Shop front Read all about it Vacuum flask From: SIGG Price: £19.95 (0.75 litre), £22.95 (1 litre) plus delivery Contact: 01284 774740, sigg.com Clive White finds some useful kit for caravanners Barbecue SIGG, the Swiss company famous for its superb aluminium water bottles, also makes other products, among them the Thermo Classic Line vacuum flasks in its Steel Works range. Made of high-grade, food-safe, vacuuminsulated, 18/8 stainless steel, the flasks are available in 0.75 and 1-litre capacities in smart blue or brushedmetal finishes. They have an easy-toclean push-button pourer within the integrated doublewalled screw top. Contents filled at 95°C/203°F will remain at over 50°C/122°F after 24 hours. From: Outdoorchef Price: from around £140 online Contact: 01454 631950, outdoorchef.com Outdoorchef says its City Gas gas kettle barbecue is the most compact of its type in the world. It has piezo ignition and is nicely made with burner, funnels, grid, bowl and lid finished in hard-wearing enamel. Its size makes it easily transportable yet despite its footprint of just 44cm x 50cm, it has a grill surface of 1,213cm2. Cooking height is 41cm, 70cm when using the optional tripod. Other options include a baking plate, cast griddle plate, grill cover and carry bag to make this a versatile barbecue for home or caravan. The company also makes electric and charcoal models. CORRECTION ls proved inadequate when Our proofreading eye bal level gauge in May issue’s terwa checking the Eye-Ball address. sed an extra ‘f’ in the email Shop Front, when we mis any for aol.com. Apologies It should read fairfieldmtrs@ . sed cau nce inconvenie Noted for being especially thin, lightweight yet strong, durable, chip and break resistant, Corelle is made from a glass material called Vitrelle. It’s ideal for caravanners who appreciate the look and feel of ‘proper’ crockery, but don’t want the bulk, weight and risk of breakage associated with domestic china. It is scratch resistant and microwave, dishwasher and oven safe, and designed for compact storage. A wide variety of long-lasting, colour-fast patterns is available. 102 Roy Woodcock (revised by Steve Davison) ISBN 9780711232884 BEST WALKS ON EXMOOR Richard Webber ISBN 9780711232877 Both published by Frances Lincoln £12.99 paperback each These two new pocket-sized ‘Best Walks’ titles provide inspirational suggestions for rambles in two of Britain’s most beautiful areas. a revised rather Strictly speaking, the Chilterns guide is rewalked each of has son Davi e Stev but title new a than local author Roy Woodcock’s routes, updating phy. ogra phot new iding prov and on mati infor erns and 30 on The walks in each book (20 in the Chilt rated with small illust and ribed desc ly clear are or) Exmo er benefits from sketch maps. The Chilterns edition furth to specific OS grid e relat also that map each on bers num box in italics at the references. There is a basic information the likes of iding prov n, riptio desc route each of start as suggestions well as on mati infor distance and difficulty – fortunately, ed need is map OS 000 1:25, h whic for Explorer OL9! virtually all of Exmoor is covered by the ions to any addit great are s book little two e Thes walker’s library. ALLOTMENT MANUAL – THE COMPLETE STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE Corelle tableware From: World Kitchen Price: £49.99 four-place dinner set, or items priced individually Contact: 020 8795 5712, worldkitchen.co.uk BEST WALKS IN THE CHILTERNS Paul Peacock Haynes Publishing ISBN 9780857331601 £21.99 hardback Ruitertassen bags From: The Leather Briefcase Co Price: satchels from £125 Contact: 020 8404 6451, theleatherbriefcase.co.uk If your laptop, tablet etc deserve to be transported in classic style, they need a Ruitertassen leather satchel or briefcase. The company has made top-quality leather bags for over 80 years, with antique models now very collectable. They are beautifully made in selected full-grain (min 2.5mm thickness) cow hide, with all stress points riveted, to produce a sturdy but stylish bag that looks just as good in the caravan as in the office – and should last several lifetimes. Various styles have single or double compartments (the latter separated by a zip-top sleeve) and front pockets. The cover flap’s buckles hide quick-release ‘tuk-tite’ catches and a strap and free accessory shoulder pad are included. www.caravanclub.co.uk Signal booster/finder From: Fringe Electronics Price: from £23.50 (Easy Boost), from £28.50 (Easy Tune) plus postage Contact: 01623 643802, fringeelectronics.co.uk The Fringe Easy Tune and Easy Boost are two new units that can improve your terrestrial TV and/or radio reception, in any combination. Easy Tune is a signal booster/amplifier with the world’s first incorporated fullfunction 12 LED signal finder. This innovation allows users to align their aerial quickly and accurately, boost weak signals and distribute the signal up to four ways. Easy Boost uses the same variable-boost electronics, but omits the signal finder. Made in the UK with three-year warranty. This is another excellent guide from Haynes that takes you through the entire ‘allotmenting’ process – from finding a plot to joining an association to getting the most out of your piece of land. It is laid out logically in colour-coded sections with headers such as ‘Planning your plot’, ‘Practical matters’, ‘Greenhouses and polytunnels’, ‘Livestock’ (hens or bees anyone?) and ‘A year on the allotment’. These are followed by the real meat of the book – chapters entitled ‘A year on the allotment’ and ‘A to Z of vegetables’. The latter 32-page segment explains the type of soil needed as well as sowing, growing and harvesting instructions for common crops including carrots, cauliflowers, parsnips and potatoes. There is an interesting introduction tracing the history of allotments – did you know there were five million of them during the Second World War? – through to today’s renaissance. Short sections on fruit, herb and flower growing round off what is a clear, well-illustrated guide to getting growing. 80 YEARS ENJOYING CARAVANN ING John Bradley £11.99 paperback (£10 + £1 p&p to Club members) Millbank, Jubilee Dragonfly, Eccles Enterprise, Berkeley Ambassador, Paladin Buccaneer, Cheltenham Springbok, Vanmaster Accolade – the list of tourers John Bradley has enjoyed through the years reads like a history of the modern caravan. His first experience of caravanning came in 1928 in his parents’ self-built vehicle, based on an old “Chevrolet chassis with artillery wheels, cart leafsprings and cable brakes of a sort”. The caravan enjoyed many an adventure, including a broken leaf-sprin g coupling that required the attention of a group of soldi ers, before being retired for use as a ‘hen pen’ near Colw yn Bay. The Bradleys caravanning adventures take in honeymooning in a Cheltenham Antelope, a fine effort in the Club’s famous National Track tests in 1977 and setting up their own classic caravan restoration busin ess in 1981. Featuring some great black and white and colour photography, 80 Years Enjoying Caravann ing is a fine tour down memory lane. Send cheques for £11 to John Bradley, Forest Edge, Poplar Close, Bran sgore, Christchurch BH23 8JF. THE UNIVERSE INSIDE YOU Brian Clegg Icon Books ISBN 9781848313538 £12.99 paperback In keeping with the trend for straight-ta lking popular science, headed by the likes of Professor Brian Cox, is this intriguing book by Brian Clegg. The subtitle, ‘The Extreme Science of the Human Body from Quantum Theory to the Myst eries of the Brain’, might immediately put the frigh teners on the average reader but I urge you not to be put off, as once you start I promise you’ll be gripped. Clegg uses your body as a mini-laboratory to explain some of the universe’s strangest physics and opens your eyes to concepts you may not have previ ously considered. Did you know, for example, that you have more than five senses? As well as sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell, there is ‘proprioception’ –the sense that allows you to detect “where the parts of your body are with respect to each other”. Clegg illustrates this with a simple experiment –close your eyes, put your hands by your sides and touch the tip of your nose. This entertaining book is filled with such experiments. Think science is beyond you? Think again. June 2012 The Caravan Club Magazine 103