The Queen takes ride in luxury Approach SE 760 motorhome

Not content with driving around Sandringham Estate in her Range Rover, the Queen has moved onto bigger things – while the new Range Rover will cost from £71,295 from January 2013, Her Majesty has shown that you can get something even more luxurious that’s a bit bigger and costs a lot less. Let’s just hope she has got a good, cheap deal on her motorhome insurance!

At a recent visit to Bailey Caravans factory in Bristol, the Queen and Prince Philip took a drive in the rather impressive £45,395 Approach SE 760 motorhome.

The Approach was the Queens unique ride for a short time during the afternoon as she and Prince Philip were briefly chauffeured around the plant in the giant luxury motorhome. By all accounts she was genuinely impressed with the experience, while royal aides suggested this might indeed be the couples first experience of such a motorhome.

The centrally heated Approach is massive and can comfortably contain a family of six safely cocooned in the luxury of its walnut veneer. The Approach SE is powered by a Euro-5 compatible 130bhp engine with a 6-speed gearbox, and with cruise control added, it’s hard not to be as impressed as the Queen was with this vehicle.

Bailey do tend to do things well, with what initially sounds like a simple agenda of aiming for a motorhome that has no leaks and no flex, Bailey have produced something that they can honestly say has impressed the Queen.

To achieve the no flex, no leaks construction, Bailey developed what they call Alu-Tech construction. Alu-Tech clamps the walls and the roof together and fixes the panels in place with a T-bolt. All exterior connections are then covered with protective extrusions. No wood is used for the framing either, as this is achieved with recycled plastic framing battens. Amazingly, the Alu-Tech construction results in the need for just 20 holes compared to 250 for a more traditional construction.

The Approach SE 760 is also rigorously crash tested to impact levels of 20G which will be of some considerable comfort to families who might be considering this motorhome as an option.

The Queen described the Approach SE as a real “home-from-home” while Prince Philip joked in typical fashion with a factory worker who was wearing several gold chains: “You don’t believe in banks then!?”

The Queen and Prince Philip were at the factory as Bailey Caravans, rather like the royal couple themselves, is celebrating it’s 65th anniversary this year.