Author: tref

I get excited when seeing other VW campervans when out and about. Last weekend we were at a wedding in Lincoln where the Ruston car was used but there happened to be two other weddings going on in the Bailgate that same afternoon (it’s a good job they didn’t all congregate at the back of the cathedral at the same time for photos).

This beautiful olive green VW splitty campervan was being used for one of them. Our vans are often hired for weddings. There are some lovely pics in our gallery of customer photos. People also take them away on honeymoon after the wedding and we have at least one example of a marriage proposal being made (and accepted) whilst away in a van.

Then Tref had to go to the Isle of Man and snapped this white VW Type 2 Bay on a day out in Port Erin (for what it’s worth). The frustrating thing was that when they got back in the car to head home they passed two more perfect specimens further along the prom but there was no place to stop and take photos.

Because the Isle of Man uses a different registration system we can’t tell what year this one was built but it is clearly an early bay so 1971 at the latest. Early bays date from between 1968 and 1971. Our van Betty was 1971 and is therefore an early bay but the others came later and so are “late bays”. Early or late we have the campervan for you 🙂

If you are interested in hiring an early or late VW bay campervan you know who to call – the number is 01522 438888. Check out availability by clicking on the “check availability” button on our home page. Have a great day y’all.

PS whilst splitties look great they aren’t as practical as campervans and are typically just used as “busses”.

Couple more spotted in Peel:

Anne’s Vans is based slap bang in the middle of Lincoln. Not far from the Siemens factory. Before becoming Siemens the company was called Rustons, or Ruston & Hornsby. Something like that. It changed over the years (the company stretches back to the middle of the 19th Century). During World War 1 they built the famous Sopwith Camel aircraft. After the war they turned production to more peaceful activities, one of which was the manufacture of automobiles.

A friend of ours, Steve Wildman, has spent a lot of his career maintaining the Ruston-Hornsby vintage cars. This weekend it was used as the carriage for his daughter Lois’s wedding.

The videos below were taken during the morning before the nuptials took place. I know this is not a campervan but it is most definitely a vintage car and sort of in the same category.

There are some differences. When the vintage car needs a new part it has to be made from scratch using machine tools such as lathes. At least if one of our campervans needs some TLC then we can usually (though not always) order the part in.

Enjoy the videos…

On a separate topic, we at Anne’s Vans have a fleet of vintage vehicles. Head to the gallery to see some shots.

Didn’t really. That was just an attention grabbing headline. Surfing is however now an Olympic Sport. Just found out. Had we known in advance Anne’s Vans could have sponsored the event but it is too late now. Wonder how much they charge. Could have thrown a couple of hundred at it. Pounds. Or Yen. A missed opportunity.

When people think of VW campervans they naturally associate them with a surfing lifestyle.  A couple of boards on the roof, garlands hanging from the rear view mirror, battered straw hat, shades, that kind of thing. Gotta live the dream.

We have had people take surfboards with them when hiring a campervan. The boards usually get put inside though not on the roof. There is plenty of room inside. Also there is no surf available in Skeggy or Maybo which are the nearest “resorts” to our depot in Lincolnshire. You need to go to Cornwall or Wales. Or Hawaii but our vans aren’t insured to go to Hawaii. Cornwall and Wales are fine. 

Also it would take ages drive to Hawaii. It would be a lot easier if you just flew there and hired a van when you arrived. I’m sure they must do that sort of thing. You could probably even kip on the beach although the noise of the surf might keep  you awake.

There would be side benefits. Guaranteed nice weather and access to Hawaiian shirt supplies at source. On the downsides it would be a lot cheaper to hire van from Anne’s Vans and stay in the UK. Just take a jumper with you. Will be fine.

I’ll just finish off with a disclaimer that Anne’s Vans didn’t really sponsor the Olympics Surfing event even though it is a cool idea. It would not be money well spent and we would probably have to mortgage the house, and the kids, and the vans – ok well maybe not the vans 🙂

Last Thursday we had a visit from BBC Lincolnshire’s roving reporter “Our Lizzie” who spend a couple of hours with us broadcasting live from inside the VW campervans. The visit had been prearranged to be timed when two of the vans were in the depot. One day either side and there would have been nothing to see as this is our busiest time of year for campervan rentals.

The broadcasts formed part of the Carla Greene show on BBC Lincolnshire. When Lizzie arrived she found the campervan cleaning in full swing – hot work on such a hot day but a job has to be done 🙂 We like our campervans to be spotless when they go out.

Lizzie chatted with the whole team live on the radio including Anne’s husband Tref who does the marketing, Dave the mechanic and of course the boss herself, Anne.

We think Lizzie is a convert to the campervan life as she mentioned that she would quite like to hire one for a trip with her young family. We are here at your service Lizzie.

Anne’s Vans has been in the news quite a lot this year with media coverage of the staycation boom being of real interest to people. We were even on the BBC Look North News which was very exciting obvs.

Our own campervan rental business is booming with August being mostly now booked up – perhaps a couple of short slots available in our newest van Vera.

We have posted some of the photos from the BBC visit below and make sure you watch the video of Dave showing Lizzie the ropes inside the van. She was quite surprised at how comfortable the bed is!

If you are interested in hiring a campervan then we have plenty of availability for September and already have a number of bookings in the can for 2022. Give us a ring on 01522 438888 if you would like a chat about it.

Ordinarily we would stick one or two of these photos up in our gallery of customer pics but this time we thought they were worthy of their own post.

Andy Stanley had this to say:

“We really enjoyed the experience & waving at fellow camper van owners & even random people smile & wave. I think the bed & layout of the van are a fantastic use of the space available. Of course I want one now 🙂

I’m looking forward to being able to plan some more trips to music concerts next year & taking another trip in one of your VW’s”

I’m afraid Bertie is not for sale but it will be great to see you again next year.

Looks like the Stanleys had a great little encampment.

The campsite toilet and shower blocks have reopened and the campervan season is in full swing. Even the weather looks like improving as we head towards the bank holiday weekend. I’ll believe it when I see it 🙂 

Weather isn’t really a factor in a campervan in the way that it is if you are camping. Even cold weather doesn’t seem to affect things. The vans are really toasty inside. In fact it is quite nice sitting in the van making a brew whilst the rain falls gently on the pop top roof. Sometimes sends one of those relaxing shivers down my spine.

Shorts t-shirt and flip flops are perfectly adequate attire for such occasions maybe with a waterproof for the occasional rain shower. Legs dry a lot more quickly than trousers. I recall a family holiday in Brittany years ago when our 4 kids were still quite small. Tref and the three boys had bought snorkeling gear. 

We hit the beach and the lads all went off snorkeling. After perhaps half an hour the rain started to come down and the beach suddenly deserted leaving only me and our daughter left there huddled under an umbrella with towels wrapped around us. The snorkelers hadn’t even noticed it was raining and it seemed like ages before they returned to the beach and we could go back to where we were staying. Tough lot us Brits.

I used to reckon that you could count on the fingers of one hand the days where you could sit outside of an evening to have dinner. Covid has made us all a bit hardier as sitting outside has often been the only option. Witness our campervan trip to Cromer where at the restaurant where we had lunch we sat outside in the rain wearing five layers of clothing (see featured image). Didn’t stop us having a good time 🙂

The next day the weather was perfect until just after we set off for home when the heavens opened again. The video below shows the windscreen wipers working away in the campervan en route home from Cromer. The  flood didn’t last and were able to stop off en route to buy fresh strawberries and asparagus from a farm shop at the side of the road. Happy days.

I want you to close your eyes and imagine you are back in the 1970s. Flares, flower power, love and peace. The Bardney Festival is on. You and some mates have rocked up in your VW campervans. Everyone is having fun. 

You park the vans in a semi circle and sit outside, drink in hand. Someone gets their geetar out and bashes out a few anthems. A few Dylan numbers. Everyone joins in the chorus.

The scene fades and your eyes open. The year is 2021 but there in front of you it still looks like the 1970s. Three VW campervans have arrived at Stourton Woods, a few short miles from the site of the Bardney Festival and now the site of the Beyond The Woods festival every August.

The video is drone footage of the three vans arriving at the Arboretum in Stourton Woods where we recently spent a fantastic weekend. On this occasion it was a photoshoot but we eventually downed cameras and chilled into the evening. Tref even got his guitar out but there appears to be no photographic evidence of this. Probably a good thing.

This is not an exclusive club. Our vintage campervans are all available to hire. In fact, thinking about it why not hire all three or all four including Vera the T6. It’s great to go away in convoy. Just one campervan gets lots of waves. When you are in a convoy of campervans it’s as if everyone lines the streets and waves madly. Well nearly.

We supply you with the vans and tables and camping chairs for sitting outside the vans. You bring the beer and wine. Maybe a french baguette and some cheese and pate. Close your eyes again and picture it. It’s almost as if you are there already. Breathe out and relax.

As the sun set over the campervan camp at Stourton Woods the breeze dropped and the flag of Lincolnshire that had been fluttering proudly fell limp. We had a number of flags flying high over the camp including the Irish tricolour, the Welsh red dragon, the flag of Uganda purchased at some charity event years ago and one that nobody knew what it was until we googled the image and found it was some semi autonomous part of Sweden whose name I can’t remember and of which we don’t appear to have a photo anyway.

Before anyone complains and says “oy where’s the union jack” or similar we have a couple of bags of flags and Tref just brought one at random and the flags described are what was in that bag. The flag of Uganda is a particularly fine one anyway with a roadrunner as centerpiece.

The day’s photography was done and we gathered ‘round the BBQ to watch Tref cook sausages and burgers. Very gastronomic it was. It wasn’t helped by the fact that we had forgotten to bring the round middle bit of the barbeque grill and so the sausages had to be carefully arranged around the outside. 

As soon as the food was scoffed we removed the griddle anyway and fed the bbq that had now become a firepit with fuel gleaned from the floor of Stourton Woods. There is something timeless about a group of friends sat around a fire staring into the flames.

Our friends Andy and Suddy had their toddler Charlie along with him and he was soon snuggled up in bed in campervan Bertie leaving mum and dad to enjoy themselves with the others. The great outdoors can be very tiring especially if you are aged 18 months and have been running around a field all afternoon.

Unfortunately for Charlie he missed the toasted marshmallows. Don’t worry Charlie, your time will come 🙂

The photos in this post are some of the many that we took over the weekend which give you a feel for the adventure.

Anne’s Vans extends fleet by hiring out third party vans

VW campervan firm Anne’s Vans has become so busy during the covid pandemic that it has extended its fleet by taking on vans owned and operated by private individuals in the county.

The first of these agreements is with Ruskington based Debbie Frost whose campervan named Vera, a professionally converted VW T6  in bamboo green, is very modern in contrast to the vintage VW campervans owned directly by Anne’s Vans.

Debbie Frost says “We rented one of Anne’s Vans a couple of years ago and loved it so much we decided to buy our own. Our new van is sat on our drive for most of the year and it seemed a shame for it not to be used more people. By renting it out through Anne’s Vans we can make a bit of money and help pay towards the cost of running the van.”

Anne Davies of Anne’s Vans says “It’s great to be able to extend our fleet by renting out Debbie’s Van as we are now so busy. More and more people are hiring our vans for staycations because overseas travel is not encouraged. We were already getting busier and the business has been expanding but the covid pandemic has given us a real boost.”

The new van Vera is a fantastic addition to the Anne’s Vans fleet giving customers more choice and allowing Anne to rent out vans all year round. The vintage VWs are locked up in dry storage for the winter. The new van however has all mod cons including a really efficient heating system and is suitable for all year round use.

Anne’s Vans is a real local success story that began five years ago when Anne decided to rent a super cool campervan for going on weekends away. However she found it very difficult to find one anywhere near Lincolnshire. She decided to buy one and rent it out when it was not being used by her and her husband Tref.

The demand was such that we periodically bought another van and now have three vintage VWs plus the modern van in today’s announcement.

Harry and Pamela hired Betty for their ruby wedding anniversary. Harry had worked on VW vans as a young mechanic and hankered after a trip down memory lane.

We are pleased to say they had a great time taking the campervan to Whitby and Scarborough for day trips out. A really big thank you to them for letting us use the photo.

Campervan firm adds to fleet due to staycation demand

Growth in staycations during covid drives fleet expansion for Lincolnshire VW Campervan rental firm.
Lincoln based vintage VW campervan rental business Anne’s Vans has expanded its fleet due to unprecedented demand for staycations.The Covid19 pandemic has affected the way people take their holidays and this year people are facing reality and deciding that a holiday in the UK is where it is at. In 2020 despite the late start to the season due to lockdown Anne’s Vans saw a rush of people booking a campervan for a UK based adventure.

This demand has continued into 2021 with advanced bookings already exceeding the total for last year before the season has even started. Anne’s vans hires out vintage 1970s VW Campervans also known as T2 Bays.

Owner Anne Davies says “we ended up having to turn a lot of people away last year as we were often fully booked. It made sense for us to look for another van to expand our capacity”

“In October we bought Campervan Ruby, a classic 1974 VW Bay campervan in beautiful burgundy and cream livery. Ruby was originally converted in the famous Westfalia workshops, considered to be the gold standard in VW Campervan conversions.”

“People usually bring the vans back with a smile on their faces and don’t want to hand the keys back. In fact we get a lot of repeat business and some of our customers loved the experience so much they have gone on to buy a van of their own.”

Photo is of Anne Davies with her team – mechanic Dave Cooper (left) and marketing manager husband Tref (right).

This investment by Anne’s Vans reflects a growth in staycations even before the pandemic happened. The firm’s activity has been covered several times by the BBC including two appearances on BBC Radio Lincolnshire, twice on BBC Look North prime time news and once in an article on staycations on the BBC News website.About Anne’s Vans

Founded in 2017 with one campervan Anne’s Vans hires out vintage VW Campervans from their depot on Great Northern Terrace in Lincoln. The business has grown steadily and the addition of 1974 Bay Ruby brings the total number of vans available to hire to three. The other vans are called Betty (yellow) and Bertie (blue).Lincoln is an ideal base from which to hire a campervan. Customers come from all over the country and take the vans anywhere from just sticking in the local area to as far afield as Cornwall, the Scottish Highlands and even to France and Germany.

Not long before the start of the VW campervan hire season.

Just had a very pleasant chat with one of our van hirers discussing options on where to go in May. This is something I really like to do. Our customers are pretty much always nice people. I think the nature of the game is such that the people who want to hire a vintage VW campervan are a happy go lucky friendly bunch who take life as it comes and have a positive attitude.

This particular customer was based in Hull and trying to figure out the best place to go for his week. I think we concluded that moving around every night did not make for the most relaxing holiday if you were going to spend half of it driving. We quite often stay in one spot for 2 or 3 nights and spend our time exploring the area (and pubs).

I am now feeling quite good about things. This year with the government telling people not to bother with overseas holidays and to focus on staying in the UK we have seen a big rise in preseason bookings and interest. It helped getting some serious coverage on various BBC outlets. It began with an article on staycation on the BBC News website and was quickly followed by great coverage on BBC Look North prime time news and the BBC Radio Lincolnshire breakfast show on the same subject.

This year we have upped our game with the booking system and now use one that lets people choose their dates and book without having to call us. This makes life a lot easier for everyone and to be quite frank about it it is great seeing bookings pop into our email inbox without us having to do anything 🙂
Still happy to take calls and emails though if you have any questions. We are still a couple of months away from the start of the season which this year we are hoping will also coincide with the end of lockdown and the opening up of the countryside. In the meantime snow is forecast for Lincoln. Stay safe everyone.

Anne xxx.

This, as you might imagine is a very busy time for us at Anne’s Vans with lots of folk looking for a UK getaway for obvious Covid19 reasons. This being the case we have been getting enquiries from families with questions relating to child seats.

Our vans have normal 3 point seat belts in the front – for driver and passenger. There are no airbags. Betty has two forward facing lap seat belts in the back and Bertie has 3. If carrying children that need to sit in a child seat then please ensure that the child seat works with lap belts. Ruby has three seatbelts in the rear including one lap belt and two three point belts.

Betty sleeps two. Bertie will sleep two adult and two small kids. The bunk in the pop top is 1.8m long and 0.5m at its widest tapering to 0.4m. The hammock over the front seats is 1.4m long. Ruby will sleep two adults in the bed and two small kids in the pop top. As a guideline if the kids are older than primary age then they will almost certainly be too big for inside the van and should go in the awning.

The vans are supercool but not massively spacious inside. This is fine if there are only two of you but would be quite cramped if the weather forced you to stay inside the whole time. If the weather is nice then you will live outside anyway, just like when camping. Also of there are more than two of you and you want to use the inside bunks then you have to think about where you might want to put your luggage. Our bags are normally thrown into the front but if you are using the child hammock then that makes life a little more inconvenient.

When we take a van out we take an awning. The awning is massively useful as expansion space and we leave stuff in it that would otherwise have to be stored in the van. The awnings sleep two adults very cosily in an inner compartment. If there are just two of us we don’t bother putting up the inner compartment and just use it as space.
If you want to take children in Betty then you definitely need the awning.
That’s it for now – public announcement over 🙂

Trip to Longnor Wood
rainy ish trip to Longnor Wood
Trip in campervan Betty to Longnor Wood near Buxton

Longnor Wood Holiday Park is 68.1 miles from our house according to Google. If that was motorway all the way it should have taken us an hour and ten minutes. However much of the route was winding roads up hill and down dale with often the need to negotiate hairpin bends on a steep slope and the risk of tractors coming the other way. Amazingly campervan Betty negotiated these with no issue. It made us realise what great gearboxes they had on these vintage VWs. Our only problem arose on the single track road that represented the last half mile to the campsite. We encountered a tractor pulling a slurry trailer. There was no way we were going to argue with that and reversed back to the last passing point 🙂

Our friends Stephanie and Dave had arrived the previous day and were at the campsite to greet us. We settled into our pitch and felt a little superior when we found out that they hadn’t been able to erect their caravan awning. Theirs was a new van and they were missing a hook to pull it across (or something like that). We felt quite smug when our stand alone awning went up with no problem. We even made a conscious effort not to have an argument which can sometimes happen with these things. I think we must just be getting better at putting the awning up. The only issue we had was that we were on hard standing and it was difficult to get the pegs in. We prefer grass usually as it is more comfortable underfoot.

