To ask for your caravan / motor home experiences / opinions?

[Babooshkar]

Posting for traffic..

DH and I are thinking of investing in one for taking family (4 of us) on UK hols in summer and for weekends more locally throughout the year.

We are total novices though and could do with some stories / tips etc from the MN massive.

We hired a motorhome a few weeks ago and we absolutely loved it. We’d love our own but can’t afford it. We loved driving around and stopping, being able to make lunch/a cuppa in our wee kitchen and then driving on again. I don’t fancy a caravan at all, I’d hate to tow something so big and seems much more faffing to get it set up at site than a motorhome which is easy.

I bought a small camper last year and it's pretty great. It's just me and DS so a small one suits us. Though having a toilet was a must for me. When it's just you and a sleeping child going to the toilet block is a logistical nightmare. I have a shower head too but haven't needed to use it as we stay on sites. The freedom it gives DS is the main reason I have it. I love that he can play out and have adventures with his friends in safe and beautiful environments. We joined a club so that he always has friends he knows to play with.

It's true that with a camper you are less able to visit other places but I don't drive to a destination with a view to do more driving. We either stay on sites with public transport or within walking distance of places to visit. Or we stay on sites with masses of amenities that you just don't want to leave. Both types are plentiful.

I’ve stayed on sites like Holland wood at the new forest where you can walk into the town, get the train to Southampton or lymington

Warwick has a site, you can train to Birmingham, leamington & walk into town

Cirencester has a site you can walk to the town and Morton in Marsh - again a station there,

Exford is a short walk on the flat into the very small town but anywhere else is up hill to get out and further

It really depends what you want to amuse yourselves

*Greeborising

Thankfully I have no experience enabling me to contribute to this discussion (shudder)*

Why do people come on threads like this to say stuff like this? What is so lacking in their lives that they feel it necessary? Such strange people on the internet.

We're in the Lakes at present having a wonderful long weekend walking, socialising and being outside in the wonders of this beautiful country of ours.

Having our caravan means this is always available to us at very short notice.

And we prefer the caravan to a campervan having experienced both. It's completely personal preference but we have got setting up the caravan down to a fine art takes less than 15 minutes. And we have the car available if we want to drive and explore the surrounding area.

@MenstruatorExtraordinaire I think they lack any attention therefore write ridiculous things to try and provoke a reaction. Very, very odd. Have to pity them a little bit.

@HollyBollyBooBoo
That’s very passive aggressive comment

I was answering up on the romantic comment of campervan being less comfortable and this wasn’t my experience opposed to the other poster. I hardly think it was attention seeking

I agree with menstruated that it will be personal preference, any quality of the caravan campervan as well ( our caravan was very old)

I don’t think there was any need to be rude

I thought Greenbo’s shuddering comment just made them look silly and snobby.

I didn’t think Holly’s comment was passive aggressive though.

Hi there,

Everyone has individual requirements, but from the experience I have had...

1. Caravans - very comfortable (modern ones anyway :-) ), warm, often have TVs, normally have good solid beds, many have showers (pretty much all of them have toilets). The problems though..... I was not comfortable towing it, through I understand that there are courses to help people (might have helped me!!). However - the single biggest issue for me? Flexibility. You have to choose your route carefully, and when you have two kids (4 and 6), you can't "just pull in" somewhere so they can go to the toilet. You have to know where is the next major services, the next garage with a toilet etc. All in all, not a spontaneous easy trip ("Mummy - I need the toilet! Right now!" etc.)

2. Mobile homes - not so keen on this. For info, I regard a mobile home as the caravan on wheels scenario; it has a toilet, multiple beds etc. and can be quite large. For me, the issue here was heading out for the day.... you have to drive this great big wagon into places not designed for it. Heading over to the local supermarket to get bread and milk? Drive the wagon. Heading for a day out? Drive the wagon etc. Just did not work for us

3. VW-sized Campervan. One of these, with a "drive-away" awning was the absolute best for us. Small enough that it fits into a standard car parking space at Sainsburies etc., but a lovely comfortable bed. Friends have one with a "pop top" for the kids, who absolutely adore it. The drive-away awning is a great place for leaving stuff in while you are off-site exploring - just disconnect, drive off, and then re-connect when you get back. Sort of like the best parts of caravanning without towing a huge white monstrosity behind you. However.... not all is perfect. Reconnecting late at night in the rain can be... interesting. Also - campervans tend not to have toilets (though some may have a "porta-potty" type solution, the idea of having this in the same room as the bed room is.. urgghhh to me). As such, want to do something at night? Walk down to the toilet block....

All in all, having had all three, as you can probably tell from the above, Campervans all the way. Warning though - a modern campervan converted to a high spec is NOT cheap!!!!

@ivykaty44 what on Earth are you talking about?! Wasn't referring to you at all!

@HollyBollyBooBoo your passive aggressive post, which is rude.

We had a tiny camper van for years, but sold it and bought a caravan 3 years ago - 2 berth, 18 years old when we got it. Motor homes obviously more costly to run, with insurance, MOT, registration etc, so you need to work out if it will be worth it.

