My brother in law has a touring caravan. A great big one with twin axles. They take it to France every summer and go on shorter trips with it throughout the year. It's a very well equipped thing. They also have a sort of tent bit on the side which is fully carpeted and so on. They had to buy a great big Nissan Pathfinder to tow it with. Between the car, the "van" (apparently that's the jargon) and all the kit we're now into over 50 grand I'm told. ( FFS! )
Anyway, they've parked it up on a site in North Wales this week. Deposited the mutual grandparents, their own kids and ours there and left them to it. Instant summer holiday childcare for us and them so a bit of a result really.
So today we went to visit and take food parcels. The site is pleasant enough I suppose and one couldn't want for much in the way of home comforts in the actual caravan I guess. Of course it has it's own ablution facilities but apparently they need emptying periodically so their use is not encouraged.
Anyway, we sat there today in a mild but fairly proper storm. Surrounded by mud, sheltered by the "awning" ( see, I know about these things now ) All around were others sitting in their little boxes or their lean to tents, peering out into the mist and horizontal rain. Tonight the children and my wife's parents will, having dismantled and re-configured the dining and seating areas, bed down in far too close proximity and try to ignore the howling of the wind and rain. No liquids will be taken for the last couple of hours before settling down so that no-one needs to make a cross-campsite, dead of night excursion.
Now, presumably most, if not all of these people also own houses. Quite possibly, in some cases anyway, fairly nice houses judging by the number of newish, expensive 4x4s parked neatly next to the little white boxes.
Could someone please explain what in the name of the wee man is the attraction in sitting in a field in North Wales in the rain at considerable expense and inconvenience when hotels or indeed Easyjets are available?
Beats me...
:-)
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Funnily enough some of these people drag these mobile "sheds" (see I know the terminology as well) around the place just to annoy the locals. Clogging up perfectly decent roads where a lad can chuck his car around in the closed season. I don't get them. My sister has/had one. My b.i.l. waxed lyrical about it - the joy of emptying a chemical bog ("it's a cartridge you know") - going to shower in horrid little tin huts. Having to eat out expensively, all done in the peeing rain. I slept in it in 2001....horrible...(shudder) - it now languishes at the side of the house recycled as a shed (full of cardboard boxes) I see the point of a mobile home. Some friends have just bought one - I can just about see the attraction on a nice day.....but I would never, ever, ever, ever contemplate buying one.
PS
I did camp on a Caravan Club site a couple of years ago when we headed up to the Lakes on a pair of 125s - Instructions from the manager/warden/guard. "Don't you be revving your bikes late at night" Two professional middle aged gents.......I ask you.
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Why do we still use Tow-bars and balls for pulling big "Vans" boats and large trailers, when its fast becoming the "norm" in the states to have a "fifth-wheel" type attachment in the "bed" of a pick-up?
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I have never understood this caravan thing, it baffles me no end.
Each year we stay in a luxury lodge for a week or more in some place nice. We have accomadation that rivals our own home, its private, immaculate and most years we have a hot tub. I also dont have to drag the thing to location using a vehicle that I had to buy just for the purpose of moving my holiday home. It costs me just £500 and when I arrive, its ready to go.
No, I still dont understand caravans.
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I do see the appeal of camping and have camping equipment myself, but the weather has to be good. I like to get away from electricity and all the problems of the modern world.
That said the main reason I like it is because it is cheap, I can justify spending £7 a night camping but not £50 in a hotel if I am going some where for the sake of it.
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I'm kind of with you there Rats. What we've just witnessed this afternoon isn't camping. It's actually strangely disturbing. Like a sort of Liliputian village. One of the twonks even had a ( presumably folding ) bird table outside his shed on wheels. I do get the static ones in scenic locations I suppose. I've used Eurocamp and it's competitors in France several times and enjoyed it but...
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If you think that is odd, I have relatives that swapped a very large home in a leafy part of South Manchester for a static in North Wales. OK the house was mortgaged and selling it meant they could pay that off as they could ill afford the payments comfortably and the site is on a 5 star site but they just seem to love living in a caravan.