Poptop up, hookup connected and bed sorted we wandered over to the others to partake of their hospitality. The prosecco flowed and Steph had bought a few bits for afternoon tea. Parma ham, camembert and stuff like that.

Afterwards we walked to the pub in the village. This turned out to be a bit more of a stroll that anticipated. In fact it took 40 minutes and we were grateful of a cold beer sat outside as it was a warm evening. Now here’s the rub. It took us 40 minutes to get there downhill. Going back it was uphill all the way. Uhoh.

Steph and I decided to head back before the boys had finished their beers so that we could get the BBQ lit. Sometime later, it was more than 40 minutes, just as we arrived at the site a taxi rolled up. Tref and Dave had decided to have more beer and couldn’t face the walk! Lightweights!

That night it was early to bed which is usually the case when we are away in the campervan. We slipped on our eyeshades and fell into a deep and comfy sleep. We awoke at what must have been 4.30am to the wonderful sound of the dawn chorus. Being next to a wood there seemed to be a huge variety of bird song. It was the best choir I had ever heard. We nodded off again and slept naturally until maybe 8am.

I boiled the kettle and made us both a cuppa. Lying in bed we listened to the rain on the roof. Very relaxing and actually very cozy. We felt good that we were warm and dry and comfortable and it was nice to lie there listening to the rain.

Eventually we got up, slid the bed back into its day position and Tref got on with breakfast. We have these routines when we go away in a campervan. I do some jobs and Tref does the others, One of his is cooking the bacon. We ate breakfast in the awning as it was still drizzly but afterwards the rain stopped and we met the others at the appointed time to go into Buxton for the day.

Buxton is a lovely place to spend a few hours. It has a Victorian opera house with a conservatory and a nice big park, all donated by the Duke of Devonshire apparently and we passed a blue plaque telling us that Mary Queen of Scots had been there a few times to take the waters. Gosh. Sometime before the Victorian opera house was built obviously!

Eventually we met the others for lunch, sandwiches which we ate sat outside a pub. Then Tref and Dave went inside for beers whilst Steph and I went to the shops. Can you spot a recurring theme here? The boys argued that since the weather was not great the pub was the best place to be…

Back at the campsite we cooked fajitas on the stove in the campervan and sat outside finishing off the wine before hitting the hay again.

The next day it was more bacon sandwiches for brekkie plus toast using the remains of Tref’s home made sourdough bread. It seems we do a lot of eating on a weekend away in the campervan 🙂
It had been dry overnight so it didn’t take long to take the awning down, get packed up and ready to hit the road for Lincoln.

Our next trip away is September in campervan Bertie. The rest of the summer is booked up with hires although we still have a few slots available here and there. If you do want to hire one of our vans please feel free to get in touch.

AnneTref

VW campervan top tips for holiday success

Top tips for making the most out of your holiday in one of our beautiful VW campervans.

We provide an electric coolbox. This keeps things like milk and bacon cool although it is never going to replace a real fridge. If you are bringing food with you to put in the coolbox and have your own it makes sense to not use ours but plug your own in – that way you can already have brought your coolbox down to a lower temperature than if just plugging in for the first time.

An electric cool box is kept switched on and powered when the engine is running. However if you are running it just off the leisure battery the battery will only last an hour or two. It therefore always makes a lot of sense to book a pitch at a campsite with an electric hookup.

The 240v sockets in the vans only work when plugged in to an electric hookup. We do occasionally get asked by people wanting to know how to switch them along for use when driving along. They don’t work like that.

If you are using the drive away awning make life easy for yourselves by zipping up the awning before putting tent pegs in. Otherwise closing the zips can be really tough. We take the awning wherever we can as it provides a massive amount of expansion and living space.

Take eye shades to wear when sleeping. It gets light very early in the summer in the UK (I’m talking 4.30am early) and unless you really want to wake up at that time then eyeshades will help you sleep in a bit longer. Can’t do much about the dawn chorus mind you, unless you wear ear plugs. We quite like listening to the birds though.

Make the bed before you head out to the pub for the evening. The last thing you want is to come home in the dark having had a couple and have to mess around with the sheets. Also we keep the curtains closed during the day for privacy unless we are inside the van and need the light.

No heating in these vans. We do supply an oil filled radiator for use at the start and finish of the season. These need to be plugged into a 240v mains supply so you need to have an electric hookup. When you are driving along if it is going to be unseasonably cold then take warm clothing and maybe gloves. In the 1960s when these vans were designed they thought heating was for wusses. (Update May 2021 Ruby has a gas heater)

Don’t take too much stuff and use squashable bags not suitcases. The vans are not like a tardis inside. They are quite compact really. There is room behind the back seat and when travelling we shove stuff there or into one of the cupboards (Betty has more cupboard space than Bertie) and at night when the bed is down we chuck everything into the front out of the way.

If you are off on a long trip like Scotland or Cornwall it probably makes sense to take the van the day before you head off so that you can do some packing and get an early start the next day. A comfortable speed in these campervans is 55mph – 60mph at a push on a long straight stretch of motorway. We typically avoid motorways. What’s the rush? You are on holiday. We normally plan two days to get to Scotland.

The vans have a USB socket in the radios and plenty of 12v “cigarette lighter” type sockets so it might be handy if you have multiple devices to charge to bring an appropriate socket. We do leave one in each van but they can go astray. You can also plug chargers into the 240v sockets when connected to an electrical hookup.

The radios also have bluetooth so that you can hook a phone upto sat nav and for hands free talking. A phone will prop nicely on the dashboard leant against the windscreen and you can also leave it plugged in there so that using the sat nav on a lengthy trip doesn’t drain the phone battery.

The vans come supplied with gas canisters, cooking pans and utensils and sets of 4 plates and cutlery etc. You do need to bring your own bedding and ideally a mattress topper. The rock and roll beds are pretty comfortable.

Try and park on the level but if this is not possible have the back of the van pointing uphill which makes for a more comfortable night’s sleep.

Our vans take unleaded petrol.

We provide two camping chairs and a fold up camping table but you are welcome to use your own if you prefer. If you need more chairs ask in advance and we will see if we have any spares.

If you re taking the awning please make sure it is dry before packing away. If packing it away wet is unavoidable because it is a rainy day then please let us know as we will need to dry it when we get it back. Useful video guide to erecting the awning.

We will add more thoughts as they are thunk, if you know what we mean 🙂

Staycation this summer VW campervan style

If you are looking for a staycation in Lincolnshire or elsewhere in the UK this summer then hiring one of our beautiful vintage VW campervans could be just perfect.

In our house we are all yearning to get out and enjoy ourselves after the coronavirus lockdown. I’m sure it is the same for you. At the time of writing overnight stays are not allowable although there is nothing to stop people having day trips out (naming no names or places beginning with B and C).

We are starting to think about where we might go once all this lockdown is properly over and the campsites and pubs are open once more. Some of our favourite places are Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire and Whitby in North Yorkshire. They are two different places although we do roughly the same things when we are there: casual walks, eating and drinking.

Woodhall Spa has quite a few sites to choose from. Normally we arrive late Friday afternoon and get settled. It doesn’t take long to get sorted. Plug in the electrical hookup, pop up the roof and make the bed (we would rather have it ready to just fall into later). Sometimes we will put up the awning, especially if it is a festival and we are there for a few days. Not always though and usually not in Woodhall Spa as we spend most of the time out and about.

We go with a gang of mates, some of who also have a vw campervan, and have the same routine. Once settled we crack open the beer/wine/coffee and sit in our camping chairs around a table nestled somewhere between two of the campervans. At the appropriate moment a designated driver nips into the village to fetch a takeaway curry. It is obligatory for a few of us to go along to keep him or her company as these curries take time to get ready and we usually sit and wait in one or more of the nearby pubs.

Back at the campsite we eat, drink and are merry and eventually crawl off to bed.

The next morning it is a gradual awakening and we all once more gather around the eating area. When the time is right brekkie goes on and it is usually the middle of the morning by the time we have finished. There follows a gentle stroll into Woodhall to buy provisions for the BBQ. Another beer might be involved or maybe even just tea and cake. Later we return to the campervans and start all over again.

This is a tried and tested routine that none of us feel the need to change. It is the same when we go to Whitby except we probably replace the curry with fish and chips and the stroll is more of a hike across the wind blown clifftops, past the Abbey and down the steep sided hill into town.

Whitby can get rammed but we still like going. The walk back up the hill can be a little harder going than the gentle stroll back from Woodhall but hey…

For us both destinations are fun for a staycation. We also go to Derbyshire and have pitched up opposite the pub in Darnley Dale once or twice.

Wherever you decide to go it seems very likely that a staycation will be the thing to do. You can legally hire a vw campervan now and go out on day trips. You might also want to think ahead about where and when you might want to go when lockdown is over and we can stay overnight in places other than our homes. Booking a campsite is likely to be essential as thousands, or even millions of Brits will have the same idea.

We are making it easy for you. If you want to take a punt and reserve a campervan for a specific date, in the event of coronavirus rules prohibiting your holiday then we offer either a full refund or will be flexible in rescheduling your trip without a penalty, subject to availability of course.

So there you go. Staycation in a vintage VW campervan from Lincolnshire is where it is at 🙂 Who wants to go to Spain when you can go to Woodhall Spa? Stay safe now…

Anne’s Vans is a vintage VW campervan hire company based in the centre of Lincoln. The East Midlands location is handy for reaching lots of fun and interesting places to camp around the UK. Do get in touch if you want to discuss your options. Featured image is campervan Bertie just after being cleaned for a hire this week.

Free cancellation for bookings this summer

Flexible VW campervan rental bookings in the East Midlands being taken from July with option for reschedule or full refund.

Yo all. The photo is the campervan calendar on the wall in our kitchen. It is open on the month of May. We did have loads of bookings in May but considering the coronavirus situation going on we have been happy to reschedule these to either later in the year or next year which is what quite a few of you have done.

Realistically we, the people, aren’t going to be allowed to take holidays at least until July at the earliest and even then it’s looking dodgy. We won’t know for a few weeks yet. In anycase people might not want to go anywhere where the pubs and restaurants are all shut although one of the beauties of a campervan holiday is being able to go where and when you want without worrying about pubs n things like that.

The gut feeling is that once the lockdown is over people will be able to take holidays in the UK before going overseas. Whether this transpires to be the case or not is another thing but we are likely to see a rush of bookings for UK holidays for what will be left of the summer season.

With this in mind, if you are thinking of staying in the UK for your holiday, we at Anne’s Vans are offering you the opportunity to book ahead with full flexibility. If covid19 lockdown rules stay in place then we will happily offer a full refund or be flexible and let you change the dates of the booking.

Why not get in touch to discuss availability this summer by using our contact page. We will get back to you to discuss what we might be able to do for you.

Anne’s Vans is a vintage VW campervan hire company based in Lincoln and offering rental throughout the UK. We are in easy reach if you live in the East Midlands and we often have hirers from the South of England who pick up a van on their way to the North and to Scotland.

VW splitty used as bar in Mexican restaurant

Last week we had lunch in a Mexican restaurant In Islington in London called Desperados and it had a beautiful VW Splitty being used as a bar. You might say it is a shame that the splitty was no longer on the road but it was a left hand drive and I can’t really think of a better alternative for its use than a place to serve cool drinks.

We had some tortilla chips and salsa, guacamole and fajitas, for what it’s worth accompanied by Margarita cocktails. Bit heavy for lunch you might think but we didn’t sit down until around 4pm so it was more in the way of an early tea. We were the only ones in the restaurant!

The association of vintage VW campervans with Mexico is not far off the mark seeing as many of them were used in Southern California. The vision of a VW bus with surfboards on top (or inside) is a classic one. Funnily enough we’ve just come back from a road trip in California and were disappointed not to see any. It’s winter I guess. It isn’t totally true that we didn’t see one. It’s just that the ones we did see whizzed by on the road as we were going the other way and none of us were quick enough off the mark with our phones/cameras to catch a pic.

The new season is coming towards us fast. We have a test weekend in a couple of weeks where both vans will spend their first night of the season at an undisclosed campsite in Lincolnshire. If you spot us please do come over to have a look at the vans. Might even take you for a spin 🙂
Anne’s Vans is a vintage VW campervan hire company based in Lincoln. We currently operate two vintage VW bay vans. We are in easy reach if you live in the East Midlands and we often have hirers from the South of England who pick up a van on their way to the North and to Scotland.

Campervan Betty goes to Cropredy music festival

Sue and David took vw campervan Betty to the Cropredy Music Festival and had a fantastic time. Cropredy is run by the band Fairport Convention. Sue’s words say it all:

“Had a great time with Betty at Cropredy Music Festival. Despite wind and rain of biblical proportions we were assured of a warm, dry, snug bed on emerging from our wet weather gear after enjoying the music. Betty was admired and envied by fellow festival attendees, and was of eminently appropriate vintage for the event. Sue and David”

We would love to take one of or vans along to Cropredy. In fact Sue and David have already booked again for next year. Unfortunately Cropredy is the weekend after Beyond The Woods which is sponsored by Anne’s Vans. We help out at the event and the week after Beyond The Woods is mega busy with taking down the event infrastructure. We are sure Sue and David will have a great week, regardless of the weather.

Bookings are already going well for 2020 so if you are thinking of a funky trip in a vw camper van do get in touch.

Anne’s Vans is a Lincolnshire based vintage VW campervan hire business. Betty the yellow van is 1971 vintage VW T2 bay and Bertie a youngster in blue dates from 1978. Both are very well looked after and are currently in dry storage for over wintering. Each van has an optional awning which is really useful if you are spending a few days at a festival. Good expansion space. Bertie, as well as a full sized rock and roll bd can also sleep two small children, one in a bunk in the poptop and the other in a hammock stretched across the ron seats.

Our campervan depot is in the middle of Lincoln and is easily accessible by road, bus or rail. We are a short walk from the Lincoln transport hub and if you talk to us nicely one of us could meet you off your train or bus. We are in easy reach if you live in the East Midlands and we often have hirers from the South of England who pick up a van on their way to the North and to Scotland.

That’s all folks. Campervan hire page here. The featured image is of Sue and David standing in front of campervan Betty before heading off to Cropredy.

Campervan in Swaledale for wedding

It’s great when customers are happy to send us photos of how they used one of our VW campervans. In this case campervan Bertie was picked up by Teresa Everington as a surprise wedding treat for her daughter Georgina. Georgina knew nothing about it until the day before they were due to set off for the wedding which was at Swaledale Yurts in Keld, North Yorkshire.

What a fantastic idea. Everyone staying in a yurt! In beautiful Swaledale. We have stayed there – it is about halfway on the coast to coast walk that some family members did a few years ago.
You only have to look at the wonderful wedding photos to see what a great spot it is. And of course campervan Bertie played his part.

Georgina married Mr Dan Agar and is now Mrs Georgina Agar. Dan is a very lucky guy 🙂

The two were married by the side of one of the fantastic waterfalls that help make the area so beautiful. Check out the pics. They were taken by #allyouneedislovephotography
I don’t think I need to say anymore. We are indebted to Teresa, and of course Georgina and Dan for sharing the photos with us.

Our wedding hire is a self drive package where you provide the driver. This has proven to be popular as you get more time with the van – you get 3 days hire – and can use it as a general taxi for guests coming to the venue and have plenty of time for photographs using the van as a backdrop.

Call Anne on 01522 438888 to chat about your needs or drop her a line here. Annes Vans is a vintage VW campervan hire business based in the centre of Lincoln (East Midlands). We are very convenient for getting to lots of places in the UK – people even drive them up to the North of Scotland to do the famous Scottish Golden 500.

Love and marriage in a Vintage VW campervan

This must be one of the most thrilling campervan hires we have had as customer Neil Phillips proposed to his girlfriend Charlotte during their weekend away in Norfolk.

Lots of people hire our vans for weddings. They present the ideal transport for the bride to arrive at the wedding venue and then the perfect backdrop for the photos after the ceremony.
On this occasion campervan Betty proved to be the vehicle of choice for Neil to propose to Charlotte and she said yes 🙂 yay :))

We asked Neil if he had some pics we could use and a quote and he dutifully obliged with “We just had the perfect weekend touring Norfolk in gorgeous Betty the camper. The highlight was getting engaged over breakfast in bed !”

The beauty of this is that you just have to lean forward to the stove to boil the kettle and can then both sit back enjoying the tea or coffee (over a proposal of marriage). We assume here that nobody spilt their drink when the answer came back as yes.

If you are planning on popping the question to your beloved we can think of no better place than in one of our vintage VW campervans. You can then follow up by hiring the same van for the wedding. How cool is that?

Neil and Charlotte took Betty to beautifully romantic Norfolk but you don’t have to go that far to get engaged. After all Lincolnshire has Skegness, or Mablethorpe or Sutton on Sea (more marriage proposal venues are available. “Will you marry me” after consuming fish chips and mushy peas sounds perfect. Doesn’t it? 😉 Accompanied of course by a bottle of champagne and a go around the fairground.

Thanks to Neil for the amazingly cool pics. We with both you and Charlotte a long and happy marriage.

