Living in a Caravan Vs Living in a house

We've done the same at Baltic Wharf, I just couldn't imagine anyone coping with van life after a certain age and that, sadly, can come earlier than expected for some. 

Like JohnM20 also said, cabin fever would soon strike with me, it often does and I'm glad to be on the move or get back home....

House for us!  Yes, I love the caravan, but after a while I want a bit more room, and my own 'stuff' around me.  There are lots of things I enjoy which I can't find room for in the caravan - my sewing machine and fabrics, all my knitting wools and accessories, our reference books, piles of France and Sudoko magazines, and our six grandchildren. 

How would we ever fit six of them in?  None are old enough to stop outside in an awning yet.  They can all come and stay here without running out of beds (or alternatives) and we can all sit around the same table and share a meal which they can help to make.  They can help me make bread in the kitchen, and bake it in the (big enough) oven. 

I can cook a Christmas turkey for sixteen (or more) and still have room for all the extras.  We can seat all those sixteen people (or more at a squeeze), with enough crockery, cutlery and glassware to go around, and we can bung everything in the dishwasher afterwards. We can all sit around the woodburner, roast chestnuts, and toast crumpets.  We could (if necessary) all find somewhere to sleep and have a shower in the morning without resorting to treks backwards and forwards with water and waste.

Houses are for living in.  Caravans are for 'holidays'.

I have a cousin living in a Park Home - and he loves it, but it must be six times larger than a touring caravan and is fitted to all mains services.

At age 40 I decided that I should semi retire at 53 and retire at 55 using savings to carry us on until I was able to take a reduced works pension at 60. That was definitely do-able.

Life changes! after nursing my wife she died when I was 42 (she was only just 43). I had a 14 year old daughter and a 22 year old daughter who was shortly leaving home. Having previously had testicular cancer at age 40 I decided by the time I was 47 and no longer going for regular cancer check ups that I would pack in work between age 53 and 55 and go off with my caravan or with a converted panel van. 

Another of life's changes! by age 48/49 I was running a 'singles' group with around 35 local members many of whom had been given a kick in the teeth by life and we were having a great time. I had not greatly changed my intentions though. The only change was that I had decided that my eldest should pay £40k to my youngest and swap property with me. It seemed on the cards that by my mid fifties she would have paid off her small semi and would have liked to take over my larger bungalow. 

Change again at age 48 in that one of the singles groups, Fliss, and myself became an item when I was around 48. We had been good friends for several years. When I was 52 she came to live with me and the rest is history. 

Like you Steve I would not have considered living in a recreational vehicle full time without an alternative. 

I just couldn't imagine anyone coping with van life after a certain age and that, sadly, can come earlier than expected for some.

Indeed so and why I would always have wanted a home base.

5 years ago my friend Bob, then age 60 as myself, could have walked the legs off me. Last Saturday, 5 years later, a group of us went out for a meal and I went out to pick up Bob 30 mins early. As it turned out I needed most of that 30 mins to get his trousers, shoes and socks on, his jacket and to get him out of his home and into the car with his Zimmerman frame into the boot. Bob, like myself, is around 65!

Perhaps I have the best of both worlds. My 'house' is technically a 52’ x 20’ caravan. It is spacious, airy and comfortable whilst being substantially cheaper to buy than a bricks and mortar equivalent. 

I have security of tenure on my 'pitch' for life but it is theoretically possible to move the home if necessary. 

Cariadon, you need to understand the differences in licensing and planning permission before you make statements about council tax becoming payable on touring sites.

Now, shall we all continue to enjoy living in whatever type of dwelling suits us best? How good that we can choose.

Do you think that if everybody adopted this lifestyle, as has been suggested on another thread, that the club sites will then be classed as residential rather than recreational, and council tax would then have to be paid.

Cariadon, you need to understand the differences in licensing and planning permission before you make statements about council tax becoming payable on touring sites.

It was a question not a statement, Don't residential parks pay council tax then?

We have a Residential Home site near us and five years ago when it was "refurbished"and all the "older"Park homes were removed to make way for a new set of up to date Park homes starting at £250,000 for a 20ft x 14ft single + annual ground rents and services,so we decided to stay where we are

I think we will stay where we are, we have far too much stuff to fit in a caravan!

 Much of it has sentimental value, a whole lot of mine is tools and hobby related, and OH has hobbies too, like Val she is into sewing and knitting.

And we do like the space we have here.

When we built this house there were 5 of us living here, including  MIL who had her own one bed flat, which is now just part of the house following her death in 2001.

So then we were down to 3 of us until DD went to uni in 2003 and got her own little flat, she did however still keep most of her stuff here.  Even now that she has her own 4 bed house, we are still storing a pile of her stuff, plus we have all our son's Lego, train set etc etc that he cannot bear to part with, but  that his wife says they have no space for.  They will come in handy soon!

We did think of downsizing when I retired, but preferred, and could afford, to keep the house we had designed to our liking.  Plus the thought of moving all our stuff was a huge deterrent!

Our original plan on retirement was to tour with the caravan for 6 months each year, but we have never managed more than 4 months  as we have the family to consider, hobbies, friends locally.....all the usual day to day stuff.

We do enjoy our trips, but it is nice to have somewhere solid, cosy and spacious to return to.

Judging by the responses to this thread, I would think it fairly unlikely that permanent caravanners would have a large impact upon Caravan Club sites.  I have met full time caravanners and most would find Club sites too expensive anyway.  Full timers that I have met tend to stay on sites where they can negotiate a better deal with the site owners.

Personally, I wouldn't want to do it full time anyway.  I like to distinguish between 'normal living' and holidays.  If I were to live in a caravan full time, it would rather 'take the shine off it' for me, and there are times I just need more room and all my stuff around me.

I accept there are those who feel differently, but it's a little bit like me not wanting to root up and buy a house in Provence.  There's so much I would miss here and, more importantly, if I lived there all year round it would loose it's 'holiday attraction', I suspect.

David

Hi

As some of you know we work for the club as site wardens. We live on site in our caravan from the first week in March until the first week of November. In November we then head off to stay in our American rv in Spain. Site fees cost little here with big discounts for long stays, returning in March etc. So basically full time.

We still have the "family home" but we've hardly been back in the last eight years.

So, I think you can tell which we prefer! I think some folk are a bit obsessed with material things. Living as we do, you soon learn that the only real possession's you need are health and happiness, which thankfully we currently have. We have a firm "acquire something, lose something" policy which works well.

When we retire we will change to a smaller place and see what happens.

Cheers JK