Full review

A new model called the Cabrera? Can this be true? Isn’t that a name from the past? The answer is that all of these things are true. But there’s a significant difference between the 2017 Cabrera and the caravan of the same name which Bailey launched in 2010, as part of the first range of Unicorns.

The first Cabrera had a bedroom at the rear, and the shower and washroom in separate compartments, with a corridor between them. A door closed this area off from the kitchen. It was a first class layout for practicality, without a doubt. Seven years on, caravan design evolution has led to the Cabrera’s reincarnation with a very different shower-washing design.

The new Cabrera has an open-plan shower room spanning the whole central area, with no corridor to divide it into two sections. And it has not just one, but three doors; one leading into the kitchen and two leading into the bedroom, on each side of the washbasin.

This grooming-department layout is surely the fashion statement of the current caravan era. When it first appeared, the industry saw it was a trendsetter. In just three years, since Coachman invented the concept and launched it in the VIP and Laser ranges in October 2014, it has risen from curio status to market leader. That’s because it works superbly. Lunar, Swift, the Explorer Group and of course the originator, Coachman, now all have caravans that broadly conform to this pattern. There are now 25 from which to choose.

Bailey caught the wave and has now swept into the rising tide of this layout’s popularity with not just the Cabrera but also a twin-axle version, the Pamplona.

It’s the Cabrera, though, that has all our attention right now. This caravan is one of 16 single-axle central open-plan shower room models now on the market.

So what are its distinguishing features? A Cabrera was ours for a few days of evaluation and photography to explore. This model has Alde heating, Dometic’s tall slimline fridge-freezer, a beautiful standard fabrics scheme involving soft mauves – and an MTPLM of only 1550kg. So, high on practicality and strong on interior looks, too.

There’s another excellent feature in the Cabrera (and also in some of the other Unicorns, too); one that we regard as sheer genius. It’s a shoe cabinet directly alongside the door. A hatch leads into the storage area below the offside settee. So this is one caravan in which shoes don’t need to clutter the doormat! We’ve “lived” with this brilliant feature for some months, now, in our long-term-test Barcelona, and can’t praise It highly enough. 

But, in use, we’ve come to realise that, had Bailey provided a plastic tray (like the one by the external aperture to the same locker) in the shoe cabinet, any grass and mud on shoes would be much easier to wipe away.

Another nice practical feature that sets the Cabrera apart from the pack is in the shower room.

Showering

That feature is a linen bag, suspended in a cabinet alongside. It’s intended to contain clothes waiting for a wash. But, again drawing on our experience with the same feature in our Barcelona, we find it’s much more useful as a storage area for fresh towels and toilet rolls. Whatever you use it for, it’s a neat idea.

The Cabrera’s shower is on the nearside, a near-circular unit with four shelves for shampoo-type equipment. Not only does the Cabrera cater amply for shampoo containers, but towel provision is also good. There are four hooks, two on the door and two alongside the shower. The latter pair are directly above apertures through which heat rises from the Alde finned radiators below, so towels hung here will dry efficiently.

Storage is good, too; the two-shelf cabinet under the sink is capacious, at 43cm wide, 63cm high and 30cm deep. There’s also a wall cupboard, above the linen bag cabinet.

Sic ceiling-mounted spotlights plus a larger light in the shower cubicle, provide enough light after dark. And the large mirror above the basin creates an illusion of more space, as well as being an asset regarding grooming practicality.

Sleeping

If there’s a downside to the lovely cosy concept of rear island beds and television walls at the foot of the bed, it’s that most of the beds in this layout won't suit tall caravanners, and the Cabrera’s is one. It’s 1.77m (five feet eight inches) which won’t suit anyone of six-foot dimensions. The bed that makes from the lounge is much larger, at 1.99m, but that’s a distraction from the point about the Cabrera, which is its delightful self-contained bedroom and its main appeal as a caravan for couples.

So, assuming you’re both less than five feet eight inches, this bedroom is brilliant, with a bracket and connection points for your TV at the foot of the bed and plenty of space to move around on both sides of the bed.

Storage

The wardrobes alongside the bed each give 34cm of hanging width, plus cabinets beneath. Two lockers plus a small shelf area are above the bed. Four head-height lounge cabinets, two drawers plus a drop-down hatch to space beneath them amply take care of small items.

Then there’s the space under the settees to factor in. On the offside, a front hatch leads into space beside the Alde unit. On the nearside, there’s no front access, but the top is easy to raise. Two sturdy spring hinges hold it up. But the primary use of this area is as an exterior locker, perfect for toilet chemicals, chocks and other necessities which are best kept on the plastic tray inside this locker.

Unicorns don’t have front gas cabinets – the gas compartment is on the offside, behind the kitchen units, so think of the side cabinet as a front locker, and you’ve got the idea. It’s a system that works well, again drawing on our experience with the same arrangement in our long-term loan Barcelona.

The Cabrera’s bed rises smoothly to reveal a large storage areas easily accessible, of course, from both sides of the bed. But the table is stored on mounting brackets here, so you’ll have to remove it to get at anything beneath it. That’s not ideal, and some will regard it as a nuisance. Others will say lifting a table in and out from here takes more strength than they prefer. It’s a pity you can't store the table within one of the wardrobes.

Dining

That brings up neatly onto the subject of dining. We quickly found the easiest way to lift the table up from its brackets: by standing in the under-bed space. That way, you are lifting it vertically rather than at an arms-stretched angle, which is rather difficult, even for someone reasonably strong.

For snacks, though, the 38cm-wide. 71cm-deep pull-out table, plus the deep (52cm) windowsill, create more than enough space, even though the table section is 3cm below the windowsill.

Lounging

Our review model has the standard fabric scheme, which we vastly prefer over the brown and cream alternative. Subtle mauve shades were tying and bordering the curtains, and deeper mauve, in light-reflecting fabric, on the two big cushions and two more bolster-style cushions, is simply lovely.

Big curving armrests on the rear ends of the settees are an unusual style which means you can get cosy anywhere on these settees, rather than relying on nestling into just the front corners. Here at the front, lower armrests, plus any combination of cushion you choose, guarantee comfort, too.

Kitchen

The kitchen surface stretches 1.2m with the extension hinged up, and curves, outwards, to measure 75cm at its deepest point. It’s a lot of surface so you can get organised when cooking.

Two cabinets, one with four shallow shelf spaces (the gas housing is behind it), the other, 43m wide with two shelf spaces, plus a cutlery drawer create good lower storage. Also, there’s a cabinet above the slimline fridge-freezer opposite, plus two overhead cabinets alongside the microwave.

Towing

The last single-axle Unicorn we towed was a Valencia. We rated its road performance as “brilliant”. The Cabrera’s test tow demonstrated the same characteristic and served to reinforce one reason why these mid-sized Unicorns are so popular; they’re well balanced on the road and easy to tow. And ATC is here to protect you from snaking.