Bailey Pageant Ardennes
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Description
The 2009 Bailey Pageant Ardennes is designed specifically for families. It’s one of Bailey’s biggest caravans, and it has a unique layout Ardennes
Key Features
Model Year
2009
Product Class
Twin Axle
Price from (£)
£14995
Berths
4
Full Review
Just sometimes you know your caravan is going to grab attention as you pull onto your pitch. This time it’s because our accommodation for our stay in the little county of Rutland is not just a new caravan, it’s an extraordinary and unique layout.
We have in tow Bailey’s all-new Pageant Series 7 Ardennes – a very family-friendly twin-axle launched this spring. At its first public appearance, the NEC show in February 2009, it attracted huge amounts of attention.
The Pageant created a similar stir when we rolled onto our pitch at the Rutland Caravan and Camping site in the picturesque little village of Greetham, just a mile or so off the A1. It’s a warm spring weekend and the site is busy and heads turn in the direction of our test caravan. Why?
The Ardennes shares some of its DNA with the twin-axle Pageant Limousin, but the layout is the product of the manufacturer’s ‘My Bailey Caravan’ initiative – a caravan design competition which invited members of the public to come up with their ideal design.
The winning design, created by caravanners Iain and Julia Bramble, was named the Brambler. It’s a cleverly different family layout that is flexible enough to meet a growing family’s needs as they change over several years.
Now, Bailey has taken the Brambler concept, initially built as a one-off, and put it into production as the Pageant Ardennes. It’s not quite as opulent as the original Brambler, which had an LCD screen with integrated DVD player, granite-effect worktops and corduroy upholstery, but it is, nevertheless, a well-appointed caravan.
Your guided tour starts at the door, located towards the back of the caravan – just ahead of the full-width rear washroom. Step inside and the first impression is one of space and light – thanks to two large rooflights, a huge nearside window and the low-level furniture... and that’s one of the aspects that marks the Ardennes out as totally unique.
Instead of the traditional dresser, drinks cabinet and wardrobe, a unit that can only be described as a sideboard runs at an angle to the nearside wall, providing ample storage space and additional worktop – and allowing a huge extra side window to be incorporated into the design. Rather like a sun-room, this combination of big windows and low furniture opens up the interior of the caravan and brings the outdoors inside.
The lounge is big and U-shaped, with couch-potato-friendly curved corner cushions and ample space for a family of four to eat together. The front seat, which would conventionally be occupied by a central chest of drawers, isn’t as deep and comfortable as the side settees, but it’s fine for children to perch on.
A generous L-shaped kitchen with Dometic 115-litre fridge (complete with wood veneered door and very cool blue LED lights inside), Spinflo oven and grill, four-burner gas hob and Daewoo microwave above, sit amidships, distributing all the weight right over the axles, which is exactly where it should be.
Now for something really different: Immediately behind the kitchen is a four or five-seater dining area with a substantial table. Here’s where the kids have their separate space to watch television or DVDs, play video games, colour, do jigsaws or whatever else takes their fancy while mum and dad kick back in the huge lounge up front.
The Ardennes gets a good quality JVC CD-radio with JVC speakers and there are four 230-volt sockets in strategic locations for kettles, toasters and the childrens’ entertainment necessities.
The Ardennes’ great storage places gives you 15 eye-level lockers. But it doesn’t end there. The sideboard contains another three large lockers plus a cutlery drawer and the kitchen has pull-out wire baskets and pan storage under the oven.
Both the dinette and lounge seats have further storage underneath, of course, although some of this space is taken up by the Truma water heater and electrical equipment. Open the chunky washroom door with its domestic-style handle and step into the large, full-width rear washroom and there’s even more useful storage – another locker over the loo, a full-height stack of deep shelves just inside the door and a full-height wardrobe whose hanging space is split into two shorter sections.
You have a circular shower, Thetford C-250 toilet with electric flush and 18-litre wheeled cassette, and a small sink with yet more storage underneath.
With so much space to stow the endless clutter that always accompanies kids, it’s actually possible to find a home for most things without covering every available surface with odds and ends.
Styling is good-looking and practical. The teak-style Tecnoform cabinetry which attracted so much attention when the Pageant Series 7 was launched last year is complimented by beige, cream and grey fabrics with abstract patterns for the soft furnishings. The floor is covered by practical biscuit-coloured carpets – which absorbed the odd muddy footprint very well.
Returning to the caravan after exploring Rutland, it was time to put the Ardennes’ kitchen to another test (my task) while my wife got the little ones ready for bed.
The large rear washroom has sufficient space to hose one child at a time in the shower and there’s also enough room for an adult to supervise teeth-brushing and face-washing without too much of a squeeze.