The views are fantastic and the caravan is very up market but it must have cost them close to £70,000 for that is an asset which will only loose a fortune each year. I suppose a static is different though.
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>>
>> The views are fantastic and the caravan is very up market but it must have
>> cost them close to £70,000 for that is an asset which will only loose a
>> fortune each year. I suppose a static is different though.
>>
I can see the attraction of a static in the right place - the vast majority of my family holidays (as child and parent) have been in statics - but the financials are awful on the more up market sites; you have to replace the caravan every ten years or thereabouts in order to stay on the site.
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The place I go to Anglesey is a lower market one, the fees there are around £2000 a year and they sell second hand caravans cheap, they have a 15 year policy but I know for a fact some are older. I stayed in my friends aunties one in 2002 which was a 1990 build and they are still in it!
The problem with that is because it is lower end of the market you get a few rougher people staying there. Last time I went camping there it was in a general state of disrepair but maybe I am just getting old!
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...but the financials are awful on the more up market sites...
They are not brilliant on any site, a static depreciates like a car.
Having said that, I spoke to the local wholesaler recently who said they are doing quite well.
The days of younger couples topping up the mortgage to buy a static are largely gone, but some people closer to retirement see their savings earning very little and decide they may as well make use of the money.
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I'd buy a motorhome first - personally. Saw a Ford Transit based one in Beaumaris. On an M plate with 30,000 they still wanted 10k for it. Looked in good nick.
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...they still wanted 10k for it...
Motorhomes hold their value better than statics, as do tourers.
New motorhomes are serious money, £50K+ for something that has no more room than a £12K tourer.
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The one my aunty is at (the high end one) is not doing well at all since the down turn but it is where I used to go on holiday as a kid as they used to have a holiday home there before they moved there with their new caravan.
They have lots of vacant plots, largely because the mortgage market has now vanished. People have to have the cash.
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So, with the statics, I too have heard that some ( maybe most? ) sites will only allow them up a certain age. What happens to them after that? Do people just scrap them and start again or is there a market for the old ones? Offshore maybe?
My wife's uncle had one up in the Lakes and I want to remember it was quite a chunk of money.
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A lot of people buy them cheap and live in them illegally on farm land with the land owners permission but in hidden view of authorities. I guess there is a market for travellers too and maybe construction sites.
Either a 15 year old static is very cheap to buy compared to a touring.
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... is there a market for the old ones?...
Quite a few were going to Ireland at one time.
Then there's the self builders who want to live on site.
Statics have a limited life - a well-used 20-year-old one would be fit only for the scrapheap.
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The one my friends aunty has refurbished theirs, the carpets and seat covers are new but the boiler and everything else is from a different era. The big that I would be concerned about on statics is if the floor lasts, don't they rot?
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No its not for me either. Did the camping thing with my mates when younger and also did a eurocamp holiday in the south of France, but want a bit more comfort these days. We prefer self catering to hotels so like Stu we rent a luxury lodge 2 or 3 times a year. My parents have been caravanners for over 30 years, but now they are getting older they only go for one 2 week holiday a year (always to the same site in the New Forest !) and have to run a large thirsty car unecessarily for the other 50 weeks of the year. I keep trying to talk them into selling them as they are getting quite frail now and I am on edge all the time I know that they are on the road with it, but they refuse to give it up.
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I had a couple of five hundred quid vans when the kids were young. It's a cheap way of getting holidays. As we became more affluent we could afford a more expensive van, but it then didn't cost-in against rented holiday accommodation.
I wouldn't want a static van. I like to visit different places.
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The advantage of a static is you don't have to faff around transporting it, but the site fees are so expensive. The one I know is around £5k a year.
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And they won't be allowed to stay there all year. We viisted one on the south coast of the island last year to collect a pair of bike boots. Very mice it was (but not for me)
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Think their site closes for about two months if that just after Christmas, they then have to rent a holiday cottage.
