Caravanning: A Surprise Return to Childhood

It had been around 20 years since I had last been in a caravan until this summer, when once again I found myself in a car, hurtling down the motorway with my parents now rarely used caravan in tow.

My fiancée and I bought a house earlier in the year and we are also planning a wedding next year, so we wanted to have an economical vacation, but an adventure all the same. So, we decided that a camping trip would be the perfect way to have a break which would save us some money, compared to our usual overseas holidays.

So it was that we found ourselves driving from West Yorkshire to East Sussex and Ashwood Farm campsite. As soon as we set off from the gloomy North I felt like I was transported back in time. I remembered the travel games and the fights with my brother and sister, the old tapes that my Dad played and how it seemed like it took forever to reach our destination. But this time it didn’t take forever and soon we were at our destination.

We pulled into the driveway of the campsite, spoke to the owners and soon found a peaceful pitch, not too close to the other caravans, tents and motorhomes which were scattered around the expansive site. And then it struck me – I’d been here before!

Amazingly I had picked out the very same campsite I had been to with my family all those years before. I couldn’t believe it, but it was true. It seemed like fate and the rest of the holiday was a fantastic trip into halcyon years and cherished memories – except this time I was allowed to drink around the campfire too!