Moving from one caravan storage to another

We took delivery of our first ever caravan in October last year. We needed to store it away from the house as the land registry agreement for the area we live in states that caravans and work vehicles are not allowed to be parked on the street or drives of residents houses (a big pain in the bum!). So my wife and I went on the internet and found a storage area that had good reviews and was only about fifteen minutes drive from our house. We went round, agreed a pitch and brought the van round once we collected it from Campbells Caravans in Preston.

Well, what a chore to get it into the space provided. The pitch is on a slight incline which made it easy enough to man handle into the spot. We don't have a motor mover as the caravan is a light weight model and both myself and my wife are not that confident reversing with the caravan. So we got it in. Then looked forward to getting the van out for a trip in February this year. Unfortunatly circumstance meant we didn't use the van in February so arranged to get out again in March.

First problem. Winter opening hours of the site are not conducise to arranging a last minute getaway. Second problem. The ground was sodden and our jockey whell kept sinking into the mud, making manually pushing the caravan out of the space impossible due to the incline. It took me an hour to manuouvre the car into position and pull the caravan out of the space, seriously curtailling our holiday weekend time away. Thirdly, the spaces between caravans at the corners driving out of the site were very tight and I had visions of hitting someone else's van on the way to the exit. Fourth, The road out of the storage area is extremely pot-holed and rutted, with bad flooding in places. Crawled out of the place with the van groaning and bouncing behind me. On the whole not an enjoyable way to start your holiday, plus you have to do it all again on the way back. No chance. Decided to put the van into another storage area. its a little further from where we live but the place is huge! the access/egress is excellent. Security is second to none and their opening hours are much better; and if you are expecting to arrive after closing, as long as you call prior to them shutting that day, they will stay open to await your arrival up to 8pm - excellent.  I am not going to name names for the places, as the above is just my opinion/experience. But it is good experience. Really do your homework before committing to a place. Do a trial run witht the van if you can to make sure you are comfortable getting the van in and out of a space. Make sure the opening hours are not going to make your van a 'prisoner' due to your work/other commitments. All in all remember that the storage is also part of the whole caravanning experience and if the place is stressing you out - move!