N.E.C Show Februray 2008 Adrian's Arena

Covering six complete halls the show was gigantic, the first time, we believe, that a show has used this number, and yes it was very easy to get lost.

The NEC is an ideal place for this type of show, so easy to get to, plenty of free parking, shuttle buses to whisk you from car park to show and vice versa, and next to the centre of England.

Every aspect of outdoor life could be found at this show, caravanning, motor caravanning, holiday caravans, park homes, canoes, tents, all sorts of accessories were available, and boats, and boy were there some fantastic boats. The Sunseeker stand was spectacular to say the least, as were the prices! This begs the question “where do people get the money”

For the tent enthusiast there was the largest indoor display in the UK, over 140 models to suit every taste and pocket, we must confess not our scene at all.

For the first time a complete hall was dedicated to park homes, holiday caravans, and lodges with over 24 models on display with prices ranging from £12,000 to a luxurious one costing £350,000 featuring state of the art sound and video systems.

Boating types were treated to over 250 models from tiny dinghies right up to the incredible Superhawk 43 and the 47ft PortoFino from Sunseeker, never before seen at the NEC.
For canal users there were narrow boats and river cruisers, some with replica canals as their stands.

For us as “dyed in the wool” country types it came as a complete shock when we came across a research project commissioned by the show which stated that over two million British people have never been to the coast or the countryside, this we find horrific and what is worse is the complete lack of knowledge of the countryside in general.

We stayed on the campsite situated on the West car park which was run by the Camping and Caravanning Club, this is within easy walking distance of the exhibition halls although there were shuttle vehicles running throughout each day.
This temporary campsite showed the trend which is sweeping the caravan and motor caravan industries both here and in Mainland Europe. There were about three motor caravans to each caravan this also appeared to be a trend within the halls among the new models.

Although there were a few launches of caravans and motor caravans there did not appear to be anything which made you take a quick intake of breath, if there was we failed to spot it.

To try to make sure that you saw as much as possible you needed to stay at the show for the full six days and spend a whole day in each hall. Even doing we felt that you could miss some things.

As well as all the models and accessories there were caravan park stands till they came out of your ears, no country seemed to be missed out so you could book your stay there and then, at least we assumed so, we didn’t try to.

On the days that we attended there was plenty of space to walk around, there seemed to be a good number of visitors but the show was so vast that it did not feel cramped, except round the accessory and food stands.
We were told that advance bookings were 35% up over last year.

There seems to be a question mark over the ability, or otherwise, of the industry to sustain the October show at the NEC as well as the February one, we know which one we would like to survive but we are not saying.

We enjoyed the show, especially the trend towards motor caravans, simply because after many years of caravanning we have switched to a motor caravan and are enjoying it very much. We did not however see anything that made us think wow! But only spending two days there we did not see everything by any means. But an excellent show nevertheless.

Adrian H French