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...Think their site closes for about two months if that just after Christmas...
Most are like that, although some sites have managed to shorten the closed season to between four and six weeks.
But as a static owner, I can tell you they are no fun when it's really cold.
Mine has central heating and double glazing, but the walls on all statics are too thin to offer much insulation.
Running the heating 24 hours a day is an option, but that will cost £75+ a week in gas.
I know of several people who have tried to live in a static, only to be forced out after a winter or two.
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They have been there for about 6 or 7 years now. Yeah I think they have to leave for 6 weeks. It is a council tax thing, if it was open all year it would become a residential park and not a holiday park.
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It's a planning thing as well, quite important in the Socialist Utopia that the unelected commissars have created on Anglesey. These ones we visited seemed very cosy, seemed full of English refugees from the cities. All done up with bird tables, sort of extensions etc etc.
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One of the twonks even had a ( presumably folding ) bird table outside his shed on wheels.
Words fail me. I think Humph has articulated my thoughts. We visit some friends on a site on Anglesey. All really nice but it's like a miniature suburb. Chemical toilets......
Tenting is a hobby re-discovered. All the kit fits on the back of bike. Minimalist.
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We're plagued with the blasted things during the holiday season. You can't drive more than five miles without getting stuck behind some shed the size of Westminster Abbey stuck on the back of some asthmatic old banger on a winding and rolling single carriageway with few overtaking opportunities. They're lousy tourists too, they bring all their provisions from their local supermarket so you don't even get a penny out of them.
And don't talk to me about the twonks who try and tow their grockle box down a single track road.
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We iPlayed a rather charming BBC4 programme the other night about just this. It took a historical angle and explained how caravanning evolved from a pursuit for the mobile elite in the 1930s into an opportunity for the enterprising lower orders to 'get to know England properly' in the 50s and 60s.
We got to meet a couple of game old girls who had, I think, both found themselves as single parents in the 60s and used their cheap Sprite tourers to give their children holidays they couldn't otherwise have afforded. I think they were selected for being female, undeniably forthright and engaging, but safe from any tendency towards beards, socks and sandals; neither could be called a twonk.
Both lamented the modern restriction of caravans to sites, when they had previously been able to stop wherever they fancied, but they didn't let it put them off. And both took a commendably minimal approach, one demonstrating the art of making a full breakfast in a single pan. It didn't make me want to try it myself, but I could see some of the pioneer spirit these two must have felt in the less regulated early days.
Anyone taking it up today, though:
TWONK
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>> Tenting is a hobby re-discovered. All the kit fits on the back of bike. Minimalist.
Pretty much my attitude albeit camping was something only interrupted by kids in nappies.
I'm typing this on a French campsite emplacement. Tent is 9m x 3m plus a door canopy/annexe. Sleeps 4 in comfort although the lad prefers to be alongside in his back packer. Big enough to cook and eat in even in rain. If it gets too hot/cold/wet/windy in any one place we can move on.
Whole lot, including beds, cooking kit chairs etc is worth around £2k and travels comfortably in our medium sized French estate car. After the season the whole lot gets stowed in garage/loft.
Considered a caravan for retirement but really struggle to justify costs which would include a bigger car and storage when not in use for the extra benefit - longer season? - it would give.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 27 Aug 12 at 20:01
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They don't have to cost £50,000. I bought an old Sprite Alpine a few years ago for £50, and we caravanned for a few years, towing it with the Volvo 240.
It's a bit like camping only much drier, and you can take more stuff, like a proper cooker.
The caravan is still roadworthy, but now serves as a garden summerhouse. It's nice to eat out in sometimes when the weather is not quite warm enough for outdoor meals, or to retreat to for privacy, studying, or if putting up guests.
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A German firm called Touratech (aka Touratwat by those in the know) can do you a lovely little two man tent with a built in shelter for a BMW GS - just under 2k in their current catalogue..
