Some of us have caravanned for years, some for months and some yet to start.My question, WHY did you start?,I'll post mine later..... when I can remember.
Serious ,Intelligent Question! No smut please.
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Brian. In respons to your question regarding why caravaning, my wife and I have enjoyed this form of holidaying for approx. 30 years. We first started caravaning when we had our first child. Money was tight and for a holiday we borrowed a friends caravan and caught the bug. The following year we managed to save a few bob and bought our own cheap and chearful little van and off we went. In those days it was a cheap but enjoyable means of holidaying - not so many vehicles on the roads, and the sites were not so expensive and commercialised as nowadays. It was not the big business that it is today. However we stuck with it and the rest as they say is history. Hopefully new caravaners will achieve the same enjoyment from caravaning during their life as we have had and we intend to carry on for a few more years yet.
Hi Brian !!!!
I started after a family friend showed me pictures of her and kids all over the country having a great time!! I have three kids and its quite expensive even for just a weekend break!The van seemed the ideal solution and boy was I right, I love it!My job can be naff and its great to just pack up and go, I hope we bump into each other some time then we can really have a laugh without getting told off !!I agree with what you said that this is like a virtual campsite where you can have a banter with fellow campers,maybe we can post a new forum , only silliness allowed, anyway best wishes and happy travels to you and yours !!x
I started after a family friend showed me pictures of her and kids all over the country having a great time!! I have three kids and its quite expensive even for just a weekend break!The van seemed the ideal solution and boy was I right, I love it!My job can be naff and its great to just pack up and go, I hope we bump into each other some time then we can really have a laugh without getting told off !!I agree with what you said that this is like a virtual campsite where you can have a banter with fellow campers,maybe we can post a new forum , only silliness allowed, anyway best wishes and happy travels to you and yours !!x
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We started caravanning by jumping in at the deep end with something really ambitious. We had always dreamed of going to the Arctic Circle to see the midnight sun but knew that we couldn't afford the cost of hotels with a family of four in an expensive part of the world like Scandinavia. So, we rented a caravan and liked it so much that we rented one again the following year for a holiday in Wales. Then we got hooked and bought our own. Once we got started it was sort of self-perpetuating.
Like Lutz I went in at the deep end in 1968 when I was working in Germany.We came to England at Easter and bought a Bluebird Europe 3 caravan at 9 ft 3in long and the first tow ever was back to Berlin with two babies under 18 months.That summer we towed to Istanbul.When I met my second wife 25 years ago we had a caravan together before we were living together (next door had one for sale!) and have caravaned ever since.
Hi All
I have only recently started vanning, why? Well my father passed away recently and my post memories were of him were of us on holiday in a caravan.(I dont why that should be perhaps there is a psychologist out there on the forum who would like to comment). As a family we were not well of and I can remember my parents saving all year so we could afford the fuel to tow my uncles caravan down to Cornwall. Every day was spent on the beach because we could not afford to go antwhere else.
I have been luckier in that at the ripe age of 45 I have retired. We live in a large paid for house and my kids' like most other kids' have everything, but what they dont have is the values I had at their age.
Yes we can afford expensive hotel holidays abroad, and we often do, but to try and restore some traditional values we got a van. When we go away we do not take a tele or computer games, mobile phones are only answered to my sister or neighbour (who looks after our house)we generally stay at cc sites with no club houses or entertainment and guess what, yes the kids love it.
I have only recently started vanning, why? Well my father passed away recently and my post memories were of him were of us on holiday in a caravan.(I dont why that should be perhaps there is a psychologist out there on the forum who would like to comment). As a family we were not well of and I can remember my parents saving all year so we could afford the fuel to tow my uncles caravan down to Cornwall. Every day was spent on the beach because we could not afford to go antwhere else.
I have been luckier in that at the ripe age of 45 I have retired. We live in a large paid for house and my kids' like most other kids' have everything, but what they dont have is the values I had at their age.
Yes we can afford expensive hotel holidays abroad, and we often do, but to try and restore some traditional values we got a van. When we go away we do not take a tele or computer games, mobile phones are only answered to my sister or neighbour (who looks after our house)we generally stay at cc sites with no club houses or entertainment and guess what, yes the kids love it.
I first considered a caravan in my early 20's (now 47),after spending most weekends as a child camping with my parents and later on touring europe on a pushbike I think the sight of people in their vans had a certain appeal. I bought my 1st van in my late 20's,a Fairholme? which turned out to be wetter than Tony Blair!A couple of vans later work took over,I had a bar/restaurant and later on a pub working 24/7 the van had to go.After a long awaited divorce I met my wife Bina and one day while at a garden centre we looked at caravans on a small sales site they had.Bina was hooked,money changed hands for a very nice Daystar and we havent looked back.Im now on van number 8,a Firestorm 630 which with its fixed bunks is ideal for our 2 kids aged 4&6.
