Are UK caravan parks 'down-market'?

There are some very nice sites about some are for the over 50s. Those sites that close for two weeks a year are classed as holiday sites thereby you have no council tax to pay and they have different laws covering them to the all year round residential sites.with the holiday site you must have an alternative postal address.

Yes, the newer transverse beds are great vampirequeen - makes you wonder why it took the designers so long to put a fixed bed that way around.

gillybob fingers crossed for your grandma.

Will have to Google a transverse bed vampirequeen. I think I know what one is, but I will check!

We're off to our van at Llanrwst in North Wales for a week on Saturday. It's in Snowdonia, but only 10 miles from the coast at Llandudno which is great for shopping, so we are never stuck for something to do. My mobility became a problem in March this year when I was diagnosed with a rare condition called Transverse Myelitis, so each trip away is different as we adjust to not being able to go off on long walks. Just being by the sea is so rejuvenating and really helps my spirits.

I don't know the place but it sounds like heaven VQ
We are off to the lakes on Monday with 3 DGC in tow ( as usual) they love the site . Nothing there but a pile of rocks and a stream! although having said that it's touch and go at the moment as grandma was admitted to hospital yesterday.

DH is hankering after one if those new vans with a transverse bed.

New vans are brilliant. So well planned and so much room.

I love our caravan. Can't wait until next week. We're going to Friskney in Lincolnshire. Most people would say there is nothing there. Actually there are sunrises and sunsets to watch, owls, parrots, wildlife, trees, plants, butterflies, insects, bats....so much to see.

We love our tourer although a peaceful weekend without DGC would be nice once in a while ( we daren't even say the C word in front of them)Looking at new vans is my DH's favourite pass time VQ

Thanks everyone for very helpful comments and suggested links.

If/when we win the lottery, we're buying one with twin beds. I know just the layout I want! Of course, DH would probably say if we win the lottery we won't need a caravan! ☺

We know a couple of retired couples who sold their family home and bought something smaller where they lived and a park home on the coast. They live on the coast from late spring until early autumn and then move back inland until the weather improves again. Actually, thinking about it one couple lives mainly on the coast.

A tourer would let you try out lots of sites and, as GillT57 suggested, you can book in for the season so you'd only have to set up and pack up once a year. There are some fantastic tourers now. We looked at new ones even though we knew we couldn't afford one just to see what we could get if we won the lottery. They come with all the home comforts including a fixed bed so you don't have to make it up and take it down each day. If you get a motor mover fitted then you don't even have to stress about reversing up to it to attach it to the car or getting it onto the pitch. Our seven year old can move ours as it's just a simple remote control.

The cost of seasonal pitches vary and you usually have to pay extra for electricity but there are some really nice small campsites around (google uk.campsites).

We're long time members of the Caravan Club because we like the high standard and range of its sites and the 'rules' (nice rules :D), but we've never gone to rallies or anything like that (suspect a minority of members do). Its seasonal pitches are very popular and are always booked very quickly. It might have changed, but the allocation of seasonal pitches used to be done centrally and you could select 2nd and 3rd options if you didn't get your 1st choice. Most people booking seasonals stay almost every week, otherwise it's not such good value (that might not matter to others though).

But I think a tourer is a different kettle of fish to a static. To start with you need a car with a towball to tow the van, and to be able to drive and manoeuver with the van attached (you can buy a mover, but they're not cheap). Plus with a tourer you need to think about all the utilities that you're not hooked up to with a static: water; gas; loo; electricity and TV. You sort these for yourself when you arrive on site with a tourer and have to monitor some like water, loo and gas during your stay. There's loads more to think about with a tourer than with a static, or at least think about them in a different way. A static is much more like a home from home than most tourers. Seasonal pitches for tourers make like easy, as do fully serviced pitches, but it is still more work - usually for the males though!

Incidentally even caravaners can be snobs, looking down their noses at older vans and I confess I didn't like the Caravan and Camping Club because is seemed more down market than the Caravan Club.

There are many really nice touring sites where you can book a seasonal pitch. The Caravan Club has some, and the standard is excellent. Rowdiness is definitely discouraged. There are those who love the Caravan club and those who hate it, but you could stay on a site for a few nights without joining and see how you like it (you pay £10 a night more as a non-member). Having said that, every Club site is different, so you woukld have to try one where you are thinking of putting down anchors for the season.

www.caravanclub.co.uk/uk-holidays/club-sites/about-club-sites

gill that's a good idea, I hadn't thought of that. Didn't know you could book long term pitches, without committing to being a permanent occupant of a site year after year.

The site your friends found sounds terrific. I'd be happy with any water, river or ocean.

We parked our touring van in a friend's drive when we visited them, and slept there overnight (no space in house) When we said we had a toilet and shower of our own, they were very surprised that we didn't have to put an open bucket under the van to catch the effluent.

You could always 'mix and match' so to speak. Buy a nice tourer which will then be your own, with your own things to hand and not a blank rental. Then you can decide where you would like to spend the summer for example, and take a long term pitch. Friends did that and took theirs to a lovely park with a river, woods, fishing lake, and all within 2 hours drive of home. That way you are not committed to long term site fees, and you can just come and go on impulse. Then next year, you can have your holiday home somewhere else. I know of people who 'park'their van in France, close to a ferry port, and thus have a French holiday home. I too dont understand the snobbery about caravans.

Grannyknot lots of sites have lovely landscaping and you'll probably be allowed to create a garden area around your van - again check this out. I really envy you starting out on this adventure!

