Bailey Unicorn Vigo

Ideal for two people wanting fixed-bed luxury

If you’re looking for a caravan with a fixed bed and a large fridge with separate freezer, yet you don’t want twin axles and long length, an ideal option might be one of two new caravans from Bailey. This is the Vigo, which, along with the larger, twin-axle Cordoba, arrived in mid-summer to expand Bailey’s top-spec Unicorn range.

Unicorns all take the names of Spanish cities. Vigo has fascinating ancient streets and Romanesque architecture, a plethora of museums – and, as well as cultural and historic fascination, its attraction is that it’s on the coast, all of which links it in nicely with holidays and caravanning.

Somehow the name of a tempting holiday destination puts us in a sharply focused mindset for reviewing a holiday home on wheels… But we’re in Lincolnshire, so imagination will have to suffice on the mindset front. This Vigo, though, has more than enough to keep us firmly on the holiday track. It has an unusual combination of elements that create a caravan of strong appeal to the discerning buyer who likes high spec and yet also wants to keep within a trim weight range.

The Vigo achieves its combination of tower fridge with separate freezer and fixed bed by aligning the bed across the caravan, so it takes up less of the caravan’s length – making space for the freezer. It’s just to the rear of the door, where in many similar layouts, you’d find a dresser.

The Vigo has no dresser, so you’d use the Avtex television (that comes as standard) in the lounge, where there are connection points adjacent to the deep windowsill. The shower room is behind the bedroom. Showering A sliding door leads from the bedroom to the shower room.

As in other Unicorns, the shower is circular, not the largest you’ll find in a caravan but big enough for most people, we’d say. It’s on the offside, with the basin (and its cabinet below it) directly alongside. To the left of the basin is a top-hinged cabinet, inside which is a linen bag suspended on four hooks. It’s designed to contain clothing waiting to be washed. You’ll need that on the long tow to Vigo, when you won’t have time to do the washing! Shelving and a corner cabinet are on the offside, above the toilet.

Sleeping

Instant bedtime luxury is guaranteed for two in the Vigo’s island bed. There’s enough settee length for small children to make up single beds here. There is of course the option of making up a second double bed in the lounge, by drawing out the centre section of the bed base from under the offside settee.

Storage

Hinge-down doors give you access to the area under the lounge seating but the space here is inevitably compromised by the power distribution box and the Alde heating system; these are short-length settees so the storage space isn’t as large as under settees which are long enough to make single beds. But that won’t worry Vigo buyers because the island bed creates ample storage space.

There’s exterior access, and a plastic tray so that you can confine any grass or mud that might arrive here on the feet of folding chairs. But to make the best use of the storage area here you have to remove the dining table, which sits on four rests right in the centre of the bed. If you leave it there, you can’t get at stuff that you’ve stored under it – or stuff that will have migrated there while you have been towing. We debate that point later under Dining…

The top lockers over the bed are deep; there are also four over the lounge. Wardrobes are on both sides of the bed, with drawers and cabinets beneath them. The forward wardrobe has 40cm of hanging width; the rear one is 10cm narrower, sparking inevitable debates about which of you takes more clothes on holiday.

Overall, the Vigo’s storage arrangements, while not enormous, are sufficient for the stuff you’ll need on that trip to northern Italy to which we are still aspiring as we write this review. Dining At 70cm wide and 40cm deep the table that pulls out from under the windowsill is large enough for two to dine without plates colliding. And the windowsill is 49cm deep – ample space for the salad bowl, the French bread and the wine bottle. No need, then, for the freestanding table when two are dining, which is the way in which most buyers will use this caravan.

The table, thus, becomes the subject of a debate, because in its stored position, horizontally in the base of the bed, over the top of anything you’re storing here, it’s in the way when you need to get anything out or in from here. You won’t need it for dining. And even if you do, you won’t want to keep it up in the lounge all the time. So it goes in the awning, perhaps. That’s ideal, then. Except when your awning isn’t up, as it won’t be on overnight stops on the way to Vigo. And it might not be for weekend breaks. Solution? Leave the table at home! But then that’s not where it’s meant to be!

Lounging

Without the freestanding table in place the lounge is a comfortable environment. Four enormous, firm cushions (arguably among the biggest in any touring caravan) enable you to create your perfect nest, with your back against either the front or the rear end of these settees. It’s here, as you settle down in the lounge, that you’ll most appreciate the Unicorn window design; the centre front window reaches high up into the roofline. And it opens.

On a holiday in the Vigo’s namesake on Spain’s Atlantic coast you’ll love the ventilation here – and you’ll appreciate the pleated, high-quality fabric fly blind that prevents unwelcome winged visitors from entering your Vigo.

The settees aren’t long enough to lie back to watch TV – but if that’s your desired relaxing mode, plug the Avtex television that comes with the Vigo into the connections on the dressing table and lie back on the bed. For daytime use, the bed pushes back a few centimetres against the nearside wall, to create extra corridor space along its foot; in its pushed-back position there is more than sufficient length for TV watching with your feet up.

Our test Vigo was equipped with the optional (£199) Rossini upholstery; although we like the purples and fawns of the standard scheme, the red in the Rossini alternative creates a warmer look that somehow helps to put you in that Mediterranean holiday mindset.

Kitchen

With the huge, 190-litre domesticsized fridge and separate freezer, storing food is just as easy as at home. Which means you can get plenty of food on board for the long tow to Vigo… There’s a cabinet below the fridge and a 26cm-wide three-shelf cabinet to the left of the oven and grill.

Three semi-circular shelves are in a cabinet under the sink; this section of the kitchen surface is 5cm above the main working surface, and extends into the centre of the caravan, making the kitchen slightly L-shaped. The space behind the shelving under the sink is occupied by the gas bottle compartment. The lower surface is 25cm wide. Add in the area behind the sink, which is 60cm wide at its widest point, and 32cm deep, and you have a workable kitchen area. But the drainer occupies most of this latter space when you need it to be there.

Two top cabinets give you mug and plate racks in the large cabinet and two shelves in the one that’s half its size. Overall, storage is workable but not enormous. But keep in mind that this caravan achieves so much in its modest length and you can easily forgive it for not having a huge kitchen. Especially when you consider the convenience of having the 190-litre fridge-freezer.

Towing

Our test tow did not, of course, involve taking the Vigo to Vigo, Lincolnshire lanes and a straight stretch of the A1 sufficed to demonstrate that the Vigo would behave as stably as we had expected. Safety is enhanced by the ATC stability control system that electronically applies the brakes if high winds or passing vehicles attempt to upset the caravan’s stability.

The Vigo achieves an excellently practical and appealing layout in a modest length and weight. We love the high level of spec that even includes a TV. But we can’t get on with the table storage position. It’s awkward to remove and replace – and this is a task you have to carry out in order to effectively use the storage area beneath it. Vertically-stored tables win every time in terms of convenience and ease of use