Walked between caravans

[Tevion28]

Hi currently staying on in my friends holiday home and me and dp wanted to walk down to the river and took a quick route between 2 caravans and a lady came out and shouted very aggressivly do not walk between the caravans and slammed her door shut so was we in the wrong.

I think it's a bit like : not dissimilar to personal space. I try not to walk to close to anyone in the supermarket, wait till they've chosen their item, and moved, then I choose mine. I don't push past / touch people as I pass them in a restaurant. I try to allow space.

Aren't we all supposed to do this anyway?

@PyongyangKipperbang

But it isnt their garden!!

If it was then it would be fenced off and private. Its a field with no designated "your bit, my bit" going on, so why on earth would the OP think for one second that a bit of grass that looks like all the other bits of grass, is off limits?

Choosing to spend stupid amounts of money on a temporary dwelling with service charges on top is your choice, it doesnt actually buy you rights to any land! Its said often on here "You dont own the road...." well there you are!

But it is their garden. Some sites allow fencing off, others don’t. DSIS owned a static caravan in a site with a mix of owned/rented vans. It was very clear which was her ‘bit’ and very much off limits. Moving around the site was on roads and paths only and you did not walk between vans. Spending stupid amounts of money on a house with council tax on top is your choice, it doesn’t actually buy you rights… no wait! It does, just as buying a static van does.

I equally got screamed at at a car boot sale once for walking between stalls 😬. It was bloody frightening
Over the top reaction but yes again you were rude and totally in the wrong. The stall holders bag, keys, money tin etc would be behind their stall and you should have stuck to the path

@Lockheart

You made a faux pas, she was over the top.

Just forget about it and move on.

Yep this.

The static homes sites usually come with maps and clear roads/ paths. I just wouldn’t need a rule written or unwritten to stay to paths rather than walk through peoples living and maybe sleeping areas. If it was a short cut there would be a path.

Another person here who has lived and holidayed on caravan parks. Residential sites usually have their own fenced off gardens. Holiday sites are just caravans aren't they? Ive always cut through without a thought. Its not rude, its just a row of vans on some grass.

It's an easy mistake to make OP. I think the confusion comes from people who's caravan experience is based on holiday parks such as Haven, Parkdeans etc where the vast majority of caravans are rented out and don't really have gardens as such. In those parks walking between caravans is common practise. However other sites are not like that at all and are mostly private owners.

The site my caravan is on doesn't actually allow us to rent our vans out it's a friends and family only policy. So if I allowed friends to use my caravan whilst I wasn't there it's up to me to tell them the rules of the park. It's not a written rule on our park more of a curtesy that you stick to the paths and only walk between caravans if they are unoccupied. If you fence your area off then you have to maintain it yourself and the grass cutting is included in your site fees so most won't do this.

@GetOffThatPhone

This was rumoured to be the title of the sequel to the Kevin Costner classic "Dances with Wolves"

Even though you shouldn’t, she was rude. Nobody knows what someone’s going through, it’s nice to be nice.

Putting myself in static woman’s position and given its school summer holidays then it maybe she has had a lot of kids running in and around her (all vans in general) playing tag, scootering etc and she presumed you may have been one of said parents and was making a point.

Personally a couple of adults walking past occasionally wouldn’t bother me but children playing around my van would pee me off.

Depends if it was owned or rented? Owned that's their private plot, rented it doesn't matter usually

Yanbu. It's pathetic to get so upset about a bit of grass a caravan is on.

Our local caravan and lodge park by the beach have paths between the fronts of the caravan and lodges and the homes have terraces outside. They cost from £100,000 plus and have a 50 week occupancy and you wouldn't walk between the caravans. There is an official walk through the park for the public as a shortcut from nearby housing. However many people actually have these as their main homes.

Ps I've certainly walked between them if there's not sensible path routes, I wouldn't walk an extra 5 mins to avoid it and when camping/touring it's not an issue as you just camp haphazardly anyway at most places

@Explosivefarts

If she was aggressive to me I would walk there again and again to wind her up. Manners cost nothing . All she had to say was excuse me please don’t walk between caravans and use rather path. You didn’t know it was her “garden” . Sounds like caravans aren’t for her.

I would probably want to keep walking over the area too🙊

I own a caravan and didn’t know this was a thing. Our pitch is the land our caravan is sited on nothing else. People walk between ours and we do it too, not a problem as far as I’m concerned.

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

All societies and sub-groups function on unwritten rules. The classic example is queueing. There is no law or written rule.

Those are rules which govern group behaviour and benefit everyone. They don't tend to apply to individual preferences that people simply can't guess.

The fact that many people here weren't even aware of this "rule" tells you it's not a given - many regular caravanners on here saying they often walk between vans and it's considered fine?

That shows you it's probably a custom local to this site. Furthermore the ladies reaction was extreme - when people break "unwritten" rules like queuing people often tut passively but don't make a thing of it, precisely because its difficult to challenge an unwritten rule. If that site has that rule, they need signs.

I agree the woman should not have shouted, but I find the idea adults would need signs odd. IMO, if they didn't know whether something was a right of way, they should assume it isn't.

I hate this on campsites, when people cut across your pitch, And it is camping etiquette not to do so.

Depends on the site, as well. On an owner occupied site people will respect each other’s space and not walk right past windows, run round and round someone’s van playing hide and seek etc.

Full on yelling at you was a bit much though. An explanation and a request would have been better.

I’m on an predominantly owner occupied site and people do cut through. You don’t own the land between your van and another’s and as @callmeadoctor said, essentially it’s a row on vans on some grass. I think the woman was very unreasonable, but some owners on caravan sites can be a bit cranky sometimes.

Didn’t caravan as a kid and not a regular caravaner as an adult. Unaware of this unwritten rule.
I think it completely depends upon the layout of the site as to whether you’ll pick up this unwritten rule or not, so it’s not necessarily common sense that doesn’t need to be explained.

@EduardoImagined

Yes people walking past where you live is the same as people being disturbed on a caravan site where they expect some peace and quiet. Seriously comparing your life on a terrace street to people trying to enjoy time in a caravan park that isn't a home...it is you who wants to get a grip!

😂

‘Disturbance 51 weeks of the year when you have to get up for work and there’s no chance of an afternoon kip is NOWHERE NEAR AS SERIOUS as the odd person wandering near your window when you’re on holiday.’

I mean one reason I never holiday in caravans is that with everyone quite close together I would anticipate noise and everyday disturbance, not unlike in a town.

If I’m after peace and quiet, I make sure I’ve got lots of empty space around me.

I think it's probably poor form to walk near people's caravans etc for privacy reasons but she had no right to yell at you. Just forget about her and enjoy your hols.

It's fairly obvious that this 'rule' varies hugely from site to site, so it's common sense and regard for others that really matter.

Some people don't bother with written rules, so they'll never take notice of unwritten ones.

Well fook me sideways, I have stayed at caravan parks countless times and never knew this was a thing. Obviously I would usually stick to the path, but on occasions have nipped through between vans. Nobody has ever complained, and similarly I would not think to complain if people walked through my pitch.

Years ago I'd pop into the disabled toilet if there was a big queue for the ladies. Mumsnet totally educated me on why this is not OK. It's selfish as is cutting through on a caravan site. You didn't know and didn't think hopefully this thread will make more people aware and less selfish as a result.