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Hi everyone

We are in a dilemma! We have a tent at present and want to upgrade. We have looked at several dealers selling folding campers, caravans and motorhomes. We are a family of 4, kids aged 12 & 9. As me and oh only work term time we want to be able to go away in the school holidays including Feb and Oct. ALso would like to go to France next summer for 4 weeks, staying in a few different places. Our car is a scenic 1.5 so not powerful enough for a caravan so would need to purchase a different car if we decided on a caravan. Has anyone else out there tried both campers/caravans/motorhomes and decided which best suited them as a family? Budget is maximum £15000 although would rather spend less. We have a limited space on our driveway of 20ft so if we purchase a caravan would have to pay to store it somewhere ( Ihave found a couple of places locally at a cost of approx £350 a year). Any advice would be extremely welcome. Thanks.

Hi NessP..

We changed from tents to a campervan(and then to a motorhome)a couple of years back but there is only the two of us...For a family I'd maybe consider something like folding camper as a starting point..

I would've thought that your Scenic would be up to pulling some of the smaller ones around(..that is of cause something you'd have to check)also,although I've never owned one,I believe that they're supposed to be a lot easier to erect than a trailer tent...

For a "first" purchase,I wouldn't be spending anything like the £15,000 you mention..

You could maybe consider hiring a small caravan/MH/folding camper to see how you take to each of them..? 

There have been several folding campers on ebay recently..for not to silly money either(..that is if you don't mind getting something slightly older..)

I'm sure there'll be a lot more experienced folk than me answering soon..

Over the last 20 years, we have tried them all. We started with a small caravan, but we could put it on our drive, so no storage fees. We sold it when we moved house.Next was a cabanon tent, lovely, until it rained. Putting away wet canvas is hard work.Then we had an old VW which we all loved.We toured France for several years, loaded with two boys, bikes and surfboards etc.Only sold as she was costing a lot to keep on the road, and  I had to drive her as a day to day vehicle,she wasnt terribly reliable.After a few years, and the boys grew up,we bought a folding camper, plenty of space, but not quick to put up, and we had the wet canvas issue again.

We now have Dora,our Autosleeper, we love her to bits! Easy to drive, good for touring about, and we stay dry.She is also used as a daily vehicle with no problems.

Good luck with your search!

 I would say motorhome - especially if planning on touring europe but a budget of 15k is very limited - if you could stretch to 25k you could get a brand new elddis which would probably be better because as already stated older vans tend to need more money throwing at them and cost more to run as they are not as fuel efficient.

I also think it would be a good idea to consider hiring.

we tent camped for years then five years ago moved to motorhomes

for me the main pluses are

• not having to tow - which would apply to folding camper or caravan
• having everything with us when we go out - motorhomes are great for picnics too
• self contained so drive up pull on handbrake and your ready
• toilet 

at the moment we are between van having just wrote one off! so we are planning on tent camping next bank hol hopefully will go ok!

Hi Ness

We started with tent then folding camper,caravan and now have a motorhome we prefer motorhome but all 3 have pros and cons.

We have one daughter aged 11 but also foster so sometimes have 2 kids my wife also gets term time and we normally go away for 4 weeks last year we did Belgium,Lux,Germany,Swit and finished in France now if we had fc or c/van couldnt have done this in my opinion. We used the Aires for motorhomes and joined France Passion and also used sites but hadnt booked anything and juat stayed aslong or as short as we felt like.

We also just got back from 2 weeks touring the outer hebrides and had a great time, the motorhome is also good for day trips quite often we take it to the beach or forest to walk the dog and have lunch in motorhome.

The downside is we now only have one car but not a massive problem and some people will say once on site you cant leave it well it takes us no more than 5 mins to pack up and leave as we try to keep everything we aren't using in its place and as we now have a drive away awning should be easier.

Our folding camper was great but allthough you have 2 double beds you dont have a great room of living area.

Our caravan was excellent and had loads of room but we found when in this country if we booked into a site we would end up driving to places to visit now we tend to stay on a site for a couple of nights and move on so new things to see and discover.

These are just my opinions but i would go for a motorhome if you plan on doing some touring.

Gerrt

We started with statics then a tent and now a motorhome.  There are 5 of us kids are 18 14 and 13.

Only regret is that we didnt do it years ago when the kids were little. Perfect way to travel in europe.

hope you find what you want