Don’t come knocking when the camper van’s rocking 😉

Anne’s Vans is a Lincoln (East Midlands) based VW Campervan rental business hiring out vintage 1970s T2 bay campervans for weddings, marriage proposals, festivals, weekends at the coast, trips to Scotland. Anywhere really. Do get in touch if you want to hire a campervan

Anne’s Vans 15 minutes of fame on BBC Radio Lincolnshire

This morning Anne and her able assistant Driver Dave appeared for more than 15 minutes on prime time local radio discussing the Anne’s Vans campervan hire business. The Melvyn Prior show was covering travel tourism in Lincolnshire and his interview with Anne took place inside campervan Betty.

Dave drove Betty up from the depot and parked the campervan outside the BBC Radio Lincolnshire studios. At the appointed time Melvyn moved out of the studio into the open air and the interview began.

The whole family was listening in from the four corners of the UK where they are scattered. It’s not often your mum/wife/sister in law gets on the wireless 🙂 It’s great publicity for our campervan hire business. If we had to pay for that exposure it would cost us a fortune. We are now expecting enquiries to start flooding in! (cmon now 🙂 )

Actually bookings are already well under way for 2020 and it is already looking like a promising year for the business. I guess people are thinking of staycationing if that’s the way to put it. Get in touch if you want a piece of the campervan action yourselves 🙂

We get all sorts of folk hiring our vans. This year we have had several wedding hires and even one engagement proposal made over tea and croissants inside van Betty. How cool is that? We have a few pics of the weddings and engagement trip I’ll be sharing as soon as I get time.

If you want to see our vans they are now tucked away in dry storage for the winter. Although we do have a heater these VW campervans are more in their element in the Spring and Summer months and maybe a short while into the Autumn. We ourselves rarely get the chance to use them in peak season so it’s usually short jaunts in April and September for us.

That’s it for now. Big thanks to Melvyn Prior for having Anne and Dave on his show. Link to Melvyn’s twitter feed here. If you want to listen in click here for the BBC Sounds page. It’s around for a month and you will find Anne on after 11am.

Photos courtesy of BBC Lincolnshire

Anne being interviewed by Melvyn Prior inside Campervan Betty

Anne’s Vans is a VIntage VW hire business based in Lincoln. We are in easy reach if you live in the East Midlands and we often have hirers from the South of England who pick up a van on their way to the North and to Scotland.

WV campervan perfect surprise for wedding

Another lovely review from a lovely customer who hired VW campervan Bertie for her daughter’s wedding.

“I hired Bertie to surprise my daughter for her wedding, she was so emotional when she first saw the beautiful baby blue camper van and loved her bridal journey! We drove Bertie up to North Yorkshire with no problems and once we’d settle into the different driving style, we totally loved pootling along. Two guests used Bertie for accommodation for the wedding weekend and were super comfortable and loved the whole experience.

Thank you Anne and Tref, the whole booking process was certainly easy and I’d highly recommend hiring a VW camper van for a fun wedding car.
Teresa Everington”

It’s feedback like this that makes it all worthwhile. Teresa made the journey with her daughter in our VW campervan Bertie to the wedding location in North Yorkshire. VW campervans make a fantastic backdrop to wedding photos and turning up at the venue in one, they were all camping in a big field, is super cool.

I guess you can’t blame the bride for not spending her wedding night in the van but someone else did:) Bertie’s full size rock and roll bed is very comfortable. You do have to get used to the fact that at this time of year it gets light very early but there’s nothing quite like firing up the kettle and sitting outside with a cuppa when the dew is still wet on the ground.

See the original review on our Facebook page.

If you want to hire a vw campervan for a wedding, or want to pop down to see one please do get in touch. They aren’t always in the depot as obviously we are a campervan rental business and people hire them out but I’m sure we can arrange something. You can see we where we are in Lincoln on our contact page.

Anne’s Vans is a Lincolnshire based VW campervan rental company based in the middle of Lincoln and our season is in full swing:) We are in easy reach if you live in the East Midlands and we often have hirers from the South of England who pick up a van on their way to the North and to Scotland.

Great vw campervan reviews from 2 customers

Great reviews of the VW campervan rental experience from two different customers at the same time. It makes the whole thing worthwhile when you get really positive feedback from customers. I’ve pasted them in below.

Hi Anne
JUST want to say thank you for hiring out your van we’ve had fab time hubby’s loved every minute of it… Apart from banging his head each time he climbed in out of the bed no matter how many times he was told. Had lot’s people coming over to chat and admire her …

Once again thank you been great experience ..
regards Teresa & Rob

The photo was taken by Teresa in Dovedale in Derbyshire’s Peak District. What a fab place to go for the weekend. We’ve been to Derbyshire on one of the vans ourselves – only an hour and a half or so away and great countryside.

Hi Anne,
We had a great time thanks, the van was marvellous .
We stayed at “Lincolnshire Lanes” which we thought was lovely and the owner Robert said he would put a link to your website on his. (A Retro van for a retro campsite !)
Many thanks
Paul

Lincolnshire Lanes is only about 10 miles north of Lincoln. Tempted to head there ourselves once the season is out of the way. Not far from the Lincolnshire Wolds which we quite like.

Our season is now in full swing but there are still some slots available over the summer. Please do get in touch if you fancy an adventure and want to hire a vw campervan. Anne’s Vans is a vintage VW campervan hire company based in the centre of Lincoln. We are in easy reach if you live in the East Midlands and we often have hirers from the South of England who pick up a van on their way to the North and to Scotland.

Contact

PS many thanks to Paul, Teresa and Rob for the terrific reviews 🙂

Perfect campervan weather

Perfect weather for a campervan trip around Lincolnshire

Looking to hire a vw campervan this week you are out of luck? Both vans are otherwise engaged, either already out in the leafy lanes of Lincolnshire, or about to go.

You only have to look at the photo that comes with this post to realise what a stroke of luck it is for our lovely hirers this week. Brilliant sunshine and blue skies. Yes folks that really is the sun up there and not something I’ve photoshopped in.

It really is perfect campervan weather. Window would down with a light breeze blowing through your face as you trundle along. Trundle is the right word here. Not race, not bomb, just trundle. A more relaxed pace of life is where it is at.

Stop for cup of tea or to pick something up from that farm shop you just passed and then arrive at the campsite, turning in to the parking area in front of reception, attracting the attention of those already arrived in lesser modes of transport.

Pootle around to your pitch, plug in the hookup if there is one, pop up the roof and you are ready for the weekend. Camping chairs out, table up and the wine chilled you have arrived. There is no rush to do anything. Lean back, face to the sun and soak in the warmth. Aaahhhh.

You don’t need to own a VW campervan to do this. You can simply hire one from Anne’s Vans. We have two; a 1978 Blue Bay named Bertie and a 1971 yellow (or orange – you choose) Bay named Betty. Arbitrary names although we think they suit the vans, beautiful vans.

We still have availability in june and quite a few gaps over the summer. If you have a date in mind just drop us a line and let’s see if we can find you a van. With weather like this what’s not to like?

Anne’s Vans is a VIntage VW hire business based in Lincoln. We are in easy reach if you live in the East Midlands and we often have hirers from the South of England who pick up a van on their way to the North and to Scotland.

VW T2 bay campervan IoM

Beautiful VW T2 bay campervan seen at Fenella Beach in Peel in the Isle of Man.

We just came back from a week’s holiday in the Isle of Man. In a cottage not a campervan. However we did come across this fine example of a VW T2 Bay campervan on our wanderings around Peel. It’s a beautiful paint job. Sometimes we knock on the window for a chat but on this occasion the weather wasn’t particularly good and the folk inside seemed busy sorting out their lunch so we left them to it. Weather wasn’t great anyway!

Seeing the campervan did however inspire us to book a campsite for TT Week 2020 and bring our own over. In fact we booked three spaces with electric hookups for us and two other couples, one with a T25 and another with a motorhome. We plan on going in convoy from Lincoln and spending the week on the island for the TT Races.

If you’ve never been it’s a fantastic week with racing on every other day and the rest of the time being free to explore the island. Even the races don’t stop you from getting around although the circuit, which is over normal roads, is closed in the hour or two before each race.
Peel is not on the TT Course itself but is only two miles away from the nearest point and is a wonderful base. The campsite has all mod cons and is right next door to a lovely swimming pool. Also there is a great supermarket with loads of fresh food only a hundred metres or so down the road together with Peel’s half a dozen pubs and some great restaurants. You can even stroll into town and buy freshly smoked kippers for breakfast in the one remaining kipper factory.

Now obviously we will be using one of our campervans to go to the Isle of Man but the other one is currently available so if you fancy making the trip do get in touch. It might sound a bit to much like planning in advance with the races not until June 2020 but the person in charge of campsite bookings told me they were getting bookings for 2020 in 2018! Also Anne’s Vans began 2019 with over 20 nights bookings already in the book from last year.

You know it makes sense:) Where would you like to take a van?

Fenella Beach, far away in time…

Anne’s Vans is a VIntage VW hire business based in Lincoln. We are in easy reach if you live in the East Midlands and we often have hirers from the South of England who pick up a van on their way to the North and to Scotland.

Campervan goes to Tattershall Lakes

The VW campervan rental season has got off to a great start with John W taking his wife Cathy for a weekend to Tatershall Lakes.

You don’t need to go far to have a great time. In fact we often find somewhere within 45 minutes drive of the depot just to have a weekend break away from home. Walesby outside Market Rasen in the Lincolnshire Wolds or Woodhall Spa are particular faves of ours. At Walesby there are two pubs in nearby Tealby that we love visiting plus an old fashioned tea room and lots of nice walks. It’s a beautiful area.

In Woodhall we walk into the village to buy provisions for breakfast. When we’ve finished breakfast we often walk into the village again to buy stuff for a BBQ and maybe have a couple of drinks in the sunshine.

John and Cathy did Tatershall Lakes, only a short hop from Woodhall Spa. It was a Cathy’s birthday and a lovely surprise for her. The featured image shows VW Campervan Betty in all her glory. She is connected to an electrical hookup – much better if you can do this although you can pitch up anywhere – with the spare wheel tucked out of the way underneath the campervan.

The other image is of campervan Betty by night. Looks v cosy doesn’t she? 🙂 Thanks to John for both images.

When they brought the van back to our depot John told us that “Cathy didn’t want to give her back” which is surely the best testimonial you can have.

The VW campervan season is now well underway with bookings for the summer starting to roll in, so to speak. If you want to hire a VW campervan, or are maybe thinking of buying one and want to try before you buy please do get in touch with us through our contact page. We have two beautiful vintage VW campervans for hire.

Anne’s Vans is a Vintage VW campervan rental business based in Lincoln. Our depot is easily accessible and can serve as a base for your campervan explorations around the UK.

Spring free awning offer

Get away in a VW campervan this Spring with free awning

Spring is here, the days are getting longer, the daffodils are blooming and we get heaps more enjoyment from being in the outdoors. Make the most of the season with a camping getaway or an ultimate road trip by checking out our classic VW campervans – the perfect set of wheels to hire for your break.

During the months of April, May and June, hire one of our vintage vans and we will include a high quality awning totally free.

We’ll pitch in so that you can pitch up. Our free awning offer gives you the freedom of more space during your stay. To qualify for this offer just book a van hire between Wednesday 20th March and Friday 21st June.

Click here for our awning guide.

Need some ideas of where to take a van? Our vans, Betty and Bertie, are real head-turners wherever they go. Our Lincoln base is a perfect central location for reaching large parts of the country.

– Park up in Norfolk and enjoy the seaside at Southwold
– Take a trip to the Peaks and stretch your legs on a walking holiday
– Go on a road trip up to the Scottish borders

The possibilities are endless!

Take a look at our vans

Contact us today

Let us know where you would take a VW vintage campervan! Follow us on Facebook & Instagram and don’t be afraid to drop us a message or leave a comment. We are always happy to hear from fellow VW van lovers.

Anne’s Vans is a VIntage VW hire business based in Lincoln. We are in easy reach if you live in the East Midlands and we often have hirers from the South of England who pick up a van on their way to the North and to Scotland.

How we decided to set up Anne’s Vans

We are in Wales for the weekend. Not in one of our vw campervans though. We are down for a family birthday celebration and it coincides with the Wales v England rugby. My husband is Welsh so I’d better keep quiet. The point of the story though is not the rugby or the birthday it’s about how we got into the vw campervan rental business.

A few years ago we thought to ourselves “wouldn’t it be a great idea to buy an old VW campervan and go off touring”. There was only one problem with this idea. Neither of us had ever been in one. The good ones are not cheap to buy and if we went ahead and bought one and found out that we really didn’t like it after all that could be a very expensive mistake.

No problem we thought. Let’s just hire one and then we can decide. It must however have already been June, ie well into the season, and try as we might we couldn’t find any availability for love nor money. Eventually we compromised and hired a brand new one from a company in Nottingham. We had a great week at Hillend Campsite on the Gower peninsula (hence the Welsh connection) and decided that we loved the campervan life. The week in Wales really tested our resolve as towards the end of it a storm blew in and totally destroyed our gazebo. This was added to a growing pile of broken gazebos that were clearly not built for the rigours of the Welsh weather.

So we got home and decided to buy a campervan and rent it out when we weren’t using it which would be most of the time. The idea was that renting the campervan would help pay for its maintenance and upkeep which for vintage vans we figured could be costly. If nobody wanted to rent it then we still had a vw campervan for our own use and which we thought would retain its value.

That winter after a couple of abortive purchase attempts (people think their own vans are worth a lot more than they really are) we eventually found one in great Yarmouth that suited our purpose and campervan Betty became ours. The rest, as they say, is history.

We built our website and came up with the name Anne’s Vans (after toying with all sorts of names like Lincoln campervan hire, Lincolnshire VW campervan rentals and so on). Campervan Betty became very popular so we decided to buy another, Bertie and the stable expanded 🙂

Our plan is at some point to buy another but you can’t rush these things. You have to wait for the right one to come along. So there you go. The story of how Anne’s Vans became a Lincoln based VW campervan hire business. Nuff said 🙂

C’mon Wales/England/whoever your team is…

Campervan conditioning underway for the new season

It might feel as if Spring is still a long way away but trust me April will soon be upon us. At Anne’s Vans we are currently gearing up to get our vintage VW Campervans ready for the 2019 hire season. No major issues. Just giving them a good servicing and tidying up the interiors. We also look at renewing accessories such as camping chairs, plates and cutlery etc. We like our vans to be in nice condition for our lovely customers.

It is difficult to think ahead about shooting off in a campervan when outside the rain is lashing down on the windows and it is blowing a gale. However today the thermometer in our greenhouse reach a heady 9 degrees and the ice in the water butt has already melted. Won’t be long now yay 🙂

We have our own first trip already planned for April. Taking one of the vans to Derbyshire to do a bit of walking followed by a bit of eating and a bit of drinking. In moderation of course. That includes moderate walking though you can push yourselves as hard as you like. The only thing that will stop us is if someone comes alongs and books the vans. Two years ago we only managed one weekend away at the end of the season because the campervans were all rented out.

At this time of year you have plenty of choice for vans and dates although we do already have a few bookings in the can, so to speak (can rhymes with van). Why don’t you take a look at your calendars and see when would be a good time to hire a vw campervan and head for the coast, or the hills, or the woods. You know what I mean.

If you want to know more about hiring one of our vw campervans by all means get in touch using our contact page.

Anne’s Vans is a Vintage VW campervan hire business based in Lincoln, Lincolnshire. Our T2 Bays are hired out to people from as far afield as Malta so if you are in the UK it should be a cinch 🙂

VW campervan Thai vibe

We went to Thailand for a bit of winter sun after Christmas. It’s the off season for Anne’s Vans and although we do get a lot of enquiries we han respond to those from anywhere there is an internet connection.

Although Thailand is all about tuktuks and longtailed boats (and satay, dinga beer, temples etc) it was amazing how often we bumped into signs of VW campervans. Every night market sold campervan t shirts and one even had the shell of on as a bar decoration. We bought a “chiang mai thailand” campervan fridge magnet for what it’s worth. Orange splitty 🙂

Thailand is a lovely country with lovely people. The place fits in very well with the whole VW campervan vibe. Cool, laid back pace of life. The only thing I guess is that thailand is quite a warm country. January when we were there was peak season because temperatures were only around 30 degrees. In their soaring summer heat I’m not sure how an air cooled vehicle would cope.

The only thing to do in those circumstances would be to hang out in the shade near the beach drinking cold beer with your straw hat pulled down over your eyes. Shorts, flip flops, sunglasses and thin t shirts are the order of the day. The water in Southern Thailand is incredibly warm. None of this having to ease yourself slowly in just to get used to the cold. You can plunge straight in. Also it is crystal clear.

There is a cautionary note. All along the beach front wherever we strolled there were tsunami warning signs. An indication that all is not always well in paradise.

Anyway I’m afraid that it would not be practical to rent one of our VW campervans to take to Thailand. It’s too far. Also I did take look and couldn’t find anywhere that hires them out in Thailand. Maybe just not the done thing? It’s cheap enough to travel around anyway and I’m not sure I’d want to drive in Thailand even though they do drive on the left fair play. The Thais are crazy drivers so it just wouldn’t be sensible.

You can drive one of our vans in the UK though. Why not get in touch using our contact page. Anne’s Vans is a vintage VW campervan hire business based in Lincoln, Lincolnshire 🙂 Check out our campervan hire page.

Campervan bookings for 2019 now being taken

Campervan bookings for 2019 and beyond are now being taken. We may be sitting in our overcoats looking out at the frozen ground in the back garden but also at this time of year folks start thinking ahead to the spring. In our world Spring means jaunts away in a campervan.

Got your bank holidays planned? At this stage of the year we have plenty of slots available for people wanting to hire a van for that fun weekend away or a wedding maybe. It is now the time that people start deciding which festivals to go to which again is where our campervans come in to the picture.
Our season opens at the start of April and in 2019 we have kept our prices down to the same great deals as last year.