After experiencing difficulties getting our two to settle on separate single beds, we parked them in the side dinette, which we’d made up into the generous double bed by dropping the table down onto the lip of the settees and slotting the back cushions between the squabs to form a mattress. Instead of tucking them in lengthways, we set little Freddie up on the front dinette seat and Ellie up on the longer rearmost seat to maximise the space between them. That way we minimised the scope for scraps over bed space.
The really great aspect we discovered then is that the Ardennes’ clever lighting provision allows the dinette to be reduced to virtual darkness while the rest of the caravan is gently illuminated by the ambient LED strip lights under the overhead lockers – with directional spots in the forward corners of the lounge for reading.
And I’m happy to report that it worked brilliantly. After a couple of stories, we drew the curtain that encloses the dinette and the little darlings twittered between themselves for a while before dropping off pretty much on queue. The downside of all this, of course, is that they were awake at first light and demanding breakfast shortly after 6am.
Fortunately, the kitchen is very generously proportioned and that L-shaped configuration means the chef can be standing at the kitchen without obstructing the middle of the caravan. This, combined with the angled corridor formed by the sideboard, allows free passage between the lounge, dinette and toilet, which, with four on board, is a major plus.
But as well as suiting enthusiastic chefs down to the ground, there’s a safety benefit here. With a traditional mid-mounted kitchen, there’s always a risk that excited children will bump into you while you’re handling hot liquids or containers. But the L-shape minimises the risk of anyone getting hurt while cooking – something we found very reassuring.
So, smooth in family use – and smooth on the road, too: the big twin-axle towed like a dream behind Mitsubishi’s top-of-the-range Outlander Diamond. At 1602kg all up, it’s not hugely heavy for a twin-axle and the bulk of the weight sits squarely over the axles, minimising instability risk. As a belt and braces measure, the Ardennes has AL-KO’s ATC stability system fitted and, as you’d expect, a hitch-head stabiliser from the same stable.
Our weekend with the Ardennes was probably the most successful caravan holiday we’ve had since Freddie started walking and it’s largely down to that thoughtful layout. So often in a caravan, the much-needed wind-down after bedtime is interrupted by the little darlings playing up.
But both children quickly grasped that the rear dinette was their own special ‘space’ for eating, playing and sleeping - and so they were comfortable staying put in a familiar environment, leaving us free to relax in the lounge.
This intelligent and clear-cut approach to the family caravan is something that more and more manufacturers seem to be adopting and it’s a trend which the new generation of family caravanners will enthusiastically welcome.
We have in tow Bailey’s all-new Pageant Series 7 Ardennes – a very family-friendly twin-axle launched this spring. At its first public appearance, the NEC show in February 2009, it attracted huge amounts of attention.
The Pageant created a similar stir when we rolled onto our pitch at the Rutland Caravan and Camping site in the picturesque little village of Greetham, just a mile or so off the A1. It’s a warm spring weekend and the site is busy and heads turn in the direction of our test caravan. Why?
The Ardennes shares some of its DNA with the twin-axle Pageant Limousin, but the layout is the product of the manufacturer’s ‘My Bailey Caravan’ initiative – a caravan design competition which invited members of the public to come up with their ideal design.
The winning design, created by caravanners Iain and Julia Bramble, was named the Brambler. It’s a cleverly different family layout that is flexible enough to meet a growing family’s needs as they change over several years.
Now, Bailey has taken the Brambler concept, initially built as a one-off, and put it into production as the Pageant Ardennes. It’s not quite as opulent as the original Brambler, which had an LCD screen with integrated DVD player, granite-effect worktops and corduroy upholstery, but it is, nevertheless, a well-appointed caravan.
Your guided tour starts at the door, located towards the back of the caravan – just ahead of the full-width rear washroom. Step inside and the first impression is one of space and light – thanks to two large rooflights, a huge nearside window and the low-level furniture... and that’s one of the aspects that marks the Ardennes out as totally unique.
Instead of the traditional dresser, drinks cabinet and wardrobe, a unit that can only be described as a sideboard runs at an angle to the nearside wall, providing ample storage space and additional worktop – and allowing a huge extra side window to be incorporated into the design. Rather like a sun-room, this combination of big windows and low furniture opens up the interior of the caravan and brings the outdoors inside.
The lounge is big and U-shaped, with couch-potato-friendly curved corner cushions and ample space for a family of four to eat together. The front seat, which would conventionally be occupied by a central chest of drawers, isn’t as deep and comfortable as the side settees, but it’s fine for children to perch on.
A generous L-shaped kitchen with Dometic 115-litre fridge (complete with wood veneered door and very cool blue LED lights inside), Spinflo oven and grill, four-burner gas hob and Daewoo microwave above, sit amidships, distributing all the weight right over the axles, which is exactly where it should be.
