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Hi everyone. We are slowly manageing to get all our stuff together for our 1st ever caravan trip with plenty of advise from these pages (thanks to all!). We now have only our groundsheet to sort out. Our caravan came with a full bradcot awning but no groundsheet. There are so many different types of groundsheet available that we are not sure what we need.

Could any one advise on what would be best? We don't really want to spend too much money until we are sure that we really like the whole caravanning thing. Do we need breathable or would an ordinary ground covering do? Also the size is abit of a guess as we have only seen the awning up once and the guy we bought it from wasnt really sure of the exact size although he thought it is about 8ft. Do we need the exact measurement?

Some places I've seen sell ground sheets on a roll and then I think we saw one just in a packet which seemed cheeper (but the shop was just about to close and we havent had chance to go back yet!)

We would be really grateful of some advise. I never realised there was so many different things we would need and so many different options for all the things!!!!

Thanks again everyone!

Get a large builders tarpaulin from B&Q, thats the cheapest option. If you get one thats too big, you just fold it to size. You will need something thats waterproof if you're thinking of going this weekend. I have a small caravan, 12ft i think, and the tarp I got cost about £6. It's 5mx4m, and just about fits the awning lengthwise, and we just fold the excess width under. so i should think the awning floor is about 3ft longer than the length of the caravan. The 8ft measurement will be the width that it protrudes from the caravan. They do bigger size tarps too.

If it's cold we put an old blanket down on top of the tarp.

You can get proper waterproof groundsheets from camping shops, they will be more expensive than the tarp, but do exactly the same job.

The breathable, or eco friendly groundsheets are far more expensive, like rubber carpet with holes in that let the grass grow through. Soft and warm under your feet, but No use whatsoever on a pitch thats soggy though, the wet just seeps through the holes. also much more bulky and heavy than a groundsheet, they start from about £40 .

if you get a groundsheet from a camping shop, you will need to know the exact size length at least, as some of them are on a roll as you say,and charged per ft or metre,  so no point in paying for more or less than you actually need.

We've got the eco one which, as Debbie says, is nice and soft under foot but lets the mud squelch through. A lot of sites only allow these but we used to put a cheap tarp underneath the main area if it was really muddy. Tarps can be a bit slippery to walk on, too, if they get wet and muddy.

Nora