Hillside Cromford T7 review: the LWB VW camper that won the Club's 2026 design award

The Caravan and Motorhome Club's design awards page for Hillside calls a fixed toilet with a privacy door and a hand basin unique in such a small van. The Hillside Cromford turns the layout round: the galley sits at the back, and behind it there is a fixed cassette toilet and a basin behind a sliding privacy door. In 2026 the long-wheelbase T7 version of that layout won the Long-Wheelbase Campervan category at the Caravan and Motorhome Club's Motorhome and Campervan Design Awards. The extra length is what pays for the washroom, and the from-price of £73,550, as listed on Hillside's range page on 13 October 2026, is where the package starts before you choose an engine or any options.

The Cromford T7 in one paragraph

The Cromford T7 is a conversion of the long-wheelbase Volkswagen Transporter T7 by Hillside Leisure, based at Breaston near Derby and hand-built in the UK. Hillside's range page (13 October 2026) lists it from £73,550 with 110, 150 or 170PS engines, and the Cromford T7 page says the Commerce Pro Plus trim comes as standard on the LWB. The design, as Hillside describes it, gives you a rear galley with a washroom behind it, two single RIB rear seats that convert to beds, four travelling seats and, with the elevating roof and its roof bed, four berths. Hillside states that it is a Volkswagen Qualified converter, that its vans carry GB Whole Vehicle Type Approval, and that it holds National Caravan Council approval.

One design, two pages

Hillside's longer-standing Cromford page still describes the T6.1 version: based on a long-wheelbase T6.1 Highline, from £64,995, with 110, 150 or 204PS. That page is also Hillside's fullest published description of how the Cromford is laid out and equipped, so the layout and features below come from it. The T7 version keeps the heart of the design: the Club's design awards page for Hillside describes a fixed toilet with a privacy door and a hand basin, and coverage of the T7 van centres on the rear washroom. Treat the T7 brochure as the list that counts, and ask Hillside for anything that differs between the two generations before you sign. The move from T6.1 to T7 lifted the from-price by £8,555, so it is a fair question to ask what else moved with it.

Layout and how it lives

By day

Hillside describes two single rear RIB seats with built-in armrests and headrests, a table that slots into place, and both front seats swivelling to make a seating and dining area for four. Because the kitchen is at the back rather than down the side, the middle of the van stays open for the seats and the table, which is the main thing a rear galley buys you on a Transporter footprint.

By night

The two rear seats convert in two movements into two single beds, or with one more into a double, according to Hillside. The kitchen and storage stay reachable with the bed made, and the thermal rear blinds have integrated flyscreens, so you are not pressing suction-cup covers onto the glass every evening. The elevating roof carries a roof bed, which takes the van to four berths. Hillside also lists an SCA high-top roof with a skylight as an alternative, which it says gives a more spacious feel and more cupboards. If you are weighing a pop-top against a high-top for the first time, our explainer on pop-top roof conversions covers the trade-offs, and types of campervan conversion explains where a rear-galley van like this sits among the rest.

The washroom

At the back, behind the galley, there is a fixed cassette toilet and a sink, closed off by a pocket sliding door. That is the feature the Club picked out on its design awards page for Hillside:

A fabulous option for couples who require a fixed toilet in a campervan.

The shower is outside. Hillside lists pumped hot and cold water with a rear external activity shower, which is good for rinsing wetsuits, boots and a muddy dog, and is not the same thing as an indoor shower room.

Kitchen, power and heating as published

On one side of the rear galley Hillside fits a combination two-ring hob and sink with an oven and grill. Opposite is an eye-level 50-litre fridge with a removable freezer compartment, so you can give the whole box over to fridge space when you do not need the freezer. An oven and grill changes what you can cook on a wet evening.

Heating is programmable blown-air diesel heating. Diesel heaters draw on the vehicle's fuel rather than a gas cylinder. Water is pumped hot and cold, as Hillside lists it, alongside the rear external activity shower. For the electrical side, Hillside's Cromford pages go into detail on the interior finish options (Dust Grey, Harbour Oak and Nordic Black), but the leisure battery capacity, hook-up, solar and inverter spec is something to ask for on the T7 brochure before you price the van. Those items decide whether you can sit off-grid for a few nights, so get them in writing.

Driving and the base vehicle

The base is the long-wheelbase Volkswagen Transporter T7, and Hillside's range page offers the Cromford with 110, 150 or 170PS. Hillside's Cromford T7 page says the Cromford gives you more room to breathe, bigger storage and the tech and safety you expect from Volkswagen, and autoevolution reports the T7 is a little wider than before. Hillside's August 2025 T7 conversion price table shows manual and automatic gearboxes and a 4Motion variant across its T7 range, so ask which combinations are on the Cromford order form for the engine you want. The Commerce Pro Plus trim is standard on the LWB Cromford, according to the Cromford T7 page; ask Hillside for the exact list of what that trim brings on the T7, rather than assuming the T6.1 Highline items carry over.

Ask Hillside for the T7's width as well as its length, and check both against your own driveway and the car parks you use. Reviewers of the T6.1 Cromford at Out and About Live noted that the earlier base came in two trim levels, Startline and Highline; on the T7 Hillside has settled that question by making Commerce Pro Plus standard. We compare the two bases most British converters now use in VW Transporter T7 vs Ford Transit Custom as a campervan base.

