We didn't venture too far from home for our first trip. We wanted to keep the travel distance short and have the convenience of being able to quickly return if we forgot anything.
Henlow Bridge Lakes, located approximately 5 miles from us, is a family and disability-friendly campsite nestled in Henlow, Bedfordshire. It remains open all year round for camping, glamping, special events, and angling (excluding the fishing lakes closed season).
Getting Hitched
Apart from when we first collected our caravan, this was our first attempt at hitching it up ourselves. Luckily, our friends, who have plenty of experience with caravans, had kindly prepared a helpful guide for us.
Download our Free Guide to getting Hitched!
It took us a bit longer than expected, but our advice here is to give yourself ample time to carefully check and recheck each stage of the process to avoid any mishaps.
We actually forgot to wind in our Jockey Wheel as high as it could go for travel, which resulted in a flatspot a few miles down the road - a common mistake that anyone can easily make!
Travel to Site
Our trip to Henlow Bridge Lakes was smooth sailing, except for the little hiccup with the Jockey Wheel. As soon as we reached the site and passed through the security gate, we were warmly welcomed by the incredibly friendly staff.
Arriving on your Pitch
After being directed to our pitch, we kindly inquired about any specific instructions for setting up. We understand that different caravan sites may have different preferences. The staff suggested that we park to the left, allowing us plenty of space to open our Fiamma sun canopy to the right. They also mentioned that we could park our car across the pitch in front of the caravan and towing hitch.
Once we had successfully unhitched from the car (you can find more details in our free guide), we used our motor mover to precisely position the caravan exactly where we desired on the pitch. The pitches at Henlow Bridge Lakes provide Electrical Hook Up (EHU) and are conveniently located near taps for fresh drinking water. They offer 80 Hard Standing pitches with EHU and an additional 100 grass pitches with EHU, all with nearby drinking water points.
Grey Waste
Dirty water from your caravan should be collected in a Wastemaster container or connected to a grey waste service point. This is essentially your waste water, washing up water, shower water etc that exits your caravan via the grey waste pipes. Once your Wastemaster is full it is normal to empty this in a grey waster service point on site. In the absence of Grey Waste service points some sites allow you to empty your grey waste 'in the bushes' or similar.
Fresh Water
Drinking water is normally available on site from nominated points and this is the case at Henlow Bridge Lakes. It is advisable to collect this in a container, the Hitchman Aquaroll is a popular choice for this. We have two of these so that as one empties we can immediately switch over to the second, which can be handy if you are mid-washing up or shower!
The Hitchman Aquaroll and Wastemaster can be purchased as a bundle and are often supplied with your caravan, as part of a starter pack.
You will need a pump to put in your water container (Aquaroll) to pump the water throughout your caravan to the taps, shower etc. This will need to match the inlet pipe on your caravan. Ours is a Whale Water Pump, one end for the caravan, one end for your water container, which automatically pumps water when the tap is turned on.
Electric Hook Up (EHU)
Most sites and pitches offer Electrical Hook Up usually a 10A or 16A supply. 10A will allow you up to approx 2.5kW of electrical supply before tripping. This means if you have a 3000W kettle (3kW) from home it most likely will cause the electricity supply to trip (go off), as we discovered.
Ideally buy a travel kettle that runs at 1000W - 1500W or less. We spent our first trip away without a workable kettle and without Gas to boil a kettle (see below). Thankfully, on a previous motorhome trip we had purchased a small stove with gas canisters which we had with us for our trip to Henlow Bridge Lakes.
You don't realise how much you crave a cup of tea until you struggle to boil water!
Gas
After the Covid-19 pandemic, purchasing portable gas canisters for your caravan has posed some challenges. Currently, Calor Gas Dealers are following certain restrictions and only accepting empty gas bottles in exchange for a new one. Therefore, you must bring your empty bottle and pay a fee to receive a full replacement.
However, for first-time caravan owners like us who didn't have a gas bottle to exchange, the situation was a bit more challenging. As many experienced caravaners know, gas is essential for heating, hot water, and running the fridge when not connected to electricity, especially during wild camping trips. Also essential for the stove if you cannot boil your kettle because it trips the electricity supply and want to use the stove!
After exploring multiple Calor gas dealerships without success, checking the local tip, and contacting various individuals selling them at inflated prices on platforms like Facebook Marketplace and Ebay, we eventually found a brand new gas canister at a relatively reasonable price.
Thankfully I was able to borrow a gas spanner from Derek, our caravan neighbour, to finally connect the gas to our caravan.
Summary
We had such a wonderful time at Henlow Bridge Lakes and couldn't resist leaving a glowing review on Trip Advisor. After a few days of pure relaxation (which the site is perfect for), we realized that it will take us some time to fully settle into caravan life. It's the little things, like having the right crockery, cutlery, and tools, that we can't take for granted. If you forget them, you'll either need to make do without or find a workaround.
The staff at Henlow Bridge Lakes were absolutely amazing - so friendly and helpful. We were pleasantly surprised by how welcoming and kind the fellow caravaners and campers were too. This unexpected aspect of our first caravan experience was truly heartwarming.
Thank you to Nigel and Frances Lloyd for helping us get started down this journey!