Message Forums

My advice is to go for the tourer & keep it for your own use. We had a static for many years, it was a family thing, this was the first mistake! Several people always seemed to want to use it at the same time.

We then started letting it out to people one or another of us knew to help with the site fees etc. This was the second mistake. People we knew would rent it for peole they knew & the thing to wrecked. The list of things folk do to your static is unelievable.

We pulled out of the so called partnership when the family renewed it & bought a tourer, although it was suggested this too could be a family thing, we kept it strictly for our own use & wouldn't entertain doing it any other way. We keep ours at home, but several people I work with keep theirs on site all the time & love it.

BB

We're newbies on the tourer front. We have secured a seasonal pitch from the 1st of April to 31st of October 2010.  We feel that we'll get the most use out of it this way.

Good luck you will love it....

hi kingbroady

i have a caravan which i leave on store and camp as i cant tow and my car is small anyway i leave it at malvern blackmore site and it costs£790 a year and they pull it out for me when i go down,but you have to pay camping costs when you go, you do get 2free night per month,

dizzy keep smiling

Good advice here I think.  Don't buy a static...unless you have pots of money you are willing to fritter away.

Only thing I would add....try and get something sorted for towing/storage/seasonal pitch in place before you start looking in ernest for a van.   You don't want to agree a purchase, only to be left with no way of moving it and nowhere to move it to.  Some good storage/seasonal pitches are hard to come by, depending where you are in the UK, and even have waiting lists, so it's worth doing some homework on this side of things first.

You have a decent budget so should be able to get a good van in that price range.  Check on here (search for previous posts) for advice on buying a used tourer.  Ideally take someone with you who knows something about caravans.

This is our 2 berth Micro-Caravan that we tow with a 1.4D Clio. I would not tow it with anything smaller.

As to tourer or static, well at least with a tourer, you have the option at a later date to change the way you caravan should you be able to afford a bigger car.

I agree with Fissha. We started off our married life with a Static that we had been given. It was a nice van and we had oodles of room being just the two of us, but after a few years, what with the ground rent going up each year and the sameness of every holiday, we got rid of it and went for a tent.

Since then we have worked our way through tents, TTs, motorhomes and caravans and, at the end of the day, whichever type of unit we have had the basic Idea has always been the same. It is the "freedom to roam" that makes camping for us its main objective, seconded only by our comfort when we do.

However, statics do have a huge following. The site just along the road from us has over 500 static vans on it.

Quote: Originally posted by Biosdoctor on 05/1/2010

---

Hi Ian

We were ardent tourers (about 60 nights a year) until I changed my job. We decided to site the caravan for a season to at least get some use out of it.

We managed to get in at a local site, Dacre Lakeside Park, at Brandesburton between Beverley and Bridlington which costs £1350 a year, all in.

For that we get 10 months use, and 2 months storage, all electricity showers etc.

We probably use it more that ever, its so easy to just turn up and connect the power and water, and because its local, the family can use it.

If I'd known we were going to end up on a seasonal pitch, I'd have kept our previous caravan a Bailey 5 Berth 500/5 (We paid £5200 at 4 years old).

Like Steve says, you will get a good caravan for your £6000, but will struggle with the Clio.

Jasmine Park HERE was on our list of possible sites, but was a bit further North than we wanted.

Burton Constable HERE also do seasonal pitches.

HTH

Paul

 

---

Hi Paul,

We've just got a seasonal pitch at Dacre Lakes this year. I'm intrigued by the fees you are paying, as we are going to be charged £1600!! That's quite a difference. Still, it seems like a great site, so we are really looking forward to getting there.

BTW, our 2 greyhounds, Jake & Lucy say "Hi" to your daughter - we met a couple of years ago at Silver Birches, and she remembered them from the previous year!

Liz.

Hi Liz

The wife has just corrected me, we paid a £150 deposit in October to hold our pitch for the year, so in full we paid £1500. We paid a deposit again a few weeks ago for next year, and pay the balance in March.

I didn't know the cost had gone up, mind you they have fitted CCTV and are improving the lighting etc, and the showers are inclusive now.

We really like it at Dacre, I'm sure you will, its the only reason we stopped going to Silver Birches, another of our favorites.

Neve will be thrilled to meet Jake & Lucy again, she is still dog "barmy", I hoping she will become a Vet (to keep us in the manner to which we are accustomed).

We went to check our caravan today, the lake was frozen solid, still its got a couple of months to thaw out.

See you in the spring..........

Paul