Last edited by: R.P. on Mon 27 Aug 12 at 20:20
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We use Motels, a habit picked up many years ago and easier in the UK now the chains have increased in size. No shed to drag around, basic clean comfortable short term accommodation almost anywhere. Ideal for our pensioner countrywide roaming. You can eat wherever you wish, from piping hot fresh fish and chips eaten while sat on a sea wall on a warm summer evening to a pub or restaurants providing food from many countries.
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I am so with those who don't get it. That's exactly where I am. I sat there this afternoon, a bit cold, a bit bored and a lot miserable wondering why anyone would want to do this. Indeed I'm also, conversely, totally with those who do it on the cheap. I absolutely do get that bit.
I would though like to hear from some of those who see the value in spending substantial sums on these things and then sit around in wind and rainswept British fields convincing themselves they're having fun. At what point does that feel like a clever thing to have done? I'm prepared to be wrong, I really am, but as things stand...
:-)
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Think that is just it, always had the idea of buying a cheap van and converting it into a sort of tent, well a van with a bed in it, but most camp sites don't allow vans.
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Should have pinged me Humph. We were in a pub in Beaumaris. I get that
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Yeah, me too ! However, while I'm on my soapbox...I get motorbikes. I do. Loved riding them in Brazil or when somewhere else hot. Great fun. But in Britain????? Cold, wet and you have wear leather trousers. Not right. Can't be...
:-)
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Nah go out in the sun, either in my kevlar knitted jeans and body armour or top tech textile suit.
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>>Two professional middle aged gents.......I ask you.
>>
At least one retired I tell you...
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If I told Mrs K. that we were selling up and moving into a mobile home she'd jump at the chance.
As long as it was at least 40ft and moored in the Caribbean.
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I know you're all just trying to wind us caravanners up...but I'm not rising to the bait.
We enjoy the hobby immensely and when we're not out in the van we have an extra room at home for guests with a mini kitchen, fridge and en-suite.
I expect Old Mother Pat will be along soon to give you non-believers a verbal spanking
Ted
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Back in the '70s it seemed the types that went away every weekend and met the same group of people had pampas grass in their front gardens.
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They dont get it because they don't get it Ted. It makes no more sense to ask what the fascination with caravans is than it does to ask what the point of spending hours in airports or hotels. It's a means to an end. We just spent 5 days in the NE using our little pop top. We went to the Baltic & the Laing in Newcastle, spent time in Alnwick. Rothbury, Alnmouth, visited friends in Northumberland. We moved on to Leek, met more old friends in Buxton, visited favourite uncle in Sheffield, walked a bit, went to couple of new to us NT properties. We'll soon be in the Cotswolds where we'll do a bit more walking and exploring, and visit some familiar favourite pubs or whatever.
I sleep in my own bed every night and my relaxing time doesn't have to be spent in a bedroom or the public areas of a hotel.
Of course other types of holiday are available, and we do some of those too. But let them sneer away if it boosts their egos ;-)
It is a pain packing the pampas grass though.
Last edited by: Manatee on Mon 27 Aug 12 at 23:31
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I think I get caravans, at least almost.
After far too many years of hotels, rented homes, aeroplanes and everything else travel oriented, there are just a few things that I value beyond luxury and/or convenience; namely my own sheets and my own bathroom. I will go through a lot in the name of those two.
As it happens I've never tried caravans, but I have tried motorhomes. A friend of mine who is seriously into caravans, and I who love motorhomes, were arguing over a beer as one does, and came to this; if you like to go to one place, albeit a different place every year, and stay there using it as a hub, then caravans work very well. If, like me, you prefer to wander, then motorhomes are the way to go.
Bear in mind that there isn't anywhere in the world I particularly want to go. (quite genuinely I have been everywhere that interested me). I am more into the wandering and the relaxation. Mooching around Europe or North America with my own bedroom and bathroom suits me down to the ground. The kids like it as well. My wife sees it as a neccessary sacrifice if she wants to avoid camping.
