For many people a caravan is more than a holiday home on wheels. It’s a premises. Yes, the caravan is the perfect place from which to run a business. So perfect, I’m surprised they’re not used more often.

You don’t need to have been on Dragons’ Den to understand why the caravan makes such a good business premises. I’ve never bought a shop, but I’d imagine there’s a lot of paperwork and solicitors involved, both of which are worth avoiding. Buying a caravan is easy. The beauty of a caravan is that you can move it ­easily to a new location. Not easy to do with a large supermarket.

Caravans are also pretty cheap, especially if you don’t need a very smart one for your business. So if your business is selling umbrellas and it stops raining where you are, or, worse, there’s a drought, you simply telephone the Met Office and ask where it’s raining. Bingo, you’re back in business. Then there’s the ability to move on swiftly if the £149.50 laptop computers that you’ve been selling don’t actually contain any software. Or batteries. Or electronics.

One of the greatest contributions the caravan makes is in the field (often literally) of mobile catering. Apart from being a passionate caravan exterminator, I’m also into motorbikes in a big way. The trouble with bikes is that you get cold on them in winter and in summer your bum gets sore from being in the saddle all day. Either way, you’re always looking for a place to recover. And that place is often a roadside eaterie that in a previous life was a touring caravan.

Every time I blow up a caravan I have one nagging thought: “I hope this caravan wasn’t going to be a greasy spoon.” You can’t beat a mug of tea and a piping-hot bacon sarnie dripping with lard served by the smiling owner of a roadside caravan cafe. The best establishments provide plastic seating and an awning for customers. Many of these places deserve a Michelin star as much as any poncy restaurant.

Extracted from A Short History of Caravans in the UK by Richard Hammond, published by Orion at £12.99

Explore Features

• Porsche

• BMW

• Mercedes

• Ferrari

• Bentley

• Audi

• Maserati

• Aston Martin

• Jaguar

• VW