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I must be the odd one out on this thread so far.I worked in Hull as a caravan builder for many years and no way did I want a busman's holiday everytime I went away,so camped as much as possible.We went from many years of tenting to an Abbey Stafford caravan when I left the trade, but found the storage costs too much as we just hadn't enough space to put the van at the side of our house, and returned to canvas. But then we camped 2 years ago with a central meet at Newhaven with a great set of campers from This UK Campsite web and saw a  Pennine Fiesta put up in 20 minutes.On returning home I measured up the area at side of the house and bingo,had 1/2 a metre spare.Bought a Fiesta off EBay a couple of weeks later and never looked back, best of both worlds and it's already paid for itself with the saving of the storage fees. Still got the tent and all the gear in the store room. you never know

Thanks John, we did think of this as an option, again we keep going back to the short break, wind down legs and you're done! The other main issue with the tent is we won't go away for a short break if there is threat of putting the tent away in the rain and having to dry it when we get home, which I guess would hapen with a folding caravan?  How do you keep everything inside dry while folding in the panels? We have caravanned in the past so won't mind going for a mid sized van. Also our 2nd car is now only used for me to visit elderly parents once a month plus weekly shop, so a largish tow car is now a possibility.

There is no doubt a caravan is a much better holiday home than a tent. Warm and dry with a full kitchen, proper fridge, toilet, shower etc. You can keep many things always packed in the van ready to go, Everything packs in its final place, subject to distributing the weight properly.

We had a huge tent when the children were small; 18'6" x 13'6". I built a trailer to put it in. We used it for about 3 years then gave up as it was too much hassle and always rained. About 12 years later we tried it again, then very soon bought a caravan. No way would we consider a tent now.

Quote: Originally posted by jhsw on 31/12/2009

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Hi issm, I think you picked me up wrongly , a folding caravan has  all solid sides and has a one piece solid fiberglass roof,when follded down covers the hole caravan, there is no need to dry anything, and the wardrobe folds down in one piece into the van evev with cloths in it, when roof is in the fold down position the wole van is covered and part way down the sides of the van completly around the van, there is no canvas any where on the van, look on ebay and some of the folders have pictures  how to set it up, it is so simple and quick do do, owned one my self for a few years, no water ingress as other vans as roof covers all pannels.have a look, may not be for you but then again? . good luck any way. John

Hi, I watched some online videos and the sides seemed to bend concertina like inwards, I just wondered if anything could get wet while this was going on. I do quite like them.

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No one gone from tent to motorhome or caravan to motorhome then?

We started out as tent campers, went onto caravans, sold up and did the package thing for about 10yrs, started camping a few times and bout an Outwell Winfield then a Monty4(still unused and in its box) over about a three year period.

Went onto be boating enthusiasts, and enjoyed the floating caravans so much that we nearly bought one lol, but the mooring fees,upkeep, miles away from home waterways all made us change our minds and take a look around our local caravan dealers yard once more, hence we bought the Lunar Zenith. T

The big question for us is where do we go from here? Do we trade up to a new Coachman in a couple of years time after buying a compatable towcar, or do we splash out and buy a smallish coachbuilt motorhome?  We have owned a transit van/crewbus in the past and sometimes used that to sleep in by loading in all our camping gear, and really enjoyed the 'No-set-up' of it all after along journey.

Hubby is aproaching his 70s and i am disabled, so the hitching bit does rather tire us out, although we have now had a Mover fitted so theres less tugging around to do.

Anyone gone from Caravan to Motorhome and regretted it afterwards?

Julia    

Yes the caravan versus motorhome debate is interesting. I think the caravan is more suited if you drive to a site, set up and leave it there while you tour around in the car.

The motor home is quicker to set up and mostly more self contained than a caravan having on board tanks etc. Its also useful when touring, having it as a base wherever you are by the beach or whatever. It's downside is you cannot park it any where and can't get down narrow lanes and use lots of fuel every day. They tend to last longer than caravans but are more expensive to buy, have to be taxed & insured, serviced etc. The difficult trade off is getting one small enough to get around in but big enough to live in.

I guess if you want to spend a week in one place, get a caravan, If you want to go somewhere different every day and sight see on the way, get a motor home.

Actually Navver, it very much depends on what kind of caravan you go for. Our van will do ALL of the things that you say caravans cannot do.

We can, and do, take it everywhere that you can take a motorhome and quite a few places where we could not have gone in our previous motorhomes.

We also have an on board water tank, solar panel and are completely self contained which we use for extended touring and wildcamping.

The ONLY time we use sites is if we want to erect an awning or if we want to overnight in an area where it would be ill-advisable to wildcamp.

Just as in the range of motorcaravans that are available these days, caravans come in many shapes and sizes and if you know what kind of camping and touring you want to do, then your perfect van is out there somewhere.

Having tried all sorts, we do find that our wee caravan is, by far, the most versitile unit we have owned so far.

Yes Lobey, yours will do as you say, but it is quite an exceptional caravan; very small and very highly specified but very few around. I was talking about more usual caravans and motorhomes.

But you are still limited as to where you can park compared with having the caravan on a site and sight seeing in a solo car. Can you park in a single car park space?

How do you manage to stop somewhere for a cup of tea with 3 awnings in there?

Two awnings actually and they are in the car. The van has the equivellent storage of 4 large suitcases spread over 7 lockers, not including those used for kitchen and food storage. In otherwords, the seating/bed areas are kept clear in case we want to stop for a cuppa.

Stopping enroute only involves putting down the 2 rear legs. There are none at the front.

As for parking "in a single car parking space" well both our previous motorhomes were longer than our present van and towcar combined and our present van can be stored in a lock-up and is no wider than the car.

I am not denying the fact that we have gone for a specialised van. but I am merely pointing out that not all vans will restrict you to only camping in certain places and by starting off with the basics, you can, in the future, add to that van to give you a wide choice of where and how you camp.

We had a lot of fun when we were "motorhomers" and the sense of freedom was much more acute than we got when we changed onto "a normal sized" caravan. But now that we have gone on from there to the wee van, we have regained that sense of freedom and invariably find ourselves, especially when wildcamping, back in the company of other motorhomers.

With one major difference, when on a site, we can set up and then drive off in the car to explore the area without the need to pack up everything and then try to find a large car park, usually for tourist buses, somewhere on the outskirt of a town, just to go and buy a fish supper or a loaf of bread. Been there. Done it. Bought the T-shirt. Do not wish to go back to all that hassle ever again!

You have a good point there Issym. When we are touring, we do have to make up the beds back into seating, each morning, which is why, if we are staying a while on a site, up goes the awning and the beds then remain as beds. Handy if you want a wee kip during the day.

Whether you have a tent, a motorhome or a caravan, it is all camping and each type of unit has advantages and disadvantages. However, with the huge choice of models in each range nowadays, it is possible to combine units and therefore gain some of the advantages of other types of units into your own.

On a site a couple of years ago we saw a small motorcaravan towing a 2 berth caravan. The couple who owned the set up swore by it. They could use the caravan in its normal form but if they were away touring during the day and fancied staying overnight away from the site, they simply used the facilities of the motorcaravan.

This attitude very much follows our philosophy on camping. "Freedom of choice".

We must be able to travel where we want to. Stay where we fancy and be comfortable when we do. Anything else we come across is a bonus.