My wife and I started carravanning when our son was a year old. He's now 39.We think we may get to like it soon! For the last 15yrs we've used a Royale, built in 1979.Any one else out ther got one?
Emmerson
Emmerson
We decided, about 11 years ago, in a spur of the moment type thing, that we would like to try camping. Kids were keen,husband was keen & I was willing to go along with as they all wanted to do it. However I did insist on having electric in the tent & we bought a massive 3 bedroomed, 17ft x 14.5 ft monster. We absolutely loved it, no matter what the weather.Only problem was that we could only use it once a year for our main holiday, logistics too great for extra trips. We would be towing to Cornwall, passing caravans on the way & we would say 'you will never catch us caravanning' -for sad people. Well the children got to 17/18 & of course, no longer wanted to come camping with Mum & Dad & we could not manage the monster tent with just the two of us. So yet again, impulse struck. We were in a camping/caravan shop & started browsing round the vans, just to see what the attraction was. Of course, we bought one there & then ! A 1990 Compass Rallye in great condition.
First time out, we were sold on caravanning.Just me & hubby alone in a caravan, peace & quiet. WOW !!!
We kept the Compass for 3 years and replaced it with a monster Yorkshire Diamond 520ET, last October (with end bathroom).
We cannot get away as often as we would like as we have to have van in storage, and the storgae guy does not like you taking it out too often (yes we have searched everywhere for alternatives)but this year we hae been away for 2 long weekends already & are about to set off for 18 days in Cornwall. Can't wait to go. We are now 'sad' caravanners through and through. Having to work & do everything else that you have to do is made easier by the fact that we can look forward to our caravan times.
First time out, we were sold on caravanning.Just me & hubby alone in a caravan, peace & quiet. WOW !!!
We kept the Compass for 3 years and replaced it with a monster Yorkshire Diamond 520ET, last October (with end bathroom).
We cannot get away as often as we would like as we have to have van in storage, and the storgae guy does not like you taking it out too often (yes we have searched everywhere for alternatives)but this year we hae been away for 2 long weekends already & are about to set off for 18 days in Cornwall. Can't wait to go. We are now 'sad' caravanners through and through. Having to work & do everything else that you have to do is made easier by the fact that we can look forward to our caravan times.
Hi Brian, We started vanning 10 yrs ago. Always went on holiday to france with keycamp etc. started in mobiles when they got to expensive went down to tents, Yes its coming, when they got expensive moved up the caravanning. Nothing against tent holidays in France, but wanted a little bit of comfort and more freedom. Only regret I should have done this when kids were much younger. Other hickup when looking for our first van, hubby looking at cheap ones to see if we would like it or not, (hubby lost)I bought a swift challenger 510 4berth, end toilet, rising 5yrs old for
Hi Brian
My wife and I have been caravanning for only a few months now. For the past few years we stayed in log cabins etc, but the last holiday ended up being
My wife and I have been caravanning for only a few months now. For the past few years we stayed in log cabins etc, but the last holiday ended up being
We enjoy walking and birdwatching so tended to have several self-catering holidays per year usually in cottages booked through an agency. But over the last couple of years we have had some very disappointing properties, e.g. uncomfortable beds/furniture, things not working, scruffy decor, etc. Our last cottage holiday was in the Lakes last September, the cottage cost us
When we were children we always spent our holidays in 'statics' and I liked the campsite way of holidaying. We started 'camping' with Eurocamp in 1981. On Boxing Day 1980 when he was six weeks old we rang Eurocamp for a brochure, and were very impressed when it came the following day. We booked our first camping holiday with them, and went with Eurocamp or Canvas outside peak season until my older son was at Grammar School and we couldn't take him out of school during school holidays. We couldn't afford Eurocamp/Canvas prices during peak season but loved French campsites so we bought a 15 year old van for
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we never had much money when i was a kid so our holiday was a two week visit to the family in scotland once a year. When i was about 10 my dads brother talked my dad to try camping. we loved it and were camping right up to me leaveing for the navy at sixteen 4 holidays a year the were GREAT so many fond memories . Shortly after that they bought their first caravan (dad said he was feedup erectiing the tent when them buggers with carevans were sat drinking tea and they arived at the same time as us). Many years later when i met my second wife (we were skint)we had been together a couple of years and couldnt aford a holiday I talked her into buying a caravan so with what little money we had left from devorces ect ect we bought a 16 ft baily clifton and had our first holiday down south (falmouth) luckely it was a hot summer bad weather would have put her off. She was six months pregnant with our first doughter then we now have 2 girls 10 & 8 and still caravaning. Its not to say we havent had hoilidays abroad spain, greece, ect ect as wear are alot better off now. This year we are taking the caravan to spain my family and my brothers carnt wait
we first started because our relations just wouldn't leave us alone. every weekend without fail they 'popped' round. trouble is they all have 'vans now!
