Welcome to our first Summer Special TV show, where the focus will be on motorhomes with French beds. And we kick off with a review of a ‘van from Auto-Trail’s entry level, sub £50,000, up to 3500kg MTPLM range.

Practical Motorhome’s Editor Niall Hampton gets inside the Auto-Trail Imala 715, a four-berth with a French bed at one end and a make-up double at the other. British motorcaravanners will appreciate the dual fuel cooker, the separate oven and grill, the microwave oven and the rectangular sink in the central kitchen – there’s also a very handy vertical plug socket. Find out more about this great British motorhome on our TV show.

You can watch our show on The Motorhome Channel. Tune in on Sky 192 or Freesat 402, or watch TV live on the Information TV website. Each episode is on TV 10 times across a two-week period (please scroll down for the broadcast schedule) – so you’ve many opportunities to tune in.

How does this Auto-Trail compare with similar ‘vans? We rewind to our Elddis Autoquest 155 and Auto-Sleeper Kingham reviews. Starting with the Autoquest, it is a four-berth on a low-profile bodyshell, featuring a great-sized kitchen fitted with a fridge/freezer, a separate oven and grill, three gas rings, good storage and an extendable worktop. Storage space under the French bed is excellent and has access from the outside. Watch our TV show to find out more about its corner wetroom and this motorhome’s clever travel seats.

And then we move onto the two-berth Auto-Sleeper Kingham, a panel van conversion with a fixed bed, again reviewed by our Editor Niall. This is a very well-built ‘van with a high quality feel. The clever fixed bed with a reclining backrest definitely sets it apart from others on the market, plus there’s a super amount of storage space underneath. The corner washroom is a touch on the cosy side, but has everything you could need. Elsewhere in the Kingham there’s something you might not expect – a drinks cabinet with four crystal glasses. It’s a smart touch on a very smart motorhome, priced from £49,200.

Back after the break, Niall reviews the Niesmann+Bischoff Arto 66 F A-class, a fabulous, money-no-object motorhome. Of course, given the theme of this TV show, there is a fixed bed at the back, as well as a corner washroom and a lounge with a drop-down bed above it. There’s also a very generously specced L-shaped kitchen that even includes central locking drawers. In fact, there’s a myriad of innovative features in this ‘van – watch our show on The Motorhome Channel and get the full story.

Finally, where better to go in your French bed ‘van than France! We join Practical Motorhome’s Group Editor Alastair Clements on a family holiday to Paris. Watch his video diary as he packs a Bailey Approach Autograph 765 and hits the road.

There’s a lot to see in our first Summer Special TV show, so make sure you tune in! You can find The Motorhome Channel on Sky 192 and Freesat 402, or watch live on Information TV’s website. You can catch this show between Monday 22 June and Sunday 5 July 2015 at these times, on these days:

  • Mondays at 8.30pm
  • Wednesdays at 5.30pm
  • Thursdays at 6am
  • Saturdays at 11am
  • Sundays at 11am

We hope you enjoy watching!