Hillside Hopton 600RS review: a proper family adventure van, built in Britain

There's a particular daydream that sells campervans, and it goes like this. The four of you pile in, the kids bicker for the first hour and then go quiet, you peel off the motorway onto a single-track lane, and by evening you're parked somewhere with a view, the awning out, two of you cooking while two of you skim stones. One van, the whole family, off on an adventure.

The honest challenge with that dream is that asking a single van to be both a proper family vehicle and a go-anywhere adventure machine is a tall order, and plenty of campers promise it and quietly fall short. So when a van turns up that genuinely sets out to do both, built properly, here in Britain, it's worth a long, close look. The Hillside Hopton 600RS is exactly that van: a 6-metre family camper on a thoroughly modern base, from one of the country's most respected converters. This is the full, detailed review, and the good news is that it largely delivers.

A quick word on the numbers before we dive in: campers like this are built to order and tailored to taste, so treat the figures here as the right ballpark and confirm the exact spec, weights and options on your own build sheet with Hillside.

Who Hillside are, and why it matters

Start with the maker, because with a coachbuilt camper the firm behind it matters every bit as much as the van itself. Hillside Leisure is a family business, founded in 2004 and run from Derby by brothers Adrian and David Cross. Over two decades they've grown from a small workshop into the largest VW campervan converter in the UK, building something in the order of 200-plus conversions a year, in-house, by their own team rather than farming the work out.

That scale matters for a reason that's easy to miss when you're swooning over a worktop: longevity and back-up. A firm that's been building campers for twenty years, and is still here and still growing, is a firm that stands behind what it makes. Buy something this significant and you want the people who built it to still be answering the phone in five years, with the parts, the know-how and the willingness to put things right. Hillside have that track record, and it shows in the strength of their reputation among owners and the way their vans hold their value secondhand.

Then there are the credentials, which are the part that should reassure a family most. The Hopton holds full Whole Vehicle Type Approval and NCC five-star approval, and Hillside are recognised as both a Volkswagen Qualified Converter and a MAN Approved Partner. That's a stack of endorsements that very few converters can claim together. In plain English it means this is a properly engineered, crash-considered, fully signed-off complete vehicle, built by a converter the base manufacturers themselves have vetted and approved, not a clever home-brew with a nice finish. For anyone about to strap children into the back, that peace of mind is worth a great deal, and it's the solid foundation everything else here is built on.

Britain's sensible answer to the adventure van

You'll see vans like this talked about as adventure vans, and there's a romantic version of that idea: the hand-built American 4x4 rigs that cost as much as a house and take a year to make. They're glorious things to look at. But they're priced and specified for a tiny slice of hardcore overlanders, and frankly they're overkill, and over-budget, for a family who simply want to explore Britain and Europe in comfort.

The Hopton is the sensible, grown-up, real-world answer to that dream, and that's meant as a compliment. It gives you the genuine spirit of the adventure van, the freedom to load up the family and disappear down a quiet lane to somewhere wonderful, in a van you can actually live with day to day: properly built, fully approved, refined to drive, and at a price that exists in the real world. Hillside will even dress it for the part, with chunky off-road-style tyres and adventure-flavoured paint and graphics that look genuinely superb in the metal.

It's front-wheel drive and built for road touring and the sort of decent tracks, farm pitches and grassy fields that real families actually use, rather than for fording rivers, and honestly that's the right call. It keeps the van lighter, more economical, easier to drive and usable every single day, on the school run as readily as on the way to the coast, which is exactly what a family van needs to be. This is adventure that fits around real life, not a six-figure trophy you'd be terrified to scratch. For the overwhelming majority of families, that's a far more useful, far more joyful proposition, and it's where the Hopton is quietly clever.

The layout, and a genuine family of four

Here's the part that matters most to real buyers, and it's where the Hopton 600RS earns its keep.

The layout runs, front to back: a cab with swivelling seats, a central lounge, an L-shaped kitchen, and a fully enclosed rear washroom (the "RS" stands for Rear Shower). In day mode the cab seats spin round to face the lounge, so the whole family can gather round the table together to eat, play cards or wait out a rain shower. It's a logical, well-proven arrangement, and the enclosed rear washroom is the headline feature that makes the RS such a sensible family choice, more on that shortly.

Now, the family-of-four credentials, set up properly. The Hopton can be specified with up to four belted travel seats, using a RIB seat-and-bed system in the rear, the same kind of properly-engineered, crash-tested seating used across the best family campers. That gives you two more legal, belted seats in the back for the children, with ISOFIX availability well worth confirming on your order if you're carrying little ones in car seats. And it can be a genuine four-berth: the two rear seats fold down into the lower double bed, and Hillside's optional SCA electric elevating roof adds a second double up top, so the children sleep snug in the pop-top while the adults take the bed below. Set up that way, this is a true four-seat, four-berth family van, and a beautifully made one.

