Vanfest - vantastic weekend

As well as taking her Palomino to Beachbuggin', and breaking it on the way back, Pippa also took it to Vanfest. She reports...

It was quite a contrast from the small, cosy, very 'local' Beachbuggin' to the vast, corporate, slick Vanfest. Luckily the weather was a total contrast too - it was a beautiful, warm and sunny weekend. There were literally thousands of vans there - so many that when we arrived on Friday afternoon, we were told there was a 3-hour wait to get into the camping fields. So what the heck - we started the partying in the holding area (if you're reading this, Sandie, hi to you Georgie and Bear the Van-cat!). Managed to get into a nice quiet spot at one of the far ends of the site, then headed into the crowds and spent a very lively evening dancing like a mad thing to Showaddywaddy (yes, I know!) and watching various other less famous musicians and entertainers.

Spent most of Saturday shopping in the hundreds of van-related stalls and shops - I was in heaven! You could get just about anything - and I bought just about everything: tea towels, mugs, bags and a smart new 'nose' for Claude (see pics!). And to top it off, we came across another Palomino! It's a beige and white one owned by Adrian and Claire, a lovely couple from the midlands, who came over for a drink and a Claude-visit that evening, before we went off to see the Commitments in the big marquee, then on to a bit of drink-driving on the dodgems.

We did the rounds of the fantastic show-vans on Sunday morning, then in the afternoon, Adrian and Claire brought their Palomino round for a little photo shoot, before we drove out of the show in a 2-van convoy. Someone stopped us to take pictures of our two vans, and it turned out he owns a former Palomino that has been 'beheaded' in favour of a dormobile roof!! Tut tut! We'd been told there was a third Palomino at Vanfest, but it was at the other end of the huge site (about 20 minutes away) and we only just caught a glimpse of its unmistakable roof as we were in the exit queue - shame we missed that!

We had a really great weekend - everyone was so friendly ( I got a hug from a complete stranger within 10 minutes of getting out of the van!) and again, Claude got loads of interest and compliments from neighbouring van-owners - people really do like Palominos! Adrian and Claire were saying how good it would be to get a few Palominos together for next year's Vanfest, and I agree - I'd love it! You can even reserve your own club camping area! Anyone interested?