Changed to the dark side

Think of MH as a car, and just close air vents on dash! Every little bit will help. We never use heating at night time, always find it too drying and tends to cook one of the dogs! So little radiator has been a great buy. Surprising just how much difference it makes. We use it for drying things occasionally as well, out of way as it sits in footwell behind swivel seat. 

MH is brilliant for just pulling over in a picturesque spot and having a nice meal, hot or cold. Much cheaper than £20 on two coffees and cakes at NT cafe, and lovely and comfortable after a long walk, rather than juggling sandwiches on our knees with two damp dogs drooling in the back seat!

Similar for me Ian. Depends on your style of holiday I reckon

I think that if you like to do frequent sight-seeing trips in the car then a caravan is probably better. I know that there are ways around it - electric bikes, scooters, tow a car, use public transport, use Aires near towns etc.  but they are just a compromise and no real substitute. Caravan has to be best for that.

Public transport (if it was even available) would have been a logistical nightmare. This would have reduced our scope massively, would have involved hours of standing at bus stops and would have been very expensive.

That is just part of the forward planning. There are loads of sites with good public transport links and if you are of a certain age travel, in England, will be free. Google Earth will show bus stops near to your intended campsite and a further search will bring up the timetables. Just over a week ago we were at the Club's Hillhead site. We had access to buses going to Brixham, Kingswear/Dartmouth, Paignton from right outside the site entrance. Had we been there longer many other excursions would have been possible. We didn't have to worry about finding anywhere to part nor pay for it. 

David

We often ponder the motorhome question.

I like the idea of the quick set-up on site.......but that said, it only takes us about 20 minutes with the caravan. I've seen some motorhomers take that long, with their stop at the water / waste point and then the yellow ramp shuffle.

But then we look at the sort of holidays we have and just wonder how it would work.

Take a week in North Devon.

We visited places every single day.....often covering a good few miles.

Public transport (if it was even available) would have been a logistical nightmare. This would have reduced our scope massively, would have involved hours of standing at bus stops and would have been very expensive.

Driving everywhere in a motorhome would have been a terrible experience.  Narrow roads (it was bad enough in the car, sometimes) and limited parking options (finding a space at the side of the road for a car is hard enough and barriers rule out a lot of town centre car parks).

Packing everything away every day would become a real chore.

Less internal space, unless paying out a (large) fortune. Most motorhomes costing about the same as a car and caravan are a little on the small side.

I do feel attracted to motorhomes and the idea of self sufficiency, but just cannot see how it would work for us.

You adapt quickly Ian, do a little more homework for certain places, particularly if you love them. We had a week in Cornwall in ours this year. Narrow roads can be a bit intimidating, but we found alternative routes. We have yet to find a place where parking has been a major problem, although does depend on size. We travel light anyway, and keep things to a minimum and tidy, so set up and pack up is so easy. If you like sitting around on sites, then need to choose layout carefully. Certain places have superb public transport if you need it, around Newcastle and along Hadrians Wall is just so easy. It has altered way we tour/holiday, we do more, see more, but we started off with a tiny camper van, so knew what to expect. Site arrival and departure times are not even a factor with a MH, there is no rush to loose the tug on the back, and travel home day is just another day out! We keep ours at home, ready to roll at drop of a hat. 

 

That is just part of the forward planning. There are loads of sites with good public transport links and if you are of a certain age travel, in England, will be free. G

The trouble is I would not wish to be limited in location by the avalability of public transport. 

Just over a week ago we were at the Club's Hillhead site. We had access to buses going to Brixham, Kingswear/Dartmouth, Paignton from right outside the site entrance. 

That bus journey from the site to Brixham . I have never been on anything like it - it was tight even on the wide bits! When we got off asked the bus driver if he enjoyed doing that route - he replied  "nah, I hate it  - I dread this one" haha...

ok then...

Ian, I would have done the week in N Devon spread over the whole area using several sites and that would eliminate much of the travelling over the same little lanes. Move from site to site and stop at beaches, NT houses, Tesco or whatever takes your fancy on the way. We've not yet found a need to use public, or secondary, transport

The packing up to get underway is, as far as I'm concerned, a myth. We do the breakfast dishes, as you would in a cvan, put them away along with the kettle, secure the fridge door, unhook the EHU cable and that's it. 

Instead of the daily shuffle of Aquaroll and Wastemaster, a drive to the MHSP on arrival at, or departure from, a site once every 3 days is all that's needed. We rarely need yellow wedges unless on a lumpy grass pitch. 

You won't be ET, unless you drive a very big MH. For example, we parked up in Richmond NYorks last Tuesday. Two hundred metres from castle and market square, £2 for all day, huge car park bays, us and at least five other much larger MH. One was a Winnebago! Slap bang where we wanted to be, and only a half mile drive to get there from site we used. Previous day we drove from Rothbury over moors round Blanchland, down to Stanhope, up onto Weardale, picnic by river, walk dogs, on into Barnard Castle, park up free on street, then across to site near Richmond for night. No having to turn around and retrace steps back to van, taking in glorious scenery, comfy picnic, roomy shelter in bit of rain, fresh meal and cup of tea.......

It's not better than Caravanning, just a bit different. We love our van as well, but hate the towing. 

 ..... but hate the towing. 

Why? Seriously ..... not trying to deride you, towing to me is just the bit at the start & end of a caravan holiday.

It's just driving ..... with a bit at the back