Two friends, one 'van: Taking the Fixed Rear Bed on a girls' weekend
Updated: Sep 17
Most of our trips away are the full Tomlin circus: Richard, the boys, Jack the dog, bikes, kayak, and enough food to feed a small village... This one was a bit different.
I'd originally booked a site for a family weekend, then read the small print properly and realised we couldn't take Jack. That was no good for us, so I transferred the booking and rang Bernie instead.
Bernie is my best friend. She lives in Leeds, and we've known each other since my export sales and marketing days, way back after I finished my languages degree. So off we went for a weekend, just the two of us, in the Trouvaille Classique MWB Fixed Rear Bed High Roof.
There's one thing I should own up to before we start: I don't often do the driving.
I drove the manual MWB
I don't want to say I never drive, because I do! I've driven the medium wheelbases plenty of times, usually in an emergency when Richard has been injured or otherwise out of action. But Richard normally takes the wheel, and that means I don't often get to just enjoy driving one of our 'vans with nobody waiting on me and nothing going wrong.
But this time I did, and it was lovely.
Our campsite was about an hour and twenty minutes from ours. It took me a bit longer because it was Friday teatime traffic, but it was a really nice run up there. And it was so easy to drive; it was my first go with keyless entry and go, which felt a bit strange when I first started it up, and the electric handbrake was new to me too. Both of them turned out to be dead easy – it's such a car-like drive.
The packing was the other novelty. Normally I get everything ready and Richard loads it into the 'van. This time I did the whole lot myself, and it was really interesting seeing where everything could go.
You forget how much thought has gone into the design until you're the one working out where the chairs and the swimming gear and two women's worth of clothes are going to live! We loaded the boot up and still weren't wanting for space.
I took plenty of food as well, because we weren't planning on leaving the campsite much at all.
Lakes, saunas, and a very sociable sweat
Pool Bridge Farm sits just outside York, and the draw is the lakes and the saunas. There are four lakes and several saunas, and you can swim in them all year round.
I'd booked us a sauna for the Friday evening. We both arrived early evening and found a pitch easily enough, as it wasn't mega busy.
Now, it wasn't a great weather weekend, if I'm honest! It was quite windy, and we'd managed to land right in the gap between two heatwaves, which felt a bit unlucky. There were a fair few tents on site, and I did feel sorry for them. But we weren't bothered – we were cosy in the 'van!
The sauna was super, properly hot, the sort that's really for serious sauna-goers. We acclimatised in the end, and the idea is that you get out and jump straight into the lake. The lakes have been treated to reduce the algae, so the water is this piercing greeny blue. It's quite stunning, and gorgeous to swim in.
There's wildlife everywhere: geese, ducks, and as I got in there were pond skaters and dragonflies going about their business. It was absolutely beautiful.
We met loads of people in the sauna too, all chatting away, it was a lovely atmosphere.
The one thing I did think, walking back across the field with a towel round me, was how nice it would have been to rinse off in the 'van as the one we took didn't have a shower in it. Up to now the shower has only been an option on our High Roof with the Atek Pop Top.
So many of you have asked for it in the Fixed Rear Bed, though, that we've now gone and done it! The first one has just landed in the workshop and will be ready to view very soon. Same layout with the bed always made up at the back, only with a proper shower pod as well.
Bernie's face when she saw this...
We came back to the 'van and just sat there feeling a bit amazed that we had this whole space to ourselves with no distractions, nothing to sort out. It was really relaxing!
Bernie couldn't believe how much room there was in the 'van, and how nice it was to have somewhere proper to chill out. That's the thing with the Fixed Rear Bed layout: you get two clearly defined spaces. There's the living and cooking end, and then there's the bed at the back, made up and ready.
Then the Cadac came into its own. We used the external gas barbecue point, which comes as standard, and cooked burgers and asparagus with all the salady bits Bernie had brought. With strawberries and ice cream for pudding – it was such a lovely evening.
And I mustn't forget the cocktails! She'd brought a mojito for me, because she knows that's my favourite, and a pornstar martini for herself. Bless her, she knows me well.
