My family bought 6 acres over 30 years ago and battled for planning permission. we were refused and my family left but i stayed, getting permission for my 2 caravans and outbuildings to be residential. now live in a 3 bed park home with my husband and three kids. water from a bore hole (pumped and filtered), mains electricity and no gas (used to have a propane bottle just for the hob) and satellite internet. septic tank sewerage.
some days it drags me down when theres endless mud, the electricity bills are enormous due to electric heating but solar is so expensive its not an option to install at the moment for us. Space is a premium now my kids are in their teens.. but i wouldn't change it for the world.
as a parent, my children have free ranged the fields from the minute they could toddle, roaming in the sunshine bare footed between our horses, When they were babies i could leave them outside in their prams or bassinets with relevent fly net/sun protection to sleep and watch the clouds, breathing air directly from the trees.. they have such a fascination with nature and when we talk about their childhoods they always say that they just remember this feeling of freedom. ive got so many films of them creative playing as adventurers, eating grass and making dens. (two boys and one girl). we taught them to grow food - the most basic of food because i dont have a lot of time.. things like potatos and salad and spinach.. they loved it.
one particular story springs to mind .. it was late summer and a local farmer to us had 4 new calves delivered who decided to go looking for their mum. his fencing wasnt up to much and by 5pm ish they had found their way into our field. cows are so dangerous at the best of times so distressed huge baby calves are just the worst. my kids were out. in the field, playing some game with guns and sticks when 4 cows appear. distressed and flighty. my big mare rounded up the cows and kept herself between the kids and the cows while my husband and i rushed up to get them calmly and safely back into the house until the farmer could come and get them. my mare was 30 at the time, and had watched my children grow. at the time they were older primary/young secondary age. she just knew to protect them and the kids knew to listen to her. they always say that in that moment they knew that she loved them like they were her babies. and i love that story. i love that they will have that memory forever.
as a mum, use your space creatively and dont buy into all the unnecessary baby gadgets that take up your cupboard and counter space. baby 1 - bought all the gadgets like nappy wrapping machine, separate bottle steriliser blah blah, reality was i just needed my normal bin, a kettle, microwave and some milton. next 2 i was much more sensible.
our washing machine and tumbler are also outside in an outhouse and ive never really considered it to be tricky or arkward unless its pouring down with rain - its no more difficult than bringing laundry down stairs to me. in fact i'd prob find the stairs more tricky haha. its really hard to battle damp/mould in the wnter when drying loads of baby clothes so a tumbler or a dehumidifier will be a good investment.
you can do it!
PS ive lurked mumsnet for years but this post made me sign up .. you can do it. a caravan is a home on a chassis.. but still a home.