Static Caravan by the Sea

[COPPER3]

For ages now, I have dreamt of having my own static by the sea (preferably in Devon). Does anyone own one and is it a complete waste of money or a delightful haven? Some sites have extortionate site fees which is out of the question for me. Of course, with Covid, I understand that people have been so restricted with their visiting. Advice welcomed and tia..

Yes, we have one. it's absolutely our haven and we wouldn't be without it. It's closed during the winter ( freezing caravans aren't much fun anyway) and we countdown the months till it reopens again in the spring. Didn't get there much last year, but in a way thats the beauty of it - no need to book - it's just always there.

I have one but not in Devon. It is my home away from home and I love it so much.

We've been refunded site fees since last year but it is worth every single penny to have it.

Our family love ours.

Thank you for posting. Do you mind telling where your vans are and how much you pay in site fees?

We love ours. Use it a lot. Go most weekends and all annual leave and public holidays. Don't even have to pack as we have everything we need there. Can bring the dogs on holiday with us. Site fees £2000, insurance £300, gas and electric £300, annual gas check £90, average maintenance costs and extras -£300. Approximately £3000 a year.

I have one on the west coast of Scotland. It’s wonderful. Site fees are £2000 rates £400 gas and electricity about £400 - we have central heating tho, a luxury but it’s amazing when it’s frosty! Our site is small and quiet, the bigger sites with entertainment etc are more expensive. It’s just lovely getting away and going it the door to the beach.

We bought one as our cottage is quite booked, the children wanted to be able to pop across spontaneously for weekends and it means we can be over on the island with the children but have our own spaces. We were a bit ‘meh’ at first but it’s been excellent.
We don’t go at peak times as we have the cottage and want to avoid crowds. It’s simpler for a weekend than the cottage. Its very comfortable if a little bit naff on interior design. Very modern fittings and colour schemes.

Ours is on Isle of Wight. It has steps down to the most beautiful, almost deserted beach plus a path with a five minute walk to a more popular beach with excellent cafe. We want to use it over winter for sea swimming so close to beach is important. No rentals from October to March, which is good for us.

No idea about site fees. It’s half price this year because of site closure. We rent it for ten weeks in peak season and it pays for everything. In fact we get a payment back.

We can’t wait to be able to go out again. It will depreciate over time but by the time it’s no longer rentable we’ll probably be too old to worry about it. It will be good for any future grandchildren when they’re young as there is a pool, a playground, a little shop and a few activities.

Children were scathing initially, but now like it too.

Literally spent about 2 hours googling this very thing, OP! Watching with interest

Ours is west coast of Scotland and we pay £1200 a year, but can only use it April - October. Gas is on top of that. No facilities, it's just a farmers field with about 15 vans. We love it. It really is our home from home. We spend as much time there as we can.

I’m thinking of buying one, though it’d mostly be for family/little Gdcs to use, and somewhere in the south, though probably not Devon/Cornwall, because of too long a drive.

Would want some facilities e.g. pools.
Any recommendations, please?

It’d need to be a 3 bed, not too bothered about stylish decor.

Seriously look at Isle of Wight. Good beaches. Stunning countryside.
Excellent restaurants.

Thank you all for the feedback. I live in the Midlands. Scotland sounds so incredibly cheap! Beautiful, but sadly too far. I have even thought of Dorset or South Wales, about a 3 hour journey. Some sites in Cornwall charge around £8K for site fees! IOW sounds lovely. Again thank you for info....all of you..

I long for a caravan by the sea. My sister and I have long conversations about co sharing one eventually..

We have one in Norfolk. All in, site fees, rates, utilities etc costs us close to £5500 a year. Luckily we split the cost with family.
The site we are on has indoor/outdoor pool and a clubhouse which is why it’s so expensive.
We love it though. It’s not fancy but it’s fun.

I’d say choose your location wisely, we can get there in a couple of hours which means weekends are doable, any further and it would be hard to manage that.

