The most useful bit of equipment I take on holiday with me has got to be brown parcel tape. As a dog owner, I find it really handy for removing dog hair from the upholstery. Best of all, I don't have to do it myself – my kids love covering the cushions in the tape and enjoy the noise it makes as they rip it off. It also comes in handy for sticking on number plates or keeping wonky doors shut. I never leave home without it.
Eric Roberts
Via email

To keep our euros and credit cards safe when in France, we split them into three lots, with some cash and a Visa card or Mastercard in each set. We carry one lot with us, keep one lot locked in the glove box in case I lose my wallet, and we have had a pocket sewn into the top of one of our divider curtains where we hide our third lot. Hopefully no one would think of looking there because the curtain is always tied back. I have found at times that one credit card may not operate, which is why I always make sure I have both types.
Stan Winfield
Hilton, Derby

When travelling in southern Europe, take a proper heavy hammer with you, not a wooden or rubber mallet. The ground there gets very dry and hard so you'll need something that won't split or bounce off the awning pegs. And here's a tip to get your pegs out again: use a peg puller and bang the sides of the peg with the hammer - the vibrations will help to loosen it.
Ken Atkin
Richmond, Surrey

I always used to worry that the essential cooking ingredients that I always keep in the caravan (mustard, herbs and the like) were going to fall off the shelves, and end up smashed by the journey's end. I bought a big bag of elastic bands from my local stationery shop and put them round the jars. Now I know they'll make it to our destination in one piece, thanks to their ‘rubber bumpers'.
Bethan Jones,
Newport, Glamorgan

My Swift 2003 model is fitted with the full-on/full-off spring-loaded handbrake system. When hitching my caravan to the car, I have to overcome a downward slope. It's not too severe, but I do find it difficult to control the forward movement of the van and at the same time place the hitch over the towball. Having arthritis in my wrists also adds to the problem. To overcome the situation, I worked out that I needed to depress the handbrake release button so as to get some adjustment. So I took a piece of 30mm grey convoluted waste pipe, inside of which I fixed a bit of wooden curtain pole. I placed this over the handle of the brake lever, at the same time depressing the release button and holding the button down. The grey waste pipe is a comfortable slide-on fit. Which, all in all, solved my hitching up problem. My enclosed diagram (above) should make things clearer.
Len Kirk,
Billingham, Cleveland PS it took longer to write this letter and draw the diagram, than it took me to make the ‘grip'.

We have an Abbey Aventura that has only one coat hook in it. Our tourer is a four-berth, so we're always bemoaning the lack of hooks. And I hate hanging my towels over wardrobe doors because they get snagged so easily. But since we have a rooflight at both the front and at the rear, we now pull the handles down and hang the towels from them. This is a really speedy way of drying them – especially if it's sunny and the rooflight is opened.
Rachel Smith
Wordsley, West Midlands

To make life easy when filling the toilet water tank, I carry a cheap (£2) watering can. I fill it up at the same time as my aquaroll. I find this to be a very easy way of doing the job, plus it doesn't weigh very much.
John Howdon.
Hexham, Northumberland

I don't know how many hours I've spent in my caravanning life trying to scrape, scrub, and pick squashed flies from my caravan's front window after any long-distance trip. Then I remembered the old saying “prevention is better than cure”. Now I cover my windows with cling film (attached with masking tape). Then, when I get on site, I simply peel it off – along with the creepy crawly road kill.
Katie Ginn
Ipswich, Suffolk