To not want to buy a bloody caravan

[Llamasally]

DH is really keen. We have a young baby and toddler. Even a really nice one would be very cramped with travel cot & baby kit etc. DH is incredibly untidy. I’ll be doing all I do at home except falling over everything/children and getting stressed in the process. No one will get any sleep. I would much rather stay in luxury SC until at least they are both a bit more self sufficient - it’s a bloody lot of money for what would be logistically difficult holidays. I went on caravan holidays as a child and had so much fun, but think that started more like school age…

Saw your update. Aaaargh. How did he manage to persuade you?

Sounds awful. I’d consider it now - my two are 13 and 8 if I had the money , but not with babies.

All my holidays were spent in a 6 berth touring caravan. Mostly only 5 of us in it, but occasionally 6! We had an outside toilet tent. Often didn’t stay on proper sites (stayed on patches of ground owned by my DF’s school friends), so no showers and normally had to wash in the nearby (ice cold) stream. Sometimes, when even staying on a Caravan Site, there weren’t any proper facilities! know things have changed considerably, but no way would I dream of a caravan holiday with kids the age of yours.

We have. Husband and kids love it. I hate it with a passion. It’s expensive. We pay extortionate ground fees. We never go anywhere else. The weathers nearly always terrible. Big no from me.

@Llamasally

Updating this thread for anyone who searches and finds this considering a caravan /young children.

I agreed to try it out. It’s worse than I even expected. No one sleeps. Lack of proper bed makes everything hurt. Falling over everything. Nowhere for crawling for the baby, no room for energetic toddler and you can’t let them loose because of cars passing and other people, unlike a nice cottage with an enclosed garden. Nowhere to dry anything. Floor and seats and everything filthy and covered in crumbs. Shit. Hope that helps! 😂

Oh dear. How did your DH like it? It’s not for everyone, although it does depend where you go. Sell it, now is a good time.

It's not so much the money as it's just not your thing - if it was you'd make it work. I've had friend who have camped out with their three teenagers and their VW bus - they loved it.
It's not my thing either. You'll just have to tell him it's just not viable for you.

No I definitely would not go for one! No holiday for you!

Has he admitted it's crap yet?

It’s bloody hard work, harder than being at home. Don’t do it !

No way. I'd rather have 2 nights in a hotel or AirBnB than a week in a caravan.

Sell it OP. Are prices still good? I would have thought there would be plenty of people interested with Easter holidays approaching. Sell it. Spend the money on some nice self catered places (plus a big drink for you)

DH is stubbornly refusing to admit it’s crap. You can tell by his eyes though that he’s realising it’s not the idyllic vision he had in mind 😂

My in laws bought one, with all the usual we will be away all the time, showing it off, kitting it out, used it about twice and it sat on the drive for ever more.

The only successful usage I’ve ver seen was a youngish couple, late twenties, who bought a vw camper van, no kids but a Labrador and rhey did go away lots of long weekends with the dog and absolutely loved it.

I'm sorry you caved OP, we've now got 10 week old and 3.5 year old and I'd still not entertain it until the kids were at least primary age, but its still a huge investment and limits you to holidays that you can drive to. I'd maybe think about hiring a static for a holiday.

I agree definitely more suited to at least nursery age kids, who are toilet trained and sleep in normal bed

Llamasally not sure if you are in any caravan clubs but noticed you said were struggling to let kids play out.

We joined The Caravan and Motorhome Club and tend to stay at their Certified Location sites which are smaller, only allows 5 caravans. Most sites are basic but you can find good ones which are more secured so your kids can play out.

You would probably recoil with horror as would a number of others on here if you saw our vintage caravan as it’s as basic as you can get. However we’ve had many fantastic holidays in it.

You just need to figure out what you need without taking along the entire content of your house. You may need to lower your standards in terms of cleaning. No one going to expect it to be ultra tidy.

Yes it is harder camping with babies/toddlers but it improves as they get older.

Do things that make life easier when camping, such as have a box of toys/books/games that stay in caravan all the time. Take a slow cooker to have meals ready for evening after a day out. Plan ahead what you can do in the local area before you go.

Take wine/drink of choice and snacks. Sit outside in the evenings and engage with fellow campers. We’ve made some fantastic friendships over the years as a result.

However if at end of day you are both really unhappy then the best thing would be to admit defeat and sell the caravan on. The whole point of a holiday is for you all to relax and enjoy them.

Don't do it. It will be home from home in every sense...cooking, cleaning, washing etc so unless your DH takes over everything, there will be no holiday for you, with the probable addition of sand everywhere!

If he wears you down to try again I would seriously suggest looking into trailer tents.

