Having just come back from a glorious few days away with the family, it made me think why caravanning is such a great way to "get away" with the kids.  One thing that most of us say about our children is that they don't get the freedom that we had when we were young.  We worry about their safety and modern living restricts their freedom to play outside without supervision.

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Recycling waste and reducing carbon emissions has been high on the agenda for Britain’s largest manufacturer of touring caravans and motorhomes the Swift Group for many years.

Richard White, Swift Marketing Director, said: “The Swift Group takes the environmental situation and global warming very seriously.

“To reduce global emissions associated with the production and use of the company’s touring caravans and motorhomes is a key part of our strategy going forward.”

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This is a blatant advert - you have been warned!  As part of our shop opening, we are offering anyone who signs up to our newsletter a 5% discount on any product in store - no catches or tricks.  We haven't added the 5% on either - just look at our prices.

For all those lucky enough to get away for Easter, it has been a great start to the touring season with most of the UK enjoying good weather and comfortable temperatures.  The only exception has been in the Northern Isles where I was lucky enough to witness some snow!

Back on the mainland, there seemed to be a lot of caravan traffic on the road and no doubt a good Easter weekend was being enjoyed by many.  This certainly is in sharp contrast to last year when we arrived on site to be greeted with a sleet and hail storm.  Global warming may not be so bad afterall….

After some considerable development time, the Busy Outdoors.Com Shop is now up and running.  We already have some great caravanning accessories in store and our inventory is growing very quickly.  Pop by the store and take a look at what we have to offer - there are a few surprises and also some great opening offers.

The Busy Outdoors.Com Shop

We hope to hear from you soon.

The Swift Group notched up nearly £2 million in touring caravan and motorhome sales at the Scottish Caravan & Outdoor Leisure Show 2007 at Glasgow’s SECC last week (8-11 February).

The £1.2 million in tourer sales and £750,000 in motorhome sales was more than double the sales achieved at last year’s show and an all time record in Scotland for the company.

The all new Sprite range - which offers generous interior space, high specification and unique features over its nearest competitors all from £9,650 - was a runaway success, producing sales that were 260% up on the previous year.

The show, which saw an overall increase in attendance, also saw the first public viewing of 12 new models across the Swift, Abbey, Sterling and Ace ranges of tourers and the introduction of the top of the range Swift Kon-tiki and Bessacarr E 700 Series of motorhomes.

Richard White, Swift Marketing Director, said: “2007 has started in record style for the Group with a string of competitively priced new product launches right across our touring caravan and motorhome brands.

“Scotland has continued a trend of substantially increased sales that started at the NEC Show last October and set the scene for what looks like being a record year for Swift. A combination of innovative design, competitive pricing, recognised by a string of top industry awards is a clear indication of just how popular our products are this year.”

Busy Caravanning in conjunction with Busy Outdoors will soon be launching a new online store, supplying all those essential caravanning and camping accessories along with great product reviews.  For many people, popping down to an outdoors retailer isn't feasible and the Busy Outdoors shop will cater for those must have items that you realise you haven't got the week before you go away!

We have enlisted a family run courier business that can deliver to Scotland the next day and England and Wales in two days.  Using the latest technology with the latest help and support systems we aim to bring the best in online service to the caravanning and camping population.

If you have any suggestions or comments regarding our impending launch then please visit:

Busy Outdoors Support

and give us your ideas and requests.  The "Busy Team" are very excited about this new service and we hope to see you at the new shop very soon.  If you want advanced notification of further developments, just fill in the newsletter form (top right) and will let you know as soon as there are any changes along with some great offers.

Avondale Coachcraft reports buoyant sales on the Glossop stand at this year's Caravan & Motor Home Show held at G-Mex in Manchester.

Commercial director Robin Huckerby says there was particular interest in Glossop dealer specials based on Avondale's Dart and ‘Bird' ranges, with the Golden Osprey and Dart 545-4 Mayfair leading the sales successes.

He adds that during the recent run of shows the new Dart range has exceeded Avondale's expectations, and he anticipates even greater interest to be generated with the launch of the brand new 1450kg Dart 630-6 at the NEC show in February.

From Avondale news

You can now find  your nearest Calor dealer on your satnav if you have a TomTom satellite navigation system!  In an innovative move, Calor have introduced a TomTom compatible database and you can download the files from the following page for free:

TomTom database Calor Gas Suppliers

Swift will unveil its new line-up of tourer ranges at the Caravan and Motorhome Show 2007 at G-Mex, Manchester, from January 18-21.

There will be an entire all new Sprite range along with a new four-berth twin-axle Abbey Vogue 620.  The Sterling Europa 620 and award-winning Swift Charisma 620, which have identical layouts to the Abbey Vogue 620, will also be on display.

Read more about the Swift Touring range