on the face of it spending your hard earned holidays in a field or to be more precise within a small tin box in a field “which nowadays has to be booked months in advance” seems preverse to say the least, so what is it about caravanning that is for you preferrable to a more relaxing holiday in a hotel/cottage/gite of similar cost??

I suppose it all depends what you want.

Since retiring we spend a lot of our time in the caravan pursuring our joint hobbies and interests of motor sport, wildlife, photography, fishing etc. Use mainly CS’s, CL’s and rallies and very often don’t even book just turn up especially on C&CC rallies.

Can’t cope with having relaxing times away. I’m informed that there is enough of that when they screw the lid down !

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The advantage over a cottage / gite is that you have your own things and your own standards. When you rent a cottage / gite you don’t know until you get there how clean or otherwise the place is, exactly what equipment is provided, etc. With a caravan you know that you have your own equipment which you have tailored to your specific needs and you can adhere to your own standards of tidiness, cleanliness, etc.

If you then compare with a hotel you have the above plus you have the freedom to do what you want. If you want breakfast at 3 o’clock in the afternoon you can have it, if you want your dinner at 2 o’clock in the morning you can have it. You can also choose exactly what you want to eat, so if you fancy fish you can get a piece of fish and cook it. Basically you can do what you want when you want.

The problem is that we are all different I am afraid that the only answer is to try all alternatives. Some people try caravaning and absolutely love it others prefer hotels, gites or cottages.

As with every thing in life you pay the money and make the choice

As we are retired we can head of where we fancy and usualy when we want to only been back 2 weeks from last vanning trip, get up for breakfast when we want, no ties for meal times,drink our own wine / spirits half then price of hotels, have a cuppa as and when we want one etc etc. Ok take off the cost of the caravan and it’s still a cheap way to get a holiday, nice quiet rural sites within walking distance of village / pub. Don’t get me wrong we still enjoy hotel holls as we are off to Egypt 5* all inclusive on Tuesday for 2 weeks just wish we could have the same weather

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For me, a newcomer to this activity it is as follows, in no particular order:

• Ability to have a mini holiday on any particular weekend
• Spend “quality” time with my small boys – too much I “need” to do at home during the weekends
• Exploration
• Keep costs down (although thats debatable having bought a new van)
• Hobby and kit(!)
• Flexibility (We are doubling up going to Le Mans 24 hr along with a beach holiday)
• Something both the missus and I are keen on (both of us have fond childhood memories in vans)