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I am thinking of taking a contract away from home, and buying a caravan through my business.

1.  Is it feasible to live in a caravan during the winter months in the south of England?

2.  Is it possible to stay long term on a caravanning club site, or would I need to shift every two weeks or so

3.  Any advice on the best caravan (ideally a six berth) would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers

David

dwnorris

Caravan club and The Camping and Caravanning Club only allow a maximum stay of 21 nights then you must leave , if you had seasonal pitch that would do as long as you vacated your van for 48hrs and then went back for another 21 days

 if you coming home every 3rd weekend that would fulfill the regulations

We lived in a large caravan whilst having a house built for a year and a half in the Cambridgeshire.  We found it great fun (as it was only the two of us then, no little ones running around).

During the summer we have barbeques and all of our friends turned up along with family to pass the time away...great fun and many good memories.  In the winter, we just cosied up in the lounge with the fire and a bit of TV, bottle of red and a nice meal.  We found it to be great fun.

As mentioned before, most sites do not allow you to stay permanently and also you need special "living" insurance rather than touring insurance.  I would check the small print carefully to ensure you don't purchase the wrong policy.

A few policies have the wording "you will only use your caravan for the purposes of holidays and not permanent or semi-permanent living or in connection with your business", so be careful on that point.

Other than that, have a great time.  I would also consider the same if I got a contract away from home.  Far cheaper than expensive hotels and at least you have a bit of space.  The site we were on even allowed us to get a BT line installed so that we could have broadband and a phone - very handy!

We have a seasonal pitch and there are no terms and conditions about leaving after 21 days etc.  Seasonal pitches have different rules entirely to touring pitches.

German vans are meant to be good for insulation and being winterised.  The other issue is finding a year round site as a lot close in October and re-open in March.

Ali

Hi

I live in Scotland and looking to do the same but can only find sites looking to charge £20 per night and dont fancy a cl site.any ideas would be appreciated as to where you find these resedential sites? I also have a german van

thanks

tony

Hi dwnorris,

I gave up my living expensively in a house and bought a cheap caravan as i wanted to re-train in order to afford to live in this country, i have been fortunate to find a site which has a 28 day rule which means after staying there for 28 days i move off for 3, caravan stays put, i stay at friends or visit family during this time. i must say i love this change of lifestyle, i have pots of flowers outside so it's pretty and a lovely guy who owns site, i wouldnt go back to living in a house if you paid me, no sireee! this is my second year and im happy. go for it i say. good luck to you. p.s im in somerset.

tony

there is a site[mosshall] in blackburn west lothian, that takes workers vans all year round it is a small site about20 vans and is 1/2 mile from shops pub etc.

myra