We have two vans to choose from: K reg Betty who is now at the grand old age of 48 years old and T reg Bertie, a mere youngster at 41. Bertie last September became a certified vintage vehicle according to the taxman joining Betty who has been there for some time.

Our vans are lovingly taken care of and are currently securely locked away in dry storage for the winter. In around a month we will be beginning to prepare them for the season and will post some pictures when that happens.

Anne’s Vans is a VIntage VW hire business based in Lincoln. People fly in from overseas to hire a van from us if they are headed to a festival in the area and similarly the vans go as far afield as Berlin and Paris.

If you are thinking of hiring a VW campervan this year please do get in touch using our contact page and we will get back to you. Alternatively you can message us via our Anne’s Vans Facebook page.

Vintage VW campervans aren’t only taken on holiday!

Nowadays, VW campervans aren’t only taken on holiday. They can be creatively transformed into pretty much anything. Put in bars as a unique seating area, or for face painting at a music festival, there’s no doubt that they make a space instantly cool.

Whilst out and about on my travels this year, here is how I have spotted vintage VV campervans being used in enterprising ways:

A DJ booth – spotted in Paris, France

Sell your wares – spotted in Kyoto, Japan

Ice Cream Van – Bristol, England. Great idea by vintage ice cream van hire business, Vee Double Moo.

Conference Stand – Our very own Betty was used as a meeting room Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris and Brussels. Read more about that here.

It’s safe to say that vintage VW campervans really do attract a lot of attention, whatever they are being used for!

Anne’s Vans are a Lincoln East Midlands based VW campervan hire business. However, we aren’t restricted to our local area and can arrange delivery of a vintage VW campervan anywhere in the country. Just get in touch to find out more. You can contact us via our contact page or check out availability here.

This week I am in Miami and find campervan in the bedroom

This week I am in Miami. Arrived late last night and woke up this morning to find a magazine on the coffee table with a campervan on the cover. It’s just amazing that everywhere you go you find evidence of campervan cool.

Last time in the USA it was at Venice Beach in California. Tomorrow we are venturing to Miami Beach. Today, Saturday, it’s a relaxing time around the hotel plus taking in a mall to buy some shirts. Hawaiian shirts obvs.

Hawaiian shirts go with campervans even though we don’t often get the weather in the UK, last summer excepted.

Just took a look at Vintage VW rental opportunities locally and found floridavwrentals. They have some great looking vans. Bit far from where I am but had I been anywhere near I might have popped along for a chat. About vintage VW campervans :). Looks like folk rent their vans and drive to the Florida Keys.

I’ll add more to this story if I come across a real VW campervan on my Miami travels:)

Anne’s Vans is a VIntage VW hire business based in Lincoln. We are in easy reach if you live in the East Midlands and we often have hirers from the South of England who pick up a van on their way to the North and to Scotland.

Really helpful guide to erecting the drive away awning

My husband Tref has thrown this guide to erecting the drive away awning. It’s fairly rudimentary but it does provide some useful tips, such as which is the front and which is the back 🙂

The awning is really useful if you are spending more than one night in the same place. I’m not sure it’s worth the effort if you are moving around and having to erect it in a new place every day, although you would pretty quickly become expert at it. Of course if you are relying on it for the extra sleeping space then you have no choice.

We use the awning as a bit of living expansion space. Also it’s somewhere handy for slinging the table and chairs when headed to the beach, for example.

The video isn’t going to win any Oscars bless him but he did his best and it does give you a feel for what to do and I think you will find it useful. Also Tref didn’t peg it down or put out the guy ropes which you should do if you don’t want the awning to blow away in the wind:)

Anne’s Vans is a Lincoln based VW Campervan rental company. Our vintage campervans are a real hit with customers and are hired for all sorts of purposes including festivals, weddings and short breaks. We have even had people take them as far away as Paris and Berlin.

A short video added in July 2020 on how to fold the awning – taken by a friend at Longdales campsite near Buxton.

Some other useful awning related links:

Just Kampers guide to Drive away awnings

Just Kampers how to erect an awning video

If you’d like to hire a van please get in touch using our contact page

Photo of awning in “driveaway mode”

Blue bay Bertie Bridlington bound

We had waved Bertie off an hour or so earlier and were just driving along when we spotted him parked up. He was off to Bridlington for the weekend and the weather looked perfect for it. The hirer picked him up at lunchtime and was headed away after work.

Bridlington is, according to Google, an hour and forty minutes away from Lincoln up the A15 and over the Humber Bridge. Perfect for a weekend getaway. We stopped there once ourselves en route to Whitby.
The East Coast is great for weekends away in a campervan. Plenty of opportunities for a couple of beers and a fish and chip supper. That’s how we roll:)

The beauty of going away in a campervan is not having to put up the tent when you get there. It’s also pretty cool rocking up somewhere in one of our classic VW’s. Heads turn.

The campervan life is somewhere in between camping and a motorhome. We sort of like the idea of a motorhome but it is too close to being a caravan and we aren’t caravanners. We are tenters who have moved up 🙂 Of course you can take an awning which is especially useful if you are going to be in one spot for any length of time but if you are touring it’s a bit more of a faff having to erect it every time you get somewhere.

Bridlington is such an easy run you probably wouldn’t bother stopping off en route but one of the great things about a campervan is the ability to pull up in a car park at a beach somewhere and stick the kettle on. Nothing like a cup of tea and a biscuit looking out at the sea, the sea breeze wafting through the oven windows of the van. Aahhhh…

If you want a fantastic weekend or week away check out or campervan hire page.

T Reg RHD Bay seen in Portugal

Whenever us Davieses go on holiday we are always looking out for VW campervans to take pictures of. The last one was when Tref went on business to Los Angeles and saw a couple at a surf school in Venice Beach.

On this occasion is kid number 3 Joe. Joe has just finished his uni exams and treated himself to a week of R&R with his 6 housemates in Portimao in Portugal. They have a villa with a pool – sheer luxury but at only £200 each plus flights a great bargain.

Joe had nipped out to the local grocery store to buy some essential supplies – beer, wine, port, a loaf of bread and some tomatoes – you know the kind of thing. On his way back he spotted this fine looking blue T reg right hand drive VW bay campervan. Just like our campervan Bertie but a slightly different colour and he didn’t get to see the interior. Bertie is luxurious obvs.

Quick as a flash Joe took this photo and posted it to the family Facebook group. Well done that lad. That’s the result of an expensive university education for you. We are off up to Newcastle for Joe’s graduation but not in the campervan. Staying in a hotel in the middle of town fwiw.
Our campervans are likely to be in use by customers anyway (hooray 🙂 )

We have often thought of driving to the continent in one of our vans. Portugal is a fair old crack mind you although Betty went to German and France last year so it isn’t out of the question. It’s just that the summer is a very busy time for us, what with the campervan rental season and getting ready for our music festival JoeFest. Busy busy busy.

Anyway I just wanted to show you the blue campervan as spotted by Joe in Portugal, on his hols. Thanks Joe. Come back and see us soon now…

Checkout our campervan hire page if this is our kind of thing and take off in one of our funky vintage VWs.

She’s been in our drive for a few days

VW camper Betty has been at our house for a few days. The garage was closed whilst mechanic Dave took off to Scotland. A well earned week off in his motorhome Brian. Dave is back and now Betty is back, all ready for the next hire.

Having Betty at home allowed a few folk to swing by and see her which was quite nice. Nice to meet one or two customers in advance of their hire. All part of the service 🙂

It’s amazing really how much attention these vans attract. When we first got Betty I recall having her in our drive with the poptop up and a total stranger strolled up to me to chat. Just wanted to talk about the van. Didn’t have his own but knew someone who did! I chatted nicely for a while, told him the engine size etc and waved him off. He didn’t have much to say. Just wanted to get close to Betty. That’s magnetism for you.

As I write this I’m watching the French Open Tennis. Made me think back to last Summer when Betty was taken to Paris by hirer Jimmy for his corporate product launch. There are some licensing rules about driving in Paris, apparently. Betty got around these rules by being genuinely classed as a vintage vehicle. Not sure how that works but work it did. That trip Betty made it to Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam and Brussels. Pretty cool.

Betty is 1971 vintage VW T2 bay and is available to hire at very reasonable rates. Our campervan depot is in the middle of Lincoln and is easily accessible by road, bus or rail. We are a short walk from the Lincoln transport hub and if you talk to us nicely one of us could meet you off your train or bus.

That’s all folks. Campervan hire page here.

Supercool Californian Campervans

We were just strolling along the front at Venice Beach in Los Angeles (as you do) and came across two fabulous specimens of VW Campervans. They belonged to a surf school which you might have guessed.

Although the Bay had a bit of rust in the odd place we really loved the colour. The yellow of the splitty is fantastic The vans seemed to epitomise the Californian dream – sun surf and sand. You can add sunglasses to that – you definitely need them in Venice Beach. Neither van looks as if it would be usable for overnighters. No pop top. These were still very much the commercial vehicles they started their life as, albeit probably not serving the same function.

The place was packed with tourists but also with locals out posing. A real mixed bag of people and definitely worth the trip if you are anywhere near the area:)

Venice Beach isn’t really what we would call surf central. This is Huntington Beach further down the coast which is packed with RVs and VW campervans of all ages and models. We didn’t get to Huntington Beach this time as time was short.

We did stop off for a couple of beers and a margarita before heading back to the hotel. In the Uber on the way back we used the car’s stereo to pump out vintage summery tracks such as the Beach Boys “Surf Safari” and Mungo Jerry “In The Summertime”. Seemed like the right thing to do.

You can’t hire the vans in the pics as, well, they are still in California but ours are even better 🙂 Betty and Bertie are available for you to experience living the Californian dream here in the UK. Do get in touch if you are interested in hiring one. If you want to see one of them when they are not out on hire they are in Great Northern Terrace in central Lincoln.

vw campervan surf cool bbq beach beers chillout

It isn’t one of our vans but I do occasionally like to share the photo on our calendar every now and again. It’s up behind the door in the kitchen although these days it is almost for decoration. Our household uses google calendar nowadays.

I quite like the ethos of this photo. It tells you what campervans are all about. The cool image down the beach. Surf dudes, barbecue over an open fire in the dunes when the sun goes down. Chilled beers. Yaknow.

Our season is in full swing. We shall have to see if we get a chance to use a van ourselves. One of our fave spots is Rhossili Beach on the Gower peninsula. Hillend Campsite. You can’t book so if you want to go on a Bank Holiday you either need to get there early or the day before to make sure.

Fantastic surf beach with PJ’s Surf Shop in Llangennith if you want to hire a board for the weekend And the Kings Head pub for a burger and a few sherberts late into the evening. There is also the Llangennith Surf School if you want some lessons.

Feel a bit like a walking billboard here. Obviously you can also hire one of our vans if surfing on the Gower takes your fancy. Hire two and go with friends. We love going in convoy with pals. We once took a couple of vans to the Latitude Festival. Met some friends for lunch in a nearby pub and all drove in together. They let us have a corral at the campsite so we set up the bbq/firepit in the middle and cooked breakfast there every day.

Hit the coast in Southwell on the way home. Lovely down there. It’s a bit of a drive back to Lincoln but we weren’t in a rush and the weather was so nice we had a bbq when we got home as well.
Want to hire a vintage VW campervan? Click on this link to get in touch.

Dan back from Edale over the Bank Holiday week loved Betty

Just back from a bank holiday weekend hire is Dr Dan Ellin who left us a wonderful review on Facebook.

‘We had a vantastic time with Betty this bank holiday in Edale, Derbyshire. We were a little sorry we had to leave her behind when we climbed Kinder Scout, but she was great to come back to. We were camping with style and class! Betty turns heads even in a huge campsite full of vans and campers and has everything you need.’

Our response was : “wow that’s great Dan. Thanks for sharing. Don’t worry you can always hire her again ”

So Dan put up this photo taken of him driving campervan Betty with a big smile on his face. It has to be said this is a normal reaction of anyone driving one of our VW vans. You just feel good. You only have to look at our Facebook page reviews to see what people are saying.

This kind of feedback from our customers really makes it all worthwhile. Dan’s experience really matches ours. When we turn up in Betty at a campsite heads turn and folk wander by for a chat.

Still plenty of availability for the summer if you want to get in touch. Some patches where we are fully booked though for both vans so don’t hang around.

Anne’s Vans is a Lincoln based Vintage VW Campervan hire business. We currently have two vans. Betty is a 1971 T2 Bay and Bertie dates to 1978. Both are classics and both offer difference characters. One thing is for sure you will love them both. Check them out on our VW campervan van hire page.

Do get in touch if you are interested in hiring a campervan. We are happy for people to swing by for a look to see what they have in store.

Have a vantastic day now 🙂

Too late for this weekend but how about another date?

Busy weekend ahead with the Bank Holiday coming up. Both vans are booked out. In fact we could have booked Bertie three times. Bertie is being used on a commercial photo shoot for the JoeFest festival what takes place in Lincolnshire every August. This year it is 10 – 12 August at Stourton Estates in Baumber – same venue as last year.

The final line up was announced on the BBC Lincolnshire Introducing show last night. A two hour show dedicated to the JoeFest festival. Both vans are also already booked out for that weekend but there is glamping if you are thinking of going.

The VW Campervan hire season is really starting to rock, especially with this bout of fantastic weather we are having. We’d like to use a van ourselves but business is business. Last year it must have been October before we got to use a van!

If you drive along Wragby Road in Lincoln later this week you might see both our vans in the drive. Mechanic Davie is on holiday next week so we need to keep them easily accessible. That was one of the lessons we learnt from last year. We had an enquiry for a last minute booking but the van was safely locked away in the garage whilst Dave was on a well deserved break in Cornwall (or somewhere).

If anyone is interested in having a look at a van this week then by all means get in touch via our campervan contact page. I’d be very happy to show you around. You will fall in love with the vans and want to take one away with you 🙂 Still plenty of availability at this stage of the game but the vans do get booked up so don’t leave it until the last minute.

May the sun keep shining on us all 🙂

Splitty blends in with graffiti on our kitchen wall

Here’s our campervan calendar pic for May. It’s a VW splitty but I’m not totally sure I like the paint job.Certainly not an original VW colour scheme as it left the factory:) Blends in nicely with the graffiti on the wall behind mind you 🙂

A splitty is of course the ultimate cool campervan. It would be nice to have one for the Anne’s Vans fleet but there are several reasons why we don’t. Firstly they cost at least £10,000 more than a bay, if you can find one. You do see some fantastic conversions but there aren’t many around.

Secondly they have less room inside and it doesn’t feel right to put a pop top on the classic bus shape. Finally they are older than the bays. We figure a bay is just about right from an age/reliability and ease of driving perspective.

When we hire out our vans we take people on a short spin around the corner from the depot and let them drive back, really just to get you used to the gears and the brakes. Remember these vans are over 40 years old and don’t come with servo assisted brakes (is that the right world?)so you need to assume a longer stopping time. I then get out, any passengers hop in and folk drive away on their dream trip to the coast.

The other aspect to consider when driving a 1970s VW camper is the power steering. There is none. Muscles are needed to drive these beauties. Mostly only when stationary and trying to maneuver the van. If it’s moving it’s a lot easier. Once you are moving it’s a very smooth ride. A real pleasure.

Anyway all this started from me deciding to share the May photo on our calendar in the kitchen. Don’t know how we ended up talking about power steering. If you want to hire a van currently we have a choice of two. A yellow/orange 1971 early bay called Betty and a pastel blue 1978 late bay called Bertie. They are very different inside but both fantastic vans to use. Hire either one and you will be the envy of all your friends.
If you want to come along and see any of the vans, when they are not hired out we keep them at our depot in downtown Lincoln. Check out our contact page for more details. Availabiltiy information is on the campervan hire page. Hope to see you soon…

One last thing. Huge thanks to Rachel Mortimore for the lovely review on our Facebook page

Rachel also left us a pic of campervan Bertie parked up in Skegness.

We love our customers 🙂

VW Campervan Bertie heads for Skegness for Bank Holiday

Aaarg what’s that dazzling white orb on a sky blue background? It’s the UK May Bank Holiday sun. This cannot be I hear you say:) Amazing! Perfect for hiring a campervan and heading to the coast.

What is also amazing is how the nice weather brings in lots of enquiries. We are already, at the beginning of May almost at the same level of bookings as the whole of last year and last year was a goodun. Admittedly we now have twice as many vans (ie two) but business is picking up nicely in the VW campervan rental game.

I’ve included below a pic of campervan Bertie’s door panel. Just took it the other day on a whim whilst waiting for a customer. Thought it was just like today’s sky. The photo of the actual sky turned out a little different but it’s near enough.

Feel almost a little silly in that we included the heater in one of the vans this weekend. Hottest weekend of the year!

Anyway if you see Bertie in or around Skeggy give him a wave of nip along and say hello. We head to Skeg at least once every summer, park at the big car park at the end of the promenade and walk along to the pier amusements. Then it’s fish, chips and mushy peas at the clocktower chippy, a game of crazy golf, maybe a go on the log flume and hire a pedalo for 30 minutes or so.

Don’t forget to slap on the sunscreen. Usually on the way home we pick up some bbq ingredients and fire up the barbecue when we get back. Nothing like a few cold ones at the end of a hot day at the seaside.

Anne’s vans is a VW campervan rental business based in Lincoln in the East Midlands. Our vans go all over the country and people fly in from far away to pick one up before headed off for festivals in the UK. If you are looking to hire a vintage VW campervan for a short break, and why wouldn’t you, please do get in touch. Our contact details can be found here and click here for details of campervans for hire.

Below is the pic of Bertie’s paint work. You can see the similarity without the presence of the sun:)

New radio for VW campervan – ahh bluetooth

Out with the old in with the new – campervan Bertie gets a new radio. One of the things we discovered when testing Bertie was that the radio, whilst it had a cool retro look, was actually very difficult to set up and programme. Also the manufacturer had discontinued the model and we couldn’t find the right user guide for it online. It’s no good if customers can’t hook up their phones with the bluetooth connection and the existing set was very difficult to figure out.

