Over 60 years since they first rolled off the production line, they remain the epitome of cool.

Forget the sleek sports cars, they are the ultimate head turner.

And just one glimpse of their legendary shape is almost guaranteed to melt the hardest of hearts.

They are synonymous with counter cultures - the 1960s flower power hippies, the surfers, the rock stars, the travellers and the incurable romantics.

And you never want to get stuck behind one on a country lane if you're even remotely in a hurry.

"It's not about the destination, it's about the journey."

So very apt.

Welcome to the world of the VW campervan.

It is a world with no future with regards to new models, but one gloriously wrapped up in an iconic past.

First produced by German manufacturer Volkswagen in 1949, the last one of the achingly stylish vans was made in Brazil last December.

Gone, in terms of future makes.

Never forgotten, though.

Indeed, it's arguable that the VW campervan is cooler than ever, a leisurely throwback to a more sedate lifestyle in our 21st century hustle and bustle.

Now and again, I chance upon newspaper or magazine articles entitled '50 things to do before you keel over and die.' 'Driving a VW campervan down rural lanes in hazy summer sunshine with the Beach Boys or Bob Marley blasting out of the stereo' is not generally in such features.

It should be.

You don't have to own a campervan to cross this one of your 'to do' list before your time is called.

Here in Southampton, just across the road from Ikea, you can hire your own for a weekend or midweek break from VW Campervan Hire.

Their stock come in all the classic colours, pastel blue, royal blue, glorious red. These will turn heads, and you will be inside beaming like a Cheshire Cat who's just won the Lottery.

With unlimited UK mileage, you can go anywhere you want.

Wherever you go, though, you won't go fast - armed with a 1.4cc engine and an owner's manual telling you to keep to 55mph maximum, the delights of the campervan won't appeal to speed freaks.

Instead, the joys are everywhere you look inside.

Capable of sleeping a family of four - two teenage kids can easily bunk down in the extendable roof area - our van, Bertie, also boasted a sink, hob, oven, seating for four around a table, and a fridge.

Many of us ex students can probably recall living in a similar sized space with less mod cons during our youth!

Myself and my family - wife and two kids, aged 12 and 10 - headed to a land time seemingly forgot, east Devon.

The leafy lanes and rolling hills conjure up an idyllic image perfectly suited to a vehicle like Bertie.

Bathed in early summer sunshine, we arrived at our destination - Hook Farm in Uplyme, which as the name amply illustrates is just up from the ever more marketable Lyme Regis at the start of the World Heritage Jurassic Coast.

The hurly burly of life, with daily commutes along the traffic accident and congestion infested M27 and M271, was immediately shelved to one side for a day or two.

Hook Farm is not a big commercial site, but it is neat and tidy, the staff are friendly and helpful, the toilets and showers are clean, and the view over the Uplyme valley is picture postcard material.

Being in a campervan, when the sun is shining, demands that you wear a permanent grin. You are in a cool vehicle. Therefore, by association, YOU are cool.

Do not even presume that you look cool.

You ARE cool.

Surrounded by an aura of coolness - think the Ready Brek kid, but in a warmer environment ... - nothing fazes you. No point in hurrying or worrying. Enjoy the moments, enjoy the campervan.

Camping is not always this much fun, believe me. In fact, camping has never been this much fun before.

It might never be again.

All the vans at Hook Farm have electric hook ups as well, so in some ways it's camping by cheating.

But with a cold fridge to stock my ciders, who cares!!!!

Sitting outside the van with the cold ciders and BBQ, life is good. And when it gets a tad colder and night kicks in, you can retire inside.

Bertie Goes to Lyme Regis sounds like a novel Enid Blyton should have written.

Like all Blyton stories, it evokes a time almost forgotten, bypassed by the relentless technological revolution.

Progress, like love, is all around us. Nothing wrong with that.

But it's also great to cast it all aside now and again, to hark back to our golden past.

The VW campervan evokes all that.

For some, it IS about the destination. For others, it is the journey.

The joy of the campervan is that you can have both, providing you know where to go and the sun - as Bob Marley told us as we pootled (great word!) down the A35 - is shining.

To find out more about VW campervan hire, visit www.vwcamperhire.com

To find out more about Hook Farm campsite, visit www.hookfarm-uplyme.co.uk