Bailey Unicorn Cabrera

Ideal for people who want Alde heating, on-board water and an island bed – all under 1600kg MTPLM

Exterior

Bailey’s Unicorn, Pegasus and Olympus ranges are distinctly different in external appearance from all other caravans because of their near-perpendicular front profiles (see the advantage once inside with the enormous size of those top, front lockers).

Unicorns have the ATC stability control system – a small metal plaque on the drawbar contains a green light that illuminates when you connect the road lights socket. You’ll also notice the triple front lockers there’s a separate, central compartment just for the gas cylinders and two side lockers for other items such as car extension mirrors, toilet chemicals and a mains.

On the offside, just to the rear of the external storage hatch, is a second door. Inside is a removable, on-board water container, which you can wheel to and from the nearest tap. The idea is, that if the outdoor tap freezes, you can switch to the on-board tank, then wheel the other to a frost-free tap in the campsite’s shower buildings.

Interior

The Cabrera’s main appeal is its sleeping and showering arrangements. It has an island bed flanked by wardrobes, drawers and shoe cupboards, in a bedroom that also gives you a corner dressing table and television connection points. The shower is on the offside, forward of the bedroom, with the toilet and washbasin in a separate compartment on the nearside.

Between the two is a double door arrangement that enables you to close off the bedroom and washing area from the living area or, alternatively, close another door, to shut off the bedroom, leaving access to the shower and toilet from the front of the caravan. You can also simply close off the shower, so that the corridor leading to the bedroom can be open when the shower is in use. It’s clever and very practical.

The Cabrera, and its sister model the Pamplona, were launched last autumn. They share the island bed and double door layout. The Pamplona, though, is longer; it has two axles. Both have the Alde central heating system.

Illumination

Good, bright lighting is a feature of the Cabrera; the bedroom has four spotlights plus a ceiling light. LED strips, plus spotlights and corner lights, surround the lounge. But it’s in the kitchen, in particular, that the lighting excels.

Five LED clusters (two in the ceiling and two more under the lockers) direct light down onto the kitchen work area. The pale cream, high-gloss marble-effect surface reflects the light, enhancing its effect. There’s ample work surface at your disposal here, especially when the white chopping board sink cover is in place.

So far so good, but brilliance in the surface and lighting department isn’t matched by lower kitchen storage, although top storage is fine for lightweight items. The Cabrera lacks a cabinet for heavier items such as tinned foods and fruit juice cartons.

We think buyers of the Cabrera will make use of the two good-sized drawers in the dresser opposite, below the microwave, for kitchen items. There’s a locker beneath the drawers, but its design demeans its practicality. There’s a gap at the back of its base; water piping runs along here and under the locker.

Anything you put in this locker, other than large items like kitchen rolls, is liable to fall down the back and roll under the base. Retrieving items from here would be near-impossible. What’s needed is a cover for the aperture beside the water pipes; we’re sure Bailey could have done this without denting the brilliant weight of the Cabrera.

There’s another gap at the back of the drawers under the basin, with an identical problem. This is a high spec caravan condensed into a short length at weighing in at just under 1600kg. Our criticism about gaps in lockers and drawers should be seen in the light of the bigger picture, which is that the Cabrera ticks a lot of boxes, including tow safety, with the inclusion of the ATC stability system. In terms of living space, the lounge area is lovely, with no bulky chest of drawers to intrude on space. Instead, there’s a semi-circular coffee table to augment space on the deep windowsill. The dining table is stored in its own cupboard between the fridge and the oven.

For almost £20,000, a caravan has to be good and the Cabrera is good in a great number of ways, especially in terms of both specification and quality.