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My dh and I used to caravan year round in our pre kids days.  Sightseeing, long pub lunches, cosying up with a bottle of wine.  ahhh those were the days. While the children were very small we stopped caravanning altogether.  The kids are now 8 and 9 and we are back caravaning and trying to do it all year around.

But, it's not working.  We tried two seperate weeeknds away in November and ran into several problems.  Not many other kids on site for them to play with.  Too cold for them to spend long on the play areas.  Several wet spells kept us all cooped up inside.  The mud!  Dog filthy after every quick wee break, not to mention a good walk in the woods.  After our last weekend away I had to do 10 loads of washing when we got home.

Our caravan and the storage costs seem steep if it's going to spend 6+ months of the year unused.

Has anyone found ways of making winter caravanning with kids work?  We thought about Haven or something like that, but they seem to be closed out of season and are too far for us for a weekend.

Haven are closed from 1st week in November until March or a few days before easter whichever comes sooner. We have caravanned in the snow with our girls when they were of a similar age to yours, but had the advantage of being able to leave the dog at home with my parents, and tryed to always use a hardstanding pitch to keep some of the mud out of the van. It can get expensive when you have to factor in entertainment for the kids when theres not much for them to do on the site. We always ended up taking them to a local cinema, sports centre, or playbarn on cold and wet days, and that usually tired them out for the evening, so after a few family board games from the 100game compodium we bought from toysrus to keep in the caravan, they were usually ready to go to bed and settle for the night, leaving us to enjoy our wine and nibbles in peace. It did help to have a fully enclosed end bedroom for them though, i can imagine it wouldnt be so easy trying to do this if you had something like a side dinette and curtain arrangement, where they can ear your every move and conversation.  They are all grown up now with families of their own, but it must have been a positve experiance for them as they are now starting to get their own gear to do the same for their kids!

Julia  

It may be worth looking for rallies to go to as you do then tend to get more kids for them to play with.

We still use the awning in winter but leave a heater running 24 hours which means it is warm enough to sit and play games in

Wellie boots, and all in one suits for walking in the bad weather, or just raincoats and waterproof trousers.  A small porch awning is great for leaving wet clothes and a big box for the shoes.  Number one rule in our caravan is DON'T get shoes wet, use wellies or crocs but never trainers as they are soaked including socks in seconds and you can go through all your socks in one day!  Even we we do a full week in the van 5 loads of washing is the max, that is 2 adults and 2 kids (11 & 16) so 10 loads is excessive and must have been a nightmare for you..

We would rarely be out of the van after 4pm in the winter, we use our time as quality family time, lots of chat, DVD's board games, even resorted to charades last year and it was hilarious.. Kids need to experience boredom, sets them up for adult work life (you can guess where I am), they need to know how to sit down and read a book, listen to some music, write a letter.. Sounds old fashioned but I think sometimes the caravan is a perfect place to hone your 'keeping occupied' skills..

I love to cook and so do our kids, we only ever cook from fresh in the van, no microwave dinners.  We are time rich in the van and use it to cook delicious food rather than rush it.

Even homework is done in our van, and to be honest it is never rushed as not in a hurry to go off and do something else!  We have drawn the line at practising musical instruments out of respect for fellow vans lol..

When planning our trip away we will have a list of places to visit (indoor) which are useful for a wet day, muesums, libruaries, shops (last resort) cimena, leisure centres, anything that is indoors really.  We try to keep these activities for wet and very cold days, ususally walks are the main attraction!  Can't give any advice about dog other than we keep a big container of water in awning old towels and just did feet and tummy after each walk and dog had a blanket to lie on which keep the caravan clean..

Don't give up, some of our best trips are winter ones!

Wendy

  To REXEL. Leics

You are roughly in the middle of the most interesting places you could choose for a quick escape to find some wonderful cruising grounds that are almost on your doorstep. Places of an hour and a halfs easy driving and plety of places of interest to cater for parents and children.

Heers one for you to try.

Get on the M!, head north and come off at the Chesterfield exit, down the dual carriageway take the exit for Matlock.Look in this sites index for the Lickpenny caravan site.

, Nearly all pitches hard standing [shale] Some super served pitches, super toilet and washing facilities and a kiddies playground. Inclement weather you can retire to the two large garden centres complete with coffee,tea and refreshment facilities.within walking distance. all within walking distancef the site, and that is Tansley. Then down the hill to Matlock Bath and you have all the shops and shoping arcades, Turn right at the island and you will find Sainburys lage supermarket,kids will love it in there.[and mum no doubt] Reverse your direction back to Matlock Bath, turn right at the island, go through Matlock town and just before Cromford xrds at old Arkwright mills [now called Massom Mill is a huge covered arcade [underground carpark ] 4/5 levels of all sorts of goodies to inspect plus a good sensible priced restuarant that do nice meals as well, Then you have got nearby Bakewell with all its atractions. Not forgetting Chatsworth House,plus a garden centre and restuarant.

 I could spend all day telling you about places to travel to in the wonderful county of Derbyshire but that will take away the pleasure you can have in finding it all out for yourself, So dont park your van up but use it wisely for all seasons if possible and tear yourself away from Charnwood,Its too close.

Wishing you and yours the very best for the season and happy caravanning.

                     Graham R.