A Love Letter… To My Caravan

A static holiday home has brought more joy than jewels ever could,

- Miranda McMinn

You can keep your statement bags and cashmere coats, your “because I’m worth it” diamonds and your Scandi designer furniture. The best thing I have ever bought, without any shadow of a doubt, is a caravan.

The minute I set eyes on my beautiful Rye Harbour seaside bolthole, my heart soars. A 41ft 3-berth 2017 ABI Ambleside, this is a piece of kit that seems to have been designed and built purely with midlife women in mind – and since that is precisely what I am, it’s perfect. In fact, it’s the perfect physical representative of where I feel I am in life. There’s nothing cool or ironic about it – it’s not a Silverstream or vintage 70s number. Mine is a proper static.

Inside, it combines the nifty genius of a ship’s cabin with the practicality of a fitted kitchen and the appeal of a giant Wendy house. I am seldom to be found without a damp J-cloth in my hand, smiling as I lovingly wipe down a surface – and I hate cleaning. Outside there is a deck where you will find me parked in a deckchair, cup of tea or glass of wine in hand, grinning elatedly at the seagulls and marvelling at my good fortune. And it’s not just me that feels like this. Every other cagoule-clad, 50-plus woman who walks past gives me a look that shows they feel the same. “Glorious, isn’t it?” one of us says. “Yes, aren’t we lucky?” says the other.