There's a couple of reasons I don't like caravans; I can't reverse anything with a trailer for the life of me. (and I used to be a Class I driver for Debenhams!!). But I really, really can't.
Secondly, we go to out of the way places, and often eat and/or sleep wherever we are. From a security point of view I like to be in something which is instantly mobile if I walk from my bed to the driver's seat, without having to get outside.
Last time we were in one in England, we were coming up from Devon, it was pouring with rain and freezing cold so I'm guessing it was July or August. Pulled up, quick permish from a farmer to park in his field (£10). 4 Happy Meals, a DVD, and a bottle of wine later and our world was painless.
The only downside of a motorhome is you essentially have no transport without it. We carry a couple of mopeds, but that wouldn't work for everybody.
As for getting stuck behind a caravan, and I used to live in Ottery St Mary and work in Exeter, its irritating but I can't say it bothers me much in the scheme of things.
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Those of us who love them appear to have been out enjoying them, while those of you who envy us appear to have been sat behind a keyboard all weekend.
How sad is that:)
Pat
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>> Those of us who love them appear to have been out enjoying them, while those
>> of you who envy us appear to have been sat behind slow moving caravans all weekend.
Corrected it for you!
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So what's the rush Andy? It's a weekend, it's a holiday and there's far more chance to enjoy your surroundings!
You seem to have answered the question very well.
Pat
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Motorhoming seems to be a good way of seeing at least part of the world, with freedom from hotels. I've seen enough of those to last me - mainly budget ones in London. At the moment daughter and SiL and their boxer dog are stranded in Schandelah, Niedersachsen, where their old camper van engine has seized up due to lack of oil. Oil leak apparently. RAC cover: van will not be repatriated as the cost is more than the market value.
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What you fail to understand is the independence and mobility that a caravan offers.
I have ben caravanning for more years than I care to remember. My latest caravan cost me £16,000 in April this year and has all mod cons anyone would need. I don't use the shower or toilet facilities in my 'van, but prefer to use those offered by sites. I choose my sites carefully and avoid any with iffy ablution facilities.
Caravanning is not a cheap method of having a holiday, but allows one the freedom to do as they please. I don't enjoy sitting in my awning watching the rain, but I'll sit in my quite luxurious lounge watching TV, reading a paper, or surfing the 'Net. I can make a cuppa when I wish and have a snack. I have recently spent six weeks in France in my caravan, with my two Cocker Spaniels, and had the freeedom to do as I pleased. I don't have to sit in a hotel room with limited facilities - been there, done that. I tend to eat out most of the time, and have breakfast and snacks in the 'van. I also meet likeminded people and have made lasting friendships both home and abroad.
Don't knock it until you've tried it.
Last edited by: Robbie34 on Tue 28 Aug 12 at 10:49
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>> Don't knock it until you've tried it.
>>
We had a dodgy Scoutmaster who used to say that...
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>> >>
>> >> Don't knock it until you've tried it.
>> >>
>> We had a dodgy Scoutmaster who used to say that..
Very droll
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Copied from a previous thread:
Been there done that. Autumn is the time to buy when people are trying to offload and you can get the full package with all the accessories. Had three in total.
Positives:
Gets you out in the open when you want and where you want within reason.
You don't have to go far to enjoy the experience.
Good for small kids where they can roam under the watchful eyes of other parents and meet other kids. Never saw them until fodder time.
Some nice sites in nice places.
Negatives:
Damp is a BIG issue. Got bitten the first time and the second one had a leak which I managed to deal with but its a bit of a clat if you do it yourself. If you don't know what you are looking for find someone who does. They can be very expensive and difficult to dry out and are really not made for pulling to pieces. Rotting timbers and all that.
They are very fragile things. Soon dent, scratch and fittings can be weak. Everything made for lightness.
I found preparation, loading/unloading cleaning and maintenance seemed to take an inordinate amount of time.
Awnings/groundsheets are a faff especially when wet and you have to clean an dry thoroughly before packing away.
Insurance and storage costs can add up.
Suitable vehicle to tow which you will use as you everyday transport.
