How arduous is set up in a caravan?

[blinder]

I’m torn about buying a cheapish 5 berth caravan. It would be on a credit card.

The main reason is that I commute 150 miles to London for three or four days every month. Hotel costs are pretty crippling - about £4000 a year. In theory I could drive to a nice campsite just outside London (Chertsey?), set up on a Friday, work Saturday, Sunday and Monday and then potter home. So, I’d spend a bit more on a caravan, which would be something to show for the money. I’d also use it with my 12yo DD, who would bring a friend for fun trips.

But in practice, how arduous would this be? The towing - how much longer would it take me to get to London? The set-up - how much work every month would be involved in hooking and unhooking the whole palaver?

I think I would love having my own cosy little space for work. This caravan has a sectioned off little bedroom at the rear. And the campsites are perhaps little places of retreat even though I’m working.

But £5500 on a credit card is a LOT if I’m unsure.

Please talk sense into me, one way or the other!

•Where would you store it when not in use? We had a caravan and one of the reasons we sold it was storage costs (no space at home).
•Have you looked at the price of seasonal pitches? (Some campsites offer storage and will move your van to your preferred pitch when you let them know when you'll be going down there).
•Have you checked your driving licence allows you to tow?
•Are you prepared to empty the toilet waste cassette? Happy with trudging over to the shower block on a daily basis?
•Have you considered a static caravan?

I really can’t afford a static caravan.
Storage is about £400 near me, so fairly cheap. But I think that might add to the faff of picking it up.
Yes I can tow on my license, and my car is ideal for the caravan.
I’m prepared to empty the loo cassette, of course. I’m not sure how frequently this would need to be done, if I only use it for night time wees.
As someone who has camped in tents for decades I’m used to shower blocks.

This question is more about set up and towing time, really.

A seasonal pitch would be your best bet if you can find one near London.

I have no idea of the practicalities of caravans, but I live near the site in Chertsey that you have suggested. This site is very historic as a first for caravan parks - it was on Michael Portillo's rail journeys.

Can you berth permanently there? If not, there are storage sites nearby, so you wouldn't need to tow every week.

If you can berth permanently, you may be able to rent out your caravan when you are not using it.

From Chertsey, you can get to London easily via Staines or Weybridge.

i can’t help with your questions but I’m curious about why you need to travel to London to work if you plan to then work in the caravan?

Factor in heating costs if you plan to work in it. My exp of holidaying in a caravan was they are very cold if the weather is any way windy or poor.

it sounds like a good way of beating hotel prices.

I thought she was just using it as a base to travel to work into London instead of staying in a hotel?

Get a seasonal pitch if you can, with the cost of fuel towing a caravan is no longer a cheap holiday, spend what you would have spent towing on a seasonal pitch & don't forget you may have to change your car to be able to tow the size of caravan you have.

Find a site, look on the Internet & then go & visit your shortlist, once you know which site you like look for caravan dealerships nearby, by doing this they will most likely deliver your caravan to your chosen site.

Buy an awning, this increases your living space, most sites will let you leave your awning up at least from March to October. Look at reviews on YouTube or in caravan magazines, the easiest ones to put up are air awnings. You run the awning on the awning rail, peg the pegs nearest the side of your caravan then inflate either with a manual pump or an electric one, electric is easiest as you can sit down while it is being done or start on setting up your caravan, once it has inflated, peg the rest down making sure it is square & peg the guy lines & storm straps, then do everything inside like putting your groundsheet, awning carpet & set up your furniture.

Setting up your caravan is easy, connect to the electric, set your water & waste water up, make sure the gas is working, do the TV aerial, get things out that had been put away for towing, then get the kettle on.

When you look for a caravan, look for one that has solar panels, it saves your battery & means you can go off grid if you want, look on Autotrader, caravan dealer websites or in caravan magazines to decide what layout you want, then go & visit dealers to see what they have got you like. Don't order a brand new caravan, you could be waiting until next year to get it & you lose money if you decide caravanning isn't for you, look at second hand but if you find one you like make your mind up quick as you can because at the moment they are getting snapped up quickly.

Go to Horton Common website and look at its article "How to Set Up a Caravan on site" It's a pain and can take ages. You need to budget for caravan servicing,insurance,maintenance,site fees and the cost of extra fuel. You need a towbar on your car. This could cost quite a bit - sometimes over £1,000. Towing a caravan could use 50 % more petrol/diesel. The trip could take you 50% longer than driving the car alone would. I honestly wouldn't put it on a credit card. I'd be looking at cheaper travel to London - coaches booked in advance - and perhaps getting cheaper hotel accommodation further out from London or a better tent and sleeping bag for camping in one of the good London area campsites !