On this basis we popped down to IC Electronics at the bottom of Lincoln High Street, near the South Common roundabout and took some advice. It was easy enough to remove the old radio and fit a new one. All the wiring was already in place for the car kit microphone unlike our other van Betty which needed everything doing.

We had a choice between kenwood and JVC. Both brands are owned by the same company so it didn’t really matter which we chose. I went for JVC as that’s what we have in campervan Betty.
The new radio is a pure joy. I realise one shouldn’t get excited about such a basic thing but we take a lot of things for granted in life and these days being able to hook up your phone with other electronic gadgets is one of them 🙂

Now we can motor along and my husband can play his Spotify retro playlist on the campervan speakers. It’s all Beach Boys and stuff like that. Sets up the right mood as we head towards the surf. Maybe we should have an Anne’s Vans playlist on Spotify.

Don’t forget, if you want to swing by to have a look at one of our vans we are happy to show you around. Our depot is on Great Northern terrace a very short walk behind Lincoln Central Railway Station. Just give us a bit of notice. It may be that none of our vintage VW vans are in as of course the whole point of the business is that they are available for hire.

Bye for now
Anne
PS pic below is the old radio

Check out our hire page if you are considering renting one of our vintage VW campervans.

Cath Kidston Curtains – cool

Not sure it sounds particularly right, Cath Kidston curtains for a VW campervan. A vintage VW campervan at that. Our vintage VW campervan. Bertie. Our other van Betty will be jealous. Now now I say to you. Every van deserves to be pampered and all ours really do get the triple decker spa day with hot towels, if you see what I mean.

The image at the top is indeed of the Cath Kidston curtain close up in glorious technicolor. Made that last bit up actually but I’m sure you know what I mean. It’s a nice bit of material. Nice threads Bertie 🙂

The curtains, several of them, completely surround the inside of the van to provide privacy at night. They hold nicely together with velcro, an innovation that we will have to look into for our other van Betty’s curtains which we’ve always thought were fine up until now. Now that we’ve seen how well velcro works on Bertie.

I’m sure you will all agree that Bertie’s curtains look splendid. We also have some nice Cath Kidston mugs for what it’s worth. Unfortunately they aren’t plastic so we don’t supply them for the van.

Anne’s vans is an East Midlands VW campervan hire business based in Lincoln. People come from all over to rent our vans and take them as far afield as the Outer Hebrides and back to their roots in Berlin. All the vans come fully equipped for your holiday. Just rock up with your own gear and drive off.

Directions to the depot can be found on the Anne’s Vans contact page and hire details can be found here. Can you picture yourself pootling off for the weekend in a vintage VW campervan? Just choose the van you are interested and take it from there.

VW-campervan-test weekend in Rutland

The featured image is of our VW T2 Bay campervan Bertie on his inaugural weekend out at Rutland Water. The weather wasn’t particularly nice and as you can see there aren’t many others at the site. They were all in our party.

Headed out around 11am for a 9km circular walk, stopping for a picnic lunch at a wildlife centre which had a live webcam pointed at an osprey nest out near the lake. At the end of the walk we ended up at the Kings Arms pub conveniently situated near the campsite. The back to the van for a freshen up and a bit of a rest.

A group of D of E kids turned up at around 6pm as we were on the way back to the Kings Arms for dinner. It was raining and we didn’t envy them having to pitch their tents and get their food ready in that weather.

Before heading out we had laid the rock and roll bed and turned on the oil filled radiator so that the van was nice and toasty when we returned. We had a great evening in the pub – there were ten of us and the wine flowed freely.

Coming back to the campsite husband Tref went straight to bed (lightweight) whilst I popped into mechanic Dave’s motorhome for a night cap, hic.

The next morning we got up at a suitable not too early time and popped to the campsite shop for some milk. Also bought some fresh farm eggs – see pic below. Nothing like a nice fresh egg bought from the farm where the hens roam freely and the eggs are bigger and tastier.

We noticed that the DoE kids had already packed up and gone on their way. Clearly a hardy breed.

The eggs together with some bacon, sausages and mushrooms were cooked on the cooker with the hob swung into the outdoor position. Dave heated up the beans on his own hob. Breakfast of kings.
After breakfast we made a pot of espresso coffee and relaxed outside the van for a bit. When the time came to go home it was just a case of unhitching the electrical hookup, dropping and securing the poptop (a quick flick of the latch in each corner), chucking everything in the van and heading for the exit.

A successful test weekend for our new VW campervan. If you want to use Bertie for a trip somewhere by all means check out our campervan hire page. We have two vans. Betty is a 1971 early bay and Bertie is a 1978 late bay.

Anne’s vans is a vintage VW campervan hire business serving the East Midlands and the rest of the world. People fly in to hire our vans for festivals and holidays in the UK.

Perspectives on Campervan Bertie Rock and Roll Bed

Our “new” VW Campervan Bertie has a beautifully upholstered full width rock and roll bed. The bed is really easy to pull out. You just grab hold of the underneath of the seat and pull. It’s as easy as that.

Getting it back into place is just as easily done, this time lifting the top of the seat back and pushing the end bit forward. We will show you when you come to pick up the van.
The spare tyre, pictured here with its cover designed to match the rest of the upholstery, is removed for the night and placed somewhere safe outside the van. The “slot” it leaves is filled in with a purpose built bezel. Your head isn’t going to drop into this gap.

The recommended sleeping position is with your head at the back window end. The Cath Kidston curtains pull all the way around the van giving you complete privacy. The different pieces join handily together using velcro.

The white upholstery with pale blue piping is easily washable and designed to withstand the rigours of trips to the beach or the countryside. It contrasts beautifully with the solid American white oak coachwork. A work of art really.

A sensible practice is to make the bed up before you head out for the evening. We don’t provide bed linen. We found that people preferred to bring their own. You need something as a base cover for the mattress, a duvet or blanket or even a proper mattress cover which is what we use. Double bed sheets and duvet then fit perfectly into position. We have a couple of pillows each and depending on the time of year a blanket on top.

So there you go. A really cosy full width rock and roll bed for you to climb into at the end of a tiring day at the beach/festiva/wedding/holiday away in a nice place 🙂

Annes Vans is a vintage VW campervan rental business based in lincoln in the East Midlands. Our vas have travelled as far as The Hebrides, Berlin and Paris. Where would you like to go? Check out our hire page here.

VW Campervan Biz Expands on the back of successful 2017 season/staycation demand

Lincoln based Vintage VW Campervan hire company Anne’s Vans has announced that it has expanded its fleet of vehicles with the addition of an immaculate 1978 “late bay”.
Named Bertie the new van comes in pastel blue and white paint with beautiful VW branded cream upholstery. Bertie has a built in Smev gas oven, sink and hob unit together with a built in flat screen TV.

Local businesswoman Anne Davies said “I founded Anne’s Vans a couple of years ago when we decided it would be quite cool to own a VW campervan but because good ones were quite expensive thought it would make sense to try before we bought. It turned out that trying one out was easier said than done. Everyone was booked up for the summer season.On that basis we looked around and bought our first van from someone in Great Yarmouth.

Our plan has always been to grow the fleet if the first van proved a success. Last year proved the business model for us and so over the winter we invested in a second van. We were turning business away in 2017.”

Davies talks about the quality ethos of the business.”It’s very important to us to offer a high quality product. We want our customers to have the best time possible and come back next year for repeat bookings. We also want them to recommend us to their friends. Turns out the reviews have been great, both on Google and Facebook so we must be doing something right”
In 2017 people flew in from as far afield as Malta to rent the first van Betty. She was in great demand for festivals and weeks away. One corporate hirer took her to Berlin and Paris for a product launch and another customer took er to the Hebrides for 3 weeks.

Anne’s Van’s opens for business for the 2018 at Easter weekend and are taking bookings now. Check out our hire page here.

Snow good weather for a VW campervan – too cold man

No VW campervans for hire this weekend. They are tucked away safely in dry storage. You would have to be crazy to want to venture forth in this weather anyway. The main picture is our back garden. There is a lawn under that snow, somewhere. I am writing this from the comfort of the sofa by the fire in our living room. It’s the only sensible thing to do.

It’s not dissimilar to sitting in front of a driftwood fire on a beach in the summer. At least the sentiment is the same. Around the driftwood fire we would be having a laugh, cracking jokes that were only funny to us, passing the bottle around and staring into the flames.

It’s been a long day out on the surf then back to the site for a shower and a chill whilst someone else does the barbecue. Only way to do it. Nothing fancy. Burgers, sausages, occasionally a bit of fish. Seems the right thing to do at the coast.

As night falls it’s back to the beach to light the fire, cmon baby. Later we wander back to the van, path lit only by the stars, slide the door shut and fall into a deep sleep. We already shut the curtains earlier 🙂 Paradise.

Next morning we are up some time after dawn. First up boils the kettle and then when most people are stirring we get the breakfast going. Bacon sandwiches with thick slices of white bread liberally spread with butter and a sauce to your liking. Have another…

The sun is up and the day is warming up nicely. No rush though. Bit of a stroll into the village maybe, just to stock up on essential supplies. More beer and a bottle of milk. Back at the campervan we slob around for a bit and maybe nod off again.

I wake up. I’m still sat in front to the fire. Outside it is still winter and the snow still deep and crisp and even. Summer can’t come soon enough!

Here at Anne’s vans we will soon be getting ready for the season. The vans will be going on a trip to Rutland Water towards the end of March, just to test everything for the coming season. If you are from around there keep your eye open for us:)

To hire a vintage VW campervan check out our hire page. Oh and here’s the fire:

VW campervan bookings start for 2018 season.

We are well into February and spring isn’t quite in the air but if you shut your eyes you can make yourself believe it is nearly there. The bulbs are peeking through. February has already been a busy month for bookings for the forthcoming season. Lots of enquiries and a few deposits paid.

We open for the season at Easter. Over the winter we did get a few enquiries. One hardy person wanted to take campervan Betty away on Christmas day. It’s a nice idea but it helped us firm up in our minds when was a sensible time to rent the van out. Winter is not only cold but comes with hazards on the roads and fields that we prefer to keep away from our precious vans.

Van Betty is still in dry storage. We have planned a weekend away on 23rd March just to test things out in advance of when customers might want to start using her. Should be fine. We also used her right at the end of the season in 2017. A trip with pals to Market Rasen in the Lincolnshire Wolds. Three campervans, a motorhome and a caravan in a defensive circle. No bandits in sight though. Betty hasn’t been anywhere since the weekend in the Wolds.

We have been busy this winter. Not going to tell you what we were up to – look out for an announcement in a couple of weeks or so. It’s exciting stuff 🙂

Anne’s Vans is a Vintage VW campervan rental business in Lincoln in the East Midlands. Customers fly in from as far away as Malta to hire a van and they travel as far as Berlin and Paris when they drive away from the depot.

If you are interested in hiring a vintage VW campervan please do get in touch via our contact page. You can check availability on our hire page.

Leftover christmas present vw campervan biscuit tin

This is a VW Campervan biscuit tin. It once contained mini Jaffa Cakes. My husband Tref got it off my cousin Geoffrey for Christmas. Now it’s an empty jaffa cake VW Campervan biscuit tin.
As biscuit tins go it’s a nice one:) We will probably try and use it in one of our vans. Maybe put the cutlery in it.

The jaffa cakes didn’t last long. We have four kids and three of them live away from home now, mostly. Except of course for Christmas so it isn’t surprising the jaffa cakes went. Ditto the extra Christmas Tree chocs that we bought more of this year thinking they would last a little longer. They didn’t.

We did buy six boxes of Quality Street toffees to supplement the main selection box. These Quality Street boxes used to be tins but now they are small plastic containers. Not the same and not as big. I think.

It’s still the off season in the campervan rental game. The vans are tucked away in the garage staying dry. Not particularly warm. Just dry. Who’d be a chunk of metal eh?
It’s still a while until the season starts – Easter. Quite a few enquiries already coming in. One booking already in the bag in the last week – for August. You have to plan ahead when it comes to holidays, especially if you have to book something. Leave it until the last minute and you will be disappointed.

Lots of love,
Anne

Anne’s Vans is a vintage VW campervan rental business based in Lincolnshire. We run a fleet of T2 Bay VW camper vans that can be hired for trips all over the UK and Europe. Our season runs from Easter until the end of October. If you are interested in chatting about hiring a campervan please feel free to get in touch through our contact page.

Mulled wine vw campervan at York Christmas Market

Hohoho just had to add this one final post before Christmas. Husband Tref was out on the town with his pals in York and he came across this converted T2 Bay being used as a mobile bar. Looks like they’ve done a really good job on her.

Funnily enough (or not) he was wearing his new vantastic Christmas campervan t shirt purchased for him earlier in the week from Tesco by our daughter.

Been there got the t shirt…

Anne’s Vans is an East Midlands vintage VW campervan hire based out of Lincoln. By all means get in touch if you are looking to hire a VW campervan for 2018. We will in any case be publishing our pricing for next year during the course of the Christmas break.

Happy VW Campervan Christmas from Anne’s Vans in Lincoln

Happy Christmas to all our friends from the team at Anne’s Vans. 2017 was a great year for us and our VW campervan business we are really looking forward to 2018. Look out for some announcements earlyish in the New Year.

In the meantime we hope you have a wonderful Christmas holiday. Take care and may all your dreams come true.

As a footnote if anyone is local to Lincoln by all means come and join us for Carol singing at the Morning Star pub on Greetwell Gate on Wednesday avening 20th December. Nothing to do with VW campervans but a great annual tradition in our house and an evening that properly starts off the holiday.

VW Campervan keyrings for even more funky campervan fun 🙂

A pair of vw campervan keyrings caught our eye so we took the plunge and went for them. Funky eh? The yellow/orange one is obviously going to go with the keys for Betty, our 1971 Vintage VW T2 Bay campervan. I guess we will have to look out for another van for the other keyring. Watch this space…

The campervan rental season came to a close a few weeks ago. It is December after all and minds are on Christmas. We have actually had a couple of enquiries for one or two day hires around Christmas Day. Families needing the expansion space. When all the kids turn up together with a gaggle of grandchildren the floor space, or cushion space is at a premium. Personally I’d hotel it, or B&B but that’s a personal choice. Maybe I’m a softie. Hotels aren’t cheap around Christmas time.

Campervan Betty is herself safely tucked up in the garage at Great Northern Terrace and mechanic Dave will at some stage be doing her winter service. This will include non standard jobs like cleaning the curtains:). Dave won’t wash the curtains. I, Anne, will do that. Dave would get grease all over them. Reality is campervan Betty gets looked after very well during the season and effectively is serviced after every hire.

In the meantime we are always on the lookout for cool little bits to go with the van – just like the keyrings in the picture.

Anne’s vans is a Lincolnshire based vintage VW campervan hire. Our customers aren’t just local. We even had someone fly in from Malta this year to go to a festival. Betty has been across Europe – as far as Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Berlin. You can imagine the popular reception she had in Germany.

If you are looking to hire a campervan for next year please do get in touch. You will get to see the keyring as well 🙂

Great season for VW campervan hire comes to a close

It’s been a great season in the VW campervan rental business. We’ve waved goodbye to the last of our lovely customers for the year. A repeat hire from the lovely Jimmy. Thanks for your business Jimmy. Our campervan Betty is now tucked away in dry storage for the winter, unless someone else wants to take her out. It’s easy enough.

Our next planned use is on New Year’s eve when we are off to some friends deep in the heart of the Lincolnshire countryside. Rather than taxiing home we thought we would just wander up in the van, pop the roof up, plug in the electrical hookup and hey presto we are ready to party. The electric hookup is going to be very important. We will need a heater at that time of year.

The concept of a heater is something we discovered this Autumn. Vintage VW campervans built in 1971 don’t do heaters. The “air conditioning” is a slider on the dashboard which diverts heat from the engine through some pipes to the interior. Either it’s on or off and the engine has to be on and the van running.

So when we rocked up to a campsite near Market Rasen for a weekend with some like minded individuals one of the accompanying campervanners (new word according to my spellchecker) couldn’t get his electric hookup to work and offered us his heater to try out. Truth be told it wasn’t cold enough for a heater but we accepted in the interest of science and experimentation.

Our van Betty is really snug and we found that we had to turn the heater off in the night because it was too warm. It’s going to be a different kettle of fish on New Year’s Eve. Bring on the freezing nights. Switch on the heater.

It’s been a great 2017 for Anne’s Vans. We have had some lovely customers and we have also learnt a lot about running a campervan rental business. Now we are looking forward to 2018 and are already getting enquiries. In fact we’ve already had a booking for 2019! Get booking guys 🙂

Anne’s Vans is a Vintage VW Campervan hire business based in the beautiful Cathedral City of Lincoln. If you are interested in experiencing a seriously funky holiday in one of our cool campervans do get in touch – you can find us via our contact page. Van prices and availability can be seen on our campervan hire page.

The featured image btw is not of our van – it’s off our campervan calendar that hangs in our kitchen 🙂

Sign of success for VW Campervan hire company

New sign for Anne’s Vans. Thought about a subtitle for this post that says “new sign is sign of success for vintage VW campervan hire firm” but then again maybe not. Ah, I’ve said it anyway:) Hey…

Having a new sign might not seem to be particularly newsworthy to some of you but we at Anne’s Vans look at it with pride. It will hopefully tell a lot of people driving by that within the premises they can hire a campervan. Great Northern Terrace can get surprisingly busy.

It’s fairly easy to spot the depot anyway because when customers come along to pick up a van it’s usually there on the forecourt, polished and ready to go. Unmissable.

