Motorhome accessories are a rabbit hole. Browse any online forum or wander into a camping shop and you will be hit with an endless list of gadgets that promise to transform your trips. Most of them are complete rubbish. I have spent thousands over the years on accessories for my motorhomes and a good chunk of that money was wasted on things that sounded brilliant in the product description but ended up gathering dust in the garage. Here is the stuff that actually earns its place on board.
A proper levelling system
This is the single most important accessory you will buy and I am genuinely baffled by the number of people who try to get by without one. Sleeping on a slope is miserable. Your fridge will not work properly if the van is not level. Food slides off the counter. Everything feels wrong.
I use Milenco stackable levellers and they have been brilliant. They are sturdy enough to take the weight of a large motorhome, they stack to whatever height you need, and they pack flat. Some people prefer the ramp style levellers, which are also fine. The point is to get something proper rather than messing about with bits of wood from B&Q. A spirit level app on your phone is free and works perfectly for checking you are where you need to be.
A decent portable WiFi setup
If you work from the road like I do, internet connectivity is not optional. I have written about working remotely from a motorhome in detail before, but the short version is this: campsite WiFi is almost always terrible. Do not rely on it.
A dedicated mobile WiFi router with an external antenna is the setup that works. I run a 4G router with a roof mounted antenna and it has been rock solid across the UK and most of Europe. The antenna makes all the difference. Getting a signal inside a motorhome with metal walls is much harder than standing outside with your phone, and a proper external antenna solves that problem completely. Budget around 200 quid for a decent router and antenna combo and it will pay for itself in frustration saved.
Proper wheel chocks
Every time you park up, especially on any kind of slope, chocks should go behind the wheels before you do anything else. It takes thirty seconds and the consequences of skipping it are genuinely frightening. A rolling motorhome is not something you want to experience. I have seen it happen at a campsite in Devon. Nobody was hurt, thankfully, but the motorhome was written off.
Buy decent chocks and use them every single time. The lightweight plastic ones are fine for flat ground but if you are regularly on slopes, get something with proper grip. This is one area where spending an extra tenner could save you a very expensive and very dangerous situation.
An electric hookup cable and adapter kit
Most UK campsites use the standard blue CEE 16A connector, but you will find sites that differ, especially abroad. Carrying a decent 25 metre hookup cable plus a set of continental adapters means you are covered for pretty much any situation. I also carry a short extension lead and a four way socket so I can run multiple devices inside without trailing cables everywhere.
The one upgrade worth making is a mains polarity tester. These cost about a fiver and plug straight into a standard socket. They tell you instantly whether the site hookup is wired correctly. Bad wiring at campsites is more common than people think, and it is not something you want to discover the hard way.
A decent outdoor mat
This sounds trivial but it transforms the experience. When you park up and open the door, the bit of ground outside becomes your living room. Without a mat, you are tracking mud and grass inside constantly. A good breathable groundsheet gives you a clean space to sit outside, keeps the inside cleaner, and makes the whole setup feel more like home.
Avoid the really cheap ones that do not let water through. They create puddles underneath and kill the grass, which will annoy site owners. Spend a bit more on a breathable weave and it will last years.
A quality water filter
Campsite water is safe to drink across the UK, but it does not always taste great. A simple inline water filter between the site tap and your tank makes a noticeable difference. It also gives peace of mind on European trips where water quality varies more. The filters are cheap to replace and the housing lasts forever. One of those purchases where you wonder why you did not do it sooner.
What not to waste your money on
Right, here is the bit where I save you some cash. Motorhome accessories shops are full of things designed to separate you from your money without adding much to your life on the road.
Those folding kettle and toaster combos that claim to work on an inverter? They draw too much power and work terribly. Just use a gas hob kettle. The satellite TV domes that cost over a grand? Unless you genuinely cannot live without live sport, your phone or a tablet with a streaming subscription is a far better option. Fancy water hose reels that look nice in the brochure but jam after three uses? A basic food grade hose rolled up in a bag works perfectly fine.
And please, for the love of all that is holy, do not buy one of those motorhome specific "tool kits" that contain a selection of tools so flimsy they would not tighten a jar lid. Buy a proper compact toolkit from Halfords or Screwfix. You will actually be able to fix things with it.
Keep it simple
The best motorhome setup is not the one with the most gadgets. It is the one where everything you carry earns its space. Storage in a motorhome is precious and every useless accessory takes up room that could go to something you actually need.
My approach after years of trial and error is simple: if I have not used something on the last three trips, it comes out. That rule alone has cleared more space than any storage solution I have ever bought. For more on what life on the road actually looks like, have a look at my adventures page where I share trips and destinations that are genuinely worth visiting.
The accessories above are the ones that have survived that three trip rule year after year. They are not glamorous, they will not get many likes on Instagram, but they make motorhome life noticeably better. And that is the whole point.