There can be some snobbery with 'outfits' and you can get sucked into the experience buying the latest gadgets and upgrading the van.
There are very few nice warm summer evenings it normally feels cool and a bit damp in the awning.
Family in a van can be a bit claustrophobic with clutter all over and wet grass trampled in.
We had ours over a few years and they fulfilled a need and yes we had some enjoyable holidays but I was glad to start renting cottages where you can hand the key back. Start adding up all the costs and they are not necessarily cheap holidays. Never used ours as frequently as we promised ourselves we would. Always something else on the timetable or a poor weather forecast.
Would I do it again? When the kids have flown the nest maybe a camper van and a long touring holiday. There is a particular freedom to be had.
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I have never had a damp issue with any of my caravans. My present Swift has a ten year water ingress warranty, and it's hardly fragile. My Accord Tourer tows brilliantly, although the downside is the drop in fuel consumption when towing. Ordinarily, I get about 54mpg sticking to speed limits on motorways, but this drops to about 30mpg when towing. If you want to get a huge twin axle 'van, then of course you need a huge car to tow it. I have never seen the need to buy an enormous 'van; my present Swift is a comfortable four berth with tons of room.
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>> I have never had a damp issue ...........
When I was a teenager I sometimes used to wake up and find I'd had a damp sticky issue. I grew out of it.
;-)
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Come on Les this is a seriousness caravan discussion.>:)
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Anyone who thinks a caravan is small and/or damp should try a submarine. I will stick to hotels, motels, and B&Bs. :-)
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My next-door neighbour used to go caravanning when his boys wers small. But he'd only ever go to local sites - "one field is much the same as another" he used to say, which I suppose is true.
He also used to send his wife home on Sunday morning to make and return with his Sunday dinner!
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>> I will stick to hotels, motels, and B&Bs.
Same here. Holidays are for a bit of luxury, being waited on and generally pampered. And continually banging my head on low door frames was a distinct disadvantage of taking a caravan holiday a few years ago.
:)
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I tried to ignore this post this morning.
I tried to ignore it at lunchtime bit then I saw that Robbie had risen to the bait so deftly laid by Humph......
Now I have to time to list my reasons for preferring our own Olympus to a 5 star hotel.
Our bed is fixed and permanently made up.
The bedroom has it's very own en suite bathroom and shower cubicle.
It has never, ever been used by anyone other than us, neither has the bed.
I don't have to pack anything, it all stays in the van all year round and even clothes are put away in wardrobes and lockers before we leave.
We can leave when we like and never be early or late, come home if we want to and don't have to pay excess baggage or flight change fees.
Breakfast can be served at 4am, or 5am and we can be silent not sociable while we have it.
Dinner is always eaten out and I have never used a caravan cooker.
I can choose to pitch away from anyone else and don't have to put up with the neighbours from hell.
It has blown air central heating...unlike the last *luxury* self catering apartment we had that had the heating controls locked away from May to September.
The car we tow with is the same model Mondeo we had before we had a caravan.
What's not to like?
Not everyone wants the same thing from a holiday, but most seem to want to impose their views of heaven or luxury upon everyone else.
For us both, who have spent a working year doing JIT (just in time) deliveries all over the country, all we want is the freedom to do what we want when we want to do it without clock watching.
We enjoy being away from people (sorry folks!) and want our own bit of luxury into the bargain.
I can justify the expense...it's simple, we enjoy owning a caravan and that justifies it completely.
I could ask you why you justify spending £x's on a holiday flying to somewhere exotic and hot.
You would certainly justify it because you enjoy it.
I wouldn't, it would be a nightmare for me. The only time I enjoyed flying was in a Tiger Moth because it was an open cockpit, and I didn't have to be herded through an airport.
I don't like heat, I don't like not having wheels to explore the out of the way places on holiday.
It's horses for courses and Humph you would never make a caravanner in a million years:)
Pat
Last edited by: pda on Tue 28 Aug 12 at 17:34
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>> I don't have to pack anything, it all stays in the van all year round
>> and even clothes are put away in wardrobes and lockers before we leave.