Now for something really different: Immediately behind the kitchen is a four or five-seater dining area with a substantial table. Here’s where the kids have their separate space to watch television or DVDs, play video games, colour, do jigsaws or whatever else takes their fancy while mum and dad kick back in the huge lounge up front.
The Ardennes gets a good quality JVC CD-radio with JVC speakers and there are four 230-volt sockets in strategic locations for kettles, toasters and the childrens’ entertainment necessities.
The Ardennes’ great storage places gives you 15 eye-level lockers. But it doesn’t end there. The sideboard contains another three large lockers plus a cutlery drawer and the kitchen has pull-out wire baskets and pan storage under the oven.
Both the dinette and lounge seats have further storage underneath, of course, although some of this space is taken up by the Truma water heater and electrical equipment. Open the chunky washroom door with its domestic-style handle and step into the large, full-width rear washroom and there’s even more useful storage – another locker over the loo, a full-height stack of deep shelves just inside the door and a full-height wardrobe whose hanging space is split into two shorter sections.
You have a circular shower, Thetford C-250 toilet with electric flush and 18-litre wheeled cassette, and a small sink with yet more storage underneath.
With so much space to stow the endless clutter that always accompanies kids, it’s actually possible to find a home for most things without covering every available surface with odds and ends.
Styling is good-looking and practical. The teak-style Tecnoform cabinetry which attracted so much attention when the Pageant Series 7 was launched last year is complimented by beige, cream and grey fabrics with abstract patterns for the soft furnishings. The floor is covered by practical biscuit-coloured carpets – which absorbed the odd muddy footprint very well.
Returning to the caravan after exploring Rutland, it was time to put the Ardennes’ kitchen to another test (my task) while my wife got the little ones ready for bed.
The large rear washroom has sufficient space to hose one child at a time in the shower and there’s also enough room for an adult to supervise teeth-brushing and face-washing without too much of a squeeze.
After experiencing difficulties getting our two to settle on separate single beds, we parked them in the side dinette, which we’d made up into the generous double bed by dropping the table down onto the lip of the settees and slotting the back cushions between the squabs to form a mattress. Instead of tucking them in lengthways, we set little Freddie up on the front dinette seat and Ellie up on the longer rearmost seat to maximise the space between them. That way we minimised the scope for scraps over bed space.
The really great aspect we discovered then is that the Ardennes’ clever lighting provision allows the dinette to be reduced to virtual darkness while the rest of the caravan is gently illuminated by the ambient LED strip lights under the overhead lockers – with directional spots in the forward corners of the lounge for reading.
And I’m happy to report that it worked brilliantly. After a couple of stories, we drew the curtain that encloses the dinette and the little darlings twittered between themselves for a while before dropping off pretty much on queue. The downside of all this, of course, is that they were awake at first light and demanding breakfast shortly after 6am.
Fortunately, the kitchen is very generously proportioned and that L-shaped configuration means the chef can be standing at the kitchen without obstructing the middle of the caravan. This, combined with the angled corridor formed by the sideboard, allows free passage between the lounge, dinette and toilet, which, with four on board, is a major plus.
But as well as suiting enthusiastic chefs down to the ground, there’s a safety benefit here. With a traditional mid-mounted kitchen, there’s always a risk that excited children will bump into you while you’re handling hot liquids or containers. But the L-shape minimises the risk of anyone getting hurt while cooking – something we found very reassuring.
So, smooth in family use – and smooth on the road, too: the big twin-axle towed like a dream behind Mitsubishi’s top-of-the-range Outlander Diamond. At 1602kg all up, it’s not hugely heavy for a twin-axle and the bulk of the weight sits squarely over the axles, minimising instability risk. As a belt and braces measure, the Ardennes has AL-KO’s ATC stability system fitted and, as you’d expect, a hitch-head stabiliser from the same stable.
Our weekend with the Ardennes was probably the most successful caravan holiday we’ve had since Freddie started walking and it’s largely down to that thoughtful layout. So often in a caravan, the much-needed wind-down after bedtime is interrupted by the little darlings playing up.
But both children quickly grasped that the rear dinette was their own special ‘space’ for eating, playing and sleeping - and so they were comfortable staying put in a familiar environment, leaving us free to relax in the lounge.
This intelligent and clear-cut approach to the family caravan is something that more and more manufacturers seem to be adopting and it’s a trend which the new generation of family caravanners will enthusiastically welcome.
Our Verdict
Bailey’s all-new Pageant Series 7 Ardennes – a very family-friendly twin-axle, with some amazing layout twists. Rather like a sun-room, its combination of big windows and low furniture opens up the interior of the caravan and brings the outdoors inside.
