Camping

Fairly sure cl1 has a bit of spare land to utilise on that front ... time to put his thinking cap on I feel

 

+ Pros
There will be plenty caravan parking sites around your area - no problem there.
- Cons
Have you ever towed a caravan ? Awful.
Have you ever reversed a caravan ? Worse than awful.
I am sure this will have the GC caravaners nipping at my heels

 

If considering camping early or late in the season, check out sites that permit open fires to add a bit of interest to an evening http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/ (and a pub with childrens' room next to the site).

 

@Scrungee i didn't receive your alert so don't know what happened there

Do you happen to mean Burrowhayes with Marion and Julian Dascom(sp) Scrungee? We stayed there this July with our caravan and I think the caravan you might have stayed in in the past was behind ours. I Think it might be a bit far for Clueless to take his family all the way from oop North especially with an older child that might get a bit bored with all the travelling.

Think the idea about a caravan is a good one because the sooner you can get them interested in that sort of holiday the sooner they will enjoy it them selves

 

We got that cheap (cancellation) break at Burrowhayes in July last year, but got a 'Sun Hols' bargain break at Blue Anchor in early July (pre-school hols) 7th - 10th this year, but still visited Burrowhayes for some horse riding.

Yes, when our daughter was young we stayed at 2 sites that had both camping a caravans, the latter for early/late treats. Our other favourite site, Seadown at Charmouth, used to be available on Sun Hols, but not for some time.

I'm only mentioning these sites, not as specific suggestions for CL1 to visit, but as examples of sites to visit.

 

Give over Harry...you forget you're even towing it...well I do anyway

 

I once witnessed someone forget they were even towing it. Just after the crunch, I heard the best chastisement ever. The man who's car had been clipped shouted loud and clear, 'you plonker'. No obscenities, just 'plonker'. I laughed so hard I nearly fell over.

 

I bet your wife will be pleased if you cancel the camping holiday I know I would. I have never been camping and I don't ever want to go camping, now a caravan, well that's a different story, I love caravans.

 

Maybe you could think about a small motorhome instead? I have a Mazda Bongo, which is possibly a bit on the small side for anyone with children, but its a great happy-medium size vehicle to have for everyday use but have the facility to go camping in I have a free-standing tent awning that attaches to the side so you could have the hardier/adults sleep in an awning whilst the tenderlings sleep inside the relative protection of the vehicle.

....sorry, not really that helpful for a decision this week @clueless1 but I just love my Bongo!

 

Trouble is, my bit of land is within a national park. The national park authority in question is notorious for its approach to deciding whether you have permission to even breath on your own land. On their website, they even have a section dedicated to asking people to tell tales if they see a caravan. It seems its fine to burn the native flora and fauna to death once a year, or shoot a load of innocent animals for no reason other than pure fun, but not so ok to store your own stuff on your own land.

 

One day, when I have a spare couple of grand and a few weeks spare time, I'm going to buy myself an old van, something like a Ford Transit or similar. Ideally a crew bus or minibus configuration (for its windows), and turn it into a camper. I don't really want a real motorhome because I'd be worried about it getting broken into. At least if I do my own conversion, I can make it look low value from the outside even if I get the inside really nice.

 

(x"

I did that, but unlike many skint people in those days who'd buy old knackered tat, I had the resources to buy something less than 4 years old, so it lasted for some time and was fitted out with leisure battery (x2 + trickle charge) lighting , gas hobs, multi-fuel stove, pumped water system, battery powered lighting/amplified TV/Radio, Porta-potti compartment, etc. I can't locate a pic of my vehicle at the moment (I seemed to be far too busy having the time of my life in those days to take photographs), but it looked something very much like this (but I changed it from a very similar colour scheme to a far more tasteful red/green body & cream roof and installed some roof vents in it)



Something to watch out for these days with ex-commercial conversions is that the likes of the AA, RAC, etc, place restrictions on their recovery services abroad (maybe now in UK?), so you can't get free recovery from distant places (cheaper than buying fuel for the return trip was the old trick) any more. Check out for conversions over 10 years old.

With sliding doors each side (that could be locked back) and 3 seats in the front it was great to drive around in the heat of summer.

 

Are these motorhomes expensive to insure?

 

Mine's just over £500 through Lifesure Group @Val... its a 2.5 diesel Mazda Bongo. Its an import so the downside is you dont have as much choice of companies as a regular car. Not sure how much the larger ones cost to insure though

 

@SharonL I didn't realise the Mazda Bongos are down in Newquay area at St Columb Major.we could have popped along there to have mooch around when we was down that way a few weeks ago