I am BU. Holiday parks and 'chavs'!

[Waltermittythesequel]

My dsis has informed me that I would be mad to book a Haven holiday in the UK since it will be full of rough people and chavs.

I have never been so I have no idea of the type of clientele.

I'm honest enough to admit that the thought of being surrounded by Jezza Kyle types is a little daunting.

There'll be dh and I along with our 3 dc and I just don't want to fork out a lot of money and feel uncomfortable and unable to use the facilities.

I hate judging people based on how they look/sound etc but she's been before and has really worried me!

I am shocked at £1400 a week for a caravan holiday even in school holidays. Haven are asking for £2.5k for a Prestige caravan in Cornwall for 10 days in August !! Surely those kinds of prices rule out a lot of people ?

Walter - The Haven excrement incident was a good number of years ago, but I would never go back to that particular park. Others we have been to have been spotless.

They vary considerably, we have been to some lovely ones ( Hafan Y Mor was nice and Haggerston Castle wasn't bad -although it flooded!) But the worst place ever wasn't a Haven site but a ParkDean site. Don't EVER go to Southerness in Scotland, not even if your life depends on it!!

We own a mobile home on a Siblu (European arm of Haven) site. We love it- clean, safe, lots for DS to do. We bought while I was pregnant, have upgraded the van and think we'll get another couple of years yet.

If being able to sit outside in our own area of garden, drinking wine and eating Brie while DS plays football with children from all over Europe make me a'chav' I'll live with that.

I guess £1400 for a week isn't that bad if yiu are 6 people in a 6 birth caravan.
It's never worked out cost effective for me as its just DS and I. We are going to Majorca, AI for a week mid August this year for £350 less than that!

Yes I get £1400 for the high season but my van is high end, I put the cost of my van per week so people could see it's not all about the Sun holiday weeks (cheap) there are very few of these available at Haven, people will pay good money to stay on a Haven site it is not cheap.

The clientele will vary where ever you go holiday and as for people looking like chavs, perhaps this comes from clothing. When I am at my van it is relaxing jeans tee shirts casual wear. When I am in a 5star resort in Mexico I dress completely different.

All I am saying is don't pre judge people it is a really nasty trait. Get rid of that stiff upper lip and you never know you might just have some fun.

I don't want people to think I capitalise on the school holiday charging £1400. Unless you owned a van you wouldn't know how expensive it is to run. My site fees every year are £5300, I have to pay a cleaner, maintenance, rates, gas, water and electric. I am out of pocket every year while my van is also devaluing. But I chose to only let out for those 6 weeks and we use the van the rest of the time. I could let it out for the whole 9 months and make money. But for us it is about having a place by the sea and making memories for our kids.

£1400 though is probably good value for a family? Caravans are cost effective for visitors if you utilise the berth capacity.
I'd love to do more haven holidays with DS - it's just not a cheap option for us.

I don't understand how The Sun can do offers on Haven Sites so cheap. We have paid about £170 for 3 nights at haven Golden Sands at the start of the school holidays through an offer in our local paper ( for 5 of us). Is it just that the Sun offers are not at peak times?

I don't have a stiff upper lip. I'm Irish!

And it's not about clothing. There are dozens of examples of the behaviour I'm concerned about on this thread alone.

It doesn't just not exist because MNers don't want to acknowledge it!

£1400 though is probably good value for a family?

Not really! E.g. - 4 of us (3 adults, 1 child) flying to Stuttgart from Scotland this summer, hiring a car and staying in a gorgeous s/c place Bavaria for 12 days in costing slightly less than that. We won't have a pool and entertainment, but we're not looking for that.

Hafan y mor is lovely, I've been there a few times as well as greenacres which was also nice. I never went to the night time entertainment, we just went out in the evening or had a walk round the park. My caravan was spotless and quite a way from the main site son we had no noise from the bars.

I've never had to queue for linen at haven. It's already in the caravans, I don't believe that one sorry. Unless you possibly mean pontins but even then I don't remember queuing there either!

£1400 for a week? Bloody hell I had no idea. That's a lot of cash.how many people can you fit in a prestige caravan? I've been in a two bedroom static home in a private camp and it felt cramped for 4 people.

I thought they were supposed to be cheap holidays

The queuing at Haven (Hastings) was definitely a thing! It was not a caravan but a...wait for it... chalet. A shitty, little, terraced THING. With shitty beds, holes in the walls and doors, cables sticking out where lamps should be, broken plastic sofas. It was awful, like a little prison cell. The queue for linen was also for caravanners. We also had the queue in the nicer park (not a Haven) in Devon. This was not private bookings, but bookings direct to the park. Don't know if that makes a difference! I don't care anyway, never returning.

The Sun holidays are always the crappy caravans they can't sell. We had a pet friendly one in a crap location on the site, that was the size of my front room and was colder inside than out.

They bank on you loving it and coming back to an upgraded van at full price. Which to be fair, we did!

I'd love to know what constitutes being a "chav"? Anyone wish to enlighten me?

dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/chav

The sun holidays are always the crappy caravans they can't sell.

Not always. My last but one was a sun hols and the caravan was beautiful, nice and clean, very modern and well looked after

Runner, I've never stayed in the chalets I must admit so that the linen queue must defo be a thing then.

I stayed in a chalet at pontins. Never ever again.

I will only stay in the caravans at havens. I've heard awful things about the chalets

We stayed in an awful chalet at one of the Norfolk parks near Great Yarmouth. I don't remember queueing for linen though !!

Thank you paddingtonthebear, was rather more interested in the definition of "chav" according to the people on this thread as opposed to the dictionary definition.

Not necessarily Tywin, my experience of Sun Holidays is that the accommodation is hit and miss. We've had some really nice Sun Holiday accommodation and some not so nice, but we've also had the same experience when booking direct with the park.

Not a Haven site but we've stayed at Woolacombe Bay twice in the past. The first time was through The Sun, the caravan was lovely: clean, modern, warm etc. The second time we booked directly including and upgrade from 'bronze' to 'gold' and the caravan left a lot to be desired, damp, old, tired etc.

I think luck play a part when it comes to holiday park accommodation. Unless you go for the very top upgrade it's a bit of a roulette in terms of the quality of the caravan you get.

I'm thinking now that it might not be worth the money for me.

I mean, I'm assuming that it's priced the way it is for all the amenities.

But we wouldn't use the entertainment and from the sounds of it the pool is more hassle than it's worth!

However, some of these areas are outstandingly beautiful so maybe a self catering cottage is the way to go?

Book camber sands pontins 40 quid for the weekend.....
Haven will be heaven afterwards