Take a trip down memory lane with a VW camper

Evanton firm hires out vintage motorhomes to tour Highlands

By jane candlish

Published:

NOVEL IDEA: Flora Corbett, of Happy Highland Campers. David Whittaker-Smith

They are the ultimate symbol of 1970s hippy cool, but one Highland tourism business is proving that VW campervans can still be groovy 30 years later.

Happy Highland Campers hires out the mini-motorhomes to visitors wishing to tour the far north.

For the past few months, their vintage vans have traveled the Highlands, attending the RockNess music festival and a summer wedding in Achiltibuie, among other similar trips.

The Evanton-based business, run by Flora and Tom Corbett, has just been shortlisted in the category for best new tourism business at this year’s Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards.

Mrs Corbett, 33, combines running the business along with looking after the couple’s two-year-old twins, Grace and Harry. She said the Happy Campers idea grew after the couple tried to find a cheap way of touring the Highlands.

She said: “We wanted to go on a trip round the north of Scotland, but could only find motorhomes at a cost of £800 for a week. There was nothing cheaper. We had seen a similar idea in Cornwall and elsewhere, and decided to try it. VW vintage vans seem to be growing in popularity.” From buying their first van in September, the couple has added a further two to their touring fleet. A fourth van is being refurbished by mechanic Mr Corbett, 33, who normally works with wind turbines in the area. All are pre-1979 vehicles with a double bed, gas hob and fridge, and are fully equipped with cutlery and linen.

The vans are about to be taken off the road at the end of the month for the winter, but will be available again for holidays, starting in April.

Mrs Corbett said customers had fallen into two groups – those aged 25 to 45 who are too young to have experienced the VW the first time around and those in their 50s and 60s looking to take a trip down memory lane.