AIBU to think it a good idea to get a caravan!

[Effnjeff]

Was thinking it would be nice to get a cheap 2nd hand touring caravan for spontaneous breaks/cheap hols etc.
DH def not keen, says they're a PITA and way too expensive for what they are

I'm with your DH, I think caravans are hideous and naff.

I loved our tourer when I was little but I think you need to look closely at the costs before getting into it, site pitches aren't that cheap anymore especially not if you want facilities on site.

We have friends with one.
They can never just take off as one would imagine.
There's always booking, cleaning, packing up, unpacking, taking it to storage.
Seems a massive faff to me.
for the same price you could stay in some lovely B&Bs.

I can't recommend them enough!
We were fed up of working all week, every weekend cleaning, washing shopping, cooking diy, same thing week in week out so we got a cheep one.
We chuck food in the fridge, clothes in the wardrobe and we go all over the place.
It's changed our family time together & the kids love it.

We love holidays abroad but we want our children to see what is here in the UK too.
We have been to some amazing places in all weather's in every season.

It's fab. We got a posher one part ex when we got our heads round it.
Love it!

My DH wanted one so I let him buy we bought one. He enjoyed it and I tolerated it. It did make a difference in that we didn't have to keep booking B&B because we had a site index from the Caravanning Association. The problem was that we had nowhere at home to keep it so it was kept at a caravan storage farm about 8 miles away.

That meant that my DH had to drive to fetch it and tow it home so we could pack our holiday things in it. We had a holiday and towed it home to unload it and he towed it back to storage. Eventually, we sold it. He'd had his fix.....

It all depends on what you mean by a cheap holiday. We have a Motohome and campsite charges (in this country) aren't cheap.
I'm afraid the days of wild camping are gone. By wild camping I mean that you find a spot where you not inconveniencing anyone and stay there a few days before moving on. There are still some reasonably priced sites in France.

We had it for 2 years.

My idea of hell. But friends have one and love it. It's a very posh one though.

We have a tourer but sited on a permanent pitch that we can leave all ready, awning up and come and go as we please. Perfect with two young kids and we went from one holiday a year to at least one weekend month and three full weeks away a year, it's not everyone's cup of tea I know but for us it's great. Can you borrow one to try first maybe?

Heaven for some, hell for others!

I have very fond memories of caravanning holidays when I was a child, but we had space to store it at the house and I suspect my mum was preparing for days packing it etc. Being a child, I wasn't really aware of any of that.

We often spend time in my Dad's static caravan in the Lakes which is on a lovely site. We did look into it ourselves, but it's over £50K plus several thousand each year in site costs. Also, you only get the pitch for 10 years and then have to buy a completely new caravan. There are some wooden lodge things, but they're even more expensive at £150K!

Increases in site fees etc and also storage costs mean it's not a cheap option any more.

Would much rather have a camper van. A 'cheap' 2nd hand tourer is a money pit, IME.

i would hate it.
i would be hate to be committed to a caravan perhaps in the same location, year in year out.
i prefer variety when i go on holidays and would loathe being tied to the same ding dong, year in year out.

I think you need to do the sums very carefully as I am sure that it works out as a lot per night if you don't use it much and that might mean that cottages and B&Bs are cheaper.

Would love one!

I think that you can hire tourers and motor homes, so it might be worth trying that first.

Have you stayed in a static before? If not perhaps start with a weekend in a static.

We bought one last year for various boring reasons intending to use it for one holiday. (Long story) ended up using if for the summer with the dc and dp is currently doing some work to the inside of it with the intent of keeping this one another year and buying a better one next year.
I never thought we would love it as much as we do. It is much cheaper than a b&b per night to pitch but it does add up a bit food wise but I cook in the caravan mostly with occasional pub meals as a treat.
Kids absolutely love it. We have had some great adventures in the less than a year we have had it. We love in scotland and have covered most corners of the country in it and still loads more to go. We go at weekends once dp finishes work on a Friday to places within a couple of hours. The kids made loads of new friends last summer and had an absolute ball. We have had longer holidays and use it to break up the 5 (with no stops at all) journey to dp's parents house.
One huge word of advice though take a damp meter with you when you go to view any. At this time of year the damp ones are drying out so will be hard to tell from just looking.

Nope I would hate it. Mum and dad have a static now, but their first was a tourer. No where near as much fun as they hoped. Towing it was a pain. So they ended up with a permanent pitch in a caravan site, which worked out expensive really. In fact my friend had one and when she worked out how much it cost a year, she got rid and went on a few smaller holidays abroad instead. She didn't feel it was value for money.

They love their static and I can stay there, but still not my idea of fun.

I would say yanbu because some people love it and think its totally worth it. The main questions are who is towing? And what will you be giving up to do it, financially? If its dh will have to tow and he doesn't want to do it (my dad hated it) then that's kind of it, really. And if you have to give up a lot to pay for it, will you resent it.

A lot depends on what you want out of a holiday. We have a small caravan and we use Caravan Club Certificated Locations that start at around £9 a night (membership fee is about £40). We use the cheaper sites for short breaks and they may or may not have electric hook up and are unlikely to have a toilet and shower block so you have to make do with your van's facilities.

For our longer holidays (up to 2 weeks) we use the more expensive Certificated Locations at about £13 per night for which we get electric hook up and toilets and showers.

You have to be prepared to deal with lugging the toilet tank across a field and emptying it, checking how much water you have before you think of having a shower and planning meals and food shopping around a small oven and fridge.

Personally I think it's worth it and we've had some great holidays that way.

Also when thinking of costs you will need to think of your car and if it is suitable to tow with.

Currently sitting outside our lovely caravan and awning enjoying the sunshine. Took all of an hour to set it up, plumbed in water, sorted for the week. Haven't seen DS since 11am (apart from checking in) as he is away playing in the park with the ton of friends he has made since we arrived yesterday.

Think I've got rose tinted spectacles towards caravans. I grew up on the south coast and we belonged to the Caravan Club so lots of great breaks in the New Forest, Devon etc.
Am sure it was hassle for DM to pack/unpack each time but we all seemed to enjoy it and when DF was working, he'd join us at weekends. I remember making loads of new friends each time and of course it was always sunny

TBH I have no idea of costs for a 2nd hand van or how much to get a tow bar fitted so would need to do tons more research.

Have done the static caravan bit but don't enjoy those massive sites much.

Dh wants a tourer; I don't.

I think if we did have the money we would maybe consider a static. MIL used to have one but her dm told the entire family they could use it for free, which they did, regularly. Dh says that one summer they couldn't even stay in it themselves!

So I think that's possibly something else to consider.

My mum had a static for a couple of years. She could only stay in it April to October, the ground rent was about £3k pa and she was constantly inundated with random bills. Just wasn't financially viable