It's only worth it if you want to always holiday in the same place. Personally I think it's better if you mix it up a bit.

I love the idea of this as well but having debated it many times we know it wouldn't work for us. Questions to ask yourself...

• How far would you want to travel to make use of it at weekends. A couple of hours from home and you could be eating fish 'n' chips at the beach by7pm on a a Friday evening. Much further than that and you're probably restricted to longer holidays.

• If you have DC what age are they? Friends with a static used it loads when DC were young but as they got older and wanted to see friends at weekends, be part of sports teams and go to parties it became harder to get away.

• Would you want it exclusively for your use? Much easier if you can keep clothes and personal stuff there than having to pack everything up before you leave so that it can be rented.

• Would you want to go on other holidays? We felt that whilst we love being at the coast we'd feel obliged to go there rather than anywhere else and there are so many other places that we'd like to visit too. Even if you were paying £300/month for fairly modest site fees that's the cost of a pretty good break every month.

• Read the T&Cs for the sites really carefully. Some sites won't let you move plot without upgrading your caravan. Others will insist that you can only sell it back to them rather than privately. There may be a clause to say that your caravan can't be more than X years old.

• Be prepared that caravans are rarely an investment. Brilliant if you'll use it and enjoy it but very unlikely to get much back at the end.

That said, if I suddenly found myself with £50k to spare I'd be putting my deposit down!

@FleetwoodRaincoat

It's only worth it if you want to always holiday in the same place. Personally I think it's better if you mix it up a bit.

Well,any holiday at the moment would feel good. That said, we have no intention of restricting our holidays to a caravan on the Isle of Wight. It’s a nice add on rather than replacement for holidays.

We have a static caravan on Anglesey. We call it our escape pod. We didn't get to visit as much last year due to C19 but it was a lovely haven when we did.
We're on a small family- run site that doesn't allow owners to rent out their van.

The most important issue is that static caravans depreciate to nothing. Too many people think they're like houses, and go up in value. Think of them in the same way as a car - if you buy a new one for £50,000 you will never see that money again.

On a site that allows ten years' occupancy, you might be offered a couple of thousand after ten years as a trade-in value against a new van. If you sell privately before the ten years are up, the site will want a cut of that deal.

We have debated it on and off for years as we love Devon but the site fees along with the depreciation and fact your van will be turfed off site when it is deemed too old and unattractive puts us off

Keep toying with the idea of a little flat instead as at least you have a return on your investment

The negatives. Costs to buy and the built in site profit means if you resell you lose a lot of money. It also often costs to leave. Then there's the annual rental site fees and other things like insurance. Some dont allow you to sell holidays in it just use it yourself. Make sure you understand the site terms and these costs before you buy.

However, aside from the above, it must be lovely to just pack up and know its there, with all of your stuff ready and waiting, for a short break or holiday as long as you wish (in opening weeks). And be sure you are happy returning always to the same place.

Thank you again for valid opinions. If I had more money, I would definitely purchase a small flat near the coast.

Does anyone have any experience or live near the Durham Heritage coastline? The housing is very cheap there, eg Blackhall Colliery.

Ours is not by the sea but these are my thoughts.

We are 2 hours door to door and that’s about as far as I’d push it - and that’s along good main roads that are not too busy. In normal times, we’re there every other weekend.

We bought a lot of ‘doubles’ of things to make things easier - for us that means walking boots, coats etc

Big vacuum storage bags for putting everything into over the winter

Read the site regulations carefully - they can set the maximum age of your caravan for example and there may be other bizarre rules (we’re technically not allowed to wash our car!🤣)

I've also toyed with it for years, but the negatives have all ways out weighed the positives for us. We don't have anyone to split the costs with, and wouldn't be able to buy brand new, so would only get a few years out of the it, and because of the yearly costs we wouldn't have been able to afford to holiday anywhere else either.

I would still love one though, I'd be very happy with an older caravan on a farmers field type place but they seem few and far between, and the DC are now to old to get much out of it now too.