I jumped at the chance to spend a weekend away in the Club magazine’s Sun Living long termer with my wife and children. In fact, I was nearly as excited as Joe (7) and Iris (4), but I definitely squealed less.
I’ve been fortunate to test more than 100 motorhomes down the years, in my previous life as a journalist with Practical Motorhome magazine, and Joe has many happy memories of touring trips at home and abroad. For Iris, though, it was a big new adventure.
The Lido A35 SP is a rather boxy looking overcab coachbuilt, but at a shade under 6m it packs five sleeping berths – including a huge rear fixed double bed – and four travel seats into the footprint of a regular panel van conversion, and still feels roomy inside. It’s quite a feat.
There's a huge rear garage, with access doors on either side, which will fit a couple of bikes, although there are no tie down points.
We whizzed up to Hayfield Club Site in the Peak District for our escape – to continue our long term project of easing our kids into walking in the great outdoors.
We sat Joe on his booster cushion up front in the cab with me and Iris in her high back booster seat next to the nearside window in the lounge, boxed in by her mother. We’ve learned before that child seats on rear passenger berths without armrests just don’t work – the slightest bend in the road can send them swinging off the seat bench. Over the return journey of a little over 200 miles, the trip computer hovered at 27mpg.
On site, it’s the work of seconds to swivel the cab seats, making a decent lounge for five, with the fifth, inward-facing seat in front of the tiny wardrobe. The table is narrow but has an extension and was ample for four.
Lounge lighting isn’t great: the ceiling light reacts to touch and has three stages of brightness, but there’s no dedicated light for the cab area, and just a single spotlight on the underside of the nearside lockers. That said, the lens hinges out to become a directional light. Plug sockets are at a premium too, with one by the entry door, a second below the kitchen work surface by the rear bed, and a third above the rear bed next to the TV aerial point.
The kitchen is basic – a three burner hob (no spark ignition), a decent fridge, and a deep sink with a lid that doubles as very necessary food preparation space. Without a grill, oven or microwave at this price point, chefs will have to be creative.
The washroom is an excellent ergonomic feat, squeezing in a swivelling toilet and a shower with rigid screen, rather than clinging curtain. Our only gripe: the light switch is at ceiling height, which means children struggle to make night time trips without waking an adult.
But the sleeping arrangements are the stand out success of this motorhome. That boxy overcab might not make for the most eye catching external lines, but the internal headroom is excellent, and a 200kg max weight means two adults can happily occupy the space if they’re nervous of younger children sleeping there, despite the excellent safety net and window bar.
The rear double is easy to get into thanks to solid steps and a sturdy floor to ceiling pole, and there’s plenty of room to sit up and read. The bed is simply huge, and very comfy, with two directional lights. We tried all options as a family in our two nights on site, and the best sleep was with Mum and the kids in the rear double, and Dad in the overcab.
The kids amazed us by not only walking the 15 minutes alongside the stream into the picturesque village for dinner, but also a four-five mile hike from the site up into the gorgeous Dark Peak area.
On site when they weren’t making a den in the garage or the overcab and popping their heads through the roof light to spy on other campers, they were repeatedly visiting the ‘tuck shop’ (what you and I would called the site reception) to chat with the lovely Steve and Jane Hogg and the Holiday Site team. Or making new friends at the play area, and paddling in the stream.
It was tough work peeling them away from their new friends before midday on the Sunday, only helped by the promise we would do it again and soon.