All of the good bits of camping/caravanning:

Freedom to move around easily without packing faff

Seriously easy and quick to pitch/strike.

Easier to prep for trips quickly- you get to the point of just having a couple of crates of pots/pans and a bag of bedding/clothes and you’re good to go

Enough space to swing a cat ‘indoors’ if it rains

Decent beds so you’re not cold and/or uncomfortable

Decent cooking facilities so it’s not a tedious chore

Nice ‘tent feeling’ if you like that sort of thing

Flexibility to pitch up, set up, then go out for day trips

None of the bad bits- more space, little cleaning, decent sleep, easy to tow, easier to store, less stealable than ‘vans, don’t rot like ‘vans, don’t need all the servicing of ‘vans….

We got ours when I realised I couldn’t safely take our kids camping because I couldn’t pitch or strike the tent and look after them at the same time, and I wanted to be able to do it on my own (I get a LOT more holiday than DH). Since then we’ve done some epic European tours which have genuinely been fun and relaxing breaks. I do have a DH and kids who pull their weight when it comes to sharing out the camping jobs though. And lovely though camping can be, it is a degree of work which everyone has to be prepared to share. I am quite picky about the sites I choose as well. I can’t bear skanky washing facilities and try to get dog-free sites.

BUT you have to actually enjoy being outside. Kids love it but if you don’t, it’s miserable.

My sister and her DH had a caravan for years. They did have some nice trips, but my sister had to spend a whole day packing and preparing for each trip, and a whole day unpacking and deep cleaning everything afterwards, including the toilet thing. She ended up doing loads of domestic work during the trips too.

I don't think self catering holidays are a good idea in households where one partner does a lot more of the domestic work in the household on a day to day basis.

I do more domestic work than my husband because he earns more than me, and we're happy with that. But I don't want to be doing the lion's share of domestic work on holiday, and yet the reality is that if we self catered, that would probably end up happening out of sheer habit; people get used to certain lifestyle patterns and guys get used to just "assuming" that the woman's going to take care of things. I also don't want to spend my holiday trying to force a 50-50 share by asking and reminding again and again and again. It's supposed to be a holiday, not a war over housework.

Thanks for your update. We were seriously considering a caravan. I'm on the fence about it all, I'm so glad I've read your update!

I loved my caravan and so did my exDH eventually. He wasn't keen but I managed to convince him. We had a toddler at the time and he loved it too. We had many happy years, we even took pets with us. He got his first taste of independence at the caravan site. Lots of like minded people, everyone looking out for each other. Feeding and entertaining random kids but also it was reciprocated.
It's basically a mini home from home. It's an adventure.

You can get some sites where you can have a permanent pitch and keep an awning up (space for kids to play). So, you just turn up and everything is set to go.

Did you not have an awning or anything? That can double your space. Doesn’t like a good site either if there was cars constantly and you couldn’t let the children do much of anything.

Did you actually purchase a caravan?

I love ours, started off with folding campers and now have tourer. But we generally only have breakfast/snacks … the main meal is out and we all chip in to keep it tidy. However we didn’t start until kids were school age… and you need an awning to sit in while kids are sleeping or no one gets any rest. We like hiking so effectively we wore them out during the day so they slept well- as did we. They are an investment and it’s not for everyone

@LoveFall

This was in Canada, but we had a string of caravans (trailers) when I was a child, and I remember those times with great fondness.

There were four of us kids. My sister and I slept in the back of our "station wagon" car when we were older, but I also remember bunks above my parent's bed and the kitchen table making into a bed.

We had so much fun as a family, singing around a camp fire, cooking outside, washing dishes even. Lots of toasted marshmallows.

I know it was planning and work for Mom, but she loved it too. My parents drove across Canada in a camper van when Dad retired. We also drove across the US from Vancouver to visit my Dad's ailing sister in Chicago

We do have lovely woodsy camp grounds in our provincial parks. I remember so clearly camping in an empty campground in the fall.

I think my siblings feel the same. We sang all the old campfire songs to my Dad when he was dying. He could only raise his eyebrows at that stage and the songs led to many eyebrow raises.

You could rent a caravan OP and see how it works for you.

Canada is beautiful and set up for camping due to there being so much wilderness. Camping sites in Britain are expensive and lovely locations tend to be busy at peak times.

That said, I'd be in the get a caravan group. Static caravans give a place for weekends away and later on school holiday breaks. Mobile caravans give a chance to explore more areas but you would need to be confident towing.

Sod the caravan and sod any self catering holidays as well! I’ve got a four year old and a four year old. I’ve booked to go to Butlins and I’ve insisted we get a dining plan. I’m not prepared to cook three meals a day plus washing up plus cleaning up all the stuff that falls in the floor!