AIBU to move family into caravan?

[mumofbeagles]

DH and I currently own a 3 bedroom House in the south east. This has recently been sold STC etc and we currently can not afford to buy in the area we want to. Fab schools, loads of green space. It's the country life we want.
Would it be ludicrous to buy a 3 bedroom caravan and move us, our two children, dog and two cats into it?
We will get a reasonable amount out of our house for a deposit, but until youngest Is in school etc I am limited hours I can work etc.
So after much discussion PIL have offered to gift us 1 acre of land for us to put caravan on. It's in the area we want to live etc.
Getting the caravan would mean we would be able to double if not treble our savings potential. So that we can find our dream home and not be mortgaged up to the eyeballs. It would likely be short term 2-3 years. Until my earning potential goes up and so does the deposit.
What are you thoughts, those that have lived 'off grid' what advise would you give
TIA

I tink it would be an awesome thing to do.
I was just wondering though could you build your dream house in the 1 acre gifted by your FIL?

I’d love it

Ok, are you doing it then? Making enquiries now? Or would you or any of the others saying this like to explain to the op why you’re not selling up to go live in a caravan in a field?

You need Planning permission.

I recently moved into a 3 bed static, I can’t comment on planning as mine is on a site but in terms of space, I’m not finding it cramped at all. I’ve got two kids and a cat in mine and my move is due to my relationship ending so half of the kids stuff is at their dad’s house but in terms of storage, I haven’t found it a struggle at all. My static is double glazed, with Fitted electric radiators, a proper cooker, wifi and a decent shower. I haven’t done a winter here yet but we are all loving it so far.

@Bluntness100

I live in a boat - does that count, as I did say ‘go for it’?!

Yes that counts,,,😄

But why sell a house security on the property ladder?!

I think it's only an annexe if no separate toilet facilities etc are added. I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure you can't just add individual dwellings with their own sewage facilities, on a piece of your land.

Sorry that's to the PP who said people could add "annexes" to their land.

So you can add a garden room/hut/etc if a certain size, without separate facilities.

OP I have seen that your children are fairly young and (probably) resilient... for the benefit of other followers of this thread, I survived, but only just, two years of static caravan in Wiltshire while major renovations were being done. I was trying to do A levels, my sister was trying to do O levels, our brother was trying to pass 11 plus and we had two younger siblings rioting in one tiny room. It wasn't good and both of us girls did less well than we should have. And our brother eventually killed himself.

Yes I would. In fact I’ve even been thinking half heartedly of renting my house out for a year to 18 months and asking my dad if we can move in with him to save for an extension. I really don’t want to add it to our mortgage and think we could probably live off my lower salary and save DH’s higher salary.
If I had the option of a caravan, I’d take it 🙈

We did this while we built our house. We had it easy because we only slept in our tourer and used a relative's kitchen and bathroom. It served a purpose,but I wouldn't recommend it long term. We had two teenagers,3 cats and a puppy. The teenagers lasted 3 nights before moving in with my relative. DH and I stuck it out,all through the winter storms and we lived in it for 7 months. It was cold,we ran heating and lights from my relatives outside socket,the electricity bill was immense. We had calor gas heating too,£29 every few weeks. It did not keep the heat in,we switched it on at 4.30pm each day so it was tolerable by bedtime. The wind shook it terribly,if you needed a wee in the night,you had to get up and go outside,unlock relatives house and use their bathroom. You will definitely need planning permission,unless you already have pp and are living on site. Someone will shop you if you try to live in it without pp. We were only in the caravan 7 months,but we couldn't wait to get out and into a proper house and feel warm and comfortable again. No way would I do it out of choice,I won't even go on holiday in one and sold mine a few weeks ago. I sold it for £100 less than I paid for it,so it did mean that we lived almost rent free while we built,but we had to pay a stupid amount of council as they will track you down and you pay the lowest band.