Caravaning...or not.

[Grauntie Mag]

OH has always hankered after a caravan. I have refused on the grounds that I would be doing the same old same old on holiday or not. We did spend our summer hols in a Havens static van in France when the girls were young, but that was then.
Does anyone have a caravan or motor home? Is it as marvellous as he would have me believe?

[aggie]

I spent many a day in a static caravan when the kids were small , they now love caravanning DD1and he OH have 2 , a large van for winter as they go away a lot for weekends to different places and a small one for France , with a large awning so spend more time outside . DD3 had a motor home and took the bikes but now have a towing van . DS! has just bought a camper van . I think the fact that I don't drive put OH off a towing caravan , he would have been stuck driving all the time . I did enjoy the holidays but would have liked a change of venue ............ hope this makes sense . My sister had a caravan and it depreciated a lot when she sold , and it was in great nick , so you could maybe pick up a second hand one to try out

[Gemini]

I had to live in a caravan, with husband and baby aged from 5 weeks to until she was 10 months, with no running water, so I have never felt inclined to repeat it as a holiday!!

I think there are caravan and none caravan people. The caravan people seem to love them and get a lot of pleasure from them.

[Daisy]

We had a static van in Anglesey for 15 years when the children were young. We used to spend most week-end there in the summer and about once a month in the winter, and never got tired of it. we only sold it when we kept moving further and further away and couldn't go for a week-end. We've had a couple of holidays in statics in France - again, perfect when the children were young, and have hired or borrowed a touring van a few times, just for the 2 of us. Although I'm still doing the same old same old, it doesn't seem like 'work' and we eat out a lot, have picnics etc, and if we don't like somewhere much, we can move on.

We flirt with the idea of a motor home sometimes, but they're expensive!

[Enfys]

We used to have a touring caravan when the children were little and it was great fun but I wouldn't do it now. I like all my own private "facilities" Our friends have a motor home and they go all over the continent in it but it's not for us.

[MillieB]

My DD has just bought a static van in the Derbyshire peak district. Our friends have one there too and we have often used it as well as DD1and DD2 with their dogs and family. In fact I am going there with my widowed sister on Friday for a long weekend so hope the weather is kind to us.
We had a touring van when our DDs were young, then we had a narrow boat till eldest DD complained that her friends had been to France and Spain and we had only been to Stoke on Trent! We are also toying with buying a motor home in a few years time when OH has finished the next four years on the borough council as we want to travel round the uk. Love the life but wouldn't want a static as like to discover different places. DD does a lot of walking with her OH and dogs so it suits her.

[Daisy]

MillieB - I feel the same about a static van now - when the children were young, or even not so young, it was great and they loved revisiting old their regular haunts on Anglesey, but there is so much of the UK I have never visited and a motor home would be a good solution. Like Enfy, though, I like my own facilities and it would need to have those!

Have a good time this week-end. I hope the weather is kind to you - it's a beautiful part of the country!

[Enfys]

We did toy with the idea of a motor home......very briefly though. Also, we thought about the cost, to get a decent one is very expensive and we could get an awful lot days away/mini breaks for a lot less, oh and you have to be able to keep it somewhere.

[Plantaholic]

As a family we were campers when the children's were young, we spent a month twice in Italy, very relaxing, no house work and very little cooking. As the children got older we had a touring van up until 15 years ago. They do depreciate a lot and of course you have to have a parking space .

[Glammanana]

We owned a small touring caravan when the children where young and John used to take the boys fishing and canoeing for week-ends DD and I where not so fond really we enjoyed our home comforts too much,as to touring Motor Homes we saw some beauties when we lived in Spain the Germans and Norwegians would travel across to Spain from end of September to March for the warmer weather and they had some of the most amazing outfits some even carried their micro-cars on the rear.They must have cost an absolute fortune

[Avo]

We had a touring caravan when the boys were young and then went on to a narrow boat... before buying our holiday homes abroad. We plan to buy a motor home when we are older and no longer want to get on planes. However, I was never chained to the kitchen sink - if i'm on holiday I like to eat out a lot!

[Grauntie Mag]

Of course the other aspect is sharing the driving. Not sure I could reverse a caravan, I have enough trouble with our little trailer. (I have actually unhooked it, turned it round manually, turned car and Re-hooked up again rather than reverse 😳).

[Qwerty]

We had a static bought one second hand to see if we liked it and we did so bought a new one of our choice spent many happy times there when the kids were small we were lucky OH was in teaching and we were able to go for weeks on end it was our saviour really as we didn't go out much but found ourselves in the camp club having drinks while the kids danced and played. we would never have gone out to a local club with the kids, we got fed up of doing the same journey to be honest for so many years, DS went to uni and DD would bring a friend but the weather could be quite naff in the north and we missed the sun and what we paid in site fees we could have a good holiday in the sun a couple of times in the year plus I took a full time job and just ran out of hours in a day lol

[Nana]

Glad you brought this up Grauntie as OH & I have been having this same debate. Still can't come to any conclusion.

[Oma]

I like my home comforts no way would I go camping or caravaning haven't said that a couple of years ago SIL hired his friends static home and we all went as a family 7 of us and squeezed in for 5 days and we did have fun but I hated sharing the tiny bathroom 😕