There's a genuinely useful detail in the weight, too. At 3,500kg the Hopton can be driven on an ordinary category B car licence, with no extra C1 test needed, which a lot of 6-metre vans simply can't claim. It means both parents can share the driving without anyone sitting a test, and it keeps the van firmly in everyday-vehicle territory. As with any van of this size, it's worth speccing it to suit how your family actually travels and keeping a sensible eye on the loaded weight, and this is exactly where Hillside's experience pays off: their team will help you build a van that carries what you need within its limits, rather than leaving you to guess. That kind of guidance, from people who do this 200 times a year, is part of what you're paying for, and part of what makes buying from an established converter so reassuring.

The short version: yes, this is a genuine family-of-four campervan, configured thoughtfully, on a safe and approved base, drivable on a normal licence. That combination is rarer than you might think, and the Hopton nails it.

A galley you'd actually want to cook in

The kitchen is a real high point, and the bit that makes the Hopton feel like a home rather than a vehicle. It's an L-shaped galley with a clever dual-fuel hob, two gas burners plus an induction ring, which is a genuinely thoughtful touch: cook on gas when you're off hook-up, then switch to flame-free induction when you're plugged in or cooking with little ones underfoot. There's a built-in gas oven and grill for proper roast dinners and morning toast, a deep stainless sink, a solid Corian-style worktop that wipes clean in a second, and even a neat slide-out worktop extension under the fridge for when you're feeding four and need the extra elbow room.

Crucially, the storage is all proper soft-close drawers rather than the flimsy cupboards that let down cheaper conversions. Deep drawers swallow pans, crockery and a family's worth of food, run smoothly even fully loaded, and stay shut on a bumpy road instead of flying open at the first roundabout. The fridge is a generous 90-litre fridge-freezer, plenty for a family's week of food and the all-important ice lollies, with a freezer compartment that actually earns its keep. Cook a proper family meal in here, the whole spread, not just beans on toast, and nothing about it feels like a compromise. It's a galley clearly designed by people who've cooked in vans themselves and knew exactly where the frustrations usually are.

Living space, storage and a good night's sleep

Step inside and the Hopton feels like a calm, well-finished space rather than a van with furniture bolted in. The fit and finish is a clear cut above, with neatly-trimmed edges, quality fabrics, soft furnishings that lift the whole interior, and the kind of attention to detail that only comes from a team that's refined the same layout over many years. Stand-up headroom through the centre means adults aren't stooping, and the big side windows and rooflights bring in plenty of daylight, with blinds and flyscreens to shut the world out when you want to.

The central lounge is a comfortable, sociable spot. With the cab seats swivelled round, four sit easily around the table for meals or games, and it's the natural heart of the van on a wet afternoon. Come bedtime, the seating makes up into a proper double, and with the elevating roof added the children get their own cosy berth above, which any parent who's tried to share one bed with a wriggling toddler will recognise as priceless.

Storage is handled with real thought throughout. Beyond the galley drawers there's a wardrobe for hanging clothes, overhead lockers running the length of the van, and clever nooks for the hundred small things a family travels with. Insulation and the diesel heating (more on that below) keep the van genuinely usable well beyond high summer, so it's not a fair-weather-only purchase, it's a van you can take to a frosty Lake District morning at Easter or a crisp coastal weekend in October and stay perfectly warm. That four-season usability is a big part of what turns a campervan from an occasional toy into something the family actually uses all year.

And of course much of the joy of a van like this happens just outside it. The wide sliding door throws the living space open to the view, and with a wind-out or drive-away awning added you effectively double your floor space: a sheltered outdoor room for muddy boots and camp chairs, a family breakfast in the morning sun, or somewhere for the children to play out of a passing shower. It's the part families tend to remember most, the van as a warm, dry, well-stocked basecamp with the whole outdoors as the garden. And because the Hopton is a sensible, manageable size rather than a vast coachbuilt motorhome, it's quick to set up when you arrive and just as quick to pack away when you leave, which, when you've two tired children and a hungry dog to deal with at the end of a long day, matters far more than any line on a spec sheet.

The rear washroom

The feature the RS is named for is a fully enclosed rear washroom with a fixed cassette toilet, a showerhead and floor tray, a basin and a roof extractor fan. Having a proper indoor loo and a shut-the-door shower in a 6-metre van is a genuine boon for a family: no midnight walks across a dark field to the site facilities, no queueing with a wash bag and two impatient children on a wet morning, and a real loo for potty-training years or anyone who'd simply rather not traipse out in the cold. It's compact and practical rather than palatial, as enclosed wet rooms in vans this size always are, but it does exactly the job a touring family needs it to, and having it on board changes how freely you can travel.

There's a standard external shower too, which is honestly one of the unsung family lifesavers of van life: brilliant for hosing down muddy boots, sandy feet, wetsuits and the dog before any of it comes back inside. Combined with the fixed indoor washroom, it gives you a properly self-sufficient setup that frees you from relying on site facilities, which is exactly what you want when the best pitches are often the simplest ones.

