What to do after the show Eating out in Harrogate Motorhomes are a common sight on our roads with many bearing the insignia of foreign lands. There are now over a million owners of these fascinating leisure vehicles in Europe. Motorhomes are not a recent invention, they have been made ever since man built the first delivery vans and lorries. Their owners soon discovered they could be adapted, kitted out and used for travel and holiday purposes. The big expansion in motorhome ownership started in the UK in the fifties when cheap Volkswagen vans were available and something like fifteen thousand a year were made in England.
Owners travelling abroad can still remember the crowds that used to gather whenever one parked up.
It took quite a while for other European countries to get in on the act. Today Germany, France and Italy easily produce many more motorhomes than we do and there are now over a million motorhome owners in Europe. With the exchange rate against the American dollar high in the seventies the British again discovered motorhomes made in the USA were very different from those made here. Even low mileage rigs were available at very attractive prices and dealers and individuals began importing them selling on to racing drivers who found them the perfect answer when staying trackside. The luxurious American recreational vehicle also found much favour with celebrities who craved for privacy - so they began to be seen on location.