Baroness Betrude is a Bilbo’s Nexa+. We bought her in 2023 after upgrading from our prior van — Klaus Von Campervan. Klaus was a more standard layout camper with a rock and roll bed and a pop top roof. He was our second campervan but had got to the age where he was needing increasingly regular maintenance, plus he didn’t really have enough storage and the pop top roof meant he was a bit too cold to go away in the winter.

Klaus Von Campervan

Initally I wanted a bigger van more like a MWB transit size but Dom had concerns given the amount of time we spend driving around the lanes of Cornwall. After a number of trips to different shows, including the Motorhome show at the N.E.C., we realised a high top Bilbo’s was the way to go. It had the hard top and warmth I was looking for but still easily fits into standard sized parking spaces. The extra height also gives us amazing amounts of storage. We’ve had Bertrude for over a year now and we are incredibly happy with her. The single bed layout means we can get up and go to the toilet in the night without disturbing each other.

We’ve made some simple adaptions and learnt some lessons along the way, such as storing our pans in the microwave to free up other storage and adding a Cava cork as a toilet roll holder! I’m also in the process of shadow foaming some of the shelves and drawers to stop rattles as we drive along. We’ve also purchased a sun shelter that we can use as a garage to store the little cuties whilst we’re on adventures.