General thoughts - campervan easier for touring, and our teeny camper meant we could go pretty much anywhere a normal car could go. Bit of a hassle if you’re staying in the same place for a few days but want day trips - you have to pack everything up every day.

We’re loving the caravan - pitch up, put up the awning, and that’s it - just jump in the car and go if we want a day out. We don’t use the caravan bathroom - can’t be arsed with water cassettes and chemical toilets, it’s supposed to be a holiday! So we stay on sites with shower and loo facilities, and electric hook up and use the bathroom as a wardrobe. Love cooking - everything is pared back to basics and we barbecue a lot. Sitting outside the van at 7am on a summer’s morning with a bacon butty and a cup of tea = bliss.

We’ve covered the country from Cornwall to Wick and every point in between. We were on a small site over Easter for 7 nights and it cost £100 including power and showers etc.

Touring caravan here.
Bloody love it.

It’s full of everything we need, things stay in it.
All we do is full the fridge and wardrobe and off we go.
We have been all over the UK in it.
Kids love it especially.

We don’t do allot of cooking, we have a kettle bbq and have barbecues in summer when away.
Actually when we are away in the van it’s when we eat “posh” as we shop each day for food and tend to go for foods that we wouldn’t eat at home as we “are on holiday” 😊

Highly recommend it.

@ivykaty44 re-read the thread. You've completely misunderstood where my comment was directed. I was commenting about Menstruator who was commenting about Greeborising.

Literally nothing to do with you.

Plus there was nothing passive aggressive about it at all, just stating why I think people like Greeborising come on threads and make comments like they do.

Had caravan for a few years towing was very stressful (large caravan) so for years ago we brought a motorhome it's amazing. We go away locally after school on a Friday come back sunday we go away most school holiday's and also go to france every year for some sun. Can't beat it, it gives us proper quality time with DC

Ahh, I love hearing about how much people like their homes on wheels! It’s getting me excited for summer (although we’ve already used the caravan twice this year 😃).

We have a motorhome and bloody love it. We don't stay at sites though, we belong to Britstops, so have loads of places where we can stop for free. We only stop at a site when we need to empty the shitbox toilet cassette, so it saves us a bundle in site fees.

It's great to be able to make a cuppa wherever you happen to be, rather than having to go into a town and find a cafe (got very envious looks when I carried our drinks 10 paces to the beach at Budleigh Salterton) and to park on the top of Dartmoor, cook your breakfast and sit out in the sun to eat it while taking in the view.

We go away a lot more than we would if we had to hitch up a caravan and find a site. We often go less than 40 miles away just for an overnight stop, and on longer journeys we can always find somewhere to break the journey overnight for free or for next to nothing.

A motorhome costs a lot more to run than a touring caravan though: tax, insurance and maintenance are a lot more expensive. If you're intending to stay at sites, a touring van would probably make more sense financially.

And I'm not sure I'd fancy kids underfoot in such a confined space, caravans are roomier.

My parents have had caravans since a were tiny. We have all loved it over the years and some of my few memories of my Grandad are of weekends away in the van. We always had tourers.

Do consider size carefully if you have never towed. There are 4 berths that are just a nice size and ones that are huge!

My parents current van is a 4 berth and is about 24ft long but my dad drives HGVs so towing/parking it is no problem to him. You might want to start with something a little smaller at first!

My parents still love caravanning and most sites are really friendly.

If you're talking about a towing caravan never load it the night before and leave it connected to the car or you'll wake up to a flat battery when you're ready to leave!

We have a motorhome and we absolutely love it. Mainly use it in Scotland and mainland Europe where you can stop pretty much wherever you want. I love waking up at the foot of a mountain, or by a deserted lake. France is especially well set up for motorhome travel with Aires across the country Essentials for us are a fixed bed and really decent seats for travelling, as we do so many miles. If we stop on sites in the UK, we tend to use 'certificated sites' which are in quieter spots and take a max of 5 caravans/motorhomes.

Buying one was an impulse decision, but we haven't regretted it for a second, so life enhancing.

We had a camper van 7 years ago and lived it, we took it down to the south of France one year, a bit stressful but great fun. Our eldest is autistic so it’s the only way to take a holiday. We’ve now got caravan on a seasonal pitch as our son became too difficult to travel with . It’s pitched 8 months of the year so we can go anytime we want and there’s no packing it up at the end of each trip. I love it. I’d prefer a nice foreign holiday once a year but that’s not possible so thus us the next best thing.

My PILs retired and bought a giant ass RV 20+ years ago-they would park in a warm climate in winter then somewhere cool in summer. They drove all over sightseeing in between. I could never be locked in that close to my DH ever but to each his own

Believe me, there's nothing really to towing; I tow by myself all over the UK. There's regular courses which will get you towing, parking and reversing run by both of the big clubs all across the country. Just be aware that you will be restricted by your type of licence (B+E) and the weight that your car can legally tow. There are lighter weight caravans around or you can choose an older model. Mine is a fifteen year old five berth.