Full review

The explosion in triple bunk layouts has prompted yet another arrival. It’s in the Swift Charisma range – and this new 565 gives you incredibly spacious family accommodation, in just 5.5metres of length and under 1500kg of weight.

The offside three bunks, plus three-seater table area, makes a perfect cohesive family living and bedroom space, separable from the main area by a concertina partition.

So, you sleep three in the bunks, one in the bed that converts from the rear table area and two more on the long singles that convert to a double at the front.

There you have it – Swift’s newcomer for 2009 that cleverly accommodates six and weighs only 1490kg (MTPLM).

Now for more detail. Kitchen first: The large plastic drainer that attaches to the circular sink swallows up nearly all the food preparation space. But if you restrict the use of the drainer to the times when you’re actually washing up, a kitchen of this size is very workable.

Key features of the 10-model Charisma line-up include the practical stuff you’d expect: spare wheel, three mains sockets, AKS stabiliser hitch… Then there’s the fluffy stuff: radio/CD/MP3 player with iPod connection, two television points…

This caravan’s strong points chalk up quickly once you start to explore more of its facilities. It has a simple, standard offside shower-shared-with-toilet washroom. But open the door and the reality is rather more practical. The shower area is large – and there is a plastic screen which covers the loo area. There’s more about this little room to make you open your eyes wide. It’s stylish: curved corners all over in gleaming white – and darkest grey plastic for the washbasin. The same dark grey plastic gives you two shelves above the sink. Pause a minute. Aren’t they circular shelves? Actually, they’re not – but the clever dual-mirror arrangement makes them look as if they go all the way round a central pillar. Quite stunning.

There are two spotlights and a blown-air outlet in here, too. But there’s even more in this little room. Look to the right of the door and you’ll see three shelves, each with a rail that’s designed to hang a towel. The majority of caravans lack sufficient towel-hanging arrangements for the number of berths – granted, there really ought to be six in this caravan. But three is a whole lot better than the usual one towel loop!

There’s yet another surprise in this little room, under the sink is a plastic cupboard, shaped rather like three quarters of an egg, slightly tapering towards the base. It opens and closes by means of a small turn-button; the entire plastic door removes for access… clever and simple.

Anything we don’t like about this new Charisma? Well there is – but it’s only a minor point. Amid the array of spotlights and two huge mains corner lights, the lighting in this otherwise superb caravan falls flat on its face in the kitchen, with a cold-light, cheap-looking striplight. Two spotlights would have given a warmer, more pleasant- light in keeping with the rest of the caravan – and the look would have been enhanced. But don’t let a striplight deter you from assessing the Charisma 565 as a great, capacious, practical six-berth.

Interested? You may like to know that Swift also makes this layout in its Sterling range for 2009, as the Europa 565. It costs and weighs the same; only the styling differs.