Weights, payload and licence

Ask Hillside for the maximum authorised mass (MTPLM), the mass in running order and the payload of the exact Cromford T7 you are pricing, with the engine, gearbox and roof you want, because each of those changes the figure, and ask for the overall length and the height with the roof down while you are at it. The rules then fall into place.

• A motor caravan plated at up to 3,500 kg MAM is covered by a category B car licence, whatever date you passed your test.
• Speed limits turn on unladen weight, not the plated figure: at or under 3.05 tonnes unladen you drive to car limits (30 mph in built-up areas in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, 20 mph on restricted roads in Wales unless signed otherwise, 60 mph on single carriageways, 70 mph on dual carriageways and motorways). Check the unladen weight on the V5C or the certificate of conformity.
• Vehicle tax for a motor caravan at or under 3,500 kg with an engine over 1,549 cc is £375 a year (2026 to 2027 rate); check GOV.UK for the live figure.
• Motor caravans take a class 4 MOT from three years old, whatever they weigh.

Payload is the one to press on. A rear galley with an oven, a 50-litre fridge, a cassette toilet, a water system and a diesel heater all add weight before you pack a thing, and the number left over for four people and their kit is what decides whether the four berths are usable on a real trip.

Price: what £73,550 buys and what moves it

On 13 October 2026 Hillside's range page listed the Cromford T7 LWB from £73,550. Hillside says it has no hidden extra costs and that everything is included in the price it quotes, so the figure you are given for a specified van should be the figure you pay. Inside the from-price, as Hillside publishes it, is the LWB T7 in Commerce Pro Plus trim with the Cromford conversion. The range page lists the engine choice (110, 150 or 170PS); ask Hillside which gearbox, drivetrain, roof and finish options are priced extras.

Hillside's stock page on the same date gives a feel for the spread: a stock Cromford T7 at £71,545, which sits below the from-price, and two other Cromfords at £81,630 and £82,430. That is £10,885 between the cheapest and dearest Cromford in stock, so ask what each one has: engine, gearbox, roof, registration date and any accessories. Hillside's August 2025 price table for its T7 conversions ran from £66,500 for a Commerce 110 manual to £75,500 for a Commerce Pro 150 automatic 4Motion, a £9,000 spread on engine, gearbox, drivetrain and trim, and listed battery-electric T7 conversions at £79,995 (136PS) and £83,995 (218PS), both quoted with the plug-in van grant. That table is more than a year old and covers Hillside's T7 range rather than the Cromford alone, so use it to understand how options move a Hillside price, and get a current quote for the Cromford itself.

Against the rest of the Hillside range

Hillside's range page (13 October 2026) puts the Cromford between its two Birchover vans. The Birchover Classic VW T7, on a T7 Commerce Pro, starts at £65,000, £8,550 below the Cromford's from-price. The Birchover All-Motion starts at £82,500, which is £8,950 above the Cromford. The MVX, on the Volkswagen Multivan eHybrid 4MOTION, starts at £70,995, £2,555 below the Cromford, and is Hillside's hybrid option. One wrinkle: the range page says Birchover Classic from £65,000 while the August 2025 table started at £66,500, so if you are choosing between the two, ask Hillside which figure is current and what the difference is.

The award, and who Hillside is

At the Caravan and Motorhome Club's Motorhome and Campervan Design Awards 2026 the Cromford won the long-wheelbase campervan category, the MVX took third in the hybrid campervan category, and the Birchover Classic and the Hopton 600RL were entered. Hillside lists the Hopton on the VW Crafter or MAN TGE; we reviewed one in our Hillside Hopton 600RS review, and it is the van to read about if you want more room than a Transporter can give. Hillside's current range is built on Volkswagen vans, with the Hopton also listed on the MAN TGE. Its electric Dalbury E, on the Nissan e-NV200 from 2014 to 2018, is discontinued, and the Renault Trafic-based Ellastone is now a used-market buy. For the fuller story, read our profile, Hillside Leisure explained: the Derby VW converter with type approval, a hybrid Multivan and an electric T7, and for the hybrid alternative, Hillside MVX review: a Multivan eHybrid 4MOTION campervan from £70,995. If you would rather see a Cromford than read about one, the Motorhome and Caravan Show at the NEC runs from 13 to 18 October 2026; our guide to which British converters are at the NEC and what they build lists the stands, and check whether Hillside is exhibiting and, if so, whether a Cromford T7 is on the stand before you travel.

Verdict

Who it suits

• Couples who want a toilet with a door. This is the van's reason to exist, and the Club's design awards page for Hillside says as much. If a portable loo in a cupboard has been the thing stopping you from a Transporter-sized camper, the Cromford answers it.
• Cooks who tour for longer. An oven and grill plus a 50-litre fridge with a freezer compartment you can remove mean proper meals and a decent shop between stops, and the kitchen stays accessible with the bed made.
• Buyers who want the paperwork right. Hillside states GB Whole Vehicle Type Approval, NCC approval and Volkswagen Qualified converter status, and the Cromford design carries four travelling seats and four berths for the occasional trip with children or friends.

Who it does not suit

Anyone who needs an indoor shower. On Hillside's published Cromford spec (the T6.1 page), the shower is an external one at the back, which suits a beach day better than a week in November; confirm it on the T7 brochure. If the washroom matters less than price, Hillside's own Birchover Classic starts £8,550 lower. Whichever you pick, the payload figure for the exact van is the number to have in your hand before the from-price.