult to extract!

At just 1450kg, it’s ideal for many cars, of course. And it’s good to see the ATC stability control system is an option; if we bought one we’d consider the £425 cost to be money well spent in terms of extra peace of mind.

Verdict

Surely one of Britain’s best buys for families of six for whom weight and price are priorities, the Bailey Pursuit 570’s is a visually appealing option, with an excellent shower room, plenty of kitchen surface space and two first-class, spacious dining-lounging areas.

Only the small wardrobe and restricted lower kitchen storage space may present challenges – but, with so much to like, if you can get around these, you’ll find the spacious 570 a great choice.

Options

ATC stability control at £425