Hi Brian, Why did I start caravanning, Well it's in the blood so to speak,first went with Mum & Dad 52 years ago when I was six months old, been doing it ever since, take alook at my website for a potted history, http://caravanningmemories.mysite.wanadoo-memories.co.uk/
As a child my sister and I, along with our parents holidayed in Winchelsea, on the south coast. At that time there were only 2 caravans in Winchelsea (for those who know it now - honestly there were only two, the only store was Uncles, now gone, and the pub, The Ship, still there. Up in the old town on of the pubs has gone). They were two tourers but permanently sited and rented out as holiday lets and called the Bedford and Chelsea. They were magical times. Unfortunatley, when I married I could not persuade my wife that caravanning would be the thing to do, nor could I another long term partner. However, my current partner and now my wife was a seasoned caravanner and so we bought a caravan and have not looked back.
Hi. I purchased my first caravan last year as a result of a: seeing inside our friends van and seeing just how nice vans have become, b:coming into some money to allow me to purchase the 5 berth style we wanted and just as importantly, being able to change our car to tow the van safely, c: due to ever increasing pressures at work, only being allowed two weeks holiday a year (because i am a manager!!!) and working saturday mornings i wanted to be able to get away weekends locally, pitch up on the friday and commute back to work for saturday morning and then back in the afternoon. Has all worked out really well and have been away more times in the last year, including a week at CC site at Longleat, than our friends who have been caravanning for years. Used to go to commercial sites a lot so as to keep kids entertained but their policy changes where some sites dont take tourers anymore and their lack of concern when pitching us too close together or sorting out noise problems has prompted us to go more & more for club sites and trying to educate the kids to find their own fun. Prices seem to be steadily rising as caravanning seems to be getting more popular but i've no choice with wife, three kids, dog and awning. Could not get cheaper accommodation anywhere for less than
hello, we started caravaning last year as having four kids it was very expensive to go anywhere. It is so much cheaper than other holidays we have been on, this summer we are off to the lake district. We have an avondale landranger at the moment, as soon as we saw it we just fell in love with it. Just being able to go whenever and wherever you want is all part of the fun. Seeing the smiles on the kids faces is all worth it. Bye for now.
Started camping in 1968 using a tent borrowed from my sister. and loved everything about the outdoor life except erecting the tent and being kept awake by neighbours snoring etc. bought our own gear until we could afford a van and have vanned ever since.
having a sededentary type occupation I loved the freedom of the outdoor life, and was pleased that I could avoid hotels and the mass travel problems associated with package holidays.
I also could avoid waiting while the wife got ready for going down for breakfast lunch and dinner and did not have to wear a tie and all the standard nonsense that goes with hotel holidays. lastly but most pleasing of all was joining a fraternity who in the main were very nice people to become aquated and friends with. people say "get a life" there is no better life than vanning. I have seen most of Europe during ny vanning days and at 70 hope to see still more.
having a sededentary type occupation I loved the freedom of the outdoor life, and was pleased that I could avoid hotels and the mass travel problems associated with package holidays.
I also could avoid waiting while the wife got ready for going down for breakfast lunch and dinner and did not have to wear a tie and all the standard nonsense that goes with hotel holidays. lastly but most pleasing of all was joining a fraternity who in the main were very nice people to become aquated and friends with. people say "get a life" there is no better life than vanning. I have seen most of Europe during ny vanning days and at 70 hope to see still more.
My wife and I started caravanning in Feb this year. We both work really hard during the week, and indeed weekends too. We bought the caravan to escape for the week or weekend. We treat ourselves to 1 or 2 trips a month, leave the phones at home or just have them switched off for emergencies. We tend not to socialise greatly when we get there, this is our time, for us, no work. It works really well, and we love it.
We started in 1975 because the second hand Wolsey 6 we purchased had a tow bar on it. Hired our first van the Easter of 1975 - a single glazed, no electrics inside and only a tiny little open flame gas heater, Monza 1600. (Went through about 20 gas mantles because every time you closed the door the mantly disintegrated. We scraped the ice off the inside of the windows on Good Friday morning at Haggerston Castle, Northumberland. Bought our own van the following year and are now on to our seventh.
Just love it.
Just love it.
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