GRAHAM Bradshaw said he felt something of an interloper in Bridgewater last week.
The retired timberyard worker from Maldon was making his first visit with van in tow for the annual vintage caravan weekend.
But Graham’s van, a 1950s style teardrop design, is only a few years old.
“I liked the idea of a caravan but it had to be small ... I’ve a small car and I wasn’t getting anything bigger,” Graham, said as he bumped in for the vintage weekend’s 10th anniversary in Bridgewater.
“So I made the teardrop and still have the same car.”
Graham said he spent three years assembling the caravan and then took it on a maiden trip to the Otways.,
“I visited Bridgewater last year and this year I’m back with the caravan,” he said.
“And it won’t be the last time ... the bakery is brilliant.”
Graham parked his van beside a more vintage teardrop version as hundreds of people with vans in tow, many behind veteran and classic cars, arrived at the caravan park.
Campers organised day trips around the Bridgewater and Inglewood districts, went lawn bowling and had an 80s-theme trivia night.
Billed as a private event, van owners set up stalls selling camping memorabilia and ephemera throughout the weekend as caravans from the 1950s and 1960s dominated the Bridgewater caravan park vista.