THE three bedroom Liberté we saw for the first time in September at the caravan exhibition at Cottingham Golf Club had a number of optional extras. The double doors on the side aspect lead off the decking into a centre living area with bedrooms at each end of the home. The floor throughout is a modern-looking vinyl plank effect in a beech colour with a silver-coloured stripe and we thought it looked rather fetching.


Kitchen

The kitchen has vinyl-wrapped, ivory-coloured eye level and base cupboards with a contrasting fascia and vertical matt stainless steel handles; the units have 18mm carcasses and the charcoal and brown fleck design worktops are 40mm thick (and incidentally, these dimensions are robust for a caravan holiday-home). The worktops had an upstand.

The four burner gas hob is standard, but the oven and grill, the three speed extractor hood and free standing fridge/freezer are optional extras. The single sink and drainer unit is linen-finish stainless steel and sits under a window that was big enough to see out of without stooping. The lighting is by mains halogen downlighters with 50w maximum bulbs.


Living area

There was a huge U shaped sofa with fabric coloured kick-boards covered in patterned contemporary oatmeal, cream and terracotta fabric and we think we can vouch for its comfort as we sat and rested our weary feet, all in the interests of quality control, of course! The bed converts to a pull-out bed for occasional use, and there is storage under the sofa.

The lined cream and orange curtains, with a vertical twist design, co-ordinate well with the sofa. There’s a corner for the television, too, with a power point and aerial socket and two shelves under it.

The dining table, pearwood coloured, in front of a full length window to the right of the entrance door has four chairs and there are two folding chairs for occasional use under the double bed. There is one wall-mounted electric heater.


Master bedroom

The master has a 4ft 6ins slatted bed with shelves each side and a row of oatmeal-coloured cupboards with a horizontal grain design over the bed. The contrasting fascia, as in the kitchen, we thought gave the room a modern look. The bed covers are an option and co-ordinate with beige and brown floral-design curtains hung, as in the living area, on a chrome pole.

There’s a small shelf with a mirror over – adequate as, after all, who’s going to put full make-up on every day on holiday – and a neat stool. The wardrobe houses the RCD box and has a rail and two drawers.

The en-suite shower room was a sur-prise find! The hand basin is semi-recessed with a cupboard under and a mirror over. The one-piece shower unit has a bi-fold door, thermostatically controlled mixer tap and three shelves for all the bubbles and gels. The toilet is dual flush and the toilet roll holder is sensibly placed, so you don’t have to twist your neck, shoulder and arm to reach it. There is a horizontal blind at the window and a heated towel rail.


Beds and shower

The two smaller bedrooms both had twin beds, but changes could be made to accommodate a cot, if necessary. The bedrooms are mirror images, one with 2ft 6ins beds and the other with a 2ft 3ins pair. Each bed has a top cupboard over it with a wall hung mirror between the cupboards. The curtains and bed covers are the same as in the master bedroom.

The family or guests’ shower room has a heated towel rail under the window and a reasonable sized cupboard under the semi-recessed hand basin, which has a mixer tap. There’s not enough room beside the toilet for the toilet roll holder; it’s placed on the wall opposite. The one-piece shower cubicle is a good size and has a sliding door.


Lobby

A small lobby has a cupboard where there is plumbing and electric for a washing machine. We do recommend, though, that you check the electricity supply to your pitch as this varies from parc to parc. There is storage space in the cupboard in the form of shelves, and the gas-fuelled Morco Super Compact water heater is installed in here too.


OUR VERDICT

This is a neat caravan holiday-home and the addition of the optional extras take it from being a simple model to one that will offer more comfort yet still be practical, and increases the opportunity to rent it out, subject to the parc’s rules.

There is a pre-wired fused spur in all of the bedrooms for the manufacturer’s optional low wattage panel heater to be fitted, thus maximising use in the cooler season either side of the hot summer months.

All of the opening windows have night vents and two outside lights are fitted as standard for those long, late balmy evenings spent relaxing on the decking.




Technical details
• Type: Single unit caravan holiday-home
• Size: 35ft 6ins x12ft (40m2)
• Standard: EN 1647, but with increased insulation on walls (29mm)
• Bedrooms: 3

Main features
• Centre living area
• Vaulted ceilings
• Steel pantile roof
• Vinyl exterior cladding
• Double glazing
• Domestic external gutters and downpipes
• Lagged pipes
• Pre-galvanised chassis
• Galvanised corner steadies and front and rear tow bars

OPTIONAL EXTRAS
Costs of optional extras as seen
• Low wattage panel heater: £ 117 per room
• Full cooker: £395
• Extractor hood: £110
• Fridge/freezer: £425
• Microwave: £95
• Washing machine: £650
• Bed sets: £155 per unit

Price
from £23,500

Victory Leisure Homes Ltd, Stoneferry, Kingston-upon-Hull HU8 8EH Tel: 01482 822822 Email: [email protected] Website: www.victoryleisurehomes.co.uk


This review was published in the November 2009 issue of Park & Holiday Homes magazine. To order our latest issue please click here.


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