On the road

This is where Hillside's choice of base vehicle really pays off, and it's one of the Hopton's biggest strengths. The van sits on the VW Crafter and MAN TGE platform (you pick the badge as a no-cost option, they're the same vehicle underneath), and that base is a quietly brilliant thing: modern, refined and genuinely car-like to drive, a clear generation ahead of the ageing vans that still underpin a big chunk of the 6-metre market. On a motorway it's settled, quiet and stable; around town it's easy to see out of and easy to place; and on a twisting A-road it feels composed rather than wallowy. After a long day's drive you climb out far less frazzled than you would from an older van.

Engines run from a willing 2.0-litre 140PS diesel up to a punchier 177PS option, paired with either a manual or a superb eight-speed automatic. For a family van that'll spend its life loaded up and cruising, that auto is well worth having: it's smooth, intelligent and makes light work of hills and heavy traffic, turning a long motorway slog into something genuinely relaxing. The modern cab brings a comfortable, commanding driving position, good visibility and the reassurance of contemporary driver-assistance kit, the sort of safety technology that simply wasn't available on the vans this one leaves behind.

The dimensions are friendly for the size, too. At just under 6 metres long and a car-like 2.04 metres wide across the body, it slots into a normal parking bay and threads a country lane without drama, and it's an easy thing to live with on a daily basis. As with any high-top it's too tall for height-barrier car parks, but that's simply the trade for proper full standing room inside, and it's a trade any family will happily take. All told, it's one of the nicer big vans you can spend a long drive in, which matters enormously when the drive is half the holiday.

Safety and peace of mind

It's worth pausing on this, because for a family van it's arguably the most important section of all. The Hopton's full Whole Vehicle Type Approval and NCC five-star approval aren't just badges for the brochure: they mean the conversion has been engineered and assessed as a complete, road-legal vehicle, with the seating, the gas, the electrics and the structure all signed off to recognised standards. The RIB travel seats are crash-tested systems, ISOFIX can be specified for child seats, and the whole thing is built by a converter that VW and MAN have themselves approved.

Back that with the warranty package, the three-year VW or MAN cover on the base vehicle plus a three-year Hillside conversion warranty, and you have a van you can buy with real confidence. For a family spending serious money on something they'll trust with their children, on motorways and mountain passes and everywhere in between, that combination of approvals, crash-tested seating and proper warranty cover is exactly the reassurance you should be looking for, and it's an area where the Hopton is genuinely strong.

What it costs, and what you get

The Hopton 600RS starts from around £81,695, and for what it is, a fully type-approved, beautifully-built 6-metre camper on a premium modern base from the UK's largest VW converter, that's keen money. It comfortably undercuts the £100k-knocking factory motorhomes built on the very same Crafter and MAN platform, while giving you a hand-built feel, a more personal buying experience, and the ability to tailor the van around your own family rather than taking whatever came off the production line.

That configurability is part of the appeal. Buying from a big in-house converter means you can specify the van around how you actually camp: the seating and roof for your family size, the engine and gearbox for your driving, the electrical package for how far off-grid you like to roam, right down to the trim and finish. It rewards a bit of thought, spend where it counts for your family (the automatic gearbox and the dual-fuel hob both richly earn their keep) and you'll end up with a van that does precisely what you need. The build-to-order wait that comes with that is, if anything, a feature rather than a bug: this is a van being made for you, to your spec, by people who do it properly. If you want a sense of which upgrades genuinely matter across any camper, our guide to the options worth paying for is a useful companion read.

The verdict: who it's for

The Hopton 600RS is a thoroughly likeable, properly-built family campervan that delivers the adventure-van dream in a sensible, real-world, British way. It's safe and fully approved, lovely to drive on its modern Crafter and MAN base, genuinely capable of seating and sleeping a family of four, drivable on an ordinary licence, warm and usable across all four seasons, and home to one of the nicer galleys in the class. Hillside's two decades of experience, their in-house build and their manufacturer-endorsed credentials show in the details, the finish and the peace of mind.

Who's it for? Families who want to load up and explore Britain and Europe in comfort and confidence; who value a properly-engineered van with a real indoor washroom, a kitchen worth cooking in and the safety credentials to trust with their children; and who'd far rather have a beautifully-made, sensible, usable van they'll actually take out every month than an exotic 4x4 they'd never dare take off the tarmac anyway. If that's you, the Hopton 600RS deserves to be high on your shortlist. Go and sit in one, with the whole family, picture your own trips in it, and spec it for the adventures you'll genuinely take. On the evidence, you'll struggle to find a more sensible, better-built way into proper family van life. And if you're still weighing up which size of base suits your family, our Ducato versus Sprinter and VW Transporter versus Ford Transit Custom guides are good groundwork.

The reachable bit

A van this good, specced for a family, is a serious chunk of money, which rather underlines why we do what we do. The dream of loading the kids in and driving off to a view has drifted a long way out of reach for many of the families who'd love it most. That's the whole reason Campervan.win runs the way it does: capped entries so the odds stay honest, every cost published down to the line, £500 to a UK charity from every full draw, and a winner who drives off in the actual van, not a cheque. A proper family camper, built with this much care, shouldn't only ever belong to the people who can write that kind of cheque.