>>
Do you mean that Mr PDA doesn't have a new capsule wardrobe each season?
How can the poor chap wear last year's clothes?
Who looks after the cats while you are away?
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>>The bedroom has it's very own en suite bathroom and shower cubicle.
But it must be good to get home to a proper sized bathroom and shower cubicle, though.
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No...we're both used to living in the confines of a lorry cab all week.
But it was noted at our last self catering let that the heating system in the cab wasn't restricted during the summer months.
That was the last straw for us...
Pat
Last edited by: pda on Tue 28 Aug 12 at 17:58
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"Breakfast can be served at 4am, or 5am and we can be silent not sociable while we have it.
Dinner is always eaten out and I have never used a caravan cooker."
I am not surprised a cold breakfast at 4 or 5am is silent and not sociable.
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>>But it was noted at our last self catering let that the heating system in the cab wasn't restricted during the summer months.<<
Ive not yet come across self-catering with restricted heating. The last place I stayed at had a modern combi available at all times.
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>>you would never make a caravanner in a million years:)
From what little I've seen of the breed, in fairness, there's not too many of them one would feel inclined to attempt to make...
:-)
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I've done the self catering, hotels and exotic holidays. Even though I flew Club Class on long haul flights, I have had to wait in airport lounges because of weather conditions and other delays. Don't know how I would have coped if I hadn't the use of the Club Class lounge, but even that never made up for the ten or twelve hour wait and the consequent missed connection. At least with my caravan I'm more or less master of my own destination I don't have to look for a hotel if I'm late as I'm towing it.
I agree, it's an expensive way to go on holiday, but it's carefree, and I can do as I please, within reason. I can also go anytime I choose and I can take my dogs with me without any hassle. Seems to me there's a degree of rationalisation on the part of the caravan haters, or is it envy?
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No, for my part it's genuine curiousity. Not hatred. Just don't really get it is all. Was just trying to understand what I'm missing. Have to say, as mentioned earlier, I find the little replica suburbs a bit well, you know...odd I suppose. I get camping. Back to nature and all that. Each to their own of course.
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I like that replica suburbs.>) If you fall out with the neighours you move on.
Each to their own not for me.Didn't mind camping as a youngster.Tent on the back of the bike and cycling with my mate to Apeldoorn from Rotterdam as a 14 year old.
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I think some non-caravanners don't realise how smart and comfy modern ones are.
Several visitors have been surprised at my static, and I've been in a caravan like Pat's - it's a very agreeable place to be.
People blather on about the rain, but being stuck in a hotel room on holiday in the wet isn't much better.
You can get to the bar without getting wet - unless you're in one of those motels where it's a walk to the pub/restaurant.
As regards mini-suburbia, is sitting in a hotel room off a long corridor of identical rooms any more natural?
Some of those motel blocks remind me of my visits to prison.
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I wouldn't mind trying a campervan for a holiday.There are plenty of caravans build in this area they look a nice quality.
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...there are plenty of caravans built in this area...
Certainly are, and the industry's biggest annual show is this weekend:
www.lawnsandbeaulieushows.com/
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Ah but, I wouldn't deliberately go on an outdoor activity based holiday where there was a high risk of rain. That's why Easyjets were invented. My in-laws are currently less than 30 miles / half an hour from their very nice house, in a field, in the rain, in cramped conditions, with a chemical toilet. Still puzzled.
:-)
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We spend a pre christmas night once in a freezing cold hotel room twenty minutes from our house.Never again >:) One of these old style places and the central heating went on the blink.
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One of my neighbors, now moved, had a huge twin axle motor home which apparently cost over £60k when he bought it. He also bought a Fiat 500 that he towed behind it on an A-frame.
Before setting off somewhere he would fetch the thing from wherever he stored it and spend a whole day giving it a wash and vac, load it up with fresh linen and supplies, check fluid levels, fill the water tanks and hook the Fiat up to the back.
