Campervan/motor home advice for an ignoramus please?!

[Shetlandstock]

I am mulling over the idea of getting a motor home in a year or so. I have been googling for ideas because I have exams coming up and I am the queen of procrastination

My main issue with motor homes is that they are also your transport whilst on holiday, though I believe a drive away awning can assist here.

My question is, which is better? A larger motor home, with more space for us all but a pain in the ass if to park etc when sightseeing; or a smaller more manoeuvrable van that requires us to take turns sitting down of an evening?!

Is a large awning a pain to put up, bearing in mind I may well be on my own with 3 children?

Any other advice for a newbie?

Thanks :)

No advice per se but are you a confident driver? If the answer is no then a big motor home will not be your friend. We have neighbours with one far too big for their manouvering abilities and the shenanigans as they get it on and off the drive are a sight to behold. I dread to imagine them in a National Trust car park :o

I have driven horse boxes before thefantastic so I'm not a complete novice, but I'll admit I am worrying about being the sight to behold in National Trust car parks

But I'm also worried about massive awnings and everybody falling out with each other before the holiday has even started!!

We have a campervan and a Vango airbeam driveaway awning. The awning makes life so much easier, most of the day to day crap goes in there which means when we need to drive anywhere, it isn't such a hassle to pack the van ready to go. It honestly only takes 20 minutes to put up but a hassle to dry when we get home if needed.

I think you should try to imagine what you will be doing etc each day with your motorhome to help you make the decision.

We have a medium sized m otorhome and take bikes. Then make sure we go to places where there are cycle routes etc or a bus stop close by.

Only a couple of times have we taken the mo torhome off pitch, it is a bit of a pain as you have to put everything away away to make sure there's nothing flying about whilst driving. - and in our case change the sofa back into a travel seat for ds.

It depends on where you are going to holiday to be honest.

We have quite a large motorhome and when we holiday in the UK we make sure we have bikes, or there is a bus stop nearby as it's difficult to park in UK car parks, especially Devon/Cornwall.

We even sometimes take my very small car with us, so that we can get about (if the campsite is less than 2 hours away from home).
But, most of the time we go over to Europe, much more freedom there with a Motorhome.

Thanks everyone :)

We will be staying in the uk, mostly near family and the buses are pretty good there so that's an option.

The drive away awning sounds fab iknowamouse - must make life a lot easier.

marielw when you take your car as well, do you drive it or tow it?

I drive it, but we usually only do that if it's 1-2 hours from home. My car is very small/economical so doesn't cost much to do that. We have thought of towing when we go to the continent, but just haven't really needed to yet and we don't have a towbar fitted at the moment.

Thanks marielw towing seems like an additional hassle that I don't really want to get into if I don't have to.

I'm thinking the small van with a super fabby awning is the way forward.....