2017 has been a busy season for us. We have had our first overseas hire and our first hire where the van has been taken overseas. Enquiries are still coming in. The English weather eases us gently from Summer into Autumn so weekends away are still perfectly feasible even at the end of October.

It’s actually quite cosy cuddling up on the rock and roll bed with your favourite person with the leaves on the trees outside wearing their Autumnal colours. Sit up, stick the kettle on and have a nice hot cuppa:)
I digress. We still have some availability for October so check out your calendar and see if you can fit in a last minute weekend away. Why not try the Yorkshire Dales.

Anne’s Vans is a vintage VW campervan rental company based in Lincoln. Check us out. Campervan availability here. We also have an Anne’s Vans Facebook page with some nice pics and reviews plus some really nice campervan reviews on Google.

That’s Dave up the ladder in the picture btw. He does a great job maintaining the camper vans and helps with handovers if we aren’t around.

Pic is street view of our depot

Machynlleth VW campervan spotted – in the rain natch

We were driving through wales and had a pitstop at Machynlleth. We were just leaving when in the far corner of the carpark we spotted this beaut of a VW campervan. Had to drive around and take this pic.

We couldn’t really tell it’s provenance. It was a right hand drive but the sliding door was on the the same side as the driver suggesting that it had at some stage been a left hand drive. Also the number plate suggests it may be an import registered in recent years in the UK. When we see other VW campervans we like to guess what the owners might have called them. No idea with this one. It’s a nice pastel green colour.

The campervan was in immaculate condition. The weather wasn’t though as you might be able to tell from the light. Typical UK in summer really. It matters not. Driving through the rain is far less stressful when you know that when you reach your destination you don’t have to put a tent up. Just pop the top up, take a cold beer out of the fridge and relaaaax.

Anne’s vans is a vintage VW campervan hire business based in Lincoln in the East Midlands. People hire our vans and take them all over the country and beyond to Europe. Our 1971 T2 bay is currently on a three week trip touring the Outer Hebrides. What a fantastic holiday. We wouldn’t mind doing that ourselves but she is hire out fairly solidly for the rest of the summer.

You need to start thinking of an Autumn booking or even get one in for 2018. The weather, we are told, is going to be perfect next year:) If you do want to book for next year we will hold this year’s prices and ll it takes is a £50 deposit to guarantee your slot. See ya soon 🙂

our new Anne’s Vans sign has arrived yay

Ok not all of you will be getting excited about this news but let me tell you that I’m jumping up and down in my chair because our new Anne’s Vans vintage VW hire sign has arrived at the garage. It’s currently laid on the floor in bubble wrap but will be going up on the outside wall as soon as we get a free weekend.

Our garage is en route to the recycling centre on great Northern Terrace and we get a lot of people passing by. In fact when campervan Betty is in the yard people often stop and ask if she is for sale. No no no we say but you can hire her if you want:) Whilst most of our marketing is done on the internet (this website for one) there is nothing quite like seeing the van and sitting in her to get the true feel for what your holiday experience would be like.

Our biggest disappointment this summer is that Betty has been so popular it’s going to be the third weekend in September before we can use her ourselves. Hey, business is business…

In other news we are very happy to point you at a great review we have just received from recent hirer Jimmy Vestbirk who took the van to Europe for three weeks as part of a company launch. Thanks Jimmy. Great reviews are important to us as this type of feedback spurs you on – makes you think you are doing something right (after all!!??).

We are in general lucky with our hirers. They all look after Betty when they take her out. Anyway,W campervan there are still a few slots available towards the end of the summer. Call now on 07957 904477 or check out or contact page on this website. Anne’s Vans is a vintage VW campervan hire business based in Lincoln. You aren’t restricted to Lincoln though. The van has been to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Berlin this summer.

Fantastic review of our VW campervan Betty by recent customer Mark Smith.

“My wife and I rented Betty for a 3 night break. Despite being complete novices the trip was brilliant. The awning was so easy to put up and attach. That gave us lots of space for storage and eating (although it was so sunny we dined alfresco most of the time).

The gas rings, grill and fridge were great and it’s so easy to make the bed up. Anne was so helpful throughout the booking process and Dave did a fantastic hand-over / brief so we were fully confident. Betty is an absolute delight and has a personality all of her own. We will certainly be having another trip away with Betty again – she is superb fun.”

We had to repeat this review from recent customer Mark Smith on Google. It’s great when you hear such good things from customers. Makes it all worthwhile.

The great thing is Mark also sent us some pics of our vintage VW campervan Betty with the retro awning in place. We had been meaning to take some photos but always forgot when we had the awning up.

Our VW campervan Betty is available to hire. Anne’s Vans is a VW campervan rental business based in central Lincoln near to the central transport hub (railway and bus stations). If you are after a holiday with a difference then a VW campervan could well be for you.

This summer we have a couple of weeks left in July available so if you fancy getting out, to the coast, the hills or the dales give us a shout. As you can see from Mark’s testimonial, you won’t regret it.

Mark as I’ve said used the awning. The awning is a great space creator and very useful if you are going to be in the same spot for more than a day.

vw campervan – a meeting room with a difference

Bored with the same old characterless meeting rooms. Legal Geek decided to do things differently and took our vintage VW campervan Betty on a road trip. They set up meetings at events in Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris and Brussels before coming back to London for a grand finale.

Betty, a 1971 VW T2 bay campervan which is classified as a vintage vehicle, was used as a mobile office and a centre of attraction at each event. Legal Geek were able to put up their own branding and that of their sponsors at meetings with startups which were effectively video’d interviews.
There are lots of cool photos from the road trip, some of which are in an album linked to from this post about vw campervan corporate rentals.

We’ve slotted a couple more in here to show the van being used for business purposes. It was a rainy day in London but that didn’t dampen the ardour of the event participants and a great time was had by all, even if they did have to bring their umbrellas.

If you want something a little different for your corporate event, meetings or launches you might want to do what Legal Geek did and hire a vintage VW camper. It certainly adds a little bit of class.

Anne’s Vans are a Lincoln based VW campervan hire business. However we aren’t restricted to our local area and can arrange delivery of a vintage VW campervan anywhere in the country. Just get in touch to find out more. You can contact us via our contact page or check out availability here. Legal Geek did and got great results.

Booked your van yet?

Woohoo it’s July and the camping season is in full swing. So is the campervan hire season. Our VW campervan Betty is just back from a three week corporate hire to Holland Germany, Belgium and France and we are just turning her around ready for the next hire this coming week. This next one is a more local Lincolnshire job but it matters not to Betty.

The featured image is the picture for July in our campervan calendar – hanging up in the kitchen. We have lots of campervan “memorabilia” or whatever you call it. Mugs, tea towels, salt and pepper pots etc. It’s what you do when you own a vintage VW campervan:)

Being a vintage vehicle is also quite handy from the point of view of not having to pay car tax. Betty’s registration doc has her down as a “historic vehicle”. Still have to register her every year mind you but don’t have to hand over any cash.

Looks like there’s no poptop roof on the blue van in the photo. All these vans are different although there are a number of standard layouts, depending on where the original conversion was made. Ours is known as a Devon Moonraker but there are others: Wesfalia and Dormobile spring to mind.

Betty has been in such demand this year that we haven’t yet had a chance to head away in her ourselves. We have booked her for top Lincolnshire festival JoeFest in August and look out for some exciting news about that which we will be announcing very soon.

Anyway it’s too nice to sit indoors writing this stuff and I’m sure you would rather be out in the garden. Before you go just check out our campervan hire page to see Betty’s availability.

Anne’s Vans is a Lincolnshire based VW campervan hire business. We are centrally located in Lincoln and have a secure compound where you can leave your own car whilst away on holiday in ours.

Wedding bookings on the up for VW campervan

Wedding bookings on the up for our vintage VW campervan. We do self drive wedding bookings. We find that people like the idea of picking the campervan up on Friday and taking it home to let the family decorate it. Then on the big day the bride can take her time and the van is right there and ready when it’s time to go to the church/registry office/lovely mansion somewhere in beautiful countryside.

The feedback we get is that the campervan looks fantastic parked in a field outside the marquee, or in front of the hotel. Perfect for photos. Doesn’t she look lovely? Ahhh 🙂 We will have to start asking folk if we can have a photo.

Then if people want to keep the van an extra day or two it makes for a very special start to their honeymoon before jetting off to Ibiza, Bali or Bognor Regis. Hey, each to their own…

The reason I mention this is because wedding bookings are on the up this year. We’ve even had one or two short notice “emergency” enquiries although we haven’t always been able to help out with these if the van has already been booked. Book early folks!

The one thing to note about booking campervan Betty for a wedding is that you need to provide a driver. There are self drive hires. It’s usually fine though. Either one of the happy couple drives or a friend or relative. It’s usually safe enough to leave the campervan locked up overnight outside the venue.

There is room for 5 in the van so it’s easy to accommodate couple of bridesmaids and a dad, for example as well the bride. Any combo you like really. If you really needed it, because you’ve had a long and tiring adrenaline filled day for example, you can even pull out the bed for a bit of a lie down…

Anyway if you feel that a vintage VW campervan is right for your wedding do get in touch. In fact do it now – the details are on the contact page of this website. You can also check out the campervan hire page for availability.

Anne’s Vans is a very friendly Lincoln based vintage VW campervan hire business. Why not swing by for a chat sometime?

First vintage VW campervan corporate hire as Betty goes to Berlin.

Our vintage vw campervan Betty is out on a corporate hire for three weeks. A company called Legal Geek has hired her for a European tour to help launch their services. They are using the van as a base for interviewing startups in the legal community during their events. Check out their hashtag #LGRoadTrip.

Her first stop is Berlin on a tour that will also encompass Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. Their Managing Director Jimmy Vestbirk told us on Facebook “Literally you have to go to Germany in Betty. So many fans, beeps, waves and pictures!”.

As you can see from the photo she does attract a lot of attention. It’s a great way to make a bit of noise and attract attention to your business. Drive her into Olympia or the NEC and conduct 1 2 1 meetings with customers and prospects whilst enjoying a cold beer from the fridge or a cup of tea. Or take her to your golf day and set her up as a mobile drinks dispenser. Any event really.

Our insurance covers trips to Europe (get in touch for more details about which countries) and we can now arrange European breakdown cover – essential if you are miles away from base.
Jimmy and his colleague are sleeping in the van which as a startup themselves has allowed them to save lots of money on their accommodation costs.

Loads of other pics here.

If you think you might want to hire a vintage VW campervan for your corporate event or photoshoot just get in touch via our contact page. You can check out the availability on our campervan hire page. June has filled up but there are plenty of other available dates.

Anne’s Vans is a Lincolnshire based vintage VW campervan hire business renting vans all over the UK, and now clearly beyond:)

Beautiful vw split screen campervan

Our calendar is now into the month of June and with it comes this photo of a beautiful cream coloured VW Splitty. Might even be called June. In fact we can all her what we like. Feels to be definitely a her rather than a him. June she is.

When we named our van Betty it seemed to be just the right thing. She wasn’t a Caroline or a Mavis. I don’t think people name their kids Mavis these days do they but you can imagine a campervan called Mavis. “We’re just nipping off in Mavis for the weekend” 🙂 She likes the sea air does Mavis. Doesn’t like getting her tyres on the sand though. Gets into all the cracks.

I digress. The VW T1 cooling system seems to start coming into it’s own in June. Open those front windows to let the air rush in. Don’t do it on a motorway though. I’m not even sure you would want to drive a Splitty on a motorway. Or a Bay for that matter. These vans just don’t suit motorways, not with all the cars rushing past in an unseemly hurry. That’s the joy of a camper. The relaxed pace of life.
This particular van, June, would go well next to a strawberry red job called Pip. Strawberries and cream. You feel a glass of Pimms would also be appropriate, drunk whilst sat on a blanket on a bit of grass by the side of the road somewhere in the countryside. Wales or somewhere. Scotland maybe. Anyway you get my drift.

Excited to see what July will bring us photo wise. No cheating by turning the page before June is out:) We at Anne’s Vans are now taking campervan bookings for July as the rest of June is pretty much sold out.

Don’t all call at once now 🙂

EU breakdown recovery now available

Up until now we have been able to insure our vintage VW T2 bay campervan Betty for European cover but not for breakdown recovery. On this basis we haven’t been renting the van for travel outside the UK.

However we have a corporate booking that is taking the van on a tour of Europe for 3 weeks and we discovered that the AA can provide the service. There is an additional cost to this which is dependent on the countries you want to visit and how long for but it isn’t extortionate and worth the extra for the added benefits you will get. The cover includes hotel accommodation in case of a problem plus repatriation of you and the van if it can’t be fixed.

We may even take off in it ourselves sometime. With the last one leaving school next year the kids are off our hands from summer 2018 onwards. This year we only have it ourselves for one weekend so far and that’s for the JoeFest festival. Otherwise it is out on hire for much of the summer (still some dates available if you want to check).

Figured you might like the image in this post. It’s from a port in Puglia. Perfectly reachable by VW campervan although with a comfortable max speed of 55mph (ok 88kmh) it would take some time to get there. What’s the hurry? Just looked. Google says it’s a 24 hour drive to Puglia. That makes a week’s comfortable travel down, a couple of weeks in the area and a week travelling back by a different route. Lots of countries, cultures and scenery, not to mention the different food and wine. Sounds like the perfect holiday to me.

Anne’s Vans is a VW campervan hire business based in Lincolnshire. Our van Betty is available for weddings (self drive), weekend breaks, holidays, festivals and corporate hire.

Splitty parks on double yellows!!!

It’s already mid may and I forgot to put up the campervan photo for this month from our calendar. This one is a beautiful D reg splitty. I’ve occasionally thought it would be nice to have the roof racks as they look great, especially with the surfboard up there. However because we have a pop top we could only fit rack on the bit over the front seats.

That in itself would look good and we will probably look out for one at some point. In the meantime it is easy to fit a surfboard or two inside our van.

Our van Betty has already been busy this season and bookings have picked up significantly from last year which was our first year in business. Most of June is already booked out and July is starting to fill up. Yay. This year we are going to fit in some trips around whenever there is a free weekend in the bookings calendar.

She has been booked for our own use for JoeFest which is our own family’s festival in Lincolnshire (tickets for Joefest available here if you want to come). After that we may send a few days down at Rhossili Bay in the Gower Peninsula which is a particular favourite of ours. We rent the surfboards from a local shop.

One thing I did notice about the calendar photo btw. They have parked on double yellow lines. I’m not aware that VW campervans are immune from parking fines but it would be nice to think that the traffic warden would spend so long just standing there admiring the view that we would have returned to the vehicle and driven off before he or she got a chance to slap on a ticket:) Dream on…

If you want to hire a vintage VW campervan our rates are very reasonable. Please check out the availability on our campervan hire page. Anne’s Vans is based in Lincoln within easy reach of lots of exciting places to go for your holiday.

Hardly a cloud in sight.

You may have noticed that we are in the Isle of Man for Easter. Not in our campervan. We are in a comfortable house near the promenade in Peel. Today is Saturday. A kind of hiatus between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. A day the shops are all open all day.

Today we walked up Peel Hill. This is a local landmark with an elevation one sixth the height of Mount Snowdon. I am full of useful facts like that. The walk up only takes 20 – 30 minutes and is worth it for the view. Needs to be nice weather.

As it happens it is nice weather. You can see this from the picture of a seagull. Who says the weather in the British Isles is rubbish on a bank holiday weekend. This photo was taken from the breakwater at Peel harbour. One of our fave spots. Has a great cafe there and you can take your cuppa up to the top of the wall and look out for basking sharks. We have been coming to the Isle of Man for decades and only once seen a basking shark. I continue to live in hope.

Peel has a marina that fills with visiting yachts during the Summer months. The attractions are obvious. Three great restaurants in The Boatyard, The Creek Inn and Filbeys together with some characterful pubs where you can mix with the locals. They serve up local beer from Bushy’s Brewery. There is also a seriously good ice cream parlour on the prom, a ruined castle, rock pools for a bit of net fishing and plenty of wildlife.

All in all the perfect page for a campervan holiday should you wish to hire ours 😉 Our VW Campervan Betty is a 1971 T2 Bay and is available for hire. Anne’s vans is a Lincoln based campervan hire business.

1983 T25 in Douglas

We were strolling along the promenade in Douglas in the Isle of Man and came across this beaut of a VW T25 camper. What’s more the colour is very similar to our own campervan Betty’s paint job.
I stood there fumbling for my phone to take a pic when a couple, obviously the owners came along. The great thing about VW campervans is that their owners are always happy to stop and chat. We swapped stories about our own van.

Theirs is a 1983 T25. The T25 was manufactured by VW in parallel to the T2 Bay – a friend of ours has a 1972 T25. Betty is December 1971.

The weather in Douglas, as you may be able to discern, was not brilliant on the day we were there. We weren’t over in our van. We flew and were staying in Peel on the other side of the Island. The point where we were standing is the end of the horse tram route – we were waiting for a photo opportunity and got one we weren’t expecting with the van:) Didn’t catch the name of the chap in the pic – it’s his van. By his accent he was clearly from Ireland.

We often go and visit family in the Isle of Man and do every now and again see a classic VW camper driving around. I usually try and take a photo although sometimes I’m not quick enough. The IoM is a terrific place to that a campervan on holiday. A week is just about enough time. In fact if you can find a space on a ferry then TT week is the perfect time to visit. Lots of action and usually the weather is better (ish).

You are probably too late to book our van for this year’s TT week. I doubt you would find room on the boat. The van is just about available. She is booked for three weeks from 9th June and the races finish on that day. You would need to miss the last race.

Anne’s Vans is a VW Camper hire business based in Lincoln in the East Midlands. Check us out.

