Occasionally I sleep in the awning, usually when I have managed to get a couple of days off work to meet up with the family, I'm always up front and have a word with the wardens and have never had a problem. It can get cold and sometimes noisy, we keep meaning to get an annexxe but never get round to it.
My DH and I have bought a caravan with my parents and my DB/SIL.
This could affect me & DH more as we have 5 kids so have bought the awning specifically for extra sleep space as well as general space.
By my reckoning you will be sleeping 9 people, 4 in the van and 5 in the awning. Will you all fit. How many cars will you have, if 3, they may not fit on many sites with a large van and awning.
Our boys always used to sleep in the awning, and without heating. Never any problem. Can't say I have noticed any sites that debarred you from sleeping in the awning. with or without and inner tent.
------------- Don't know where I'm going but will be happy when I get there.
just a note to tell you about the ground sheet for the awning as these can be expensive.both the clubs now ask you use a breathable type of sheet.telling you before you buy one.
------------- the only silly question is the one you do not ask.
Quote: Originally posted by Tentz on 29/1/2010
You can buy awning inner tents separately, but be warned, some campsites employ awning police who will turf out offenders in't middle of't night.
Are you saying they open your awning in the middle of the night? I wouldn't want to be on their site if that's the case. They'd not get a good welcome if they walked into our awning uninvited.
Quote: Originally posted by Basilbrush on 29/1/2010
Are you saying they open your awning in the middle of the night? I wouldn't want to be on their site if that's the case. They'd not get a good welcome if they walked into our awning uninvited.
We have slept in our awning plenty of times, especially when the step gets too high after a few? seriously if you sleep in awnings/ tents. lots of sites nowadays would prefer you to use a breathable groundsheet or lift the plastic type during the day to preserve the grass pitch for the next user. We used to cheat the cold with a piece of 'laminate floor underlay' put under the airbed.
Our daughter won't sleep in the caravan with us she sleeps in a pup tent in the awning (this is a porch awning by the way).
Honestly, you would think we snored or something!!
I rang Marton Mere (Haven) yesterday & asked - they told me that whilst they're not licensed to take tents so, strictly speaking you can't sleep in the awning, they turn a blind eye as long as nobody complains.
Certainly no problem with the Caravan Club, we have an awing with an optional divider so that we could hang our sleeping compartment in the back, without having to bother taking the annexe.
"Some sites dont allow it for health and safety reasons" sorry but that is B*******!!!
The reason that some sites dont allow it is that if you have your kids/family sleep in the awning they cant charge you extra, but if you are forced to have a separate tent they can.
If it was a !health and safety" issue then NO site would be allowed to let you, health and safety rules are a matter of law, not individual choice.
Unfortunately, some unscrupulous sites are always on the lookout for reasons to charge you more - for example - some sites now charge for your dog. I cannot personally see any justification for this. A dog does not use any of the site facilities so why charge for it???
------------- hawk
"Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone"
I have the body of a greek god - its in my freezer
Tentz - I got the joke b4 about the patrol police!! Knew you were having a laugh!!
Michael - we have bought a breathable groundsheet.....definately better 4 the ground!
Nawer - Our 3 girls can fit on the kingsize bed bit. But if we all went ( 14 in total!! plus 1 puppy!) My lot would go in the Hartford XXL. I wouldn't out that amountof ppl in 1 pitch on any landowner!!! My son said we'd look like 'chavs' if we all poured out of a 4 berth caravan with awning!! And heaven forbid we should embarrass the kids!!
------------- It always rains on tents. Rainstorms will travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds for the opportunity to rain on a tent.
The question of sleeping in the awning has come up before but then it was talking about the safety angle.
If it gets windy during the night, IE windy enough to cause some damage, an awning is usually the first to be adversely affected and steel poles thrashing about inside a wind blown awning while people are in sleeping bags would prove to be a very dangerous situation.
Awnings are all fine and dandy when you are sitting in them awake and can hear and/or see any change in the weather and they are comparatively safe when there is no one in them, apart from any damage they may do, but they are definitely not a place to be sound asleep in.
UK weather is changeable and unpredictable and I have seen and experienced the mildest of evenings turn into gale force nightmares by 2 or 3am with tents blown clean out of the campsite and awnings ripped to pieces.
If I owned a campsite, I certainly would not allow anyone to sleep in their awning and that decision would have nothing whatever to do with costs, but everything to do with safety.
Quote: Originally posted by LobeyDosser on 31/1/20
I have seen and experienced the mildest of evenings turn into gale force nightmares by 2 or 3am with tents blown clean out of the campsite and awnings ripped to pieces.
If I owned a campsite, I certainly would not allow anyone to sleep in their awning and that decision would have nothing whatever to do with costs, but everything to do with safety.
Surely you don't think people should not be allowed to sleep in their tents Lobey ?
As regards the awnings, how on earth would you actually know ...? Oh Lordy - don't tell me there really ARE awning police ?!!!
If this is a health & safety thing, I think it's bonkers quite frankly. Crossing the road is probably more dangerous, & I do get fed up with more & more legislation making all our decisions for us. Sometimes I think I'd have been just as well staying with my parents for ever.