The caravan part sounds genius, putting it on credit card , not so good but only you know your financial situation.

Have you compared the total purchase and ownership costs to the cost of hiring a similar caravan at the same site when you need it, or are you just comparing to a hotel nearer to London?

Could you store the caravan near the site rather than near your home, then you wouldn't have to tow it back and forth? Even if the storage is more expensive it might be cheaper than the extra fuel cost of towing.

Towing doesn't take that much longer, your speed is restricted and you need to be sensible.

Set up for one person with no awning - honestly you'll be done in an hour. Pitch up, hook up electrics, fill up water, switch everything on and done.

The only watch out is all the other costs with a caravan, servicing, insurance, any repairs cost a lot. It's not a cheap hobby in my opinion.

The seasonal pitch idea is good but aren’t they almost impossible to come by? Also, it would mean that we can’t just nip into the caravan for a weekend as a family, as the caravan would be sited nearly three hours away from the house.

i think the other costs (insurance, servicing, towbar etc) might stop it being a money saver for me, especially with the monthly interest fees.

Are you able to claim expenses for your hotel stays? It would have to be a very good employer that let you claim back a pitch fee.

It takes an hour at least to set up a van I'd say, and the same to take it down. Not much fun if it's pouring down.

I've been in and out of london a lot recently and a return in advance from Bedford to london was £12.80 I'm sure hotels would be much cheaper in this area if you didn't mind the 45 min train each day .

I’m travelling down the M4. Hotels just outside London on that route are still expensive because of Heathrow.

Believe me, after three years of commuting I have checked out all the hotel and Airbnb options within 40 minutes of work.

Alas, my employer doesn’t find the hotel costs for anyone - and many of us commute.

Does anyone know more about hiring / renting a caravan on a small site? I don’t know how to explore that option.

Even a cheap hotel at £80 per night costs £300 a month over three nights, when you factor in not having anywhere to cook. I often stay for four nights so this expense is a big chunk out of my wage.

Thanks all

It turns out I don’t have the credit card capacity for this idea. But @Schooldil3ma above suggested that I claim the hotel as an expense. I didn’t realise I could do this so I phoned HMRC. They confirmed that I could claim this expense via my self assessment form (which I do for a small self employment gig). I can claim mileage, hotels, and £5 per day for food. I can adjust previous tax years and recalculate.

I’m hoping this means I’m due a rebate - cross your fingers for me! Thank you @Schooldil3ma

But I’ll still go camping to Chertsey one day. It looks gorgeous.

Does anyone know more about hiring / renting a caravan on a small site? I don’t know how to explore that option.

I'd start by calling the managers of any parks you're interested in.

To answer your actual question, although it looks like you have moved on now

It takes about 20 mins to unhook, put down steadies, connect electric and fill up water and put waste in place

Maybe same again inside to make bed and faff around with bits and pieces.

There are 5 of us so we have a lot of big stuff, it might even be quicker for 1.

Fingers crossed for your rebate and if you get it go for it! Living out of hotels is soul destroying and not relaxing. Having your own space will be amazing and worth it and the weekend get Seuss with your family are worth it too

Oh annoying!! I was going to say, once you get the hang of it, setting up a caravan is easy and quick. Unhitch, legs down, plug in electric &water - done! You can add an awning/canopy which adds about 20 mins but it’s easy. Towing is easy and you don’t need a license anymore. the main thing to look out for is when you can check in to a site - it’s usuallly between 1pm and 8pm which might interfere with work…

could you get a trailer tent instead?

If you are handy buy a van & convert in to a camper van, you can stealth camp then, just find somewhere to park up overnight. There is an app that you can use to find places you can park up overnight. There are lots of people on YouTube that have converted a van in to a camper, look at Urban Vanlife or Will's Whereabouts.

If you revisit the caravan idea, then using a credit card to fund this level of purchase isn't a good option. Much better to look at a personal loan. M&S have pretty good deals.

I occasionally use our motorhome as a get-away for a quiet work environment. I can get most things (laptop, phone, etc.) to charge or run from a 12v leisure battery topped up from a solar panel.

Only just seen this thread.

If you use the CAMC sites near London - Wyatts Covert (Denham) Commons Wood (Welwyn GC) etc then there's always few people staying Mon-Fri and leaving the 'van over the weekend. There are restrictions on length of stay - they're touring sites - but I suspect folks move about.