Campervan events – Easter Weekend

There are a couple of VW campervan events coming up over the Easter Weekend, both near the England Wales borders. Camperfest is at Chester Racecourse between 13th and 17th April. It’s billed as a part of the Chester Food & Drink Lifestyle Festival so something for everyone. Not sure it’s a campervan specific gig as they mention caravans (not my style) and tents (ok) in the blurb but I hail from near Chester so can vouch that it is a fab part of the world.

There is a picture of Greg Wallace from the Masterchef programme on TV on the website so one assumes he is on display somewhere over the weekend. Laarvley 🙂

A little further South near Oswestry is Bus Types. This is a little more hardcore and has VW campervan trade stands. It is billed as “the weekend show season opener”. We have never been but we should make the effort one day.
If you want to see a wide range of Split Screens/spitties, Bay Windows, T25’s, T4’s and T5’s then this is the place to go, They even have an awards ceremony with over 20 trophies up for grabs.

There is plenty on including over 180 Trade & Autojumble Stands, a VW’s For Sale Area, Special Bus Displays and a VW Bus Only Car Park. There are also live bands and a disco on the Saturday night. I especially like the fact that the organisers bill the presence of “Toilet & Site Cleaners” as an attraction 🙂
Our van Betty, as you may know is a T2 Bay. This means it’s a second generation VW campervan, the first being the T1 or splitty. Our T2 was first registered in December 1971 which classes it as an “early Bay”.

Anne’s Vans is a Lincoln based campervan hire company. Check us out out if you want a cool weekend getaway or a wild week in Wales…

Perfect destination for surfing

One of our fave spots to take the campervan is Rhossili Beach on the Gower Peninsula. We pitch up at Hillend Campsite just over the sand dunes from the beach. You reach the campsite via a narrow winding road from Llangennith, a village with a great pub called the Kings Head. Llangennith also has a really cool shop called PJ’s Surf Shop where you can hire all the gear you need to catch a wave. PJs also sell some trendy clothes to match all be they a bit on the pricey side. PJ was a pro surfer.

Hillend has a bar/restaurant, shop and top notch shower facilities together with a terrific view out across Rhossili Bay. This site is where we first got the bug for VW campervans. Sat in our family tent we saw a couple of them turn up and park nearby in the field. Quite jealous we were but we didn’t pluck up the courage to go and talk to them.

Anyway the seed was planted and the outcome is our campervan Betty. Initially we thought we would try before we buy but found that in the middle of the season, when we started looking, they were all fully booked. So we just went and bought one and at the same time figured there must be good business in hiring out vintage VW campervans.

There is an element of us not wanting strangers to drive off in our van but the reality is having an income stream from hiring out the van brings in the cash to keep her in really good condition. Our depot is in central Lincoln and easily accessed if you want to pop in and chat about it. Have a sit in the van, assuming she isn’t out.

You can also check out our campervan hire page to see when she is available. At this stage of the season there is still plenty of availability although June is already almost fully booked.

VW campervan mugs for drinking tea

It’s a mug’s game. Campervan mugs that is. As I write I’m sat in our back garden enjoying the sunshine and drinking cup of tea out of my VW campervan mug:) The birds are singing, the sun is shining and spring is in full swing.

The leaves on the trees are starting to come out and I can’t help noticing that we forgot to cut the hedge over the winter. Too late now and there are birds nesting in it. It’ll wait until next winter. Lots of small birds around this spring. The level in our feeder has been going down quickly. Presumably building up avian energy levels for nest building and egg laying. Saw a pigeon carrying a twig. The pigeons are not invited to the feeder. They are too big. Also noisy.

We are building up our collection of fun campervan things. T towels, salt and pepper pots and now mugs. Unfortunately if you hire the van the mugs won’t be in her as they aren’t plastic. The picture will have to do.

We do supply campervan t towels though when you hire the van, unless we have run out and they are in the wash. Never mind. It isn’t the end of the world. It’s the campervan you are more interested in anyway. You can’t drive a mug or sleep in one. Don’t have a photo of the campervan t towels. Must remedy that.

Bookings are starting to come in for the season. June already looks as if it might be quite full and we already have a booking for August. A local festival called JoeFest in the wilds of Lincolnshire. Too late if you wanted to hire Betty for that one. She is available for hire on loads of other weekends. Don’t be shy. Give her a try:)

Anne’s Vans is a Lincoln based company hiring vintage VW campervans.

Gun for Hire BOGOF

Campervan for hire. It’s a bit like gun for hire but totally different. You don’t see gun for hire signs in Tesco these days. Not that I’ve noticed anyway. Imagine it. “Gun for hire BOGOF”.

This isn’t the wild west you know? They’d have given anything for a VW camper van in those days. No idea where they would have got the petrol from mind you. Unleaded. Wasn’t invented in 1862, or whenever it was.

Would have been a lot easier for the pioneers in their wagon trains if they had had a campervan. Pull up every evening in a circle and sit around the campfire talking pioneer stuff. Best ways to sharpen an axe. Axle mending for beginners. How to skin a bear once you’ve killed it with your bare hands. That kind of thing.

Whilst this is going on the food is cooking on the two ring gas stove. Two rings would have been plenty. One would probably have done. A hearty stew. Same as yesterday in fact but you have to give some concessions to life on the trail. A few grits (whatever they are) and a hunk of bread to chew on.

Instead of the banjo someone would have switched on the radio and shoved in their fave CD. There were no radio stations in those days. I suppose they could have used Spotify in offline mode. The fridge also came in handy. When you’ve spent the day on the hot and dusty trail there’s nothing quite like a cold beer from the fridge. Or a glass of squash with ice for the kids.

Then when it’s time to bunker down you pull the curtains shut the van door and fall into your rock and roll bed, dead to the world. Tomorrow is another day.

Gnight John boy.

VW T2 bay and a T1 splitty feature this month

Our kitchen campervan calendar has turned over a month without me even noticing and we are a week into April already. It just goes to show how little we use paper calendars at our house nowadays. I’m very much a Google calendar person.

My Google calendar contains our Anne’s Vans bookings, my own personal happenings plus my husband’s. I have to be able to keep an eye on him. Also he needs to know when I am out so that he can come and pick me up afterwards;)

This month’s calendar photo has a very fetching M reg (1973 presumably) VW T2 bay and a positively ancient E reg splitty – a VW Type 1 van. We ummed and ah’d over whether to buy a splitty but they are easily ten thousand pounds more than the bays, assuming you can get one in decent condition. We are very happy with our van Betty who you probably know by now is a K reg 1971 (December) early bay.

The splitty in the photo has a roof rack. We quite like the idea of putting a roof rack on Betty although we don’t really need the space. Our kids are grown up and we don’t all cram into her. The other thing we like the idea of is having a surfboard rack. Only thing is neither of us surf and it would be easy enough to stick a board inside the van if we were heading to the beach for that purpose.

Two of the vans in the pic have the grill side window. Ours is plain but we do have the grill in the garage if we ever feel like changing. Although it looks cook the previous owners figured there would be more of a draught. We’ve just left it the way it was when we bought the van.

It’s going to be over three weeks before we click over the campervan calendar again and I haven’t cheated and looked to see what the pic is. Rest assured I will be showing you as soon as I see it 🙂

All the best for April

Anne

Don’t wait for it to happen

Just pick up the phone and call 01522 438888 🙂 Until recently we never considered buying a VW campervan. It’s one of those things you see around occasionally and just think “cool”. Every now and again we’d see one turning up at a campsite where we had pitched the tent and wonder who it was that was inside.

They almost certainly had surfboards leaning against the side of the van, or laid out alongside. Just dropped there really when their owners came back from the beach. The noise of their radio reached our ears. The tunes always sounded appropriate for the occasion. Holiday mood stuff. A bit of retro thrown in.

In the evenings we would see the people sat in their camping chairs around a bbq cooking burgers and sausages. Nothing elaborate. Just buttered bread rolls with plenty of ketchup to smear across their faces, and a bit of salad maybe.

As night came the lights would go on inside the van emitting a warm glow. You could almost hear the whispers of the people inside but we were only imagining it. The wind off the beach drowned out any sound together with the noise of the waves lapping against the sand.

Eventually the lights would go out and darkness blanketed the site. We lay in our sleeping bags looking up at the ceiling of the tent thinking of the people inside the campervan. In time tiredness would take over and the next thing we knew it was morning.

We never dreamed that one day that would be us in that campervan. It can be you too if you want to take our vintage VW Type 2 van Betty for a trip to the seaside.. Just check out her availability on our campervan hire page or get in touch via our contact page.

Anne’s Vans is a Lincoln based VW camper van hire company.

Now somewhat unused except by spiders

This is the lock to our camping trailer. As you can see it hasn’t been used in a while. Actually it’s been winter so there’s been no reason to use it. All the camping kit gets stored in it when not in use.

I popped out to it the other day because I couldn’t remember whether the camping chairs that go with our vintage VW camper van Betty were in the trailer or with Betty at the depot. Betty is kept in secure dry storage over winter.

Turns out they were at the depot. No problemo. We supply a couple of high quality camping chairs with each hire. Normally it’s a two person hire as Betty accommodates this number of people but there are 5 seats and you can sleep more in the awning. If our grown up kids come with us they normally sleep in their own small tents and often travel separately. We often just see them when it’s feeding time. If you need more than two chairs you can bring your own – there is plenty of space.

Since we got the van the family tent has not left the trailer. It’s a heavy beast anyway. Has 3 sleeping pods and could at a push sleep 9 with room for more guests in the cat swinging central atrium. I don’t think the manufacturers described it like that but that’s what it is really like. Also it’s so heavy that it takes two people to carry it and certainly the whole family is needed to put it up.

We feel that now we use the campervan we have moved on from camping. My husband still likes to tent it but usually he is on his own there. Having the VW camper is a step up from the tent world and one from which I would find it difficult to go back.

If you want to know any more about our campervan feel free to get in touch via our contact page. Betty is a 1971 vintage VW Type 2 Bay windowed camper van available for hire. Anne’s Vans is based in Lincoln and is ideally placed for trips to a wide number of holiday destinations.

We take you through the steps of handing over the van

Checklist for campervan handover. We’ve been asked a number of times now what we go through when we hand over our VW campervan to new hirers. The process takes about an hour and is geared to help you get the most out of your holiday. People normally arrive at our depot by car. The meet and greet is a nice process as people are normally excited at the prospect of a trip away in a vintage camper.

The first thing we do is get the formalities out of the way. We take copies of driving license and proof of address for each driver and get the contract signed. The contract is quite wordy but it basically just says you are responsible for bringing the van back safe and sound.

A handbook is provided for each customer, tailored for the needs of that trip. For example if you are hiring the awning, and why wouldn’t you – see Amanda’s comments on a previous post – the handbook contains instructions on how to erect it. This is a high quality drive away awning which means you can easily unhitch it from the van and drive off for the day. Just leave it zipped up.
First thing we do is pop up the roof and show how that works. Then we take people through the operation of the gas, the cooker and the fridge. This includes how to switch over the electrics to the leisure battery.

Then we show them the storage alternatives including underneath the ¾ rock and roll bed. There is also a small hanging wardrobe although tbh we just use that to chuck things in. We don’t typically take posh clothes away on a trip in the campervan.

The bed then gets pulled out to show how that works (easy peasy actually) and at that stage we usually make the point that it is better to have the bed made up before you go out for the evening. Makes life simpler when coming back to the van when you have had a beer or two.

Collapsing the roof is an important part of the demo – you need to make sure the sides are tucked in tidily when the roof is in the down position. It is easy to clip in into position once the sides are sorted. We also show you how to use the moveable table. This is kept stowed when Betty is on the move but can easily be set up inside or outside the van.

Then we go for a spin down the road. At this stage we also have a quick run through the bluetooth DAB radio. There is a handbook for the radio kept in the glove compartment in case you need it although it’s reasonably intuitive for anyone who is used to using gadgetry.

At the end of the road the hirer takes over at the wheel and we drive back to the depot. It’s important at this stage to understand that campervan Betty, at the ripe old age of 46, is not very fast at around 55mph and braking takes a little longer than when you are slamming on the anchors on your modern motor.

So that’s it. Back at the depot we load up the awning and camping chairs and you are ready to go. Your car is parked somewhere out of the way – Betty is stored in a working garage which has its compound locked every night.

We wave off the hirers and head home ourselves.

If you want to know any more about our campervan feel free to get in touch via our contact page. Betty is a 1971 vintage VW Type 2 Bay windowed camper and is available for hire. Anne’s Vans is based in Lincoln and is ideally placed for trips to a wide number of holiday destinations.

East Yorkshire here we come.

Our VW T2 bay campervan Betty last week just got her spring clean in readiness for the first hire of the season

Pictured are me, Anne with son Joe giving Betty a thorough clean inside and out. There wasn’t really that much to do bit no harm in giving her a proper airing. Betty was being taken by Steve and Amanda for the weekend to a lovely little campsite North of Whitby.

In preparation for this we topped up the gas supplies and gave everything a good service. We are fortunate that Betty is mechanically looked after by real pros. Dave from DC Automotive has completely rebuilt the engine over the winter and Betty now runs like a dream. Still only 55 – 60 mph mind you 🙂 Just smoother and quieter.

Before picking her up we took Betty for a final carwash so she looked brand spanking new.

When Amanda and Steve arrived to pick her up we had some of my old favourite music playing over the sound system via the bluetooth connection. Bit of ELO it was. Unfortunately they had to play their own stuff when they drove off. Hopefully they will have had their own Spotify account:)
Amanda and Steve had planned to drive up the A1 to East Yorkshire. We pointed out the error of their ways. It’s far nicer to take the smaller trunk routes. It’s pretty stress free trundling along at 55mph. It’s also very easy to pull in somewhere and fix up a brew.

We got a nice little note from Amanda when they brought back the van:
“Hi Anne we’ve had a lovely weekend in Betty. The awning has been a godsend to give the extra space.”

You don’t need to own a campervan to be able to do this. Our campervan, Betty, is for hire. She is a 1971 VW T2 bay and is a dream to drive. See our campervan hire page for available dates.

Anne’s Vans is a Lincolnshire based vintage VW campervan hire company.

Daffodils remind me of the colour of our van Betty

Saw these daffodils in our back garden and instinctively took a photo. It’s only when I looked at the pics on my laptop that I realised that the daffs are the same colour as our VW campervan Betty. It’s almost as if VW commissioned them when they released the T2 Bay:)

Our van started life in yellow but at some stage someone sprayed her blue. It’s only during her refurbishment, where she was taken down to bare metal before being properly treated, that her original colour was discovered.

Betty had been messed around a lot in her life. For example at some stage she had had a spare wheel mounted on her front. You see T2 vans around with the wheel on the front but this isn’t authentic (even though it does look quite good). The wheel mounting was in Betty’s case a bit of a bodge job.

In her restoration this was sorted out and great care was taken with the interior fitout. Specialists were used for everything. The paneling is Furse Oak (whatever that is 🙂 ).

If you are interested in coming along to see Betty you would be very welcome. She is normally garaged when not in use or being hired out but occasionally when we have her in our drive we get passers by stopping to chat. VW campervans are real people magnets and before we got our own we would eye others vans enviously when away camping. Just drop us a line of you want to see her and we can make arrangements.

Our campervan, Betty, is for hire. She is a 1971 VW T2 bay and is a dream to drive. See our campervan hire page for available dates. She is also hired out for corporate events and this summer will be touring major locations in Europe for a product launch.

Anne’s Vans is a Lincolnshire based vintage VW campervan hire company.

3/4 rock and roll bed is the business for vw campervan

Ever wondered what a VW campervan rock and roll bed looks like? This is ours pulled out and curtains drawn. Seat by day, bed by night with plenty of storage underneath. Ours is a ¾ rock and roll bed so described because it takes up ¾ of the width of the camper van. The rest, as you can see, is taken up by storage.

This is a seriously cosy experience. With the curtains drawn you are in your own little word. Sometimes when we hear a noise outside we take a peek through one of the curtains but otherwise we just lie there listening. Having a cup of tea maybe. When you are in the cosy cocoon of a vw campervan it is the easiest thing in the world to lean over and stick the kettle on. We take it in turns. Just like at home:)

It’s quite airy inside the campervan. You can see that with the pop up roof up there’s quite a bit of headroom and there’s a vent in the ceiling that can be opened to let more air in if needed. We also have plenty of electric sockets in case you need to charge your phones. For these to work you do need to be plugged into an electric hookup and if we are at a proper campsite then we usually get a pitch with one of these.

If we are wild camping the fridge and lights still work off the battery. Wild camping is where the real action is. Pull into a layby near the beach, pop up the roof and you are in business.

You don’t need to own a campervan to be able to do this. Our campervan, Betty, is for hire. She is a 1971 VW T2 bay and is a dream to drive. See our campervan hire page for available dates. We are based in the middle of Lincoln – perfect for anyone looking for a VW campervan hire in Lincolnshire.

Southwold by the sea – campervan style

Another weekend away in our vintage VW T2 bay camper van beckons and we headed south.

It’s the weekend and it’s partaay time. We are two VW camper vans and a trailer tent in convoy for Southwold in Suffolk. We love it there. Our friends Rosie and Bill from London are meeting us for lunch in a nearby pub so that we can go on to the site together. We like to get a corral going just like in the old wild west days.

Rosie and Bill have hired a brand new &*%$ off motor home for the weekend and put us all to shame. They even have a shower. We are ok though. Our destination this weekend is just a field with some toilets and a tap for water. No electrics, no shop. That’s ok. We are stocked up and ready to enjoy ourselves.

We get to the site, check in and find a corner where we can park all four vans in a square. Ok it’s three vans and a trailer tent but it’s still a square.
On this occasion we put up the awning. This has lots of uses. First of all it’s somewhere to throw all the camping chairs and other gear when we are out and about. It’s generally a handy place to dump stuff. The awning does have an inner lining that is a sleeping compartment but we rarely use that. If the kids come with us they use their own tent.

