Hi all, Very excited that we have bought our new to us caravan. We bought an Abbey GTS Vogue 415, its in immaculate condition and we just love it. we thought we would buy a used van as a first because we are bound to dink it at some point. Next one will be a sparkly new one, but for the next couple of years we are more than happy with our Abbey. We are taking it for its first outing this weekend and again next weekend... tres excite!
Are there any other Abbey owners out there and are you happy with yours? have you had any issues that are known to abbey? we couldnt really find alot as they are no longer in trading. If we need parts are they easy to come by?
Hi Leanne. I don't know anything about Abbey's but just wanted to say welcome to the world of caravanning. We've been gypsies for 15yrs lol. I'm sure if you did a google search you could find some reviews.
Thanks bigbrood! I see you are also from Gloucestershire (South) so we aren't too far away. We used to take the TT away with the In Laws quite alot who have been caravanning for years and i always wanted to upgrade to a 'van, so i was over the moon when DH said we could! it's so much easier to go away with and you dont have to worry about the weather (too much) so winter weekends away here we come. Yay!
Hi Assured! yay welcome to the Abbey club! they appear to have a really good reputation, i know the swift group bought out Abbey and phased it out a couple of years back. And father in law who is an experienced caravanner thinks we did really well finding it. We bought it from highbridge so its under warantee for a year anyhow.I hope you have a fab weeked next weekend. We are off to Mendip Heights this weekend and Cofton Country in Dawlish next weekend. Cant wait to get out and use it.
We have are on our 2nd Abbey, we have a 1999 5 berth vogue an it has been spot on, we have had it 3 years now an its still dry, not bad for a 14 yr old van. Big thing we notice os how solid our van is compared to friends who have brand new ones! Dont get me wrong we would love to upgrade but have decided to stick it out with old Abbey until her days are over!!
Good to hear from some other abbey owners that are happy with their vans,and that are not brand new,as mine is 9 years old and hopefully will last me for a couple of years yet.
hi abbey owners, only had our van a few years, she is 19 years old this year, we are her second owner.and has been well looked after, bone dry and solid, and have enjoyed many trips in her, hope you all enjoy your vans as much as we do, happy caravanning to you all, best wishes angie
------------- caravanning wish we,d started sooner.
JUST LOVE IT.
We too took the plunge this year and got our 1st Caravan, we, like you chose an Abbey, we have the Vogue 417 GTS which I've got to say is just brilliant, we have been out in her 6 times this year since April, the furthest down to Cornwall for a week and she has been delightful, the only bother I had was the cold water pipe to the kitchen sink started to leak and luckily for me I spotted it really early and it was just a case of pushing the pipe back firmly to the underside of the tap and everything was fine. She had been stored outside prior to us owning her so I think there may have been a frost issue which luckily wasn't too bad, shes now nicely tucked up in our Lorry Shed at work and I treated her to a nice polish from the guys at Tourershine ready for our next outing over Christmas :).
I hope you enjoy the freedom a Caravan gives you, so far we have a week in France in March near Paris/Euro Disney for our Grand Daughter mostly, then a week in June in France again for my annual pilgrimage to Le Mans 24 Hour Race which will be great in a nice warm caravan instead of a draughty tent, and then July of to Spain for a family holiday, my better half and I will leisurely tow her down to the Costa Brava with a couple of overnight stops in France, the family can then fly out and meet us, and that's just for starters, we haven't planned anything for Bank Holidays etc yet!!
Have great times!!
Paul
Post last edited on 25/10/2013 15:10:26
------------- I refuse to join any club that would have ME as a member!! (Graucho Marx)
Go careful this weekend..... a big fat storm is a brewin'.
Drive safely and you can sit back in your heated caravan with a mug of chocolate listening to the patter of rain on the roof... utter bliss imo xx
------------- Enjoyed tenting,
Enjoyed trailer-tenting,
Now loving caravanning 😊😊
So we head down to the storage siter to pick up the 'van, to our horror it had rained so much it had sunk in the grass and we couldnt pull her out with the car because the car kept spinning out... Awesome... not. so we had to get a couple of the guys from the farm help us pull her out. so we eventually got her all hooked up and off we went.... That was until we got about 5 miles down the road and had to pull over for a puncture on the offside caravan tyre... clearly picked up at the storage site. By this time we were very peeved... So we spent 3 hours on the side of the M5 waiting for recovery to come and change the wheel. £150 later we are on the move again. Now we got to Mendip heights and hubby even manage to reverse her into the pitch first time... He is very proud of this :) Bless him. We managed to get her all set up and everything working and started out holiday... Until the early hours of Monday Morning... Oh My Lord!! 75mph winds on top of the mendips in a caravan... What an experience! got a little scared at one point, but we lived! Haha! Then there was the chore of finding a garage to get the tyre replaced and a new storage site before we headed home today (Tuesday) Which we managed to do and found a site with hard standing and very helpful owners too, a hell of a lot better than the previous site. I'm just wondering how long it will take the old site owner to realise that our van has gone and they call to ask if we have it! (I'll let you know)
So... was it a great first time out? Hell No!
Will we be doing it again... Hell yes! Bring on this weekend, Dawlish here we come.
Haha, i mean what else can go wrong? It's safe to say he have the caravanning bug. Love Love Love our Abbey and she did really well in the high winds too. It really was an experience to watch the storm go through.
check the age of your tyres it is recommended to change them once they are 5 years old ,we have a Abbey 460 vogue 2 berth end bathroom now owned it for 4 years fantastic van
Hiya Darthillcat, They were changed in 2011 so they werent that old. Ah well these things happen i suppose. We will however be checking the tyres religiously now before any journey. You live and learn. Haha. We are thrilled with our van considering it is 10 years old, its fantastic. We cant wait to get back out again this weekend.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: New Caravanner :)
Yay!
