This holiday review has been sent to us by the lovely Pauline Rigby who had a fantastic trip in Rori the Campervan with her Mum and two young Mini Travellers.
AD | I have been or could be if you click on a link in this post compensated via a cash payment, gift or something else of value for writing this post. See our full disclosure policy and privacy policy for more details.
We have just recently returned from a 4 night stay in Rori the VW campervan. We hired Rori from Dales VW Hire and from the moment we began our enquiries we couldn’t have received a better service. Louise and Alan (Rori’s owners) were so helpful right from the start. This is something we have never done before and unfortunately my husband couldn’t make the holiday so I had more questions than normal to make sure I would be comfortable with the children (Freddie age 5 and Daisy age 1).
Rori comfortably fits 2 people and is advertised as such, however after looking into it I discovered that Rori had 2 hammock beds in his roof. I enquired about the safety of Freddie in a hammock bed and very kindly they offered to make a safety mechanism to attach to the hammock to give me peace of mind that Freddie wouldn’t fall out.
As soon as they offered this I booked the trip and from that point on my 5 year old simply couldn’t wait! We checked out the inventory of Rori about a week before we set off to meet him in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales and we couldn’t believe the amount of stuff that Rori stored i.e. tables, cookers, plates, washing up bowls, wine glasses, tea towels etc) which meant our packing could be kept to a minimum. We set off taking clothes, baby essentials and of course sleeping bags and pillows.
We met Rori on a farm local to where he lives. You don’t collect Rori until 4pm on the day of collection therefore it was best to stay local to where he lived. Freddie’s face was a picture when Rori arrived and we simply couldn’t believe how amazing he looked! Alan and Louise showed us everything and they were very patient with us especially when erecting the awning so that we remembered exactly what we had to do. The campsite we stayed at was on a working farm so the facilities were very minimal but the kids loved the fact that it was on a working farm. The first night was the only night that the sleeping arrangements didn’t work out the hammocks seemed to be damp from the condensation that rose into the roof therefore I was very cold in the hammock, luckily we had wrapped Freddie up so much that it didn’t bother him. After the first night we decided to rearrange the sleeping arrangements and I slept with mum and daisy in the double bed. We slept every night after that and Freddie loved sleeping in his hammock.. We wrapped him Ina. Waterproof blanket too so that he didn’t get any damp from the condensation and that appeared to work very well.
We decided to stay one more night on the working farm but that day was set off on our first proper trip in Rori. Rori has no power steering so he’s quite difficult to drive but what an experience! Freddie was cheering as soon as we set off…. He was loving it! Also. The back seatbelts were long enough to fit proper car seats which of course gives you piece of mind.
That day we visited a fantastic farm in the Dales called hazel brow farm, this was a working farmer with the friendliest farmer I’ve ever met doing the trips with the kids, again my two loved this. We ate out for dinner at a lovely restaurant I’m Reeth and slept well at night. The next day we set off to Leyburn to our next campsite.
It’s worth pointing out that we did keep my mum’s car with us which provided extra storage space. Freddie was therefore my co-pilot in this hour long journey and what fun we had! We were making up songs and loving the bouncy ride in Rori. We got to our campsite in Leyland which had a lot more going on and within 45 minutes we had everything set up. We were thrilled! It must have been their patience with us when putting it all up that helped us remember exactly what to do. From Leyburn we had two great days sightseeing I’m Rori and what fantastic weather we had to go with it. All in all a superb, adventurous holiday and one I will never forget and I’m certain my 5 year old wont either.Â
Karen Beddow founded Mini Travellers in 2014 while doing what she loves most...going on holiday!
Mini Travellers is for parents looking for holiday ideas, destination reviews, days out and things to do with the kids. We also have family travel tips, activity ideas and all other things family holiday related. Take a look at some of our latest reviews for holidays and day trips in the UK.
Glad you had such a great time, see you all next year?
Rori the campervan
Please feel free to use the link to the review on your website if you would like to.
Stumbled across this article when doing some research on travelling in a campervan with kids. I have hired a campervan from in Scotland for the end of July and trying to prepare for the holiday. We have never done a campervan holiday before and looking for tips.
Thanks.