The other use of the awning is for the porta potty. It fits discretely between the awning and the camper van so if you want to go in the night it’s easy. In the summer when we are using the awning we don’t bother shutting the van side door at night. Useful to be able to close it and lock during the day if we are out and about mind you.

The inside of the coral is where we put the bbq. Apart from boiling the kettle on these occasions the camper van cooker doesn’t get used much. It’s all about the bbq. Everyone pitches in with some meat and the sausages and bacon normally last the whole weekend. We eat them all up on Sunday morning. It’s quite nice to stay over Sunday night as well. Monday morning is then just chuck everything in the van and head home.

You don’t need to own a campervan to be able to do this. Our campervan, Betty, is for hire. She is a 1971 VW T2 bay and is a dream to drive. See our campervan hire page for available dates.

Anne’s Vans is a Lincolnshire based vintage VW campervan hire company.

head for the coast, surf boards on the roof

I dream of vw camper vans. I want to head for the coast, surf boards on the roof, music blasting out over my high end sound system. When I get there all I want to do is park up, throw open the side door and sit there chilling with a cold beer from the fridge looking out at the waves gently lapping on the beach.

As the sun goes down I’ll light the barbecue and move on to a bottle of wine. My fingers and face get all sticky from the melting butter and the bbq sauce. It’s great to watch the sunset over the sea.

The breeze gets up little but we are cozy sat next to the van. The pop top roof is up and looks good illuminated by the light from inside. The rock and roll bed has already been pulled out ready for us to collapse into. The duvet makes a nice change from a sleeping bag in the tent.

We pull the curtains round and slide the door shut. Lying back we cuddle up and stare up at the roof. We can still hear the sound of the sea and the occasional laughter coming from the beach. We are happy where we are.

In the morning we are woken by birds. It gets light early at this time of year. One of us sticks the kettle on and we lie there sipping our tea listening to anything going on outside the protection of our camper. Time to get up. We set up the camping chairs, thrown in the front of the van overnight, and get our feet wet in the dew.

Gradually the campsite wakes up around us. We pack the bed away. It takes seconds. The duvet is thrown into the cupboard and we look forward to another day without care.

You have to be able to dream. You don’t need to own a campervan to be able to do this. Our campervan, Betty, is for hire. She is a 1971 VW T2 bay and is a dream to drive. See our campervan hire page for available dates.

Stay tuned…

Anne’s Vans is a Lincolnshire based vintage VW campervan hire company.

How do you name a campervan? Betty just seemed right.

Campervan r us. Note the singular. Campervan not campervans. At least not yet. The Davies campervan empire is still in its early days. We currently have just the one. Her name is Betty. Campervan is us didn’t sound right.

How do you name a campervan? Not all vans merit a name but old ones do and Betty dates from December 1971. We wanted a funky name. Fun. To reflect the fun nature of the van itself. She is great fun for a weekend or week away. Betty seemed right. Not Bert or Brian, although both are good names. Our van seemed to be female.

Betty is also to some extent named after Anne because her middle name is Elizabeth. She never uses it, other than in the naming of the van.

We never call Betty “the van”. That would be impersonal for something that feels to us like a living thing with her own character. Betty looks after us. When it is chucking it down outside we sit securely inside looking out at the rain beating down on the window. Same at night. It’s great to cuddle up on the rock and roll bed just listening to the rain on the popup roof.
Conversely when the sun is shining we sit outside on our picnic chairs, faces soaking up the warmth. This is especially good at breakfast time whilst you are waiting for the bacon to cook. Steaming hot cup of tea in hand. Or coffee.

After breakfast one of us saunters over to the wash block to do the dishes whilst the other chills out. Assuming there is a wash block, if that’s what they call it. A stream is equally good if you are out in the wilds. I have a vision of a valley surrounded by mountains with a stream meandering along the wildflower meadow below. Apart from the wilderness backdrop the only thing in view is our Betty.

You have to be able to dream. You don’t need to own a campervan to be able to do this. Our campervan, Betty, is for hire. She is a 1971 VW T2 bay and is a dream to drive. See our campervan hire page for available dates.

Stay tuned…

Anne’s Vans is a Lincolnshire based vintage VW campervan hire company.

A vintage VW splitty

In March our minds turn to weekends away in the campervan. Our calendar has turned over another month and the photo in March is of this vintage Splitty. A VW T1 campervan. Rich deep paintwork will make this one an attractive feature of our kitchen wall for the whole month.

Looks like someone has done a good job with the restoration. Note the air conditioning system visible in full operation. Window open at the front. No idea what the top speed is in summer with the air conditioning going full blast. It has to be quite slow to avoid being blown out of the van. Also you would need to wear goggles.

We have the same issue with our own Vw camper van Betty. Betty is a T2 Bay camper and doesn’t have the front opening windows of a splitty. However we do tend to open the side windows on a hot summer day. We don’t drive very quickly in Betty anyway and tend to avoid major trunk routes. The point of time away in a vintage VW campervan is relaxation and not rushing around everywhere, which is what you get on roads such as the A1.

One of the things we get comments on from our VW campervan hire customers is how comfortable a ride she is. The fact that there may be a tail of traffic building up behind you itching to go more quickly is of no concern. This is no different to when you turn up at a campsite. A trail of people wanting to chat with you about VW campervans:)

The campervan hire season is coming up fast. Have you thought about what to do for Easter? Our van Betty is currently available for the Easter weekend. She would be the perfect vehicle for driving away in on holiday. We are located in central Lincoln near the train station and very well situated for heading away to the Peak District, Yorkshire Dales or the coast. Leave your car with us and experience a life of outdoor vintage luxury.

If you want to hire a campervan and you live in Lincolnshire or the East Midlands you should check us out. Click on our campervan hire page to see what’s on offer.

Campervan bowtie not 4 hire but you can hire our van

We like to collect campervan related stuff and this time it’s a campervan bow tie. I bought it at the Lincoln Christmas Market for my husband Tref. He doesn’t wear normal ties as he claims he keeps spilling curry on them.

He likes his campervan bow tie though. Just the one problem. Tref is a dab hand at tying self tie bow ties but this one is really hard to get the right way up. So when he puts it on it’s a bit hit and miss as to whether he gets it right or not. Also it isn’t just a question of trying to tie it again. Doesn’t seem to work like that. He’s given up worrying about it:)
The tie doesn’t get worn when we use the van ourselves mind you. Even though it depicts VW splitties. Our van Betty is a 1971 T2 Bay so not totally true to the tie. Doesn’t matter. Betty is cool in her own right.

We already have bookings for 2017 and will be looking to slot in a few trips ourselves in between customers. We are already taking her to a festival in August. It’s a local Lincolnshire job called JoeFest. It’s a family festival run by members of our own family and should be great. Tickets not on sale yet but stay tuned.
Our campervan is ideal for festivals and short breaks. The porta potty is especially useful at night time when the wine or beer catches up on you and the trip to the toilet block seems to be ever such a long one.

If you want to hire a campervan and you live in Lincolnshire or the East Midlands you should check us out. Click on our hire page to see what’s on offer. Can’t help you with the bow tie though. Tref isn’t lending it to anyone:)

Oil be darned

Hi. Anne here. Thought the petrol heads amongst you would appreciate this. It’s a picture of the engine of the 1971 VW campervan we hire out. 1595 cc petrol. Air cooled. Rear mounted.

Campervan Betty has been having her annual service over the winter and whilst she was up on the ramp I popped down and took some photos. I’m not into engines myself (I’m more of a curtains person really) but I guess every campervan needs one unless you are going to tow it with a horse which really would be missing the point.

Betty is still on her first engine. We aren’t totally sure how many miles she has done with this engine because the speedo was changed at some time in the past. Currently it reads round 57,000 miles but there is a chance that is not the real number.

People fit all sorts of engines to VW campervans. Even Porsche engines. We don’t need ours to go that fast. We prefer a more relaxed pace. A Porsche engine would mean we’d need to fit different brakes.

If anyone wants to come down and take a look at the van she is currently at the depot and you would be very welcome to pop in. Just give us a bit of notice to make sure we are there.

Betty is perfect for festivals, weekends away and touring holidays. Anne’s Vans is based in the centre of Lincoln and easily accessible from the railway station – we can even come and pick you up when your train gets in. Coming by road we have secure parking where your car can be left during the holiday.

So if you are looking to hire a VW campervan in Lincolnshire or the East Midlands look no further. Check out our bookings page right here on this website.

New season launch for east midlands vw campervan hire 2017

It’s a new year and a new season in prospect for Betty the supercool vintage VW campervan. We are taking enquiries for campervan hire and already have our first bookings in the bag. If you are tired of the same old holidays and fancy something a bit different, a bit special, you could do a lot worse than hire a vintage VW campervan.

Our van, Betty, is a 1971 T2 Bay VW camper in her original colours. Totally restored and laid out as a Devon Moonraker, campervan Betty has a classy interior. A night in Betty is extremely comfortable with most mod cons laid on.

Betty is a really relaxed drive. A funky new DAB radio with bluetooth lets you relay your smartphone SatNav and favourite Spotify sounds through four speakers. Last year the campervan was taken to the Latitude Festival. We cuddled up cozily on her 3/4 size rock and roll bed and Sunday morning at the campsite was made perfect with some easy jazz and breakfast cooked on the bbq. We even broke out the wine with the bacon.

If you are looking for a short break or holiday in a cool, head turning campervan then Betty is the one for you.

Betty is perfect for festivals, weekends away and touring holidays. Anne’s Vans is based in the centre of Lincoln and easily accessible from the railway station – we can even come and pick you up when your train gets in. Coming by road we have secure parking where your car can be left during the holiday.

So if you are looking to rent a VW campervan in Lincolnshire or the East Midlands look no further. Check out our bookings page right here on this website.

Never done it before? You won’t believe how good an experience it is!

Where will you take our vintage vw campervan for your holiday?

Special vintage VW campervan weekend for your Valentine

Take your valentine on a special weekend in a vintage VW campervan. Picture the scene. You roll up to a beautiful clifftop looking down over a secluded beach. Park the campervan, pop up the roof, open the fridge, take out a chilled bottle of champagne and ease into the evening. Your favourite cool tunes stream over the top notch bluetooth stereo to help you get into the mood.

Later you stroll down to the local pub. This is a lovely old thatched roofed establishment with great ale, fantastic food and a cosy beer garden around the back. In the garden there are others staying in the same spot who also have a VW campervan. You compare notes but don’t have to tell them the van isn’t yours.

When the time comes to go home you meander back hand in hand to the campervan. The curtains pull all the way around for complete privacy. Pull out the ¾ rock and roll bed, spread out the duvet and sink into each other’s arms.

In the morning there is no rush. Move the table and chairs out onto the grass and wake up with a freshly brewed pot of coffee. Soon after the bacon rolls appear and before you know it it is time to wander down to the beach. If you don’t fancy the sand there’s the town to walk into, cafes to sit outside, newspapers to read.

You look at each other, smile and contemplate a perfect weekend.

This could all be true, it could happen to you. Just get in touch and find out how you can rent out vintage VW campervan in 2017. Anne’s Vans is a Lincolnshire VW campervan hire company based in the middle of Lincoln. Perfectly positioned for a romantic getaway. Check out our hire page for availability.

Terrific new vw campervan tea towels add nice touch

I realise some people might find it a little odd that I can get excited about a tea towel but in our case we have new Vw campervan tea towels to show you. Our son Joe found them on holiday in the Lake District and brought them back for us.

It’s one of those things you have to do. Tbh I have no idea how we manage before with only ordinary tea towels. A vw campervan tea towel is so much more efficient, appropriate, funky (feel free to add your own words) that it is surely a no brainer.

We are slowly building up our collection of accessories. You may recall we bought vw campervan salt and pepper pots and we also have vw campervan egg cups. Perhaps I’ll do a post on those one day:) Exciting eh?

The season is coming to an end quite soon. Our campervan, Betty, will be going into dry storage at the end of the month. Still time get in a weekend away if anyone is interested. September has a reputation of producing Indian Summers – warm days and balmy evenings even though it is starting to get dark earlier.

This year has been a great one for trips in the vw campervan. She’s ventured North to Whitby and South to Southwold where we hit the Latitude Festival. We have also made some small improvements such as putting in a new hifi, a better water pump system for the sink, new (uber comfortable) mattress topper and added a 121v supply for the fridge. All good progress.

Betty the VW campervan is available for hire – the perfect accommodation for festivals, short breaks and longer trips around the UK. If you would like to know more please contact Anne via our contact page.

Anne’s Vans is a Lincoln based VW Campervan rental company. Ideally placed for holidays to the East Coast, Yorkshire, Northumberland, the Peak District and other destinations in and around the UK.

Selfie in wing mirror in Whitby

The photo is a self portrait of husband Tref taken looking into the wing mirror of our VW T2 bay camper van Betty. Taken at the Whitby Holiday Park, in Whitby. Near Whitby Abbey for what it’s worth. Above Whitby. Easy to walk down but much easier in a taxi on the way back 🙂

Most people on site were in caravans or motorhomes but there were a few camper vans there. In fact much to our surprise we came across another VW T2 bay camper called, believe it or not, Betty! This one was blue and left hand drive and the owners had done a terrific job with the interior. No pics of the interior sorry – we felt it would be a little intrusive especially considering we didn’t know the people. Pic at the end of this post.

Although we are more into wild camping, using a “proper” caravan site does have its advantages: toilets, showers, shop, electric hookup (better for the fridge) and in all fairness to the whitby Holiday Park the pitches were of a reasonable size as they had to accommodate a caravan, its awning and the car used to get it there.

All we had was the van, We had dispensed with the awning as there were only the two of us and the weather forecast was fine. In fact the weather turned out to be great after the heavy showers we experienced whist driving up there and we needed to turn on the air-conditioning on the way home. The air conditioning in a VW T2 camper van involves winding down the windows and letting the warm summer air blow through your hair. It is controlled by varying the height of the windows.

In a modern car speeding along a motorway this isn’t necessarily practical as such vehicles tend to have higher top speeds and the rushing air gets uncomfortable. That will be why they have had to implement fancy and expensive a/c systems. Not in our VW camper. She doesn’t go fast enough for the air to be a problem 🙂

There are also two dashboard mounted vents that you can use if it is raining and you don’t want a wet shoulder.

That’s it for now. If you are looking for a VW campervan hire in Lincolnshire or its surrounding counties then check out our availability. There is still plenty of summer left.

VW campervan day at Lincoln Brayford Wharf

A Lincoln VW camper day event at the city’s Brayford Wharf attracted large crowds on a beautifully sunny August day. There was a wide range of vans to see and this video displays the T1 ad T2 selection.

Some of the vans on show were serious high end conversions but some were just every day family vehicles. All were of interest and everyone had a great day out.

Our van Betty was absent as she had just returned from a few days in Whitby and was being prepared for her next trip.

The featured image is a lovely example of a T1 “splitty”. These early vans are highly sought after as the first in the genre. They are becoming quite rare. Indeed van prices are on the rise and even the third generation VW T25s are now on the rise as a slightly more affordable vehicle.

Whenever you turn up somewhere in one of these VW campers you always attract attention. There is a code of VW campervan drivers who always wave at each other when passing on the road. It’s also always great to chat with other van owners about their vans.

You can be a van owner for a while by hiring our campervan Betty. Check out our site and get in touch:)

Cooking breakfast on the vw campervan cooker in Whitby

Check out this video of a full english breakfast being cooked in our VW campervan. The cooker is a fitted 2 ring gas camping stove and gives off a lot of heat. Food is cooked surprisingly quickly.

We did find that the grill area wasn’t particularly large but this was offset by the speed at which the bacon cooked. The fat crisped up very nicely.

On this trip we didn’t bother with the awning as none of the kids were in tow and we didn’t need the extra space. Also the weather was greats so eating alfresco on the cliffs above Whitby was very pleasant.

On other occasions we have taken out bbq/fire pit. This makes for a great communal cooker at a festival During Latitude there were 4 vans in a corral with the bbq set up in the middle. Breakfast, for up to 15 people was cooked on the bbq and at night we would turn it into a campfire and chill out with a night cap before hitting the hay.

If you are interested in a VW camper hire in Lincolnshire check out our availability.

Mattress topper for campervan and other handy tips

When we first bought vw campervan Betty she had beautiful vinyl seat cushions but no mattress. This did make us think a little. What would be the best bedding to provide customers for the vean. A roll up mattress maybe? Memory Foam?

The answer in the end proved to be quite simple. We bought a high quality Dorma mattress topper from Dunelm. This proved to be a huge result. It is really comfortable. In fact the van is seriously cosy with it laid out on the seat cushions. Add a duvet with pillows and optionally a warm blanket depending on the weather and you have the perfect recipe for a great night’s sleep.

The only problem you will have is the same as for those camping in a tent. If dawn comes early then the light can wake you up. The answer to this is an eye mask – just like they provide on longhaul flights.

We quite look forward to cosying up in the van when it is time to go to bed. The curtains come round and we switch on the interior LED lights. If it is a really hot night you can always open the back door to let a draught through and, if you have the awning, leave the side door open. Lots of options.

The sink in the van comes in very handy at bedtime for doing your teeth and the cooker is great for boiling the kettle for a brew first thing in the morning. We tend not to use the cooker that much otherwise as we take a barbecue along with us and mostly cook on that. Even breakfast. That isn’t to say you can’t whip up a fryup on the vans cooker or heat up some soup/beans/whatever takes your fancy.

The other thing we have found really handy is the ability to charge up your phone overnight using the leisure battery. Both the radio and the fridge have USB charging ports (bring your own cable for the radio).

More handy vw campervan tips as we think of them. Have a great summer.

If you are interested in a campervan hire please do get in touch via the contact page.