We had a little campfire too. We'd taken our Solo Stove, and you're allowed fires at Pool Bridge Farm. They actually provide a fire pit, but we only had small kindling with us rather than big logs, so we used our own. We sat out stargazing and the weather held long enough for us to enjoy it.
The best sleep Bernie had had in months
It got breezy once we were back inside. We'd had the skylights open because it was still fairly warm, but we shut those pretty quickly. I put the fridge on night mode so it wasn't making any noise, and we got into bed.
There was a fair bit of laughing about the toilet, as you'd expect from two women who've been friends for decades. Nothing bothers us at this stage!
Bernie was amazed at how spacious the bed was. Neither of us are big women, but even so, we weren't disturbing each other at all. We were comfy, warm, and barely stirred. She even checked her watch in the morning because she'd had one of the best sleeps she'd had in months. She's got a cat that wakes her up at home, so she doesn't sleep soundly as a rule!
That's the Fixed Rear Bed for you – you arrive and it's already there. Nothing to manoeuvre, nothing to make up, nothing to check works... you just get in.
A fry-up, then a sound bath – in that order
Saturday morning I went off for another sauna and a morning dip. Bernie isn't as bothered about the sauna as I am, so she gave that one a miss.
We'd spotted a sound bath advertised, up in the forest just above the campsite, so we booked ourselves onto it. Before that, though, we cooked a big fry-up. I'm not entirely sure you're supposed to do that immediately before lying down in a forest to be soothed by gongs, but we had so much nice food with us and we couldn't resist.
The sound bath was so calming and tranquil and just completely idyllic. A world away from daily life, which is exactly what we both needed.
Afterwards we walked round and explored the different lakes. There's the big family one where loads of families were paddleboarding, another where all the geese hang about, and then Monet Lake, which is adults only. We liked the look of that one, and I fancied getting in, but it turned really breezy, and I'd already had my swim that morning, so I saved myself for the last day.
Then it was back to the 'van for a proper chill and a read. One of us on the bed, one of us on the front cab seat. Two people, two spaces, nobody in anybody's way. That's really what that layout gives you.
Blowing a gale, and barely a rattle
We had the rear doors open for a while, which I love. Being able to sit on the bed and look straight out at the lakes is one of the nicest things about that layout. We couldn't keep them open long, though, because the wind picked up. It was blowing a gale out there on both nights!
We shut the roof vents, and that was that. We barely heard a rattle. Two nights of very sound sleep in weather that had the tents flapping. That's a real testament to how the 'van is put together, and it's the sort of thing you only find out by actually using one in rubbish weather rather than looking at one on a forecourt.
We couldn't resist a second barbecue on the Saturday night, and on the last night I used the hob and did prawns and pasta. It was nice to properly use everything. We had a little sit outside and a short walk, then back into bed.
On the final morning I got my swim in Monet Lake, in among the water lilies. It was so nice. We've already pledged to go back in the summer holidays, maybe with the kids next time.
What a girls' weekend taught me about our own 'van
Two women, two days, one compact camper, and not a single argument or annoyance! Some of that is because Bernie and I get on so well, but a good chunk of it is because the space works.
The Fixed Rear Bed gave us a bed that was always ready, a living area we could both use at once, proper standing room, an outside cooking point, storage that took everything we threw at it, and a 'van that stayed quiet and steady through two windy nights.
Driving it and packing it myself was the other eye-opener. When you're not the one loading up, you don't fully appreciate how much of the design is about the small stuff: where things go, how little you have to do on arrival, how quickly you can just stop thinking about the 'van and start enjoying being away.
I felt really lucky to be in it. And I'll be putting my hand up to drive more often from now on!
Come and see the Fixed Rear Bed for yourself
If you'd like to see the Trouvaille Classique MWB Fixed Rear Bed (or any of our 'vans) in person, the best thing to do is come and visit us at the workshop.
You can have a proper look round, see live builds in progress, meet the team and chat through what would work best for how you actually want to travel. Whether that's a full family trip or a weekend away with your best friend.
Book a workshop tour with us and you'll also get a free Orange Campers mug set as a little thank you. It's the best way to see the innovation, design and quality that goes into every build we do.
Please note: Information in this blog was correct at the time of publishing. Links, offers, specifications and product availability may change over time.
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