When he got back home he had to unhook the Fiat, take the linen in for washing, empty and disinfect the fridge and loo tank, clean the cooker and then mess around with the water tanks again.
He did this around four times per year and the longest I can recall him being away was one week, usually it was just a long weekend.
That's a holiday?
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>> That's a holiday?
Each to their own. If he enjoys it then that's his affair. I never go anywhere for less than a week with my caravan, and usually for at least three. When going to France it's usually for about six weeks.
I have never seen the point in having a motorhome and towing a small car, but the huge motorhomes can certainly be very luxurious.
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>>He did this around four times per year and the longest I can recall him being away was one week, usually it was just a long weekend<<
S'like boats, when we lived in Gorran Haven, South Cornwall, quite a few properties had boats on the drive.
And that's precisely where they stayed for most of the year, looked pretty cool though :}
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Most things do look cool in this ruddy weather Doggo..............
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Talking to one of the guys in work today, he was saying that yesterday morning that Morrisions' car park was jammed packed with caravans - with the occupants in the cafe indulging in mega fry ups. Been known to indulge.
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I can understand that. Pal of mine is a Yacht Master and I was recently invited on a bareboat charter ex Largs. 'orrible weather so we stayed moored for 24 hours before venturing out for fun & games.
Four days under sail and some of the worst pubs known to mankind.
Wish I had been in a caravan. At least no rattling rigging to keep you awake all night.
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Each to his own, my life revolves around bikes - some here wouldn't be seen dead around one. Probably the same with caravans. I was thinking of my sister's 'van today on the bike (where there is thinking space) and it was probably down to economics that they got one....both good earning professionals but with other priorities.....people make choices.
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...bikes - some here wouldn't be seen dead around one.
It's the likelihood that I might be that keeps me away, RP.
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>At least no rattling rigging to keep you awake all night.
Regular rattling of the rigging, waves slapping the side of the boat and the rolling of the hull put me straight to sleep.
I also sleep better on a plane if there is turbulence.
Just need to be rocked in my pram I guess.
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>>Most things do look cool in this ruddy weather Doggo..............<<
Nice in Truro today but, glad to get back to the moor ~ far from the madding crowd.
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Bin up the city, eh...Bonzo ?
Glorious today here......was in Piccadilly Gardens twice during the day...people in the fountains, sunbathers, ice-cream eaters.......everyone smiling. Love it all.
www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=d6wfxBGK8hE
Ted
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So y'all even got pavements up there now Teddy - nice to see the peeps enjoying the day.
Tis a shame they're led by a bunch of prats in number 10 though.
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Thought I spotted you in the background, Dawg?
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There were a few dogs there C/S.
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In defence of caravans (and camping too), there can be very sensible reasons for going down this route, despite the well observed pitfalls of slumming it in the great outdoors.
Mrs OB, for instance, has Coeliac Disease and so staying in hotels is, to all intents and purposes, impossible for her. Especially the ones that only do buffets in the evenings. There's a few B&Bs that provide gluten free food, but they don't have evening meals and aren't often child friendly, for some reason.
Eating out on an evening is very tricky, and all too often results in screw-ups from well-meaning restaurants who just don't understand gluten free or the effects of cross-contamination.
Foreign hotels and restaurants can be a nightmare. Getting the idea of gluten free food understood in English is hard enough, to someone who barely shares a language, forget it.
So, our preferred option is staying in cottages or villas, etc. These places can be great for the kids too. The trouble is, in school holidays these places are seriously expensive, especially if you want more than one break a year.
Caravan site fees are cheap, you can make whatever food you like and once you've bought the 'van', the running costs aren't all that much and depreciation is slow.
Camping is too much like hard work with the larger tents a family needs (especially if you have to do proper cooking), and so caravaning wins for us.
I still hate towing and maintaining the damn things though. And yes, I hate getting stuck behind them on a nice stretch of bendy A-road too.
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Caravans, can someone explain... - R.P.
