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 Topic: New caravaners, need help!
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02/5/2023 at 8:56pm
Location: East Herts
Outfit: 1992 Elddis Wisp 450CT + X Trail
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Quote: Originally posted by Cdowen217 on 02/5/2023
Hi, me and my husband would like to sort out a little start up set up for us and our 11 year old daughter. We just don't know where to start, is siting a caravan worth it or is it better to store and tow to different locations? We are interested in shropshire/Wales next to a river, does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks in advance
Whether it's worth siting a caravan only you can decide. It is quite expensive unless you are going to make a great deal of use of it, and in any case it is unlikely you would find anywhere for this year as they tend to be booked up months or even years in advance at some sites.
The first thing to decide is what caravan you want and whether your car can tow it, or whether you will need to change your car. I'm assuming of course you haven't already got your outfit. If you haven't already bought a caravan, now is probably the worst time to be looking to buy, as prices at this time of year are at their highest. Best time to buy is between the end of the season and the run-up to Christmas. Now is a really good time to sell.
You haven't said what your budget is but if you are looking for a "cheapie" as a start up I would recommend that you go to a dealer and ask if they have any trade sales. They never advertise these and rarely put them on display. That is how we got ours. They will of course be older units that others have traded in for newer models. If you are thinking of buying privately, be very careful and do a really thorough check for damp. It is by far the biggest killer of caravans. I would recommend that you take someone with you who knows what to look for unless you have the necessary expertise. Don't be put off by age as some of the older ones were better built. Ours is now 31 years old.
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Best Regards,
Colin
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03/5/2023 at 7:46am
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Quote: Originally posted by Mrs. Bonce on 02/5/2023
Good advice above. I would suggest that if you have somewhere to keep your caravan, at home or in storage, it would be a much better idea than going to the same site every time. Make sure your car is up to the job (there are plenty of useful websites), take a damp meter and be prepared to walk away.
On the flip side, if you have a narrow-ish area in mind, i might suggest a seasonal pitch for the first year. If you would have to store a van away from home, its costing anyway. Neither would you need a 'big' car to tow it. (obviously you'd have to get any van to the pitch first off). From here, you could span out from what would be a base.
Your post suggests you dont really know what you want. And buying a van, having the right car, then carting it about, can really get on top of a lot of people if it is all new to them. Siting a van is halfway there without the towing and possibly changing cars
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03/5/2023 at 8:26am
Location: Worcestershire
Outfit: Buccaneer Cruiser
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Ours is in storage about 10 miles from home. Nice sites to visit Shropshire / Wales is in Pembridge on River Arrow.
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03/5/2023 at 7:45pm
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perhaps if you gave us an idea of your location, and how far your willing to drive to get to the caravan that would be a start. But the main thing is making sure your car could tow a caravan, because lets face it your going to need to be able to move it to a site even just to have it on a seasonal pitch, but your going to need a storage site too for the winter months unless you find a seasonal site that also does storage, but that also costs mega money which again we have no idea on your budget
oh as for a site i could recommend with the shropshire/wales caveat we like the cotton arms in wrenbury which is on the llangollen canal, the site backs onto it and we take our kayaks out on the water, some lovely veiws too, but you do need to take a good torch for the tunnels you go thr
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03/5/2023 at 8:39pm
Location: East Herts
Outfit: 1992 Elddis Wisp 450CT + X Trail
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In my opinion seasonal pitches are extremely expensive unless you can use the caravan at least 3 times a month, every month. Putting the caravan into storage and towing it to sites works out much cheaper if you can only go 5 or 6 times a year or less. Towing to sites is always my preference as that gives me more variety, although that's not for everyone.
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Best Regards,
Colin
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04/5/2023 at 9:41am
Location: Wales
Outfit: 2BVolvo2BXC602BR
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We've done the seasonal thing twice, and while its easier just pulling up and everything is set up ready for use, we found we were using it less. Also we pulled it off for 3 weeks in the summer to tour France. Now we tour all the time, like to visit new areas. You will get fed up going to the same place, seeing and talking to the same people. At least we did.
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04/5/2023 at 5:37pm
Location: Ivybridge Devon
Outfit: Bailey Pageant Burgundy series 6
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The other option is to find a caravan site that you like that also does storage then all you need to do is to book to stay on the site and they would normally bring your van out of storage and put it on a pitch for you then when you leave put it back into storage
Thats what we do, ours is stored on a lovely site just outside of Glastonbury. The only downside is that you have to hope they have spaces for when you want to go. Where we go is really busy so have to book well in advance we have already booked for summer 24
Post last edited on 04/05/2023 17:51:32
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via mobile 02/5/2023 at 5:13pm
