Westminster high spec 4 berth

The Westminster has a layout that we see in the Elddis Avanté 564 and the Swift Challenger Sport 554. But there the similarity with any other caravan ends. The equipment level in AS caravans reaches new heights.
There are two televisions, a vacuum cleaner, a hairdryer, extractor fans in both the kitchen and the shower – all as standard equipment. The jockey wheel incorporates a nose weight gauge, the carpet is held in place by press-studs at the corners… The list of equipment goes on and on.
The Westminster is the latest model to join the three-model AS Caravans line-up. It’s a layout development from the Mayfair; in place of the Mayfair’s nearside fixed double bed, the Westminster has a U-shaped dining area that makes into a double bed exactly the same size as that in the Mayfair.
Whale blown air heating warmed the Westminster in minutes on the chill day of our test. Compared with Truma’s blown air system, the Whale unit gives caravan designers an advantage, because the heater unit is under the floor and so doesn’t have to be accommodated into the furniture layout.
There is an outlet for warmed air in the dining area, one facing forwards towards the lounge and a third in the shower room…

Showering

In shape, there’s nothing extraordinary about the Westminster’s full-width shower room. The shower is square, on the nearside, the washbasin is in the centre and the toilet is on the offside. The difference between the Westminster’s shower room and all others is in equipment. A hairdryer is mounted on the wall alongside the washbasin and mirror. When you pick up the nozzle it switches on automatically, rather like the ones sometimes seen in hotels. But also like most hotel models, it’s only 700watts in power, which means it’ll take longer to dry your hair than when using a conventional 1000w hairdryer.
This shower room has a superbly practical feature which will ensure steam never pervades the shower room. When you switch on the light in the shower, an extractor fan comes on automatically.
Fourteen bright blue LED lights are set into the mirror. The outlet for the central heating is immediately below the two towel positions (one loop and one hook). And the washbasin is clear plastic, looking much more like a fruit bowl than anything you might want to wash your hands in.
In short, this is one fabulously equipped shower room, but there’s a problem.
The handle on the entrance door is large. When the door is open, this protrudes into the corridor to such an extent that we found ourselves walking into it. Even after we had become aware of the hazard, we continued to catch clothes on it and had to mark it down as a nuisance. What’s more, when the door opens, the handle makes contact with the door of the cupboard behind it; we think this would cause dents after
a while.

Sleeping

The Westminster provides two double beds. The lounge bed makes up by pulling base units from under each of the settees. There are webbing straps to get hold of at the front of each base; we have to say these straps look a little untidy compared with the high level of finesse we see everywhere else in the Westminster – but we can’t quibble with their functionality.
You can make the second double bed in the dining area by using the table as part of the base.
We think the lounge double bed is easier and quicker to make up than the rear one, so we guess that couples who buy the Westminster just for two will use the caravan this way around.

Storage

Six top lockers surround the lounge. Those over the front windows are small. The four side lockers are 26cm deep and the same measurement in height; that’s smaller than most caravan lockers in this position. There are no lockers above the dining area. Two drawers are in the front-central unit. A drop-down hatch leads to a generous-sized locker beneath the drawers. There’s a small floor-level locker below the fridge and a two-doored cabinet above it.
Just to the rear of the kitchen, a wardrobe unit creates a good suite of shelving, drawers and hanging space. The three drawers are usefully large, and there are five excellent deep shelves in a cabinet to the right of the wardrobe. But the hanging rail is only 33cm wide, which is shorter than those in most caravan wardrobes. It runs from the back to the front of the wardrobe space, which means you have to reach in among clothing to get at the garments hanging at the back.
Drop-down locker doors allow access to the storage space under the front settees. For those under the dining area, you have to lift up the settees to get into the        spaces below.
All the drawers, the three kitchen cabinets and the five-shelf clothing cupboard alongside the wardrobe have strong push-fit catches. The springs are so strong, though, that we found them rather difficult to operate; they need considerable finger-strength to push them in both to lock and release them.

Lounging

At 1.4m long, the settees aren’t long enough to put your feet up for stretch-out relaxing, but they are superbly firm and supportive, with armrests that wrap around the corners. It’s the fabrics, though, that distinguish the Westminster’s lounge and create a fabulously luxurious feel and look. Knee rolls, armrests  and the tops of the back rests are upholstered in a furry fabric.
It’s in the lounge that you’ll find one of the Westminster’s other defining features. A television (that comes as part of the package) is mounted in a cabinet at the forward end of the kitchen. You lift the lid, press a button – and the TV rises to a viewing position.
The Westminster isn’t the only caravan to come with a television as part of the package. But we’re pretty sure it is the only one to come with two. The second TV is mounted on the dining area wall (though why there should be a set of TV sockets in the head-height cabinet alongside the door, where there is nowhere to put a television, is a mystery).

Dining

Dining, Westminster-style, is a lovely experience. Up to six people can sit around the table. You feel that you’re set apart from the rest of the caravan; this is truly a dining room as distinct from a dining area.  And a lovely wide window lets in ample light to this area. Two shelves are mounted on a raised section of woodwork on the back wall; two spotlights close by focus light onto the table. There’s an upholstered pelmet above the window; that gives you additional shelf space.
You can dine in the front lounge, of course; a table hides away in a cupboard behind the lounge’s television cabinet. Or you can extend the top of the chest of drawers to create a small table.

Kitchen

Lower cabinet space is this kitchen’s strongest point. Three separate cupboards and a drawer give excellent accommodation. Three top cabinets give more than enough space for tableware, and there’s a surprise. Four Cristal d’Arques cut glass wine glasses are on clips here; they come as part of the package.
There’s a vacuum cleaner in one of the lower kitchen cupboards – and a set of Melamine tableware, packaged in a useful cool bag, in the cabinet under the front chest     of drawers.
The microwave is at pretty much the perfect height for most people. Kitchen equipment extends to an extractor fan over the dual fuel hob, and a kitchen roll holder is alongside the microwave.
Perhaps more important than any of those features is the size of the fridge. It’s the Thetford 175-litre model with a separate freezer.

Towing

All four AS caravan models are equipped with AL-KO’s anti-snaking device, ATC (Active Trailer Control). On a caravan weighing 1795kg riding on just one axle, this piece of equipment will be viewed by buyers as more valuable than on many lighter caravans.
When we checked the Westminster’s nose weight (with the gauge that’s incorporated the jockey wheel) we found it read 140kg; fortunately the fault was with the jockey wheel’s gauge, not the actual nose weight of the caravan. That’s a more respectable 75kg, according to our Milenco calibrated nose weight gauge. Lesson learned: always check your nose weight with a separate gauge even if there’s one fitted to the jockey wheel!
On the road (Kia Sorento in charge), the Westminster felt well balanced. There’s a slight tendency to understeer on corners and roundabouts – but that’s to be expected in a caravan of this weight on one pivot-point.