Thanks printmiss will check it out.

The one at the rear of our home is called 'Riverside' if you are interested Granny

... hard to believe with all the rules and regulations, that there is no minimum distance required between caravans. So that will explain why you see row upon row of caravans jammed into some sites. Not very appealing! What I'd like to see are trees and landscaped grounds.

Will continue my relationship with Google re caravan sites today

We overlook a static caravan park, and we are on the coast. We see people come and go, although the caravans directly behind our home are usually occupied by the same people throughout the season. The site itself is huge, but beautifully looked after by the site owners. We are not near enough to know of any 'nuisance neighbours', and nothing ever appears in the local press about problems. I think most of the caravans are privately owned and expensively rented out through an agent and unless you want to recoup some of the rental charges you pay, then you can keep your 'van and the ground around it as you want it. There are one or two very nice 'plots' to the caravans on this particular site. These caravans are vacated at the end of October and opened up again in March.
I do not know why there is this snobbery about caravanning, some of those on that particular site are really very well equipped, and probably a lot better than the permanent homes of some of the folk who holiday there.
We are used to people being a bit superior about our park home, a permanent 'caravan home', but we love it, so it is a question of choice

Wilma thank you and you are my kindred spirit.

Thank you to everyone else too lots of help and advice. [star] emoticon.

My son and his partner and their children stayed at a lovely caravan park on the outskirts of Newquay in June. My husband and I rented an apartment nearby because we wanted to take our dog, but we would have been quite happy to stay in the caravan park as it was very clean, well landscaped and not at all rowdy. Their caravan was extremely well equipped, with three bedrooms, two shower rooms/WCs, a spacious sitting room with French windows and a good kitchen with full size cooker - only £390 a week.

Obviously, if you were going to buy a static caravan you would check the site out properly at different times of the year. I do think, though, that if site fees are very high it might be better to just rent a caravan when you feel like a break. If you buy one you might feel duty bound to spend time there rather than have the freedom to holiday in different places. I would think it might be quite a tie once the novelty wears of.

I agree with the comment that there's a certain amount of, I think unwarranted, snobbery about caravan parks. Anti social people can be found anywhere - even in 5* hotels and luxury villas.

Grannyknot it was my need to be near the sea that started our caravaning career almost 30 years ago now. We live a few miles from the centre of England, so couldn't be further from the coast. Our jobs were very stressful and we both agreed getting away from home would be good for us. Luckily a friend kindly arranged for us to stay in their static caravan in Norfolk so we could see what it was like. It was a lovely van on a well kept non-residential site and it had some new and used vans for sale. Trouble was when we started looking around at vans on 'our' site and others, we found we weren't keen on the standard of what we could afford, and shocked at how much site fees cost. To cut a long story short we ended up buying a touring van and all these years later we have the best of both worlds - a touring van stored on a working farm with 3 fantastic award winning sites. For a small charge our van is pitched up ready for us when we arrive.

But I digress. We got such stick from family, friends and colleagues for becoming caravaners, but we didn't care because we had our bolt hole, plus our dogs loved the van. The snobbery was a bit of a shocker and the 'snobs' hadn't got a clue what a modern caravan was like - stereo types galore or what?! Most were surprised to hear even our very first van which was second hand and quite old, had a hot and cold running water, a loo, shower, gas fire and central heating (warm air), electricity and a decent TV aerial.

So you may need to grow a thick skin. Another point to think about is that if you do buy a static, bear in mind it's unlikely you will find a site where you can pitch your van indefinitely. Many sites don't allow vans over a certain age e.g. 10 years old. This is one reason older statics are so cheap. So when you're looking for a location, check out the rules. Non-residential sites close for a time each year, usually a month or two and often this includes December or January, so check this too in case you want to stay over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

I can certainly understand the suggestion of just paying to stay somewhere instead of buying. It's an excellent idea to save money or as way of trying things out. What we found is if we didn't plan well ahead, we didn't have as many breaks as we'd intended. At one point, for several years we booked our breaks for 12 months ahead at a time to make sure we went away. So many little things can crop up that stop you booking a break and we came to value our caravan breaks as something to look forward to that we rarely changed the dates. Of course, you can go in between as often as you like.

This might not go down well with some posters on here, but after a few years we chose an adults only site. Yes, adults can be noisy, but no children removes the chance of noisy children spoiling your break. There are rules on every site and an etiquette you will need to learn, but sometimes parents don't know (or care) about them and this can be a problem. Adults only sites usually don't even allow children to visit you. (***dons tin hat***). So although the appearance of a site will give you an idea of how well cared for it is (and what your fees help pay for), check out sites at different times like weekends and holidays. Check how close you would be to your neighbours as there is no minimum distance required.

Sorry for rambling on, but hopefully I'll given you some food for thought!

We stayed in one a few years ago near Stratford Upon Avon. It was fantastic. The caravan itself was beautifully furnished with modern furniture (not those padded seat things), a dining table and chairs, a well equipped kitchen, two bedrooms, a shower room and even a walk in dressing room. There was a fireplace with a 'flame effect fire'. The River Avon rang through the park and we would hop on a little boat that took us into Stratford town centre. It is our plan when we win the Lottery to buy a static caravan in a pretty park somewhere

If you had your own place you would feel you HAD to go there.

With the Internet you can always be spontanious as there are lots of last minute deals.

But it is "swings and roundabouts"

Grannyknot your last paragraph.