Can a family of four spend Christmas in the caravan?

If we were going to spend the festive holiday in our Bailey Pegasus Grande Palermo, we thought we’d also go in search of snow. Having discovered that Copley in County Durham is the most likely place in England to get snow, having an average of 53 days each year, we decided that Durham would be our destination.

On arrival at the campsite, we were informed that we were the only occupants during the Christmas period. This was quite unexpected, as previously we have been to a site in the Cotswolds on Boxing Day and being surprised at how busy the site was, full of caravans beautifully decorated and adorned with twinkling lights.

Regardless, we set up the caravan and decorated the inside with a small lit tree, Christmas cards and a smattering of decorations.

By now, the girls were meticulously counting down the days until Christmas. To keep them occupied in the run up we visited Washington Old Hall where the girls enjoyed finding the hidden mice and partaking in some Christmas crafts, making additional decorations to hang in the caravan.

We also took some time to meander along the cobbled streets of Durham finding our way to Durham Cathedral, which is most certainly worth a visit. The girls couldn’t believe the size of the door and Livvy commented, “Giants must live here!”. We also peeped into the room that was used as a classroom during the filming of Harry Potter.

Finally, Christmas Eve was now upon us and we spent the day playing games, watching movies and eating a plethora of unhealthy foods! As is tradition in our family, we had a buffet tea on Christmas Eve. This was the first time I began to worry whether our Thetford oven was going to cope with the task of cooking our Christmas lunch the following day!

Fitting the sausage rolls, potato skins, chicken bites and pizza into the oven was proving to be more of a challenge than I had anticipated. With some careful manipulation and some timely shuffling, we were able to enjoy our buffet together.

As bedtime approached, our very excited little girls, began with their preparations for Father Christmas. First, they put out mince pies and a bottle of beer for the big man himself and some carrots for the reindeer. These were placed on the awning step along with a magic key that meant Father Christmas would be able to enter our Bailey.

The stockings were then hung up and the candles lit, and the girls were now ready for bed. Once they were asleep, the grown up’s preparations began. Perhaps the funniest moment of the holiday for me was when Andy opened the door to discover the mince pie had already gone!!!! As the big man (Andy!) stuffed the presents into the stockings we were a little concerned that the girls may be woken by the noise. However, our concerns were not warranted, and they slept soundly until morning.

Once they had woken, the girls were excited to see the magic dust which led them to their presents. After the presents had been opened the turkey crown went into the oven. Once this was cooked, we took it out to rest and cooked the remainder of our lunch; roast potatoes and red onion, stuffing, honey roast parsnips, not forgetting the pigs in blankets. The remaining vegetables were then cooked in the steamer on the hob and the mashed potato, that had been made earlier, was re-heated in the microwave. All in all, our Christmas lunch was a success, there was even enough to spare for Bruno.

In answer to the above question, yes, a family of four can have a successful Christmas in a Bailey Pegasus Grande. There was plenty of under seat storage for stowing away the gifts that needed to be kept out of sight and the fridge freezer and the cooker coped with the quantity of food that needed to be stored and cooked.

Perhaps most importantly, we had a magical time together without the everyday distractions that would have occurred at home.