where did you see your first romahome

[cordyroy]

i first saw a c 15 in a bristol evening post advert it caught my attention as we had a campervan for 6 years when our 3 boys were small and sold it in 1979 it was a volkswagen split window caravette any way about 5years ago we decided we wanted holidays without airports again so camper vans good on fuel ruled out vws to be honest so the advert i remembered put our middle son on the case with his computor and he found 4 on offer a c15 hitop 1998 at didcot was fair price so laurence took us to see it we saw it parked outside ladys house and liked look of it but when we looked inside the back door we were amazed how big it looked i am 6 ft 2 in and stood upright in the galley my wife shirley is a foot shorter so even better we put bed down and table up etc i drove it round block and got our laurence to as well as he is good with motors we all fell in love with it and bough it on the spot it is fair to say it has changed our way of life even though we now have a berlingo r20we go away about every 3rd week all year including all main holidays what a brilliant design people have been knighted for less shirley said you wont be able to read this as i do it like a text she always does the punctuation

[Graham]

Good post Cordyroy, we saw our first Romahome in France. We had a caravan at the time and we pitched next to a couple of ladies who had a C15 they gave us the guided tour and we loved the look of it.

When we had a bad accident in our caravan a year or so later I no longer wanted to tow a caravan so the first thing we thought was to look for a C15 we viewed several before part exchanging our Vauxhall Vectra for a lovely C15. We loved our little van so much we started the small motorhome website to tell people about it.

Six months later we bought a new Duo at the NEC and got more than we had paid for the C15 in part exchange. After buying another new Duo we moved on to our present Dimension, so it's been Romahome's all the way for us. The day we saw that C15 in France certainly changed our lives.

[NomadSue]

I saw my first one a few years ago at a dealer's in Oldham - evidently a trade in. Although very tempted, I was still only in the first stages of exploring the idea so resisted that one. But the seed had been sewn....

[Aileen]

Now you have me thinking! I know it took me about 2 years to get my good old Hylo, and that was after years of passive longing, but I can't pinpoint where my longing came from. Years ago, a High top regularly parked in the town precint (which has been gone for many years), so I think that must have been when it happened, but I didn't even realise it. I almost feel as if I was born wanting one!
Aileen

[jayjay]

Bought my demountable Roma off ebay! After a trip to Leeds to fetch it and two breakdowns going home, I wondered what I had done!! It all got sorted out in the end though...

The first Citroen C15 Romahome I saw was at my first meet with the small motorhomers on this website, at a meet at Wolverley! Then I wanted one of those instead, LOL... too late.

[jessiem]

I have always wanted a motorhome but for reasons we couldn't have one. On a day out to Portsmouth about 4 years ago we came across a Romahome in a car park and we were having a good nose through the windows, I fell in love with it, it was ideal, we being 'short' people it was the right height and compact. A few months later we went to Southampton and collected Our Outlook

[Tentpeg]

Camping in a field near Wootton Bassett in a tent..... Romahome Rally in next field. What about 8/9 years ago

[derek b]

I'm wracking my brains here trying to think when I first saw a Romahome-I seem to have been aware of them for ages!-when were they first produced and what base vehicle were they on?

derek b and Babs

[GeoNomad]

The first time I saw one "in person" was several weeks after I bought mine and went to pick it up. I had only seen pictures of the actual camper and from searches on line. I had never heard of Romahome before.

I did have some friends check it out for me, but as I was 5,000 miles away at the time, I couldn't look at it myself.

Fortunately, I was not disappointed. Nearly 5 years and over 50,000 miles later, I am still happy with it.

Peter
http://nomadness.benlo.com/romahome/

[mari2chris]

Saw my first Hytop in April this year in a M/h dealer in Carmarthen. I was hooked from the start.

[Donk's Dad]

I saw a demountable camper pod on a Honda Acty that a friend owned about 19 year ago and though it to be a really great idea.
A couple of year ago we bought a Bambi but i love the idea of an interchangerble unit .
in 2010 we met Ant whilst at a Bambi Rally at Shepten Mallet and spoke about Romahome Pods.
He had just had one come in that a customer had mounted on a trailer ( i think that might be classed as a Caravan ! We bought the pod from Ant and collected it on our trailer (still a caravan ) then started looking for a base vehicle
We bought a 2003 Suzuki Pick-up and had slide bold type brackets made up to mount the pod on the vehicle (they needed to hold the pod about an inch (25mm) higher than normal to accommodate the luton over the cab.
We also bough a firbreglass box unit with a rear roll shutter and this alternates with the camper pod for my work.

I can swap them over in about 1/2 and hour or so if i am on my own and quicker with help with someone looking to line things up as i reverse.

We call the pick-up "Donk" short for donkey as he does all of the work. but a friend suggested we should have called it Thunderbird 2

[NomadSue]

The first time I saw one "in person" was several weeks after I bought mine and went to pick it up. I had only seen pictures of the actual camper and from searches on line. I had never heard of Romahome before.

I did have some friends check it out for me, but as I was 5,000 miles away at the time, I couldn't look at it myself.

Fortunately, I was not disappointed. Nearly 5 years and over 50,000 miles later, I am still happy with it.

Peter
http://nomadness.benlo.com/romahome/

-------------------------------------
Some fascinating travels!

[Sunshine]

Saw first Romahome

I saw my first Romahome about 7 year ago in a car park at Ashover, Derbyshire and was impressed. Then a not to serious search began. Two year later I was seriously looking as I was fed up of tenting. Went to my local dealer (who only sells new motorhomes way beyond my budget) and he had just had a man who wanted to sell his C15. The dealer recommended I go to Chesterfield and look at it with strict instructions not to pay more than £3,500 even though the asking price was £4,550. I don't have a clue about mechanicy things. I liked the look of it, went a drive and offered £4000 for my G reg C15 which I absolutely love and it's been so reliable - just passed it's MOT without any work !!! It's getting ready for a new bonnet but not desperate yet.

Sunshine

[blackpoodle]

When I was a child, the mother of the vicar's wife at our local church had an original motorhome by Island Plastics in the 70s. Think this was the forerunner of the Romahome and made on the Isle of Wight and looked identical to the C15 style.
As caravanners with a brief flirt with coachbuilt motorhome in 71, we were always fascinated by the compact motorhome. Dad reckoned the fibreglass was the way to go after I'd had a VW camper in the late 80s which rusted to bits.
Not sure he'd approve of the money I spent on my R40(or the niggles I've had with it) but he loved the concept of Romahome and the personal approach of a family firm. Would have liked him to see how far the concept has come and met Brian at the factory.

[andrew]

I had little or no knowledge of motor homes until I bought Freeborn Garages in Southampton in October 1990.
A few weeks later I met Brian Ward, MD of Island Plastics, and made the trip to the Isle of Wight by hovercraft from Portsmouth to meet him in Ryde as he was one of Freeborn's biggest customers buying around 150 C15 vans a year. I was given a guided tour of the factory by Ron Riley, the chief designer, and I was stunned to see my first C15 Romahome Hytop as I couldn't believe just how much seemed to fit into such a compact space.
It seems a lifetime ago but 3000 Romahomes later we're still going and still amazing people!